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Chapter26
HARPER
A shiver danced down her spine, and goose bumps peppered her skin.
Lit only by the nightlight and the moon’s silvery glow, she and Landon sang the silly lyrics to the familiar children’s nursery rhyme, but the sound was anything but immature.
Of course, they’d been working on music, but they hadn’t sung a duet. She’d harmonized with Landon Paige on the radio, alone in her car, belting out Heartthrob Warfare hits for a decent chunk of her life, but singing with the man in real life was like something out of her teenage daydreams.
Still, it went beyond starstruck.
Their voices came together and created a rich, honest sound. Raw yet refined, their duet was the audible equivalent of a diamond in the rough. Its beauty came naturally. Neither competed to be heard. Nothing was forced with this collaboration. Just two people whose voices ebbed and flowed like the song of the ocean or the medley of the breeze passing through a cluster of aspen trees. Easy and natural, their voices didn’t require booming bass or techno overtones to garner attention.
They sang the lines of the song once, twice, then a third time before bringing it to a close. Shimmery anticipation hung in the air like the house needed a few seconds to absorb the sound and pay homage to the vibrations echoing within its walls. Never had such an ordinary girl’s room held such melodic magic. Only Aria’s even breathing could be heard as they lingered, gazes locked in a dreamlike haze. She wanted to remember every detail about this moment—the scent of Aria’s shampoo in the air and the slight tap of the old elm needling at the bedroom window. She didn’t look away, scared that the spell would be broken if she did. Warmth engulfed her hand as Landon tightened his grip. The heat of his touch added to the swell of energy pulsing between them. Somewhere between singing about chickens hatching in Penny’s sisters’ mouths, their fingers had twined together. Like the curved line of the musical slur symbol connecting notes beneath its arc to create one continuous trail of sound, her connection to Landon had never been stronger.
“Harper,” he rasped, and his voice sent a delicious tingle through her body. It was as if her name held the key to his heart. He didn’t speak the syllables. He breathed life into them.
She parted her lips, unsure what was about to come out, when Aria sighed deeply, and the puff of sound snapped them back.
“Looks like our girl is out for the count,” Landon whispered.
Our girl?
Was that a slip of the tongue?
Lit only by the faint glow of the nightlight and the watery-blue haze of the full moon, she gazed at the little girl, and her heart ached. What would life be like when Aria didn’t conk out in her bed? She’d grown to love watching the child’s brow smooth and her expression soften as she drifted off each night.
And then an agonizing question echoed in her mind.
What would life be like when Landon and Aria moved on without her?
Was that what she wanted, or was that how it had to be?
Did she want to put her heart on the line and break her hard and fast rule to keep her from falling hard and fast for another musician?
Stop! He’s your sixty-day husband. That was the deal.
She swallowed past the lump in her throat. “We should let her sleep.”
“Yeah,” Landon answered softly and released her hand.
It took everything she had not to reach out and lace her fingers with his again.
Just be the nanny-aunt.
After two weeks, they’d mastered the art of exiting the room without waking the unconscious seven-year-old. They followed the same steps. First, she rose to her feet, then he followed. But this wasn’t like any night they’d shared. Something had changed. With her heart in her throat, she tiptoed out of the room a few steps ahead of Landon. He closed the bedroom door, then stood before her in the darkened hallway.
What if she was wrong?
What if nothing had changed?
Stop!
To maintain her sanity, she’d need to speak first and stick to business. “You should have gotten me up. I didn’t mean to sleep all day.”
“You needed to rest,” he replied, his voice a sexy rumble.
She leaned against the door to the guest room that doubled as their bedroom. “It was the lollipops, right? They weren’t regular lollipops, were they?”
