“Maybe my friends would, but most guys would wash their hands of a woman who was that down on things. I could have easily gotten such thick skin I didn’t let anyone in.”
“You do have thick skin, sweetheart. How could you not? But even thick skin on you is soft and loving, not harsh or cold. The reason I say I wasn’t trying to fix Corinne is because I didn’t think she was broken. She said her parents were overbearing and had tried to control every aspect of her life. She told me that her family had disowned her and that she was paying for school with loans and scholarships. I had never met her family. If I had, I would have realized how wrong I was. To make a long story short, she got pregnant, and in the end she wasn’t who I thought she was.”
Harper’s stomach clenched. “You have a child?”
“No. I thought I was going to, but once I told her I would quit college and we could raise the baby in Oak Falls, where I could get a job at my father’s company and we would have family support, I guess it threw a monkey wrench into her plans. A week later she aborted the baby and broke up with me—in that order. She told me the baby wasn’t mine anyway. I had wondered how it happened since we always used condoms, but you know, they’re only ninety-nine percent effective. I figured we were just unlucky. But then I found out she’d been seeing some other guy almost the whole time. She told me it was my baby because she thought I was a cash wagon and that my father’s money was family money I’d have access to. I found out later that her family hadn’t disowned her. She’d snubbed them because they wouldn’t cater to her expensive demands, but they were paying for her schooling, books, and housing. Apparently all that wasn’t enough for her. And honestly, who knows if she was ever really pregnant?”
“Gavin, that’s awful.”
“It pretty much broke me for a while. I had trouble trusting women, and trusting myself, for a long time. But the truth is, I didn’t love her. I was young and away from my family for the first time. I think I needed her affection to fill a gap, which is embarrassing to admit. You see, other people have one-night stands, but I’m not wired that way. I had a relationship that seemed good enough at the time, and when she got pregnant I wanted to do the right thing.”
He shook his head with a pinched expression, and she realized they were still swaying, though the music had become white noise to the pain in her heart for Gavin.
“I was incredibly young and unfathomably stupid,” he said. “But it was what it was, and it was just one more reason I hadn’t been home in so long when I met Serena. Corinne drove a wedge between me and my family, and I let it happen. I took her side from the get-go instead of listening to the people who had known me my whole life and who were only looking out for me. Afterward, I was ashamed of taking her side, so I stayed away from home. Things are better with my family now, but it was a long, hard road.”
“No wonder you pushed me to be honest with my family.” She was heartbroken for him, but she couldn’t ignore the question gnawing at her. “I’m sorry, but I have to ask if you’re one of those guys who needs broken women.”
“God no. I wouldn’t call her broken, Harper. She knew exactly what she was doing. She was manipulative and conniving, not broken. I later talked to her family and found out I wasn’t the first guy she’d done that to. I never understood why I was put through such a horrible time, thinking I was having a kid, then realizing I was being played. But now I’m glad I went through it.”
“Why? It must have been so awful without close friends or family to help you.”
“It was, but when you appeared on the beach after nearly a year, my heart stopped, Harper. I was beginning to think I’d conjured our night together, and then you were there, like an angel from above, only the light in your eyes had dimmed. But that experience helped me understand what you were facing. It helped me understand what it was like to have your world pulled out from under you. I think fate brought us together again, Harp, and had I not gone through that, I wouldn’t have known how to relate to what you’d been through, much less help you move past it.”
Harper couldn’t imagine how Gavin thought what he’d gone through was similar to her experiences. His was so much bigger, more heartbreaking. But now she understood why he was so patient and looked at things through a different lens than she had. He’d been drowning and had found his way back up to the surface. He was even stronger than she thought.
The song ended, and everyone clapped as the bandleader conferred with another band member. Gavin held Harper tighter, continuing to dance to their own private beat. She rested her head on his shoulder, his heartbeat steady and sure against her cheek. In those quiet moments, the impact of how much of himself he’d shared hit her, along with the realization that he’d taken what sounded like the worst time in his life and turned it positive for her.
She gazed up at the man who had taken hold of her heart almost a year ago and cradled it in his hands for all this time. She had already been falling for him, and this just tipped the scales.
When the band started playing “My Girl,” Gavin held her gaze, singing every word to her. He’d had his heart ripped out, and somehow this incredible man was still able to trust, to give himself over without hesitation. She wanted to do that, too.
He twirled her, then held her close again, and she melted against him. As the song ended, he lowered his lips to hers, kissing her deeply.
Applause and cheers rang out, and she felt him smiling into their kisses. When she drew back, the women with the red hats hooted, cheering louder and waving their hats. Harper realized most of the audience was looking at her and Gavin.
“What’s going on?” Harper asked.
With stars in his eyes Gavin said, “The women in the red hats are the wives of some of the band members. They did me a favor and got the band to play that song for us.”
Harper swore the earth moved, lifting her higher. She put her arm around his neck, pulling his mouth toward hers, and said, “Then let’s give them something to cheer about.”
LATER THAT EVENING they stumbled into Harper’s cottage in a fit of kisses and laughter, reliving the end of the concert. She hoped Gavin wasn’t going to take off right away, as he had the other night. In all the time they’d spent together this week, they hadn’t done anything more than kissing, but tonight she wanted to.
“When that red-hat woman grabbed you for the next dance, I thought I’d never get you back,” Harper said as she set her bag on the desk.
“She wasn’t bad, but the woman who grabbed me after her? She pinched my cheeks. And I don’t mean the ones on my face.” Gavin hauled her against him, grabbing her butt with both hands, and her body flamed. “You don’t have to worry about not getting me back, Harp. I am so into you…”
“Good,” she said a little breathlessly, “because I’d hate to have to call Jana and have her kick some old lady’s ass.” He smelled like man and desire wrapped up in one strong, sexy package.
“Finally learning I’m worth fighting for, huh?”
Her heart was racing, and his hungry eyes told her he was right there with her, longing for more.
“I’ve never been a fighter.” She ran her fingers over his biceps, trying to sound seductive as she said, “But I think it’s time to learn.”