But this time Harlan held all the power. “Any number of reasons. But the main one is Savannah. She doesn’t know what you did back when we were in high school. I accepted your demands and never told her. But you can’t call in my family’s loan this time. How do you think Savannah will feel when she learns you were the reason I broke up with her? When she finds out you threatened to take my family’s home if I didn’t do what you wanted?”
“You wouldn’t tell her.”
“I will if she asks. So far she hasn’t asked.”
Taylor’s face turned red. “She won’t believe you.”
“Maybe not. Then again, she might.”
“You’re still the same low-life you were years ago.”
Harlan laughed. “Coming from you that’s a compliment.” Speaking slowly and deliberately, he said, “There are other banks in town, which I’m sure Travis and his partners know. They won’t have a problem getting the money. Not with Levi Chapman’s backing.” He got up, placed his hands on the desk and leaned closer. He said very quietly, “Don’t screw with my family again, Taylor. You’ll regret it if you do.”
He left before he gave in to the temptation to slug him.
The bastard had changed Harlan’s life once. Harlan had given up the girl he loved for his family. But Taylor didn’t have the power anymore. This time, Harlan was in control. He didn’t know if he and Savannah could make a go of it, or frankly, if she was even willing to try. But no piece of crap like Randall Taylor was going to fuck things up for him again.
This time he’d make it or screw it up on his own.
Savannah had promisedto meet Avery and Rachel at Booze’s Place after work on Wednesday. They’d all been busy with work or volunteering at the “send a card to the troops” booth earlier that day, so they hadn’t really talked since the ball. If she knew her friends, and she did, they were going to want to know all about her new boss, and what was going on between them. They wouldn’t believe her if she told them nothing was going on.
She told herself that was a good thing. She told herself the last thing she wanted was to open her heart to a man—again—and have him stomp on it. She told herself she wasn’t really attracted to Harlan and that sizzle she felt whenever he was near was simply her imagination.
And she told herself that was a big, fat lie. Or at least, the last denial was.
Savannah had never told anyone what had happened between her and Harlan back in high school. She’d been so young and madly in love. She’d thought they both were. But Harlan, apparently, never had been.
“I’m having a margarita,” Avery said by way of greeting. “Do you want one? I’ll go get them.”
“Sure.” Savannah slid into the booth across from her friend. “Regular with lots of salt. And you might as well order one for Rachel too. She should be here any time.”
“Done,” Avery said and went to the bar.
Rachel came in a few minutes later and soon they all had their drinks and both Savannah’s friends were looking at her expectantly. “What is going on between you and the hunk of burning love?” Rachel asked.
Savannah rolled her eyes. “His name is Harlan.”
“I like hunk of burning love better,” Avery said, with a lift of her eyebrows.
Ignoring that, Savannah said, “What if I told you nothing is going on?”
“We wouldn’t believe you,” Rachel and Avery said in unison.
Rachel continued, “There’s obvious chemistry between you. What happened when you were locked in the closet together?”
Savannah felt her face heat and cursed her fair complexion. “Nothing.”
“Then why are you blushing?”
“Nothing happened. In the closet, anyway.” She didn’t want to tell them about her mysterious stumble that felt like a push in the back or the smell of that damned lavender that had haunted her, and Harlan, all night.
“You spent the night with him, didn’t you?” Avery asked.
“Not exactly. I mean, yes, but not like that.”
“Do we need to get a pair of pliers and yank it out of you?” Avery asked, exasperated. “You know you can talk to us.”
Avery and Rachel were her two best friends in the world. If she couldn’t talk to them, who could she talk to?
