Everybody Knows (Sunnyside #1) (21 page)

Well, sure. “Text me if you need me,” he’d said.
That was the trouble. He liked to be needed. And Harper didn’t like to need
anyone. She wanted him so badly her teeth hurt sometimes, but not because she
needed
him.

In the beginning, she had thought sneaking around
was fun. Arranging for trysts at the library after work was done for the day
(making love on the rooftop—sublime!). Sneaking into Zach’s office before the
staff arrived (making love on an exam table—awkward!). And making use of some
of Zach’s old high school make-out hangouts (which had been a missing part of
Harper’s youth, since she rarely stayed in one place long enough to be included
in the local traditions). But none of that was enough anymore.

“I don’t know why I came here,” Nathan complained
as he doused his salad with dressing. “You’re not paying a bit of attention to me.”

“Of course I am. I made your favorite dinner, I
bought the ingredients for Midori Sours—next up in your Bartender’s Guide—we
discussed your latest heartbreak, your next crush, gossiped about our friends,
and examined your latest wardrobe hits and misses. What else would you like me
to do? Cut your hair?”

His hand flew to the nape of his neck. “Are you
saying I need a trim?”

“No, I’m saying you’re perfect just the way you
are. There’s nothing more I can do to enhance your image.”

He put down his fork and rested his chin on his
fists. “You find me boring.”

She mimicked his pose. “Not in the least.”

“You’re thinking about the Hot Doc.”

She wished she could deny it. “He has dropped into
my thoughts a time or two.”

Unable to ignore his food for long, Nathan resumed
eating. “What are you going to do about him?”

Harper nibbled a breadstick. “I’m going to keep on
the way I have been until something else happens.”

“Like what, sweet thing?”

“Like some gossipy biddy finds out and creates a
stink, or he loses interest in me, or leaves town, or I get seriously tired of
being his dirty little secret, find my backbone, and break it off with him.”

“I don’t like your choices.” Nathan filled the
wine glass she’d been ignoring and handed it to her.

Tipping a salute in his direction, she sipped.
“That’s why I’m hanging in there with what I’ve got.”

“You’re not his dirty little secret, you know.”

Nice of him to attempt making her feel better, but
she didn’t agree with his opinion. “It sure feels like it.”

“He explained his reason for not acknowledging
you. It’s not because he has a significant other he’s cheating on, he’s not
ashamed of you, and it’s not just about the sex.”

“And you can tell this how? By the way he had his
tongue down my throat and his hands on my ass?”

“Those were excellent clues, but I saw the way he
looked at you. That man’s crazy for you.”

“His is not!” She put her glass down with a thump.
“Is he?”

“No one’s ever looked at me the way he was looking
at you. Believe me, I’d sell my soul for just one minute of that kind of
devotion.”

“Really?” Considering the possibility, a little
glow started to build in her heart and fill her whole body with hope. And then
she remembered. How he felt about her wouldn’t make a bit of difference. He was
leaving. Leaving Sunnyside. Leaving her. However crazy he might be about her,
he wasn’t crazy enough about her to stay. “I don’t think so. But eat up. I have
a hankering for tequila. We’ll go to what passes for a bar and stay until they close
the place down.”

“Will that be ten o’clock?”

“At least ten. Maybe even eleven or twelve o’clock.”
She hoped that would be long enough to drown her sorrows.

The Lucky Dog was dark and crowded and went eerily
silent when Harper and Nathan stepped through the door, except for a song on
the jukebox in the corner. Nathan probably thought the attention was due to his
personal magnificence, and maybe it was. But it was more likely a reaction to
strangers in their midst. Or to Harper unexpectedly showing up at their local
watering hole.

The bar was full of mostly men. Not Harper’s
favorite species, at the moment. A few of them were with clingy women. One
table was filled with a group of females giving off a ladies-night-out vibe. A
couple of televisions were tuned to baseball games and held the attention of
beer drinkers seated at the long bar. The jukebox blared country music to fit
the jeans and boots of most of the clientele. Definitely a redneck bar, not an
urban dance club like Nathan most often frequented. He and Harper claimed the
only two open spots at the bar.

