asked with a seductive glimmer in her eyes.
God, he loved her so damn much. As he gathered her in his arms, three very special words that had been vying for release for quite some time hung from the tip of his tongue. But she’d just taken a huge step by inviting him to stay at her place, so he held them back and said, “That’s my girl.”
“But what about your ankle?”
“It’s been almost a month since I hurt it. I’m good, but I’ll go easy.”
She took his hand and said, “Like you even know what that means . . .”
They headed for the basketball court, and the kids ran over.
“Can we play, too?” Louie asked.
Harley lifted him over his head and said, “You want to go through the hoop?”
“Yes!” Louie squealed, kicking his legs. “Look, Mom! I’m flying!”
Jolie put her hands on her hips and said, “I’m really good, and Sophie’s not bad.”
“Hey!” Sophie mimicked her sister’s stance and said, “I’m good, too.”
“Absolutely,” Dan said. “The more the merrier.”
Piper’s father reminded Harley of his own father, the way he loved his family. Harley set Louie on the ground, a pang of longing moving through him. Not a day passed when he didn’t think of his father, but he liked to think he was watching over them.
As he took his position on the court, his thoughts tiptoed into a dark corner of his mind where he never allowed himself to linger, and he silently hoped his father was watching over Marshall, too.
Later that evening, after picking up Jiggs and all of his paraphernalia, Harley packed a bag and headed over to Piper’s house. He briefly wondered if she’d change her mind about him staying over, but after how close they’d been, he thought it would take an act of God to keep them apart.
He parked in front of her adorably small stone house with a deep porch anchoring the left side. Above the porch was a three-window dormer. The right side of the house was taller, with a peaked roof. A picture window graced the second story, and below, the first floor boasted two circle-head windows looking out over well-manicured bushes.
Harley stepped from the truck, and Jiggs followed him out. As he walked up the front steps, the door opened. Piper stood before him, looking beautiful in the same jeans and T-shirt she’d had on earlier, nervously moving from foot to foot as he climbed the porch steps.
“Hi,” she said, stepping out and pulling the door partially closed behind her. She crouched to love up Jiggs and said, “My house isn’t very big, and it’s not finished yet.” She pushed to her feet and slid her fingers into the front pocket of her jeans. “I should have warned you about the state it’s in.”
“Baby, I wouldn’t care if you lived in a tent as long as we were together.”
“You might change your mind about that in a minute.” She pushed the door open and they followed her into the living room, which was beautifully finished, with cream sofas and a peach armchair. Pictures of her family hung on the walls, and with them, a copy of the picture she’d given him on the boat. His heart swelled.
“I started renovating,” she said. “But then you moved back, and it was more fun to have dinner at the pub and hang out with you than it was to do the work. This is the only part of the house that’s completely finished. I’m sorry it’s kind of a mess.” She waved to a wall of exposed studs in the dining room. “The kitchen is behind that wall, and there’s a den, but they’re both partially renovated.”
He dropped Jiggs’s leash and gathered her in his arms, kissing her deeply. Jiggs went paws-up on their sides, pushing his nose between their bodies.
Harley reached down to unhook Jiggs’s leash and said, “Jiggsy said he likes your excuse better than the one he heard.”
“What . . . ?” Piper asked.
“A little bird told him that you spend more time helping people like Doris and me than you do helping yourself.”
A tease rose in her eyes. “Maybe Jiggs needs to learn how to keep secrets.”
“You put our picture up.”
“Don’t make too much of it,” she said sassily. “I had to cover a hole in the wall.”
“Uh-huh.” Harley walked into the living room and teased, “Let’s see that hole.”
She ran in front of him and spread her arms out to her sides, blocking the pictures. “If you look, I’ll