“Got a name?”
“Frank.”
“Frank, I’m Harper.”
“The boss moved you in awful fast, don’t you think?”
“To his house or the office?” Crap. Three days with Luke and he already had her answering questions with questions.
“What I’m saying is the boss had his reasons for taking you in, giving you a job. I’m not here to question his judgment — questionable though it may be. I’m here to warn you that if you mess with this company or that family, you’ll answer to me. They’ve all been through enough these past years and don’t need some crazy hot head coming in and messing things up for them.”
“You think I’m a crazy hot head?”
“You tackled a man twice your size screaming like a banshee, didn’t you? You’ve got that fist-sized black eye. Rolled into town homeless.”
“Maybe I just had a bad day.”
“Yeah, well, maybe so. Just don’t go taking that bad day out on everyone else around here. This is a nice town, nice people. So if you’re not in it for the long haul, move along.”
“You must care about the Garrisons a lot to feel like you have to defend them from a potential threat like me.”
“They’re okay. Maybe you’re okay, too. But I don’t know you. I do know Luke and the rest of them. So if you’re good to them and stay out of my way on the job, we’ll be just fine.”
“Fair enough, Frank. I’ll keep that in mind. And just so you know, if you’re good at your job, not pissing off customers, or coming in here and yelling at me every day, we’ll be fine.”
He nodded briskly. “Fair enough. Be seeing you.” He threw a little salute and walked out the door.
This town was way too small.
CHAPTER NINE
As promised, Harper’s last paycheck arrived at the office. Whatever Luke said to Ted must have scared him bad enough to stop calling, too, because her phone was blissfully silent.
And as promised, she took Luke to dinner.
She researched restaurants beyond the borders of Benevolence before settling on a cozy steak place fifteen miles east. There would be no quiet dinner in town with the attention she and Luke stirred up.
It wasn’t a “real” date, she reminded herself, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t go to a little extra effort to be presentable.
Harper kept her outfit casual with capris and ribbed v-neck in emerald green. She added a little more curl to her hair, letting it hang loosely past her shoulders. A hint of smoky eye and a slick of lip gloss, and she was ready to go.
She checked her reflection in the powder room downstairs and realized she had forgot to put in earrings. She went back upstairs to the bedroom and was rummaging through the drawer when Luke came in from the bathroom.
Wearing only a towel.
Droplets of water clung to his chest. The ink on his arms, as always, drew her eye. The towel hung indecently low on his hips, showing off the plains of his chiseled abs.
The silver hoop she was holding slipped through her fingers and clattered on the floor.
“I ... uh ...,” she stooped and picked up the earring. “Um. Sorry.”
Cheeks flaming, she hurried out of the room, leaving Luke grinning after her.
Harper dashed into the kitchen and stuck her face in the freezer to cool the blush until she heard him on the stairs. She made a show of filling and drinking a glass of water from the faucet and avoided eye contact when he came into the kitchen.
“Ready to go?” he asked, sliding his hands in the pockets of his jeans.
He was wearing jeans and a gray striped button-down with the sleeves rolled up. Harper wondered if he had just reached into his closet and grabbed or if he, like she, had gone through several options. Either way, he looked good enough to undress right here in the kitchen.