A muscular bartender with an earring and
impressive ink tossed a dishtowel over his shoulder and paused in front of
them. “What’ll you have?”

“The lady wants tequila. Make it Patron.” Nathan
batted his eyes at the sexy local. “I’ll have whatever you’ve got on tap. In a
clean glass, of course.”

“What? You want me to wash a glass just for you,
pretty boy? That’ll be extra.”

“Whatever it costs.”

When he came back with the drinks and sloshed them
on the bar, Nathan grabbed hold of his wrist. “What’s going on?” He pointed to
the back room, where most of the crowd and noise was congregated. “Darts?”

The bartender looked at Nathan’s hand and shook it
off, but a definite sizzle created a cloud of snap, crackle, and pop in the air
around them. Leave it to Nathan to home in on the only gay guy in the room.
“Friday-night tournament. You want in? Twenty bucks.”

“Sure, sugar, sign me up. You want in, too,
Harper?”

“No, I want to just sit here and drink.” “Why
don’t you stay here with me?” This wasn’t Nathan’s usual kind of bar. Straight,
for one thing.

“It’ll be better if we get to know the locals.
Let’s go size up my competition. You come, too. It will be better if we stick
together.”

Against all her good judgment, she tossed back her
tequila shot, ordered another, and waded through the crowd with him.

Two hours later, Nathan had cleaned up at darts,
drank half a dozen beers, solicited the bartender’s phone number, and was on
the verge of being named Favorite Newcomer of the Month. An imaginary honor
Harper couldn’t even claim in her wildest dreams. But now she was getting
spill-over friendliness from some of the locals based on Nathan’s popularity.
Go figure
.

While she slumped in her seat, wishing her friend
would come back to their table so they could leave, Zach came into the bar with
his brother and Brady. Half the customers in the place called out his name or a
greeting as he looked around for a place to sit. Zach pulled up short when he
spotted Harper, seemed to realize he was staring, and turned to grab a seat at
the bar.

She’d had just enough tequila to take the reaction
as a personal snub. Remembering she might be mad at him to begin with, she
muscled her way over to the bar and purposely leaned into him while she called
the bartender over. “Another round.”

Zach’s hand stroked leisurely down her side when
she teetered his way just a bit. “Hey, Chicago. Slumming with the locals? I’ve
never seen you in here before.”

Tempted to claim the seat beside him or climb into
his lap or challenge him to a game of darts or shock him out of his comfort
zone by planting a big wet kiss on that sexy mouth, she remembered in time that
any kind of PDA was out of bounds. Cordial and casual or stuck up and aloof
were the only responses available to her. “Came for a drink with my friend.”

He narrowed his eyes at her. “How much have you
had to drink already?”

She lifted her hands and shrugged. “Not too much.”

“You don’t usually drink.” A casual comment, but
she could hear some underlying concern.

She lowered her voice. “I think my boyfriend is
ashamed of me.”

Shoulders stiffening, Zach glanced around. “You
have a boyfriend?”

“Not really.” She pushed her bottom lip out in
what she hoped was a sexy pout. “I’m just a convenience. He comes over to have
sex and never takes me anywhere. What does that sound like to you?”

“Maybe he prefers to keep you all to himself.”

“Yeah, maybe
that’s
it.” She’d forgotten how alcohol unleashed her sarcastic tendencies.

Picking up her next tequila shot and Nathan’s
beer, she turned to flounce away from Zach, but her heel caught on the
barstool, and she went flying. Or she would have if Saint Zachary hadn’t caught
her before she hit the floor.

“You need some fresh air.” His arms were wrapped
around her from behind and she wiggled her butt against his groin. His
responding growl might have been frustration, enjoyment, or a warning. “You
want to get Nathan so we can get out of here? I’ll walk home with you guys.”

Nathan and the bartender had their heads together
in a tense conversation at the end of the bar. She hated to interrupt. “I’ll
text him.”

Digging her phone out of her purse, she had to
squint to text him about her departure and asked if he was staying or going. He
read the message, looked over, shook his head, and then tipped it at the hunky
earring guy standing next to him.

