“I’m your fake boyfriend. I have many powers.” Luke straightened away from the desk and answered the phone.
He walked a few paces away and Harper strained to listen. He stood with a wide stance, hand on hip, staring out the window. There was always such an intensity about him. Power and control were the driving forces behind everything he did.
Luke rarely divided his attention, making it seem like he was always fully focused on the task at hand. It was that intense focus that Harper felt every time he looked at her. She felt important. Worthy. Interesting.
And now the man who made her feel important, worthy, and interesting was in a conversation with the man who treated her as replaceable.
Luke hung up and walked back to Harper. He tossed her the phone.
“Well?” she asked.
“He won’t be calling you anymore, and he’s sending your last paycheck here to the office.”
Harper jumped out of her chair and whooped. She tossed her arms around his neck and planted a smacking kiss on his cheek, savoring the feel of his stubble under her lips. “I’m taking you out to dinner with that paycheck.”
His hands settled on her waist and held. “Don’t you think I should pay for our first date?”
“An unconventional relationship calls for unconventional etiquette. Besides, we’ve already slept together and you brought me brownies. That your mother made for me. We’re practically engaged.”
He looked nervous again. She could tell he wanted to back up and get some space between them. Harper liked that she could make him a little uncomfortable. It partially made up for the pointy butterflies that went careening around her stomach when he looked at her with those soulful eyes.
“We’ll see,” he said, stepping back. “I’m going to get some paperwork done and head out again. Need anything?”
“Nope. I’m good.” And she meant it. She watched Luke head into his office and smiled. This was her life now, at least for the next month. A good job in a great office with a boss and roommate so good looking she couldn’t stop staring at him.
She tried to focus on her work, but felt her attention pulled to the office in the corner. She had a direct line of sight to Luke at his desk, frowning at his computer screen, kicking back in his chair to make a call. Every glance or two, she found him already looking at her. Maybe he was as disconcerted around her as she was around him? Every time one of them caught the other looking, Luke’s frown deepened.
After nearly half an hour of mutual sneaked peeks, Luke pushed back from his desk and grabbed a stack of paperwork and his tablet.
“I’m heading out to a meeting. I probably won’t be back in after it.”
“Okay, boss, have a good day,” Harper smiled. She tried to keep her eyes on her monitor instead of his ass as he walked out. It wasn’t easy.
Harper got in almost another hour of work before she was interrupted again.
A short, slim man in blue flannel sauntered in, suspenders holding up his carpenter pants. Weathered blue eyes stared at her above a frizzy beard that was going more gray than red.
“So, you’re the girl who’s got the whole town riled up,” he said crossing his arms.
Harper raised her eyebrows. “It’s a small town. I have a feeling it doesn’t take much to rile it.”
He squinted at her. “The way I heard it, you’re supposed to be six-foot-one. And a redhead.”
“Sorry to disappoint.”
“I do like redheads.” He shook his head, clearly disappointed.
Harper didn’t know how to respond to that.
“I can’t decide if you’re stupid or crazy,” he said, leaning against the cabinets on the wall.
“Is there an HR department here that I should complain to about you?”
He snorted. “Don’t be so sensitive.”
“Wait a minute. Do you even work here?”
He snorted again. “DoIwork here? I’ve been with this company since Luke started it and before that, I worked for Charlie.”
