Chapter 17
S he forgot about their dinner guests until Gloria texted her Monday morning to see if there was anything besides apple pie she could bring for dinner. Harper slunk into Luke’s office to break the news.
“Hey. You want to get some lunch?” he asked, looking up from his monitor.
“Uh, yeah, sure. But I forgot to tell you that we’re having Gloria and Aldo over for dinner tonight.”
He stared at her for a beat. “When did this happen?” he asked finally.
“Saturday. They both stopped by, and I forgot to mention it because you were all naked and distracting, and I just now remembered. Anyway, it’ll be fun, and Aldo said he’d bring hamburgers and hot dogs to grill, and Gloria’s bringing pie, so all we have to do is come up with some side dishes?—”
Luke sighed and scrubbed his hands over his face.
“Look, I don’t know you well enough to know if you’re mad or not. So if you’re mad and you don’t tell me, it’s your own damn fault, and I’ll probably keep doing it over and over again secretly pissing you off every day without knowing it,” Harper said, wringing her hands.
“I’m not mad. I’m… inconvenienced.”
“The way you say that makes me think there’s no difference.”
“Where are we going to put them? There’s no furniture!”
“They’ve both been to your house before, so I don’t think they’re expecting any to magically appear.”
He swore quietly and shoved out of his chair.
“Get your purse and get in the truck.”
“Where are we going?”
“Fucking furniture shopping.”
His mood hadn’t improved much by the time they got to the store.
He had planned to coax Harper into leaving work early to spend the whole evening in bed.
Instead, he got ambushed with a stupid dinner party.
He was trying to be mad at her, but he knew it was his own damn fault.
He was the one who agreed to let her move in.
He was the one who had nosey friends. And he was the one who had never gotten around to buying a damn couch or table.
He hated shopping. But it was time to pay the piper.
“Hi, Luke!” A chipper redhead dressed in a royal blue suit crossed the furniture store’s glossy tile floor. “You must be Harper,” she said cheerfully waving.
Luke rolled his eyes and tucked his sunglasses in the neck of his t-shirt. Just once it would be nice to be anonymous.
“Harper, this is Becky. We went to high school together. Becky, this is my girlfriend, Harper.” He knew the last few words came out kind of strangled, but it was the lesser of two evils.
His mother had tried to set him up with Becky two years ago, and she had good-naturedly accepted his brush off, but he had felt a little guilty about it.
Thankfully, she had since married Bob of Bob’s Fine Furnishings.
“What can I show you two today?”
Harper looked at Luke and smiled.
He sighed. “We need a living room suite and a dining table. Today.”
“Great! Let’s get started.” Becky turned and started to wind her way through leather recliners and end tables.
He grabbed Harper’s hand and dragged her after Becky.
Before it was all said and done, Luke picked out a couch, a loveseat, two accent chairs, a coffee table and matching end tables, an entertainment center, four handmade bookcases that would look pretty great in the second living room that he had planned to turn into his home office, and a dining room table with eight goddamn chairs.
The only enjoyment he got out of the trip was watching Harper get paler and paler every time he told Becky to add something to the bill.
“Luke, are you sure we need all this?” she whispered while Becky discussed the benefits of Scotch Guard.
“You’re the one who invited people over with no place to sit down. Might as well get it all out of the way now.” He draped an arm around her shoulder. “Don’t you want furniture?”
“It’s a lot of money,” she hissed.
“You help with the books. I’m good for it.”
“I haven’t gotten through your books yet, and this seems like kind of a large investment for one cookout.”
“Cookout?” Luke swore. “Now we need a damn picnic table.”
While Becky wrote up the sale of her career, Luke rubbed Harper’s shoulders. He smiled at the tension he felt there. Maybe it was time to take pity on her.
“I’m not mad at you… anymore,” he murmured against her ear.
She leaned back against him and looked up.
“I’m still sorry. It wasn’t very thoughtful of me to invite people into your home without asking you.”
“Maybe it won’t be horrible.”
Harper smiled. “There will be beer and hamburgers—and potato salad if we can stop at the grocery store on the way home.”
“More shopping? I’ll reserve judgment.”
“I was thinking. Now that there’s a couch in the house, you could have your bed all to yourself if you wanted.”
Luke pinched her. “Sweetheart, after last night, you’re lucky if I let you leave the bedroom at all for the rest of the month.”
He could see her blush creep down her neck .
Harper turned around and put her arms around his neck. “You know, Gloria’s bringing homemade apple pie. We could pick up some vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce to go with it… or for later.” She grinned wickedly.
Maybe it wouldn’t be so horrible after all.
He hid his grin behind a sigh. “You might as well find some kind of breakfast table thing while we’re here because we’re never coming back,” he whispered to Harper.
