The whole bed had been flipped over, the headboard smashed, the dresser completely destroyed. Bernie didn’t believe in AC, so it was about a hundred degrees in the bedroom. Daniel had taken off his T-shirt as he strained and lifted the broken wood, tossing it out an open window before he took it to the woodpile to chop up for the fireplace.

Harper had offered to help him, but Daniel had insisted that he had it under control. She’d been sweeping the living room, and she’d found herself stopping to stare at him far more often than she should have.

There was something about the way he looked when he moved. The muscles in his back and arms flexing as he lifted the dismantled furniture. And that tattoo, which Harper had first thought was evidence that Daniel was bad news, she now found so appealing.

It was a thick black tree, with the roots growing out from the waistband of his boxers that were showing just above his jeans. The trunk grew upward, over his spine, then twisted to the side so the branches extended out over his shoulder and down his right arm.

He’d once caught her staring, and she looked down in a flash, blushing, but he’d only laughed at her. Daniel said that she ought to think about getting a tattoo, and then she hurried off to clean something far away, so she wouldn’t be able to gawk at him.

“Thank you for coming out to help me today,” Harper said, now that they were finished and he’d unfortunately put his T-shirt back on. “Not everybody would want to spend their Sunday cleaning up a house.”

“No problem.” He stretched his arms out so one rested on the couch behind her, but it wasn’t exactly around her. “I told you I’m always happy to help.”

“I know, but I really appreciate it,” she said. “I needed to get out and do something instead of moping about Gemma or worrying about her or talking about her with Alex or my dad.”

“Well, I was happy to help you keep your mind off her.” He looked over at her. “And I’ll be more than happy to help you keep your mind off anything anytime you want.”

“Thanks.” She smiled when she looked over at him, but something about the look in his eyes made her smile fall away.

His arm had moved, so she could feel his hand on her shoulder. It felt strong and rough on her skin, and he was holding her, moving her closer to him as his hazel eyes stared into hers. She leaned in to him, and just when she thought he was about to kiss her, he spoke.

“We should probably get going before it gets dark,” he said.

“We should,” Harper agreed when she found her voice.