If You Only Knew (Harper Falls Book 3) (11 page)

“Mom would be okay if I told her. She would miss me,
but I think she’d give me her blessing. My father and brothers, though, I’m
afraid they would do anything to keep me here.”

“Why?”

She broke eye contact, suddenly fascinated by the water
lapping at the shore. When she turned back, the gray had turned from steel to
cloudy and pale.

“Because they
can’t
leave. My father should have
taken off years ago, we all would have been better off. Now he’s painted
himself as a martyr, doing his duty to the bitter end.”

Drew picked up her hand, covering it with both of his. She
squeezed, a silent thank you for his show of comfort.

“My brothers talk like they would leave. If they had
the money, if the economy was better. The truth is they don’t want to go. Life
is good for the Jones boys. A free place to live, hot meals, and someone to
clean up after them. Why would they trade that for a place where they would be
expected to fend for themselves?”

“They resent that you can, and do, take care of
yourself.”

“And my father is scared to death that I will be a
success, be happy. Misery loves company after all. Even if that company comes
in the form of a daughter you never wanted or loved.”

After a few minutes, Tyler shook her head, throwing off the
bad feelings. She smiled and damned if it didn’t almost reach her eyes. At
least the clouds were gone.

“How about you? Is anyone going to stop your
migration?”

“No, because they don’t know the trip is permanent. I’m
allowed four years of college at the school of my choice. Dad just assumes I’ll
be back.”

“And Regina?”

“No assumptions. As far as she’s concerned, it’s
written in stone and traced over with permanent ink. I’m a Harper. Nothing else
needs to be said.”

“Nothing?”

“Just constant reminders of duty, legacy. How nothing
has tarnished the family name for six generations.”

“Why not seven? What did the generation before the
sixth do that was so terrible?”

“Hell if I know. Maybe some enterprising immigrant
changed their name. Could be Harper was originally Harpinski. Can’t have that
on the family tree.” Drew gave an exaggerated shudder.

“That would be wild.” Tyler chuckled.

“Regina would roll over in her soon-to-be premature
grave. The only thing that’s stopped me from suggesting it is my need to keep
on her good side for one more year. I’m respectful, both in words and in deeds.
I’ve become a master at toeing the proverbial line.”

This time when Tyler glanced his way, there was a definite
twinkle in her eyes.

“What would she do if she found out how you’ve been
spending your afternoons?”

“She wouldn’t be happy.”

“Yeah, my father would throw a hissy too. Reaching
above myself is how he would put it.”

“I’m not above you, Tyler.”

Drew was horrified at the thought. She couldn’t believe he
thought that way.

“Damn straight you aren’t. I wouldn’t be here if I
imagined for a moment that you believed that crap.”

“Good. I like our time together.”

“Still,” she cocked her head, a slight smile on
her lips, “we’d both be in for it if anyone found out. We’re taking
chances with our futures. I say we make it count.”

Leaning over, she glued her lips to his. And just like that,
they moved out of the friend zone.

DREW’S VISION CLEARED, the past fading away. The years slipped
away bringing him face-to-face with a very different Tyler, tougher, more
reserved, and even more beautiful. No longer a girl, he hoped she would give
him the chance to get to know the woman she was now.

Taking a deep breath, he reached out and opened her car
door.

“Hi.”

“Hi.”

Once upon a time, they never ran out of things to say. Now
“Hi” was the best they could do.

“Is there a problem? I mean, I wasn’t expecting you, or
anyone, tonight.”

Drew held out a hand to help her from the car, snatching it
back when she got out on her own.

“There is a problem.”

“What?” He tensed. “Did M.J. come back? Is he
giving you trouble?”

“I can handle my brother.”

Tyler moved closer. Drew stepped back, his eyes suddenly wary.
Sighing, she grabbed the front of his t-shirt, the fingers of her other hand
threading through his thick, dark hair. Soft. She remembered the feel like it
was yesterday. Her hope had been that he would be as eager as she was. The
attraction was still there, it was time to do something about it. Apparently,
he wasn’t going to make this easy. So she did what she had all those years ago
when he wouldn’t make the first move — she kissed him first.

