Chapter 1 #2
Piper’s twenty-sixth birthday was coming up on Thursday, and Sunny planned out a whole special day.
She contacted a high adventure company called Rocky Mountain High, owned by friends Taggart and Torren Harrison.
The twins were very popular; both played football in high school, and both were extremely good-looking.
Tag was the quieter of the two. He always seemed to be brooding about something.
Torren liked to have a good time, especially with women.
He didn’t seem to take anything seriously in life or business.
Torren dated his way through town while Tag kept to himself.
Piper couldn’t remember seeing Tag with a girl on his arm, although she was sure he wasn’t a monk.
Tag intrigued her since he often looked the way she felt.
When he came into her shop, he seemed to be mad about something or other, always staring at her but never really talking to her.
She could never hold his stare for long, breaking eye contact and feeling flushed.
It was almost like he was trying to see inside her, straight to her soul, and that was the last thing she wanted.
She didn’t want anyone to see just how much of a mess she had made of her life in the past thirteen years.
Still, there was something about Tag that made her think about letting down a few of her walls.
She felt safe around him, which said a lot because the man was a mountain.
He had to be around six feet five, and his arms were larger than her thighs.
His jet-black hair and crystal blue eyes made him all the more ominous-looking.
He seemed oblivious to the way that all the women in town looked at him and quite obviously liked what they saw.
That’s probably why Torren had so many dates—most people couldn’t tell the two apart, and he didn’t seem to mind picking up his brother’s slack.
“Well, well. Look who’s sitting in the corner booth staring at you again.
” Sunny seemed to love sticking her nose in Piper’s business.
Especially since Sunny seemed to think that Taggart Harrison should be Piper’s business.
Piper scooped out a cone of peanut butter ripple ice cream and handed it over to the lady waiting.
“I can’t stop him from coming into my store, Sunny.
” Piper motioned to the waiting customer to meet her at the register.
She rang out the family of four, all the children smiling and licking at the rainbow sprinkles she rolled their cones in.
She couldn’t help but smile back at them.
She loved how her little ice cream shop seemed to make people happy.
No one left her place without a smile on their face.
Well, no one except Tag. He never seemed to smile, especially around her.
“So, are you ready for our little day trip? Tag is leading the group, and we have a hike planned with our friends. It’s going to be epic, Pipe!
” Sunny spun around in a twirling circle, drawing the attention of everyone in the shop.
She never seemed to mind people taking notice of her; she would just ignore it.
Piper groaned, thinking about having to spend the whole day with Tag.
She was hoping that Torren would lead the group; that would be so much easier than having to deal with Tag’s moodiness.
In the past year, Tag asked her out fifty-two times.
He would stand outside her shop every Monday morning and ask her on a date.
And every Monday morning, she turned him down.
She was starting to feel bad about having to crush his spirit because that was exactly what it felt like she was doing.
Fifty-two rejections, and he was still showing up to ask her out every Monday.
She hoped that after the first few times of turning him down, he would take the hint and look elsewhere, but she was wrong.
Besides being incredibly good-looking, he was also the most stubborn man that she had ever met.
She chanced a look over to where he sat in the corner booth, only to find him watching her again.
Honestly, if she didn’t know Tag, she would be afraid that he was stalking her.
But he didn’t have a mean bone in his giant body.
He stood and laid a few dollars on the table, throwing away his bowl of half-eaten ice cream.
Sunny grabbed Piper’s arm as they watched Tag walk out of the front door of the shop, the little bell ringing overhead as he left.
He didn’t even look back. No good-bye, nothing.
Sunny turned to face Piper. “You need to tell him yes, just once, Pipe. You are destroying that beautiful man’s spirit, and I can’t take it anymore.” Sunny was always a little overdramatic.
“Well, here’s an idea—you date him. That way, I can get on with my life and stop having to come up with creative new ways to tell the guy no.
You’ll be able to satisfy that itch that you seem to think that I have, for yourself.
” Piper pretended to be busy wiping down the counters, but Sunny knew her well enough not to believe her distraction.
“How many times have you said no, Pipe?” Piper froze; she knew that she was about to get an earful from her best friend.
“Fifty-two times.” She cringed, waiting for Sunny’s shouts.
“A whole year?” Sunny’s whisper startled her more than a shout could have.
Her response made Piper feel small and ashamed.
And for what? She turned down the only gorgeous, single guy that she wanted in a very long time.
She never really dated in high school. After school was over, she and Sunny took off for a grand adventure, traveling from place to place.
Piper never found the need for a boyfriend; she was too afraid that she would have to tell someone what happened to her family and have him think of her as a freak.
Her life was comfortable, predictable, and just what she needed—safe.
A boyfriend would just complicate everything.
Her aunt often tried to point out a cute guy, but eventually gave up.
There were even rumors around town that Piper was a lesbian.
She was fine with that; at least that lie would keep her from having to deal with the truth coming out—she was a coward.
She never kissed a boy, and at almost twenty-six, people would label her a freak.
She would rather be labeled a lesbian than a freak any day.
She heard the way people whispered about her; how they all pitied her after her parents died.
Sunny and Lorna were the only people in town not to treat her any differently after she returned home from New York all those years ago.
Everyone in town knew what had happened.
In a place as small as Harvest Ridge, everyone knew each other’s business.
Piper kept to herself, and that’s the way she wanted it to stay.
Sunny grabbed Piper’s hand, drawing her back to their conversation.
“Piper, I hope that one day you see that you’re worth the trouble of someone asking you out fifty-two times.
When he asks you the next time, take a chance and say yes.
You deserve some happiness. Tag’s a good guy, just give him a chance to prove that to you.
” Sunny dropped Piper’s hand and pulled her in for one of her infamous long hugs and then turned to leave.
Piper watched as her friend left through the back door to the alley that joined their two stores.
She couldn’t think about the possibility that Sunny might be right.
If her friend had her way, Piper would open herself up to someone who would have the ability to hurt her.
She couldn’t let that happen. If she let Tag in and lost him—she didn’t know if she could live through that. Better to never love at all.