Never Been Worse (Evergreen Park, #3)

by Morgan Elizabeth

To the girls in their reputation era. The best revenge is doing better, but it’s okay to succeed out of spite.

Harper is so beautiful, and she doesn’t even know it, but right now, she’s even prettier. Those walls she usually keeps tight cracked for the first time since I’ve met her, letting me see the vulnerability and nerves beneath that put-together facade.

The blush on her cheeks burns brighter, but she glares at me and rolls her eyes. Right then, I think I could like this, bantering with Harper, the back and forth of it, her poking at me and me poking back. I could like it a lot.

“Do you like burgers?” “I love french fries,” she says low.

“Then let’s get you some fries, little wife,” I say, and when she smiles wide, I know I made the right choice.

I’ve wanted Harper Abbott to be mine since I first saw her in that club two years ago, but she was taken then. Now she’s single, and I’d be an idiot to ignore this opportunity before me.

It’s euphoric, his lips on mine. It’s better than I could have ever imagined, and terrifyingly, it doesn’t feel awkward at all. I like it all—the way his hand tightens on my lower back, the way he pulls me in against him, the way he takes over the kiss almost instantly.

“You’re so into me, little wife.” “I so am not,” I say, aghast. “I have to go.” He just shrugs, stepping back and opening the door to let me leave, going with my insanity. “I’ll be here whenever you’re ready to admit it.”

“Shoulders back.” “Tits out,” I continue.

“Spontaneous, yeah?” he whispers against my lips, and I smile as my hand lifts, resting along the back of his neck like it’s the most natural thing in the world. Because, strangely enough, it feels that way: natural. “Yeah,” I whisper back, and then his warm lips are pressing to mine, a smile caught up in our first kiss like the jovial, goofy man genuinely can’t keep it out, even in this moment.

The kiss finally slows, and then he breaks away before pressing his forehead to mine and smiling. That’s when I feel it. Butterflies.

“You’ve been avoiding me because you think I’m good-looking?” he asks, and I nod. “You’re gorgeous, and I find it annoying,” I grumble under my breath, my typical filter completely annihilated from the chaotic day. Or maybe it’s just Wes.

She smiles at me, and my heart pounds a bit, like I’m a kid with my first crush.

I’m going to make Harper Holden mine in a permanent way. Now I just need to convince her of it.

“That blush of yours is so fucking pretty.” The words come out so quietly, as if they’re for my ears only. His hand moves, cupping my chin and jaw, a rough thumb grazing over my bottom lip as I stare at him wide-eyed. “And you’re so fucking mine.”

“When you’re ready to admit this could be something more, Harper, you let me know. I’ll be waiting.”

I know two things for sure: One, my husband most definitely likes me. And two, I am so totally into my husband, even if it's a terrible idea.

“My initial looks mighty fine around your neck, little wife,” I say, fingers grazing her skin as I play with the necklace between us, so close, her nervous breaths graze my lips. “I think I like having it there,” she whispers back.

“Harper, baby, look at me,” he says, and when I do, he keeps talking. “Never—and I mean never—apologize for there being this attraction between us, or for you acting on it.”

He fiddles with the charm, his fingers grazing along the skin of my neck once more before he steps back. I’m dazed for a moment, and he smiles wide like he knows.

“No one has ever tested my patience the way Harper has, and I mean that in the best way possible. They say good things come to those who wait, and I’d wait forever if it meant I’d get her at the end of it all.”

“You’re already under my skin, Harper Holden. Might as well put you there myself.”

I’m going to scare her off before I can even start to convince her to give this—give me—a real chance. But I can’t control myself around Harper, not anymore, not when the excuse of her having someone else on her arm is long gone. Not when she’s living in my house and wearing my ring, and sure as fuck not when she’s moaning my name as she makes herself come. Not when I’ve tasted her, kissed her, held her.

“You’re mine,” I growl, my body loosely holding her in place. She could easily escape and she’s choosing not to, choosing to stay and lift one of her own hands to my cheek like she somehow knows it might calm me. It does.

“You’re mine, Harper, so let me be the first to tell you. When you’re mine, I take care of you. That means no one talks to you like that, and no one questions you. It means I protect you. I know that’s a lot, Harper. I know you’re so stuck in the cage you created to keep yourself safe, but you need to know that’s who I am, and you need to know that’s who you are to me.

I rest my head against hers, and she starts giggling quietly, the sweetest, most adorable sound I’ve ever heard.

“That first time I fuck you, you’re going to know down to your soul I’m absolutely wild for you, not because we’re married or because you’re convenient or because you’re with me all the time. But because you’re mine, and I’ve been obsessed with you since that first night I met you.”

I can’t think of anything but the woman in my arms. I can’t focus on anything but the all-consuming need to kiss her.

“What my wife wants, my wife gets.”

“I’m crazy for you,”

“I’m glad I woke up in time to have you, that I opened my eyes and realized what was right in front of me. Before you got tired of waiting, before you got frustrated over the fact that I was being so stubborn.”

“I would have waited forever. If it meant we’d get here, in my bed, together with no pretense, I would have waited an eternity for you to be ready. I didn’t want to rush things, for you to sit there in a few months or in a year, wondering if you made the right choice. I needed you to know you were making this decision because you wanted to. Because you wanted not just me, but us. I didn’t want there to be even the smallest chance you’d look at last night and regret it.”

“You said you wanted to be spontaneous, but this? This was never spontaneous, Harper. Not for me, at least, and one day I think you’ll see it wasn’t for you either. You’ll see you were so willing to jump in because you knew to your bones this was right.”

“You’re mine now, and I want to show you off.” “What have the last two months been?” she asks breathily. “It’s been wooing you,”

“When are you going to realize you deserve the moon, Harper?” “I don’t know about the moon, but I’m starting to believe I might deserve more than I’ve let myself have,”

“I told you I want to give you the world, Harper. Whatever you want, I want to make sure you have it.”

“I think I’m falling for you,” I whisper. “That’s good,” he whispers, and I try to move to look at him, glare at him even, but his hand on my chest holds me tight. “Because I’ve been there a long time, waiting for you.” “Wes,” I whisper, but he shakes his head. “I'd wait forever, but I’m glad I won’t have to.”

“I love you,” I whisper.

“Do you know how hard it is not to tell you how much I love you every fucking moment of every single day?” My eyes water as he stares at me. “I told you I’d wait forever, but I’m glad I don’t have to.”

“How do you feel, knowing you finally got away with it?” Wes asks with a smile as we walk into our home. I step toward him, putting my arms around the nape of his neck and smile, telling him the whole truth. “Never been better,” I whisper against his lips, and then I kiss my husband, knowing getting this—this man, this love, and a group of friends who make me laugh until I cry—is the best kind of revenge.