She Loves Me (Harmony Pointe #3) - Melissa Foster Page 0,35
elevate your ankle today, or were you hobbling around all day?”
“Piper, stop changing the subject.”
Her eyes shot silent daggers. “Let me see your ankle, or I promise you, I will walk out that door without saying another word.”
“You’re so damn stubborn.” He threw a pillow on the coffee table and propped his foot on it.
She began unwrapping his ankle. It was black-and-blue and horribly swollen all the way up his toes. “Oh, Harley.” Her pain-filled voice slayed him. “You poor thing. That has to hurt.”
“It hurts like a son of a bitch, but I’ve had worse.”
“Maybe you should take those pain pills. Did you ice it?”
“I don’t like how they make me feel. And yes, I iced it three times today.”
“Did you elevate it most of the day?” she asked in a less-empathetic voice.
When he didn’t answer, she said, “Harley, you’re never going to get better. I’m going to have to hire you a babysitter. What could possibly be so important that you had to hobble around after falling in the shower?”
“I’m going stir crazy sitting around here all day,” he admitted. “I’m used to being at the pub, surrounded by people, working.” He wasn’t about to admit that he’d started hobbling up the road on the crutches, so deep in thought about Piper, he was halfway there before he realized he shouldn’t have brought Jiggs with him. The bar rarely got rowdy in the afternoons, but he didn’t want to chance it with Jiggs. So he’d turned around and hobbled home.
“I understand that. I’d probably lose my mind, too,” she said empathetically. “Why don’t I drop you at work tomorrow when I take the girls to school and pick you up before I get them and we go see Delaney. But you have to promise to elevate your ankle after a couple of hours and ice it. Wait, is that too early for you to go in?”
“I have work to do in the office before we open. That’ll be great. Thanks. But I hate having you come all the way back to Sweetwater when you’re already in Harmony Pointe.”
“I have to go home and shower before I pick up the girls anyway. I don’t want to show up to see Delaney gross from work.” Her eyes narrowed, and she said, “I’m calling Jasper to make sure you ice and elevate at lunchtime.”
“Fine. I’d like to go with you to see my sister anyway. Now can we talk about us?” He leaned back, pulling her beside him to get the focus off his foot—and because he liked having her close. “You never look gross, by the way.”
“What has gotten into you?”
“You have, Pipe. For three years I’ve been trying to get you to go out with me.”
“You have not!”
“I have, just not as aggressively as I should have. I figured eventually you’d get sick of dating losers and realize there’s a reason you meet dates at my pub and hang with me there after work.”
She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. “Because I like it there.”
“Yeah, because I’m there.”
“You’re not there tonight, and that’s where I’m going.”
He gritted his teeth and turned toward her. “Damn it, Piper. Be straight with me. I saw the way you looked at me upstairs when we almost kissed. You’re into me. I know you are. So why are you denying it?”
“I’m not your type, Harley. You just like acting like I’m yours, and you get off on scaring guys away.”
“Seriously?” He couldn’t stifle a laugh. “You think I get off watching you bring other guys into my pub? I’ve got news for you, Trig. I’ve never acted like you were mine. You’d know it if I did, and if you’d give us half a chance, you’d never look anywhere else. I’m all the man you need, and if you’d open your damn eyes, you’d see I’m the only one you want.”
She scoffed. “A little sure of yourself, aren’t you?”
He leaned closer, tracing his fingers along her jaw and down her neck. Her eyes widened, then softened, growing darker. “I know you, Pipe. You won’t settle for anything less than a man who knows exactly what he wants, and I want you.”
She was breathing faster, and for a second he thought she might agree. But in the next breath, she said, “I’m not your type.”
“You’re exactly my type. I’ve had my eyes on you since the first Christmas after my father passed away, when you and I sat at the bar toasting him. Remember?