“How did you hear that?” she demanded through the paper napkin.
Sophie grinned. “Angry Frank has a bigger mouth than Georgia Rae.”
“Oh my God,” Harper buried her face in her hands.
“Do you like him?”
“Frank? Not very much right now!”
“No! No one likes Frank. Do you like Luke?”
“Sophie, you’re hissister. What am I supposed to say?”
Sophie leaned back in her chair and smiled a cat-that-ate-a-whole-nest-of-canaries grin. The server interrupted for their orders and Harper used the time to try to force the blush from her cheeks.
“You like him,” Sophie said simply.
“Of course I like him, Soph. What’s not to like? He’s smart, he’s thoughtful, he’s beyond gorgeous, he’s good to his family. But liking each other isn’t part of the deal. I’m only here for a month. I don’t want to complicate anything.”
“What’s complicated about liking each other?” Sophie asked, accepting the diet soda from the server. She drank deeply. “Oh my God, caffeine, I love you.”
“I just don’t want to get attached,” Harper sighed. “This isn’t real. It’s for convenience. He’s leaving soon and I’ll be moving on.”
“Then there’s no reason not to enjoy what you have right now,” Sophie insisted. “You’re both consenting adults.”
“I think I’m a little more consenting than Luke is.”
Sophie laughed. “My big brother can be very stubborn about staying on course. But I have faith in you. You’ll drag him off course and he’ll end up happy about it. Last Sunday was the most relaxed I’ve seen him in a long time.”
Harper perked up. “Really?”
“You’re exactly what he needs.”
“And you’re the diabolical puppeteer who’s making it all happen?”
Sophie waved the words away. “All I did was put two healthy adults alone in a house together in a mutually beneficial arrangement. I had a strong belief that nature would take its course, and judging by Frank’s eyeful this morning, nature is winning.”
“Hey, I’m all for nature in this case, but I don’t think Luke is as receptive. I don’t think he wants to ... like me. I just can’t get a read on him.”
The server returned with their meals and Sophie took a bite of her sandwich. She pointed it at Harper. “You know the reason Luke was at Remo’s in the first place last week?”
Harper shook her head. There was nothing about Luke Garrison that said Friday night social butterfly.
“Because two Fridays ago I had some problems with a customer who wouldn’t leave and tried to get handsy. Thankfully, Ty was picking me up after my shift and took care of it. But Luke showed up last Friday and planted himself on a barstool all night, just to make sure his little sis was okay. That’s the kind of guy he is,” Sophie said, slapping a hand to her heart. “I love that boy so much it hurts. I want to see him happy again. And I think you’re the ticket.”
“Why is he unhappy?” Harper asked, stabbing at her salad. She had seen it in those hazel eyes, flashes of sadness, of pain.
“Some things take longer getting over than others, but there comes a point in time when you edge over the line to never recovering. I think Luke’s too close to the line.”
“Recovering from what?”
“I think it would be better if he told you himself.” She bit a French fry in half. “So how did you end up naked in the kitchen?”
***
Harper tried to enjoy the rest of her lunch with Sophie, but she couldn’t shake the curiosity. Even when she returned to the office, her head was full of questions. What was Luke’s secret? What did he lose? Was that why he lived in an empty house? And what did this morning mean?
She had neverwantedlike that before. Craved. Thinking about Luke’s hands on her gave her goose bumps, even under the bright spring sunshine streaming through the office’s arched windows.
