her he’d kill him. After Patch had left, she’d called Harley out on what he’d done. He’d said Patch wasn’t good enough for her, and she’d told him to butt out of her personal life.
He hadn’t butted out of her personal life, but he’d opened her eyes, and she’d been more selective about the guys she brought around, eventually stopping altogether. In fact, other than her date with Harley, she hadn’t gone on a date since late last summer, when Harley had scared off another one of her unworthy dates.
Harley leaned closer and said, “It’s not stupid or ridiculous that you’re jealous. It means you dig me, Pipe, which I’ve known all along.”
She scoffed, but the knee-jerk reaction felt wrong, and she closed her eyes, wishing she could take it back. When she opened them, Harley hadn’t moved away. He was watching her with a small grin on his lips.
“This is all hard for you, isn’t it?” he said compassionately. “All the things that go along with being in a relationship? The unexpected feelings? The way you suddenly see everything differently?”
She lifted one shoulder, feeling exposed.
“It’s okay. It’s hard for everyone. You just don’t have much experience with it, so it feels bigger because it’s so new.” His gaze never wavered from hers as he said, “I appreciate you taking a chance with me, Piper, and I promise you won’t regret it.”
“How could I ever regret anything when you’re so patient with me? Wait, actually, there is one thing I regret.”
He braced himself with one hand on the door and the other on the seat and said, “Okay, lay it on me.”
“I probably deserve that,” she said lightly, and they both chuckled. What she was about to say wasn’t light at all. The butterflies in her stomach must have spread, because as she reached across the seat and took Harley’s hand in hers, she felt them fluttering in her chest, too. “I regret all the time I wasted when I could have been with you.”
The minute they’d arrived at Harley’s house after spending the afternoon shopping, Piper had raced upstairs to start working on the bathroom. She’d claimed to want to get a jump on the project, but Harley knew better. Her confession about regretting the time she’d wasted had been a giant leap, blowing baby steps right out of the water. He’d realized afterward that neither one of them had expected that reveal. He was sure she’d rushed upstairs because she was once again trying to climb back into her own headspace. She hadn’t achieved that in the building-supply store, no thanks to him and his wandering lips. And John had been busy with a customer when they’d arrived at his shop, which gave Piper the perfect excuse to kick herself out of the holy-shit-did-I-really-say-that mode she’d gotten stuck in after her confession and switch to work mode. In the blink of an eye she’d gone from stealing nervous glances to being in full control, schooling Harley on the hallmarks of well-made wooden furniture and things to consider when buying a vanity, like storage and accessibility. By the time John had gotten to them, they’d already picked out a gorgeous maple vanity with three center drawers and two shelves beneath each sink. It was being delivered next week. But she’d been quiet on the drive home.
As Harley walked Jiggs down by the water, he wondered if Piper would ever fit into her old headspace the way she had before they’d come together. Being with her had changed him, but he’d expected it would. He’d had three years to think about those types of things. But he’d blindsided Piper with the depth of his emotions, and he felt a little bad seeing how it rattled her. That didn’t mean he’d back off. Piper was strong. He didn’t think there was anything she couldn’t handle—and he knew she wanted to handle him.
He petted Jiggs, happy to be walking him again, and then they headed up toward the house. He made a quick call to touch base with his mother, and then he checked in with Delaney to see how she and the girls were doing. He’d already texted with Jasper, and he knew the bar was being attended to, which meant he had the rest of the weekend free to be with Piper. There was no other way he wanted to spend it.
The second he unhooked Jiggs’s leash, his pooch sprinted up the stairs ahead of him. He hadn’t imagined his