“Deal. I’m getting off the phone now. You’re distracting me from shopping.”

“Translation: you’re getting all hot and bothered as you look at the eggplant.”

“Hanging up now.” She snatched a bag of cilantro as she rounded past the herbs.

“Love you.”

“Love you, too.” She grinned hugely as she hung up, sticking her phone in her purse before she went to grab an onion to add to the cart.

Five minutes later she had everything she needed and was heading to the front of the store. There was a line at each of the open registers, so she went to number ten at the very end because it seemed a tad bit shorter. Her prime number tendencies weren’t all that important in the moment. All she wanted was to get out of there and get to the man who was waiting for her.

Waiting to do wicked things to her with his mouth. Yes, that was a good thing to focus on. A much, much better thing to focus on.

The line shifted and she moved forward, loading the groceries onto the belt while the woman in front of her paid. When the last item was up on the belt she stepped back and glanced over to the stand next to her, her eyes catching on the tabloids. There were the usual articles discussing the supposed demise of another A-List couple, or if so-and-so was coming out of the closet, or how aliens had abducted what’s-his-name.

But none of those were what caught Harper’s eye. No, it was the tabloid with a massive picture of Kiki Jean Carlow front and center. She was batting her baby blues at the camera and grinning. Right next to it was a separate—and smaller—headshot of Liam.

Has Kiki Jean Carlow Found Love with Musician Liam James? Is She the Girl from His New Hit Song “Forever”?

Seeing his name connected to Kiki’s almost had Harper losing it right there in the middle of the Piggly Wiggly. As it was, her heart was pounding out of her chest, her palms had gone sweaty, and her ears were ringing.

It was automatic, her flipping through the pages to get to the article. She stopped breathing when she found it.

More pictures were here, these with Liam and Kiki actually together. One was of them sitting in a club, the photo slightly blurry but clear enough to see him leaning closer to presumably hear her speak. Another of her leaving what looked to be a room backstage; he was shirtless and she was running her fingers down his chest. The last was from the video shoot, the two of them walking side by side, his hand on her hip as he looked down at her.

Yup, just like that, perspective was gone. She was going to be sick.

Chapter Nineteen I’ll Be Your Man

Liam was starting another load of laundry when Harper walked in the front door. Luna bolted from her comfortable position all snuggled on the bed and ran through the living room to get to her owner.

He shut the lid of the washer and closed the accordion doors before heading down the hallway.

“Groceries in the car?” he asked as he rounded the corner. He’d told her to call him when she was close and he’d get them out. But as her arms were laden with four reusable bags she hadn’t listened.

“There wasn’t that much.” She shook her head, barely sparing him a glance as she headed for the kitchen.

He made a move to grab the bags but she didn’t let go. “Wasn’t that much? You’re carrying your weight in groceries.” Okay, maybe a slight over-exaggeration. But still, he’d told her he would get them.

“I’ve got it.” She pulled away and stepped around him.

He followed automatically, an uneasiness settling over him. What the hell was going on? They’d just been on the phone not twenty minutes ago and everything had been fine. Now she wouldn’t look at him.

“Harper, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” she said as she pulled the milk, cheese, and sour cream from the bag and walked over to the refrigerator.

Bullshit.

“You lying to me now?”

Her back snapped in tension as she straightened, shutting the door a little harder than normal as she spun around. There was a fire in her eyes, passion in her cheeks, and fury on her mouth. “Did you just call me a liar?”

“No, I asked if you were lying. Not the same thing.”

Her eyes narrowed and she took a deep breath, letting it out through her nose. She walked back over to the bags, pulling out a magazine and tossing it on the counter. “That’s what’s going on,” she said, pointing.

His eyes dropped to the magazine, scanning the front and seeing his picture next to Kiki’s with a headline that immediately had his own temper flaring. He didn’t need to read what was inside to know it was all a bunch of lies.

Apparently it didn’t matter that he’d been one hundred percent honest with her from the get-go, she thought he was cheating.

He looked back up to her, doing everything in his power not to lose his damn mind. “Tell me you don’t believe that.”

“You don’t even know what it says.”

“I don’t need to, Harper. Anything connecting me to Kiki is horseshit.”

“I know that!” she shouted.

“Really? Do you? Then why the fuck did you buy it?” he shouted right back. He didn’t mean to, but good God, she was killing him. “Because if you believe a word of that garbage for a single second, then you don’t know me at all!”

The instant her eyes filled with tears he knew he’d missed the mark. Had gone too far and let his temper take control. This didn’t have to do with trusting him. Whatever was in there had scared her and she didn’t know how to deal with it.

“Harper—”

But she turned and walked away. Out of the kitchen and down the hall to the bedroom, and before the door shut, her sob echoed down the hallway.

“Dammit.” He followed, refusing to let her walk away. He’d done that once before, not stopped her when she’d left him on that balcony. He wasn’t doing it again.

Never again.

*  *  *

Harper was losing it. She was freaking losing it.

Another sob broke out of her chest and she tried to bury it in the pillow, her body curling in on itself as she started to shake uncontrollably.

God it hurt. Everything. Her lungs that were having difficulty pulling in air. Her head that was pounding. Her heart that was throbbing. All of it.

The bedroom door opened, Liam’s bare feet moving across the wooden floor before the bed dibbed and his arms wrapped around her. His front solidly pressed to her back.

“Honey, please don’t. Please don’t cry,” he whispered, his lips on her neck.

It just made her cry harder.

She knew that stupid article had been garbage. The article that implied “Forever” was about Kiki. The article that implied Kiki and Liam had been seeing each other for months. It didn’t matter that Harper knew the truth. Didn’t matter that she trusted Liam implicitly.

Because it still hurt so badly she couldn’t breathe.

She wasn’t sure how long they lay there before she calmed down. Before she wasn’t gasping in air. Before the crying had changed from sobbing to a wave of tears running down her cheeks every time she blinked.

His hand found hers, his palm covering the back of the fist she’d made. She was clutching on to the pillow and he tugged lightly until she let go, her hand relaxing.

“You’re who I want, Harper.” Their hands moved down and when he brought it to her belly he flattened her palm against the not-so-slight bump, his hand still covering hers. “You and this baby. Please tell me you know that.” His nose skimmed her neck, the scruff of his beard tickling her skin. “Please tell me you know how much I love you.”

She rolled to her back, looking up into Liam’s face as he hovered above her. The green-gold of his gaze was all that she saw, the raw honesty in his eyes so real.

“I know.” She reached up with her free hand—he still had the other pressed to her belly—and touched his jaw. “This isn’t about me being pregnant and hormonal you know…well, it’s not all about that.”