Falling for Mr. Wrong(3)
“Then we’d better make up for lost time.”
Danny stood and pulled Harper’s chair out, then linked arms with her to escort her to the club.
He led her down the hallway, past the doors to the restrooms and the kitchen, where there was an unmarked door. He opened it, ushering her through it into what seemed like a large speakeasy, where a jazz band was playing big band music. Danny pressed his hand to her lower back as he led her to the dance floor, where he grabbed her hands and they started dancing.
Harper could still not get over that there was a nightclub a mere twenty minutes or so from her house. She lived in a small beach community, and while there were plenty of things to do nearby, they often entailed the typical cliché beach activities like putt-putt golf, drive-in movies, or all-you-can-eat seafood restaurants. This was downright exciting.
“I love to dance,” she said as Danny grabbed her hips and moved along with her. Soon a slow song came on and he pulled her closer. Harper could feel him pressed to her hips and knew he was aroused. Wow. A man. Turned on by her. Downright shocking.
She wondered why that was such a stunning turn of events. Was it her lack of confidence that had led her to the drought she’d been in for so long? Inevitably her thoughts always went down the same path when she started to ruminate on this problem. It all came back to Noah Gunderson. The one who broke her heart when he left her so unexpectedly, right when she thought they were heading toward a lifetime together. If anything chipped away at her self-esteem, that was it. So while she wasn’t one to hold a grudge, if there was anyone she’d maybe still consider slugging were she ever to run into him again, it would be Noah.
Thank goodness he left this place years ago. With any luck, she’d never see him again.
*
“Would you like to come back to my place for a nightcap?” Danny whispered into her ear as they slow danced.
Nightcap? That sounded like something a pickup artist would say. It had been a long damned time since Harper had a “nightcap.” Or even a daycap for that matter. Daycap. Maybe that would be called “afternoon delight.” Crap. She hadn’t had that since, well, since that cursed Noah. Three days before he took off for parts unknown, leaving her high and dry and wondering what was so wrong with her that a guy would up and bail like that after being together for so many years. No wonder she struggled to feel value when it came to men. The man she thought treasured her had discarded her like an old tissue.
Nightcap indeed. It was time to take the bull by the proverbial horns and have herself a fun little nightcap with Danny Greevy.
“A nightcap sounds perfect.” She winked at him.
As they walked away from the dance floor, she pulled up the Uber app on her phone and called for a driver, who was there in four short minutes.
It had started to rain while they were in Octopussy, and Danny offered his suit jacket for Harper to cover her head with as they walked to the curb. Such chivalry. Danny was a keeper. She tried to ignore that nagging voice in her head asking if he was, then why wasn’t he already kept?
When the car pulled up, Danny opened the door and helped Harper into the car. She scooted over to the far side and fastened her seat belt. A few cars drove past as she waited for Danny to buckle his, their lights refracting across the raindrops on the car windows.
Danny leaned over and kissed Harper on the nose. “I’m so glad you’re coming over to my place. I want you to meet my cat.”
Cat? Huh. What an unusual come-on, she thought. Though at least she didn’t tell him she wanted him to meet her cat! Now that would be a little too strong of a come-on.
“Good evening, folks,” their driver said as he punched in some data into the GPS on his dashboard-mounted phone. “We’ll get you to Cutler Beach in no time.”
Harper bristled. That voice. As much as she’d hoped to forget that voice, the minute she heard it, she felt a chill lift the hair on her arms. She’d know that miserable rat-bastard voice anywhere.
“Noah?”
Chapter Three
Noah Gunderson had traveled the world for years, soaking in everything he could in every culture he encountered along the way. He’d consumed yak butter tea in Nepal. Grappa in Tuscany. Ouzo in Greece. He even ingested boa constrictor in the Congo and huitlacoche, which is pretty disgusting corn fungus, in Mexico.
And now, it seems, he was about to swallow the bitter bile of rage, courtesy of one unfortunately hot-looking former love of his life, Harper Landry, right here in the confines of his Subaru Outback along the glorious coastline of North Carolina. Noah had hoped to avoid such an encounter by eventually approaching Harper on his terms, but fate had something entirely different in mind. Here he sat, temporarily driving Uber while he got his shit together, and there she perched, his fare for the next twenty minutes, with a date, no less. One whose hand—judging by the view when he readjusted his rearview mirror—was crawling up her thigh.
Well, fuck. This was so not the plan he’d mapped out in his head, which involved maybe lavishing her with flowers and champagne and perhaps even a puppy—she’d always wanted a puppy, hadn’t she? But now, instead, not only was he about to get a well-deserved ream of steaming shit served on a silver platter, but he also had to digest the fact that he was delivering this evidently happy, horny couple to one address—and not hers, considering the unfamiliar locale. That meant she was likely heading to his house for a night of unbridled sex with this asshole who was staking his claim on the woman he’d fantasized about reconciling with after all these years (not to mention having bitter recriminations). Damn, he had his work cut out for him.