“Let’s go. He’s set.”

“What’s he going to do? Stay here and drink
without you?”

“He’s hooked up with the bartender. Or hopes to.”

Zach’s eyes didn’t exactly bug out of his head,
but they sure opened wide as he turned to observe the two men. “With Wayne? Are
you kidding me?”

“No, why? Is he taken?”

“No, but he’s not…” His words stopped flowing as
the light bulb in his head went on. “Hmm. Maybe he is.”

“People see what they want to see.” She repeated
the words he’d used about Kate. “Even the almighty town doctor.”

Harper marched out of the bar with her head
buzzing and the floor tilting a little bit. Zach stopped for a word with his
brother and Brady then hurried to follow her.

“Not so almighty.” He caught up with her on the
other side of the street. “Everyone makes mistakes.”

“What mistake have you made?”

“I made you feel bad, and I didn’t intend to.” His
hand at the small of her back guided her around a fire hydrant that jumped in her
way. “You know I’m not ashamed of you, right?”

The hand felt so good she wished he would drop it
lower, but of course, he wouldn’t. Anyone could be watching. “I know that most
of the time, but tonight I forgot.”

“What would it take to convince you?” He walked
beside her, in-step with her tipsy shuffle, no longer touching her except to
reach out every once in a while to help her balance. “I’m a pretty good
convincer.”

“Yeah, I remember.” What would she like him to do
that would be within the scope of their agreement? That wouldn’t tip off the
whole town that they were sleeping together? That looked friendly on the
surface, not sexual. “Can we occasionally accidentally run into one another at
lunch or dinner and share a meal in public?”

“We can do that.”

That was easy. “Maybe we can go somewhere
together. Out of town.”

“That would take some planning, babe, but it’s
possible. Anything else?”

She tried to look up at him, but there was a big
old moon looming behind his head, casting his face in darkness. And he was kind
of swaying from side to side. Or maybe that was her. “I’m sure I’ll think of
something.”

He bumped her shoulder with his, but had to grab
her by the waist when she started tilting sideways. “See that wasn’t so hard
was it?”

“No.” Her annoyance diminished, and she started to
feel friendlier toward him again. After all, she’d signed up for this
relationship. Nobody had held a gun to her head. She shouldn’t be mad at him
for not realizing her feelings were changing. And that was just it. Her feelings
about him
were
changing. Well, damn.
Absolutely no getting out of this deal now without getting her heart broken.

They’d reached her house. She sat down on the
front steps, under the streetlight, in full view of anyone who wanted to look.
And as she knew from her brief time in Sunnyside,
everyone
wanted to look.

“Do you want to come in?”

“Love to, but I don’t want to have to take my
third cold shower of the day. For some reason, this isn’t my lucky day.”

“Maybe Sunday will be your lucky day.”

He groaned. “That’s two whole days from now.”

“Yeah, but I got the feeling you didn’t want to be
here when Nathan was.”

Standing on her sidewalk with his hands in his
pockets, he studied his shoes. Mostly, his face was in shadow, but she could
almost hear him think. “What do you have planned for tomorrow?”

“Farmers market in the morning. Poke around the
shops on the square in the afternoon, I guess. Maybe bingo tomorrow night.”

“Why don’t we go on a picnic? You, me, and Nathan?
We can swim at Bert’s private lake out near Live! Nude! Girls! Just the three
of us. Or we can get a group together. Might help you to get to know my friends
better, and we’d be able to spend time together in a public setting.”

“Really? You’d do that?”

“I haven’t taken a day off since the Fourth of
July, and you’re feeling neglected. You’re right. We never do anything together
that doesn’t involve sneaking around or having sex. Which I’m totally into, but
this will be fun, too.”

“It does sound like fun.”

“Then it’s a date. Kind of. See you tomorrow,
gorgeous.” He leaned over and touched his fingers to her cheek, pretending to
brush something off it. “Consider yourself kissed.”

She smiled and stuck her tongue out at him.
“Consider yourself Frenched.”