Chapter 19
TWO WEEKS…
H arper worried that her confession to Luke would make him see her as damaged goods or, worse, feel sorry for her.
However, nothing slowed down their need for each other.
They spent more time in bed than out of it.
She kept waiting for the intensity to fade, to not ache to have him inside her.
To get used to the sight of his naked body.
To not feel that pitter pat in her chest when he said her name.
Maybe it was the fact that their time together was expiring that fueled the intensity. Whatever it was, it left her breathless.
She watched Luke as he seamlessly folded preparations to leave into his already busy days. At work, Frank and Charlie would be stepping up in Luke’s absence. They had done it before, and Luke trusted them with what he had built.
At home, Luke would count on James for property maintenance and check-ins.
His brother also had access to Luke’s accounts and made sure bills were paid.
While Luke double checked his auto-pay bills, changed the oil in his truck—and her car—and checked the level in the propane tank, Harper started a list of things she needed to do before leaving.
She and Beth worked long hours trying to get everything around the office caught up and organized.
“Thank God you’re here,” Beth puffed as she hauled a towering stack of papers to the shredder. “Otherwise, I would have been stuck filing all of this crap.”
Harper staggered behind her under the weight of her own load. “Scanners.” She gasped. “Best invention ever. ”
Between the two of them, they had managed to scan the last eight months of paperwork and invoices into an online system that was backed up daily. Going forward, all paperwork would be done electronically and stored in the system. But that still left all of Garrison’s old paper records.
“I think we should get an intern this summer to do all the scanning and shredding.” Beth dropped the papers in an unceremonious heap next to the shredder. “And washing our cars and picking up our lunches.”
Harper felt a little twinge with the realization that she wouldn’t actually be here this summer. Who knew where she was going to end up? But it was probably past time for her to bring up the subject to Luke.
With only two weeks until his unit deployed, she needed to strategize a graceful exit. She had every intention of using this month for résumé polishing and job hunting, but she had spent the majority of her time working or naked.
She didn’t feel particularly remorseful about her priorities. However, she was dangerously close to getting carried away with their faux romance. A little shot of reality, however painful, was a healthy reminder of what she needed to focus on.
Guiltily, Harper thought about the handful of emails her friend Hannah had sent her with job postings in Fremont that she hadn’t even opened yet.
Thanks to the generous salary Luke gave her and the fact that he refused to let her pay rent or utilities, her savings account was being rebuilt, and she would have plenty for a security deposit and rent on a new apartment. She’d even have a little left over for some furniture.
A little place of her own would be a good thing to focus on when it came to getting over Luke.
Harper sighed and dumped her files on the floor. “Let’s go grab some lunch before we tackle the shredding. My treat.”
When Luke came home that afternoon, he found Harper perched on a barstool squinting at his laptop. Harper lifted her face for a kiss, and he caught a glimpse of the screen.
“Looking for a new job on your boss’s computer? Classy.”
Harper wrinkled her nose at him and pulled him down for another kiss. “Very funny. And yes.” She turned her attention back to the screen. “I’m also trying to figure out how to make being in this position for only a month not sound flaky on my résumé.”
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 go 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 to 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.
“Claire! Hi! Come on in.” Harper stepped back and waved Luke’s mom in.
Claire held up a plastic container of mini cheesecakes. “I was just in the neighborhood with baked goods and thought I’d stop in.”
“Oh my God. For those, you can move in,” Harper laughed. “Come on back. Can I get you something to drink? Water? Iced tea?”
“Iced tea would be great, thanks.” Claire started down the hall behind Harper and made it as far as the dining room.
“Oh, he finally got furniture!”
Harper joined her in the doorway. “Just this week. I accidentally invited some friends over for dinner without knowing that Luke was terribly sensitive about not having places for people to sit.”
“I’ve been waiting for that boy to turn this house into a home for so long,” Claire turned to Harper. “You, my dear, deserve more than half a dozen cheesecakes.”
After a quick tour of the rest of the new furniture, they took their iced tea on the back porch to enjoy the spring evening.
Claire pushed off the porch boards and set the swing into an easy motion. “I have a confession to make. I wasn’t just in the neighborhood with baked goods.”
“You don’t say,” Harper said over the rim of her glass.