She obligingly scampered off with Becky in tow while Bob himself stepped in to ring up the purchase.
“You ready to head back, son?”
Bob was twenty years his senior and had retired from a thirty-year career with the National Guard before taking on the home furnishings world.
“Yes, sir.”
“Word has it you’re a strong leader,” he said, peering over his reading glasses.
“Thank you, sir.”
“Thank you for your service, son. Is this her first deployment?” He nodded towards Harper and Becky who had their heads together over a pub-height table set.
“It is.”
“Think she’ll hold up?”
“That girl can survive anything.” She already had. She would handle him leaving. She would handle starting a new life, yet again.
The fire in the cleaned-up fire pit crackled, casting a warm, flickering glow around the back yard. Luke shifted his weight in the new wooden Adirondack chair.
Bob had thrown in four chairs with the purchase of the picnic table and the rest of the furniture.
As soon as Luke’s credit card had cleared, Bob had loaded everything up on a truck and had it delivered.
They had just enough time to get everything set up, the tags cut off, and the potato and pasta salads chucked into bowls before Aldo and Gloria arrived.
Aldo, the smart ass, accused Luke of nesting now that he finally convinced a woman to tolerate him. Luke hadn’t been amused by the joke, but Harper got a good laugh out of it.
She laughed a lot. It was a sound that warmed him up. A sound that made him realize how quiet his life had become before. A sound that made him wonder why he had valued the silence so much.
He took a sip of beer and watched her through the licks of flames as she and Gloria tried their hands at toasting marshmallows.
The firelight danced gold in her hair. She was beautiful to begin with, but add that grin and her bubbly laugh and it pulled at something deep inside. Rooting and taking hold.
“Hey, lover boy, if you’re done staring dreamily at your girl, I’m empty.” Aldo wiggled his beer bottle. “It’s your turn to play host.”
Luke stood up and took Aldo’s bottle before tipping his friend’s chair sideways and depositing Aldo on the ground. “Sure, no problem. Ladies, can I get you anything?”
Harper jumped up. “I’ll help you,” she said brightly.
“I think I can carry a few beers myself,” Luke teased, holding the back door open for her. “Or are you just trying to get me alone?”
Harper brushed up against him as she walked past. “I’m multi-tasking.”
He shut the door a little harder than he meant to in his haste to get his hands on her.
Harper ran her finger down his chest to his stomach.
He was hard even before she skimmed lower to the top of his jeans.
“I’m helping you carry beers, stealing a very private moment with you, and letting Gloria and Aldo talk.
” She dipped her fingers in his waistband.
“Don’t start something you can’t finish, baby,” he warned.
Harper let him back her up against the refrigerator. He saw the eagerness in her eyes and wondered if it was mirrored in his. His hands slid under her sweatshirt, fingers running over the impossibly soft skin. His mouth hovered over hers.
“The lights are on. They can see us,” Harper whispered. Her eyes danced, and he knew she would let him do anything regardless of audience.
Wordlessly he dragged her into the darkened dining room and almost tripped over the table that he forgot he bought. He caged her between his arms against the table.
“I think I’ve earned a kiss for tonight.”
He read hot lust in her gaze. “I think we can start with a kiss,” she said in a breathy whisper.
Luke stayed where he was and let her make the move.
She put her arms around his neck and pressed herself against him, her breasts gently rubbing against his chest. She slowly closed the distance between their lips.
He was determined to keep it playful, sweet. But as soon as she bit his bottom lip, all gentleness was forgotten. He growled as she sucked it into her mouth.
Luke grabbed her hand and pressed it against his erection.
“Get rid of them, baby.”
She laughed against his mouth, and he almost took her there on the table. The way she responded to him took him closer and closer to the line.
After another scorching kiss, he pried her hands off him and took a step back.
He sighed. “We’d better get back out there.”
Harper licked her lip and sighed. “Whose idea was it to have people over tonight?”
He smacked her on the ass and put his hands on her shoulders. She smelled like sunshine and fire. He guided her back to the kitchen. “If you’re done attacking me, I’ll grab the beers. ”
“I don’t plan to be done attacking you any time soon, Captain.” She winked before sneaking a peek out the window. Aldo had taken the chair she vacated and was sitting next to Gloria. Harper smiled.
“Why are you looking so smug?” Luke demanded, coming up behind her.
“Just spying on Aldo to see if he’s worked up the courage to tell Gloria how much he likes her.”
“Aldo and Gloria?” Luke snorted. “Baby, the day Aldo settles down is the day hell freezes over, pigs fly, and I go vegetarian. Don’t get your hopes up.”
“I’ll take that bet.”
Luke dropped a kiss on her neck. “Deal. When Aldo and Gloria get married, I’ll go vegetarian.”