Read Breaking Clear (Full Hearts Series Book 3) for Free Online

ground in front of him.
    Their eyes locked. “Thank you,” she said, annoyed at how breathy her words sounded.
    “Anytime,” he answered, picking up two large boxes and carrying them toward the house.
    Boots gave Harper’s leg a nudge, clearly hoping for some pats. Harper smiled down at him, her hands too full to give in to his request. She gave him an inquisitive look. “Why Boots?”
    Evan winced, then laughed. “I let my niece and nephew name him. When I agreed to Boots, I thought it was because of his white paws, but later I found out I had named my dog after the monkey on that Dora cartoon.”
    Harper laughed with him. “Why didn’t you change it?”
    “Ah, it suits him. Plus, I gave them my word they could pick his name. I couldn’t go back on that.”
    “Makes sense.” She gazed at him for a minute, taking in what he’d just said. A hotter-than-hell man who kept his promises. But that must just be talk meant to impress her. No one really kept their promises.
    Just as she was starting to feel excited about an afternoon alone with Evan, she heard another truck pull up and suddenly there stood Craig. Harper felt a mix of happiness at seeing her brother and disappointment that she’d now be relegated to third-wheel status as sports talk took over. She brushed off her momentary self-pity, realizing it was ridiculous, and dropped the box, hurrying to greet her big brother. “Craig!”
    “Hey, Harper!” He looked worn out to her. He was only two years older, but a hard life working on rigs around the world made him look like he was on the wrong side of forty. He lowered his tall, lanky frame to hug his little sister before pulling back and ruffling her hair in the way that had always driven her nuts. His hair was much lighter than hers, and his eyes were a brilliant shade of green to her blue. There was little about them physically that marked them as siblings, other than their tall frames.
    “I thought you couldn’t make it until Monday?” Harper asked, swatting his hand away and smoothing her hair.
    “Managed to get off a little early. Dad said I just missed you at the hospital.” Craig stopped when he saw Evan, his face spreading into a wide grin. “Hey, man, how the hell are you?”
    “Can’t complain. Great to see you!” Evan said. “I thought I’d come help unload all the shoes and purses.”
    “Me too. I was planning to tally them all up and see if Harper might hold a world record in useless accessories.” Craig laughed, lifting a box down.
    “Are we taking off the gloves already, Craig?” Harper asked, crossing her arms at her brother.
    “Oh yeah, we are!”
    An hour later, most of Harper’s things had been unloaded from the back of the truck. As they worked, Harper suffered through dozens of cracks about how many boxes of clothes and shoes she had. She was glad they’d never know she’d given more than half of her clothes and accessories to Jasmine and a couple of the other assistants who had come to her apartment to help her pack.
    “Evan, do you have an empty room? Because pretty soon we’re going to run out of space at my dad’s,” Craig teased.
    “My basement is pretty empty, but that won’t be enough. I was just thinking maybe I could build on to the back of the house. Another two thousand square feet ought to do it.”
    “Ha ha. You two are hilarious,” Harper cut in with a deadpan expression. “You should take that act on the road. It would kill among people who love really obvious jokes.”
    “Evan, have you noticed that she doesn’t have even one piece of furniture?” Craig asked.
    “Look, Plague, the clothes and accessories are part of my job,” Harper interjected. “I sublet my apartment, so I took all my personal items and left the furniture. If you’ll notice, there are also plenty of books and magazines.”
    Evan burst out laughing. “Plague! I forgot all about that nickname.”
    Craig levelled his sister with a dirty look for a second, then suddenly