Falling for Mr. Wrong(4)

“Wait a minute—is that you, Harper?” He glanced in the rearview mirror in time to catch the lacerating glare of her eyes.

Her lip snarled. “Noah? Is that you? Noah love-’em-and-leave-’em Gunderson?” She threw him the stink-eye. “Not surprised you wouldn’t recognize me. That usually happens when you leave without a backward glance.”

Touché. He paused for a minute to collect his thoughts. He didn’t want to blow it on the first go-round. He figured there were going to be many of these if he wanted to try to win her back. It wasn’t going to be easy; even he recognized that he’d behaved like a cad when he left her with no warning. It was inexcusable, and he knew he’d better not start making excuses now.

Headlights coming toward him illuminated his passengers in the backseat. Glancing in his rearview mirror, he noted Harper had grown into a beautiful woman: those nearly translucent eyes he’d stared into so many times brought to mind the tropical waters of Bali. He’d spent time there and went on a whale watch in search of the magnificent blue whale, the largest animal on the planet, weighing in at 150 tons and up to 100 feet long. Truly a once-in-a-lifetime spectacle to behold. Yet as amazing as that was, was it better than the many quiet times he and Harper spent holding hands, gazing into each other’s eyes? Hard to say, but right now he’d give anything to have that back.

He stole a glance at her hair—it had the slightest glimmer of copper threading its way through the chestnut curls—and yearned to run his fingers through it again as he’d done so many times before. His fingers clutched the steering wheel as he gritted his teeth. He’s the one who threw that all away. He wasn’t entitled to be mad at her or even jealous of the doofus coming onto her in the back seat. Well, okay, he could be jealous of him. Pissed even. She was everything he remembered her to be, only instead of the ubiquitous smile boasting those bright white teeth, she wore a scowl that he knew was reserved for him. Talk about a sucker punch to the gut.

“I’m sorry I didn’t let you know I was back in town.”

“Huh,” she said. “Why on earth would you? Seems entirely in keeping with your not letting me know you were leaving town. At any rate, you must’ve thought I’d want to know.” She paused, her eyes thin slivers, like an angry snake. “You’ve obviously mistaken me for someone who cares.”

She was always good at digging the knife in when she wanted to.

“I’m sorry. Of course not,” he said, adjusting the rearview mirror again so he could get a better look at what that little shit was doing with Harper. He wasn’t sure which was paining him more: her churlish rejection of him, or the fact that this man’s hands were roaming her body while he had no other choice but to drive the car and feign ignorance.

God. Were they a couple? Had they been together for long? He’d received updates on Harper while his mother was alive, at least until she was too sick to bother anymore. She’d adored Harper and had hoped so much that Noah would rethink things and try to reclaim his long-lost love. He felt awful that it took his mother’s death to kick him hard enough in the ass to even attempt it. But maybe it was too late. He hadn’t contemplated that and instead assumed that somewhere in the back of his selfish brain, she’d be waiting for him. That was his first mistake.

The car was silent but for the whoosh-whoosh of the windshield wipers and the thrum of raindrops on the car roof. Oh and the giggles emanating from Harper’s mouth. Knowing that jerk was eliciting those responses from her was making Noah crazy. What was he doing? Where were his hands now? A glance in the mirror revealed him leaning toward Harper, his nose practically stuck in her ear. He was whispering sweet nothings, buttering her up, getting her ready for the close. Noah wasn’t stupid. He was, after all, a guy and recognized the silent negotiations going on, the push-pull of who was going to be allowed to do what and when. Judging by the joyful noises coming from his ex-girlfriend, that dude was going to for gold. Four aces. A hat trick.

Crap. He couldn’t let this happen right under his nose. Even if it was his own damned fault. He couldn’t have finally figured things out in that obtuse brain of his, only to discover it was too late because this monkey was swinging from her tree while he chauffeured them around the greater Verity Beach metropolitan area. He needed to do something to thwart this. He realized he hadn’t turned up his music again. Normally for a late-night call like this, he played seduction music; he figured the couple would appreciate the warm-up tunes. But now he switched to his world music channel, and the sound of a loud singer with a heavy synthetic drumbeat filled the car.

“So, Harps,” he said. “I was under the impression you were single.”

A look in the mirror revealed that diversionary question stopped Harper in her tracks. Sweet. Better still, it halted Mr. Wonderful from advancing the troops temporarily. For the win.

Harper frowned. “Do you mean now, or do you mean four years ago, when you left me high and dry while you indulged yourself and took off to sow your wild oats, or whatever the hell you were doing?”

Man, this was not going to be easy. Good thing Noah loved a challenge.

“About that.” He arched his brow and flicked his turn signal on. The car was uncomfortably quiet save for the click, click, click of the blinker. The sound could’ve been his brain, trying desperately to come up with a good excuse. His mind was like a lighter that had run out of butane, so as many times as you might flick that flint, no flame was gonna start up. The sucky thing was he didn’t have one.