“I gotta ask. What are you doing working for him? You’re so damn smart, driven. You could do anything you wanted. Anywhere.”
The way she deflates in my arms makes me wish I could take it back, but I don’t get it. Anyone else would want her. Value her.
“I guess I keep hoping that one of these days I’ll have the chance to prove myself. And maybe if he can see what I’m capable of, he’ll realize he’s been missing out. I know it doesn’t seem like much, but he and Junior, as much of a troll as he is, are the only family I have. My mother’s parents were dead before she left for school. There aren’t any relatives.” She takes a shaky breath. “The closest thing to a family I have is the bank. I’ve put everything I am into it… and I’m not ready to walk away.”
Harlow
We spend the next two days running errands for the wedding, hopping from house to house and helping out wherever we can. I’ve made cookies with Grace and filled mesh bags of birdseed with Janie’s sisters while Wade worked with Walt and the guys, getting the space at the farm ready for the wedding and reception.
And around the myriad pre-wedding tasks, Wade keeps finding ways to get me alone. To pull me into his arms and tease me into the kind of breathless laughter I’ve never known.
It feels so good to be with him. So good to be a part of something. So good, that every time I think about what’s on the other side of Sunday… I just can’t.
I don’t want to waste a minute thinking about anything but how right everything feels now.
Hearing the thud of Wade’s truck in the drive, my heart skips and a hundred butterflies erupt into flight in my belly.
Grace pats my hand at her kitchen table where she’s been showing me the album from her wedding. “Go say hi, honey. I’m going to put these away.”
I’m out of my seat in a too-eager, too-obvious blink. “Be right back.”
She chuckles, waving me away. “Sure you will.”
Heat fills my cheeks as I push through the front door, this insane sense of urgency in my chest that’s begging me to move faster, get closer.
Wade’s halfway to the house. He looks up, our eyes meet, and he drops his bags as I fling myself into his arms. Laugh at the utter relief of having my body flush against his, the dizzying joy of him spinning me around, and the light in his eyes as he carries me back to the truck—to the far side of the truck—and kisses the life out of me. Gives me his tongue in slow, measured thrusts. Bunches my hair in his fists, pulling just enough to remind me of the night before.
The screen door closes at the house. “Don’t mind me,” comes Grace’s singsong voice, full of amusement. “Gonna bring this ice cream inside real quick.”
Wade presses a last kiss to my lips, then calls over the roof of the car, “Thanks, Mom. Be right there.”
My fingers run over the planes of his face, down the thick column of his neck, stilling over his chest. “One more minute,” I whisper.
Those blue eyes search mine. “Long as you want, Good Girl.”
We stay for dinner with the Gradys. Walt is flying solo tonight as Janie is having a final fitting and then dinner with her family. We’re out on the back patio, done eating, the bottle of wine Wade brought empty, but no one is in a rush to get up.
It’s quiet and comfortable. And even with Kelsey ignoring me from across the table, it’s the sort of evening a girl could get used to.
Grace smiles between her son and me. “We’ve been so caught up in the plans for Janie and Walt this week, I just realized I haven’t heard how the two of you met.”
Bill leans over the table, a wide smile on his face. “Come on, let’s hear it. I’m thinking this guy threw some smooth line your way and had a date on the books before you knew what hit you.”
It’s pretty adorable the way this man thinks his sons can do no wrong. Or who knows, maybe they can’t, and what I really love is that he sees it.
Walt snorts, the imp in his eyes firing up. “Yeah, did he take you out to the malt shop and steal a lick off your sundae?”
I choke a bit on my water, laughing at how dirty these Grady boys are. But then an uneasy feeling settles in the pit of my stomach. Grace wants to know how we met and I don’t want to lie to Wade’s family anymore. But telling the truth isn’t an option.
I open my mouth, ready to stick with the story, when Wade cuts in. “Ha, I wish. Hate to let you down, but Harlow doesn’t actually remember the first time we met.”
Brows go up around the table and, caught off guard, I turn to my date and gape. “What? I remember.” Sure, the details were a little… blurry.
Wade presses a finger to my mouth and his mom claps. Everyone leans forward except Kelsey, who sits stone still.
With the room’s attention, he starts again. “I’d been over at the bank for an appointment and after, I’m taking the elevator down. On one of the floors, this gorgeous girl steps in beside me, pretty nose buried so far in some report, she doesn’t even notice when I throw not one, not two, but three solid lines her way.”
I’m not breathing. There’s no way it’s true. I don’t know why he’d make it up, unless he wants to give us a more romantic story than the one we have.
“Totally shuts me down.”
At which point Walt rocks back in his chair, fists pumping air. “Yes! Harlow, you are my favorite.”
“Did you not hear him?” Kelsey snaps, and Grace gives her a worried glance.
Wade doesn’t stop. “So I tap her arm and ask what time it is, thinking she’ll look up. Our eyes will meet. She’ll fall under the spell of my smile and charm, and I’ll be eating her sundae before the night’s through.”
“Wade!” I laugh.
“She checks her watch, like on her actual wrist.” He holds up my arm to show off the slender band. “Mutters the time to me and then breaks a speed-walking record leaving the elevator.”
I turn to him. “I had no idea.”
His eyes are gleaming. “My ego begged me not to recount his brush with death.”
“I should have looked,” I say quietly.
“Ehh, the timing wasn’t right. But it all worked out.” Then back to the table, “A few months later she shows up in this club where I’m hanging out with Boomer, Axe, and Bowie. FYI, she still wasn’t into me. Was sure her dad wouldn’t like me.”
Grace clucks her tongue. “Everyone likes you, honey.”
But Walt raises a brow. “This why there isn’t a single picture of you two on social?”
Wade shrugs, not exactly confirming or denying before he goes on. “Didn’t think jocks were her type.”
And whoa, talk about a bombshell.
His parents gasp, for real, which makes me laugh even harder as I hold up my hands. “I swear, I’ve since reconsidered!”
Kelsey straightens, her smile stiff. “You’re not into sports?” She shakes her head. “How is that going to work? Wade’s whole life is about sports. He’s a professional athlete. And when he’s done in the NHL, he’s moving back here to coach our Tigers hockey team.”
I turn to Wade, surprised. “Really, you want to coach like your dad?”