Prime rib to a starving man. Ten years without even a taste,
Drew couldn’t help but devour her.

The kiss was primal, out of control. Mouths seeking angle
after angle, tongues dueling. And the way Tyler tasted. Sweet and spicy and
utterly delicious.

In his dreams, he imagined this differently. Slower. He
would show her how a man kissed as opposed to the boy he had been. One touch of
her lips on his and all those grand plans flew out the window along with any
common sense he ever possessed. Tyler was in his arms. Familiar yet new. He
needed her and he was never letting go.

Drew’s hands went under the hem of her shirt slowly sliding
up her smooth, hot skin. He could feel the erotic combination of vulnerability
and strength in the subtle muscles of her back. She had filled out, they both
had. He wanted to spend days discovering all the differences then start all
over again, just in case he missed something the first time.

The kiss was neverending though the desperation; instead of
lessening, scaled higher. He could lift her into his arms, carry her into the
house, rip every scrap of clothing from her delicious body, and fuck for hours.

Fuck. Well, fuck.

The word wasn’t exactly a bucket of cold water, the
desperate heat running through his veins needed more than that. But it did lift
the haze. If he didn’t stop this right now, there would be no turning back.

“Tyler.”

The word sounded foreign, all guttural. His voice was hoarse
with passion and his body screamed every swear word known to man.
Why are
you stopping? Beautiful woman. Willing. Her hands are all over you.
Right now,
she was reaching between his legs. The first caress was almost his undoing. It
felt so good, so right. No one could touch him like Tyler.

The sexual haze enveloped him again.
Don’t fight it
,
his body urged.
Feel her lips on your jaw, your neck.
God.
Her
teeth biting your earlobe.
That alone brought him close to going over the
top. Damn his good intentions. Talking was way overrated. Pulling her in until
their bodies were flush and he could feel every long, luscious inch of her —
plastered against him. Drew was going in for another kiss when her words did
what his own reasoning couldn’t. It wasn’t a bucket of cold water; it was a
fire hose — turned on full blast.

“Fuck me, Drew. Right here, up against my car. Let’s
get this thing done, once and for all.”

“Holy Christ.”

He wrenched himself away from her, turning so he couldn’t
see her passion-filled face. She wanted to get him out of her system with one
colossal fuck fest. Tyler had suggested it before. The perfect solution. What
had she called it? One and done?

Resting his hands on the hood of her car, Drew let his head
droop forward trying to regulate his breathing. Was that all she thought was
left? Sex. She would take her fill and walk away. No looking back. No regrets.
Well, he wasn’t going to make it that easy — not on either of them.

“This isn’t going to happen, Tyler.”

There was a long pause prompting Drew to venture a peek in
her direction. She looked wonderfully disheveled. Her glossy near-black hair
mussed, her lips puffy and slightly open.

Do not think about how they got that way.

But mostly, she looked royally pissed off.

“Are you saying no? Honestly?”

Tyler let off a stream of foul language that had Drew
raising his eyebrows. Imaginative and lengthy. If it hadn’t been directed at
him, he would have been impressed.

“You’ve expanded your vocabulary in the past ten
years.”

“I knew those words back then. I just never had a
reason to use them.”

Rearranging her clothes, she glared. Molten steel. Her eyes
burned with fury and frustration.

“I would say fuck you, Drew Harper, but what would be
the point?”

When she tried to open the car door, Drew put a hand over
hers.

“Don’t go, Tyler. Come inside, talk to me. Let me talk
to you.”

She turned her head slowly, surprise replacing anger on her
face.

“Now? After all this time, you want to talk?”

“I need you to hear me out.”

“I can’t fault you for your nerve. I needed to
hear
you out
ten years ago. Or five years ago. Even three. Hell, you could have
come to me as soon as you moved back to Harper Falls. Why now? What’s suddenly
changed?”

When he didn’t answer right away, Tyler rounded on him. A
mixture of anger and frustration making her reckless.

