Page 57 of Capture The Moment

“Hey, Liam,” she said, attempting to ignore his big brother. “It’s nice to see you.”

“You too! Connor didn’t tell us you were coming. Got any more surprise visitors with you?” Liam’s enthusiasm at seeing her was in direct contrast to Finn, who still wore a disgruntled expression.

“No. Just me,” Harper said.

“Finn, don’t just stand there. Take the lady’s coat!”

“Why don’t you go away and give us a minute?” Finn growled.

Liam’s hands shot up in the air, and he backed up. “Whoa. Someone forgot to take their happy pill today!” he teased as he retreated to the back of the house.

Harper had taken off her coat and had laid it over her arm, although part of her was considering turning around and running back out the door. I knew I should have driven myself here!

“If you must know, I came here for Julia,” she said, keeping her voice low. “My being here has nothing to do with you.”

“I didn’t expect that it would after the way you were locking lips with Burberry the other night,” he hissed, and he pulled the coat out of her arms and hung it in the hall closet.

“You have some nerve, Finn O’Brien. I saw you leave with that…with that…large-breasted bimbo!”

She’d planted her hands on her hips, and they stood there, glaring at each other, until someone cleared their throat from a few paces away.

“Uh…you two care to join us for dinner?” Connor asked.

Harper tore her eyes away from Finn long enough to see the smirk on Connor’s face, but when Finn looked his way, Connor immediately wiped it off. “Sorry, dude. It’s just that the pizza’s getting cold!” With that, he turned and sauntered back to the kitchen.

“I would leave if I could, but Julia drove,” Harper snarled. So much for them rediscovering their friendship. Right then, she wanted to get as far away from him as possible.

“It’s fine. We’re all adults here. We can certainly be civil through dinner.” His voice had softened, but he still looked perturbed.

Harper knew they weren’t done talking—not by a long shot. “Agreed.”

She followed him through the living room and into a kitchen/dining area at the back of the house. Julia stood at the kitchen counter, doling out pizza on paper plates while Connor passed out beers.

“About time, man,” Connor said as he handed a bottle to Finn.

Liam was already seated at the kitchen table, the only one who looked truly relaxed as he kicked back in his chair and took a huge bite of pepperoni pizza. I bet my sister would think he was hot, Harper thought as she eyed him. And he’s probably around her age…

“Harper? Beer?” Connor asked.

“Sure,” she said, accepting the cold bottle from his hands.

Once everyone had settled in, Connor cleared his throat noisily.

“So…uh…the reason I asked you guys over…” he began.

But Liam interrupted. “What? Are you getting married or something?”

Julia choked on her pizza, while Connor and Finn glared at their younger brother.

“Oops. My bad,” Liam said and tucked back into his slice.

“If you called us here to tell us that you and Julia are dating, you can relax. We kind of gathered that when she showed up,” Finn said, shooting a smile at Julia.

If only he would have smiled at me that way, Harper thought, inwardly fuming at the way he’d greeted her.

“Yeah, well, I wanted you guys to be the first to know,” Connor said, looking relieved.

Julia leaned over and sweetly kissed his cheek, and Connor sat up a little straighter. “So, anyway, now you know, and there’s no more secrets between us.”