Paranoid(65)

The spring air was cool, the night clear, darkness crouching beyond the lights of the town. She felt wild and edgy as she ran, her hair streaming behind her. The doubts that she was doing the right thing shrank, just as Lucas said they would. Her cousin had introduced Xander to Harper even though she’d claimed she wasn’t interested. “He’s too old, in college. God, he lives like, what? A million miles away.”

“It’s only about three hours, maybe a little longer, and so what?” Lucas had said, his blue eyes glinting. “He’s a good guy. Yeah, he can get his wild on, I guess, but he’s up here all the time, working or interning or something for my dad. He saw you when your mom brought you over to the house once, a couple of weeks ago, and thought you were hot, wanted me to set you up, I guess. And it’s not that big of a deal. He just wants to meet you; it’s not like it’s forever or anything.”

“Mom would kill me,” she’d argued, but she’d been intrigued.

“She doesn’t have to know.” Lucas had grinned then. He’d been enjoying this, and for as long as she could remember, he’d been at odds with his own mother and stepfather—her grandfather. Always giving them fits and loving it. “Come on, Harper, what’ve you got to lose? Aren’t you tired of always doing what your mom thinks is best?” He’d let out a snort of disgust. “Besides, you may not like him. This all might be a big waste of time.” He’d lifted a shoulder and Harper had decided he was right. She and Lucas weren’t all that tight, but in this case, she thought, he had a point. And because of it, she’d met the most wonderful guy in the world. Her soul mate.

She raced under a low-hanging branch, fir needles brushing her hair.

Would he be there? Waiting, as they’d planned? Oh, God, she hoped so. Staying out of the pools of light cast by a few street lamps, avoiding buckles in the sidewalk, she ran around the corner and spied his Jeep idling by the curb, no lights visible.

Her heart soared.

She watched as the passenger door opened, the overhead light offering feeble illumination, but enough that she recognized Xander as he leaned across the seat, his near-black hair falling over his forehead, his teeth flashing in lips that slanted into a quick, heart-stopping grin.

God, she loved him.

“You made it,” he whispered as she slid into the interior and pulled the door shut behind her.

“Yeah. Piece of cake. Let’s go.”

“You’re sure she won’t check on you?”

“She never does. Not after what she calls her ‘perimeter check,’ when she’s going upstairs. Every damned night. It’s an OCD thing.” She glanced up at him. “Or maybe something worse, but then she leaves us alone until it’s time to get up.”

“Good.”

He kissed her first and she melted inside at the touch of his warm lips. His teeth flashed in the darkness. God, she’d really done it. As dangerous as it was. She’d snuck out in the middle of the night. Her mother would kill her if she found out, but Harper couldn’t stand it anymore. She was being treated like a prisoner in the house, and her mother just didn’t get how she felt about Xander. He was different from the boys in high school. Smarter. Funnier. More worldly. He made her previous boyfriends—both of them—seem like junior-highers in comparison.

She felt better already, just being with him.

He slipped the Jeep into gear but paused. “I don’t want you to get into trouble.”

“Too late.”

“You’re sure?”

“I’m here, aren’t I? And, oh yeah, I’m sure.” Of course she wasn’t, but she wasn’t about to let him know that.

“All right.” He kissed her again, then flashed a conspiratorial grin her way. With the lights still off, he pulled away from the curb. At the cross street, he turned on the headlamps, then drove them out of the neighborhood and through the sparse traffic to the place they’d agreed to go: her grandfather’s little retreat at the law offices and Xander’s crash pad when he was working for Charles Ryder.

The studio apartment was used infrequently for guests or clients of the small firm, or, once in a while, for Charles, if he was working late. However, this time Xander had use of the studio when he was working for the firm, either in the office or doing odd jobs, which included some repair work to the building. Xander had adjusted his schedule so that he had more free days during the week as well as time on the weekends.

Which was perfect!

It was only natural that he’d want Harper to spend some time alone with him there. So far she hadn’t, but tonight . . .

She swallowed hard, her heart beating like a drum, and wondered if she was making an irreversible mistake.

But she wasn’t going there. Not now. She was with Xander and she wanted to be here, with him, and no matter what, she had the right to live her own life, to fall in love with whomever she pleased. No, she wasn’t going to second-guess herself. At least not tonight.

He parked in the lot that separated the law office from the property to the west, the old St. Augustine School.

He led her to the back door and inside to a staircase. Up the stairs they hurried to the second floor and her grandfather’s little apartment, one room with a connecting bath and a kitchen stretched along one wall. A television was aglow in the corner, some late-late show turned down low. A café table with two tall chairs sat in a spot near the single window, with its view across the parking lot to the fenced school yard next door, the school property.