Pretend You're Mine(51)

Luke went to the sink to pour two glasses of water. “Call it a short-term contract position.”

“God. You’re a genius. No wonder I want to get in your pants all the time.”

He immediately felt himself go hard. Keeping the island between them, he slid a glass to her. “I can write you a reference letter, if that would help.” Where the hell had that come from?

Those big gray eyes widened with hope. Always a punch in his gut.

“Are you serious? That would be amazing!”

Great. Now he had to do it or look like an asshole. Writing an email was difficult for him. How was he supposed to put a glowing review on paper? Not that Harper didn’t deserve it. She had taken his floundering mess of an office and started pushing it down the road to being an efficient operation in just two weeks.

Maybe he could make Sophie write it.

“So where are you looking for jobs?” he asked.

Harper took a sip of water. “I’m focusing on my original plan of Fremont. It’s no Benevolence, but I think being close to Hannah again would be nice.”

“Have you thought of staying around here?” What the fuck was wrong with him? He hadn’t even known he was thinking it before it was shooting out of his mouth.

Harper shifted in her seat and looked away from him towards the cabinets. “Uh, yeah. For about a minute. I don’t think it would work.”

Now he had to ask. “Why’s that?” He pretended to flip through the mail on the counter.

She cleared her throat. “I don’t want to say because you’ll take it the wrong way and go into panic mode.”

Luke decided to just stare her down until she broke. It took her about thirty seconds of squirming before he won. “I thought about staying until I realized what it would be like to run into you and your future girlfriend and then wife at the grocery store every week. Every time I’d see you, I’d think about what it was like to be with you while knowing that now someone else gets to be with you that way...” She shuddered and shook her head. “That’s not the way I want to spend the rest of my life.”

His gut churned at the idea. Not of him with someone else. That wasn’t going to happen. But Harper would move on. She deserved to move on. He would see her around town with some guy who would ask her to marry him. He’d see her with kids at sporting events. They’d run into each other at the lake in the summer and it would be some other lucky asshole’s hands on those perfect curves.

Luke set his glass down with a bang on the granite. Harper jumped.

“See? I told you you wouldn’t like it. I’m not saying I’m in love with you, Luke. I just don’t like the idea of you moving on.”

Right back at you, baby.

“Good point. Hey, your first mail here.” He tossed the envelope with her name written in scrawling handwriting to her. Harper glanced at it and frowned.

“Just junk mail,” she said shoving it under the laptop. “So since we’re on the subject anyway, what are we going to tell your family about me leaving?”

“I hadn’t really thought about it yet.”

Harper sighed. “Me neither. I let you distract me with that hot, naked body of yours.”

“Oh, you mean this hot, naked body?” Luke pulled his shirt off and was dragging hers over her head before she could gasp with laughter.

***

Wednesday evening, Harper headed home without Luke. He was off on a job site somewhere, solving a crisis, reassuring a client. She appreciated his work ethic. No problem was too small for him to tackle when it came to making clients and employees feel valued.

Just that morning, Luke had called their newest employee in for a meeting. John was eighteen, fresh out of high school, and had great promise as a future finish carpenter.

“Listen, John, you need to understand that just because you’ve got a little money in your pocket, it doesn’t mean you get to out and do a bunch of stupid shit. You don’t need to buy a $45,000 pickup, and you sure as hell don’t need a 60-inch TV for your parents’ basement. I want you to be successful, and I’m here to help you get there ...”

Harper had grinned to herself as she made copies and eavesdropped outside Luke’s office.

He really cared about his people, whether they were family, friends, or employees. He was the kind of man you could depend on. Not only to help you out of a jam, but one who would protect you from one if he could.

She carried her purse and lunch bag back to the kitchen and dumped them on the counter. It was such a beautiful spring evening, she decided to open up every window in the house to welcome the breeze. She ran up to the bedroom to change into shorts and a t-shirt and was on the stairs when she heard the knock at the front door.