Page 175 of Hell Hath No Fury
Matt worked a long day, with customer after customer coming in with emergencies. He never got a chance to run out and head over to Noah’s to talk. All the while, he knew Harper was across the street serving coffee and testing out her new foam techniques and wanting nothing more than to show up and see for himself. But if he saw her, he’d want to touch her, kiss her, drag her into a back room and fuck her senseless then make love to her slowly so she’d know exactly how he felt about her.
Instead, he spent hours in the bay, drinking the swill from a shitty coffee maker rather than the amazing brew Harper created across the street.
Late in the afternoon, he looked outside, hoping for a glimpse of Harper when he caught sight of someone circling her vehicle in Matt’s parking lot alongside the garage. He’d had to order a new belt and she wouldn’t be driving it until the car was fixed.
So what would a guy be doing lurking by Harper’s car?
Wiping his hands on the rag he always kept in his back pocket, Matt headed outside to confront the man. He didn’t even stop to grab a coat.
Wearing a black down jacket and a scarf wrapped so it covered half his face, the man stalked Harper’s vehicle, muttering out loud as he walked around.
“Hey.” Matt stopped the man and shoved him against the window. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“I –”
Matt pulled at the scarf, revealing his face. He recognized Rich Jonas as the new lawyer in town who Harper had been dating. “What the fuck?” Matt asked.
“Matt? Rich?” Harper’s voice startled Matt and he turned to face her. “What’s going on?” she asked.
Matt glanced from her face—her nose had already turned red from the bitter cold—to Rich. “Ask him. I caught him skulking around your car.”
She wrapped her arms around her chest, pushing those full breasts up and revealing more than a hint of her cleavage. He’d tasted that skin and wanted more. His dick perked up at the thought. Too bad now wasn’t the time.
“Rich?” she asked, sounding confused.
He mumbled something unintelligible, obviously not wanting to admit to whatever he’d been doing.
“Speak up,” Matt ordered the man.
“I just thought if I caused some trouble with her car, she’d need someone to rely on and she’d ask me for help.”
She blinked in disbelief. “Seriously? Are you that desperate? I was on a highway when the car started to give out! I could have been killed!”
Rich held up both hands in defeat. “I’m sorry! I thought you’d drive it around town… that you’d stall. I didn’t think–”
Matt’s anger grew as he listened to the man’s explanation, and he grabbed him by the jacket and yanked him up so they were nose to nose. “I swear to God, if I catch you around Harper or her car again, you’ll wish you never set foot in this town. And if you pull this shit with another woman, I’m going to the cops. Now get the fuck out of here.”
Eyes wide, the other man nodded. “Going. I’m going.” He didn’t even look at Harper before running out of the lot and not looking back.
Matt took one look at his girl with her chattering teeth and wide eyes, wrapped his arms around her, and led her into the garage. He had a space heater running in the small office, and he slammed the door shut so she could warm up.
Pulling her against him, he enfolded her in his body heat, and she cuddled into him, where she belonged.
* * *
Harper waited until she warmed up, taking advantage of Matt’s big body and grabbing a few precious minutes in his arms before shoving him away. “Where the hell have you been all day?”
They both came in to work early, and he always, always came by the second she opened for his first cup of coffee for the day. And that was before they’d been intimate. Today, their first day back, he’d been conspicuously absent from her shop, and she refused to go back to the way things were between them. Not without a good explanation.
“I had a crazy busy day and… Fuck.”
She narrowed her gaze.
He looked her in the eyes and sealed his lips over hers, kissing her long and hard until she was out of breath. When he broke the kiss, he had a determined look in his eyes. “Let’s go.”
“Where?” she asked, perplexed and off-kilter from his behavior.
“To see your brother.” He grabbed his jacket off a hook and wrapped it around her shoulders before grasping her hand and leading her to his Tahoe.
