Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 99967 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99967 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
“Have a good day, Harper.”
“You too.” She grins at me, then she jogs up the stairs to the door, keys in the code, and disappears inside.
Rubbing my hand over my chest, I get back in the car and drive off. But when I get home, the house smells like Harper, and it’s way too empty without her, so I fill a gym bag and decide to go lift some weights.
Bridger’s the fire chief, and he’s offered up the gym at the fire station for us siblings to use whenever we want, so I head there. It’s quiet this morning. The sky has lightened to gray with the predawn light, and birds chirp as I walk inside the fire station.
No one is in the locker room, and once I’ve changed and shoved my stuff into a locker, I walk out to the weight room and grin.
Brooks and Bridger are at the squat rack. Brooks is lifting, and Bridger’s watching, and I immediately feel good about coming here so early.
“Hey,” Bridge says with a smile as I stride to them.
“Good morning.” I shake my brother’s hand and pull him in for a man-hug, and do the same to Brooks once he’s racked the bar and stepped over.
We’re all tall in our family, well into the mid-six-foot range. We’re muscular and broad naturally and add in the workouts we all do, and well, we’re strong.
But Brooks takes it to another level.
The man looks like he could wrestle professionally. He could give the Rock a run for his money in the size department.
“How’s it going?” Brooks asks.
“It’s great. I just dropped Harper off at home and thought I’d come work out for a bit. I don’t have to be at the clinic until around noon.”
Bridger’s eyebrows climb in surprise. “You let her stay all night?”
“Don’t be a dick.” I shake my head and walk over to the barbells for curling. My brothers follow me over. “She’s stayed a few nights now. At my house.”
“Hold up.” Brooks crosses his arms over his chest. “This is a relationship.”
“Fuck yes.” I set the barbells down and wipe my hand over my face. “It is. And you two can give me shit all you want, but I don’t care. She’s great, and I plan to spend as much time with her as possible.”
They both stare at me, and Bridger sets his hand on my shoulder. “Good for you. I like her, you know that. I assume she’s on the same page.”
“Same page,” I agree with a nod. “I’d like to murder her ex for being a general asshole and giving her some insecurity issues, but otherwise, things are great.”
“Everyone has baggage,” Brooks says and starts doing curls of his own. Double the amount of weight that I just lifted.
Asshole.
“If you care about her, don’t give up on her.”
Bridger and I share a look.
“Brooks, I have to tell you something.”
“If it’s about someone with a J name, no, you don’t.” He glares at me, and I shuffle my feet.
“Yeah, I do because I feel fucking guilty. Harper loves her restaurant and wanted to eat there yesterday, so I took her.”
He blinks at me. “And?”
“And that’s it.”
“You feel guilty because you ate dinner at a restaurant?”
Bridger grins, and I scowl.
“That J name you won’t talk about owns the fucking place, brother. And she was there, and I had to say hi, and yeah. I feel fucking guilty.”
Brooks shakes his head. “It’s a small town, Blake. Eat wherever the fuck you want. I don’t care.”
But I see the hurt in his eyes, and I hate it.
“Have you seen her since she’s been back?”
The smile leaves Bridger’s face.
“No.”
“Maybe you should rip the bandage off.”
Brooks shakes his head and walks to a leg machine, wearing a scowl on his face.
“You’re going to run into her,” I tell him. “Like you said, it’s a small town. You’re bound to see her at the grocery or the post office. Maybe her car will break down and need your shop—”
“I’m not having this goddamn conversation with you.”
“Fine.” I hold my hands up in surrender. “I just love you, man. And this sucks.”
Bridger blows out a breath. “Did Connor call you guys about staying up at the new lodge for a few days this week?”
I frown and pull out my phone. There’s no call, but I do have a text that I missed over the past couple of days when I was with Harper.
Connor: The first phase of rebuilding the resort is almost finished, and I’d like to have the entire family up to stay for a few days to use the restaurant, the spa, everything. Bring your girl. I’ve also invited the Wild family, hoping to fill most of the rooms to give my staff a trial run before reservations start. It’ll be fun.
He lists the dates, and I see that Harper and I will both be off work those days.