“Did you enjoy watching me date other men?”

“What?” Realizing where this was going, he held up
a hand as though it could stem her words.

“Don’t do this, Tyler.”

“Don’t do what? Remind you of all the men I’ve been
with since you’ve been in town. How about all the ones I’ve had in the last ten
years. My memory is excellent. You might want to take a seat, though. This
could take a while.”

“Stop it, now.”

He reached for her, wanting to shake some sense into her
stubborn head. She easily sidestepped him, putting the car between them as a
barrier.

“You might be bigger, but I’m fast. Fast.” She
savored the word. “Isn’t that what they call a woman who gives it up
easily? I certainly was fast with you. How long did it take you to get into my
pants? I was an eager little virgin, ripe for the picking. Well, you might have
been the first but there have been plenty since.”

“Is this what you need? Will it make you feel better to
throw the names of your lovers in my face?” He yelled the words hoping
sheer volume would relieve some of the pressure building in him. Not even
close.

“Lovers? Who said anything about love? I liked some of
them, a lot of them. Others were just convenient. For instance, Niall. The
Scots do have a way about them. And then there was Forrest. Do you know he was
an actual lumberjack? How funny is that?”

“That’s it.”

It would have been fruitless to chase her around the car so
instead he went over. It happened so quickly Tyler didn’t have time to do more
than gasp. One second, there was almost three tons of steel between them; next,
she had over two hundred pounds of angry male in her face. He might have been
intimidating. Even though she topped off at five-nine in her bare feet, Drew
took her by another five inches. That wasn’t going to make her back down. She
had just made him angry; she’d been nursing her bad mood for ten years.

“What are you going to do? Hit me? Shake me until my
teeth rattle? You outweigh me by almost a hundred pounds. Go on and show me
what a big man you are. I dare you.”

He would never physically hurt her. She knew it. There
really was no intimidation factor when the threat of violence was off the
table. There was something he could do.

Tyler was prepared for more words, not being flung over his
shoulder. Before she could protest, Drew threw open her car door and dumped her
inside.

“Go home. I’m not going to fuck you so there’s nothing
for you here.”

He slammed the door before heading back towards the house.

The hell if she was going to let him have the last word.
Tyler fumbled with her keys, finally getting them into the ignition giving her
power to lower her window.

“I didn’t even make a dent in that list.”

Tyler felt a sick kind of satisfaction when Drew stopped.
From where she sat, she could see the muscles in his back bunch. He didn’t
turn, she wanted him to turn, so she gave another dig.

“I could start ranking them for you. Aren’t you curious
if you made the top ten?”

This time it was his fist that clenched. Still, he stayed
facing the house.

“You know—”

“Goddamn it. Go. Now. And don’t come back. I mean it,
Ty.”

Stunned, she silently watched him enter the house, closing
the door with a click, not a slam.

She tried once, twice to start the car. It took a third try
before she realized her hand was shaking. His words hadn’t upset her. She
welcomed his fury. It was what he called her that had her barely able to get the
car moving in the direction of town.

Ty
. No one ever called her that, not if he wanted to
live. Her name was Tyler, no nicknames. She let Drew get away with it because
when he said, Ty, it always sounded like a caress. Or that was what she used to
tell herself. Silly, teenage fancy.

How dare he use it now? He had no right, not anymore. It
took her back to the first time. Tyler hated remembering and yet the memories
came. It wasn’t after their first kiss. The one she initiated. No, he first
called her Ty after their second kiss. Dazzling, breathtaking. The moment Tyler
Jones fell in love the Drew Harper.

ELEVEN YEARS EARLIER

TYLER FOUND BIRTHDAYS to be odd occasions. At least hers were.
Mom always made a fuss. Cake, presents. When Tyler was younger, neighborhood
kids would be invited.

It was the only day out of the year she could count on her
father to make an effort. Pleasant and friendly, somehow he pulled both things
off without it seeming fake or forced. This was the father she longed for. When
she was six or ten or even thirteen, she looked forward to the man he became
every twenty-third of July.