Page 6 of Love, Honor, and Ink

He ran a hand over his head, noticing that his black hair was getting too long. Harper looked over the work he’d already completed on the old place and thought of everything else on his list that needed to be taken care of before the Montgomerys showed up to help him. His job was to go in after Storm and Wes Montgomery had made the plans and get the house ready. Usually, that would be Decker’s job, but they had hired Harper to work under Decker in the near future. He might love restoring old places to their former glory, but right then, he couldn’t focus.

No, Ari was the one on his mind, and that annoyed him to no end.

She was just his best friend. The woman he talked to daily and shared almost every part of himself with—just not the part that loved her, he didn’t tell her that.

She wasn’t ready for that, and he hadn’t been ready to change how things were. How she didn’t see it every time he looked at her was beyond him. Even his damn brother had noticed and now took great joy in fucking with Harper because of it.

Now, it looked as if he might have held back for too long.

“Fuck,” he grunted then started putting everything away so he could head out for the day. He wouldn’t be able to focus with Ari and whatever trouble she might be in on his mind. He’d just go to her and find out the truth. Then he’d do what he’d been doing his whole life—fix it.

Harper was a fixer, and despite the fact that Ari hated when he stepped in and tried to take over, he’d been good about letting her make what she thought were her own mistakes and stay with King’s Weddings. But he’d be damned if he stayed behind while she went off and married Justin.

He cursed again and then stomped over to his truck. No, fuck that. She wouldn’t marry Justin. The sense of betrayal washing over him wasn’t because she might be marrying the twat—because that wouldn’t happen. No, the urge to punch something came from the fact that she hadn’t called to let him know something fucked up was happening around her.

Again.

She never called when she needed help because she thought she could handle everything.

The point of being friends was that she shouldn’t have to handle it all.

Harper would just have to remind her of that.

Again.

Then, when he figured out how to help, he’d take a good look at whatever the fuck he was doing with his life because waiting on Ari to be ready for him was damn near killing him.

Sometimes, to find a way to make your life work, you had to take a leap of faith.

That didn’t mean it didn’t scare the hell out of him, though.

By the time he made it to his place and parked in his driveway, he’d just about gotten his emotions under control. Once he talked to Ari, he’d be able to breathe normally again. He got out of his truck and didn’t bother going inside his three-bedroom ranch home. Instead, he crossed the lawn to Ari’s two-bedroom house. Her car was in the driveway, and since he couldn’t feel heat coming from the hood, he knew she’d been there for a little while.

Not good.

She should have called.

But he’d known she wouldn’t.

Without bothering to knock, he unlocked the door using the key she’d given him a couple of years ago and walked inside. Despite the fact that the sun had just set, and darkness crept through the windows, she hadn’t turned on any lights. He closed and locked the door behind him, toed off his shoes so she wouldn’t yell at him for ruining her carpets again, and went in search of her.

If she’d merely had a bad day, Harper would expect to find her up in her tub with her eReader. He drew up short, cursing his dick. Thinking about Ari slick and covered in bubbles wasn’t the right direction for his mind to go. Not now.

But since Ari had probably dealt with Justin that day, Harper had a feeling this might take more than a bubble bath to get over.

He headed to the kitchen, and that’s where he found her.

She sat on the kitchen floor between the two counters, her shoes beside her tossed to the side. Was it wrong that she looked damn sexy with those stocking feet and short skirt even though he knew she probably wanted to scream or cry at the moment?

Her light pink and grey outfit had wrinkles in it—something he never thought he’d see on Ari, and even her sexy blonde hair looked like she’d run her fingers through it over and over.

Oh, sweet Jesus, his Ari looked like hell.

Without a second thought, he took off his jacket and slid down beside her without speaking. She looked up at him with those big green eyes, and he fell for her all over again.

Not that he’d tell her that.

“Hey, you,” she said, her voice a little slurred.

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