Luke put the dog down on the floor. It had three legs.
“Wait a second. Shouldn’t we introduce them or something first?” Harper started towards Lola.
“Fine. Lola, meet Max. Max, meet Lola.”
Max scampered over to Lola and sniffed her. Lola blinked, turned around, and walked down the hall. Max pranced after her on her heels.
“I just went to pick up Lola’s meds and there’s this damn dog. Some old lady is trying to surrender him and they didn’t have any foster homes available, and if they took him to the shelter he’d probably be put down.”
“He has three legs.”
“And they were going to hold that against him. He can’t help it.”
Harper covered her mouth so he wouldn’t see her grin as he stalked down the hall towards the kitchen.
“It’s just temporary,” he called over his shoulder. “We’re just fostering.”
“It’s just temporary,” she whispered, even as she felt her heart stumble.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
They found it was easier to get used to two dogs than the first one. Max scampered seamlessly into their home life. He followed Luke around like a shadow and barked like a dog three times his size. In the mornings, Luke ran with Lola while Harper took Max for a few laps around the block. At night, he slept curled in a tight ball against Lola.
And every time Harper walked in the door, they both greeted her as if it had been decades since they last saw her last.
Lola would charge down the hallway with her deepboof, while Max pranced and yipped around her. The second the front door opened, they lavished Harper — or Luke, or the mail lady — with excited attention. It felt good to be welcomed home by adoring fans.
Just a few weeks ago, she couldn’t have imagined her life changing so drastically. She had a man she adored, a comfortable home, great friends, and two dogs who thought she was better than bacon treats. Even though it was all temporary. She tried not to think about what would happen in a matter of days. Luke would be gone from her life, she would be gone from Benevolence, and it would be someone else opening Garrison Construction’s massive piles of mail.
Harper opened the envelope with an efficient slash of the letter opener. Only Luke would let office mail go unopened for weeks. She had worked her way down to the bottom of the pile he had carelessly stashed on the shelf in his office. She found a handful of checks from clients buried in the pile. After a lecture from her on the importance of timely response, Luke agreed to let her handle all mail from now on.
As soon as she was done with this stack, she was going to run to the bank and make a deposit.
A check fluttered out of the opened envelope onto her desk. She picked it up and glanced at it. This was one made out directly to Luke in the amount of ...
A strangled gasp made its way past her lips. Harper’s knees buckled and she flopped down into her chair.
She had never seen an amount that high on a check before and there were three more envelopes just like this one. She opened them all and lined up the checks.
Pay to the order of Lucas Garrison.
She knew she was gaping at the surface of her desk, but couldn’t help it. There was just over half a million dollars sitting on it. What was it for? Was it legal?
Harper glanced into Luke’s office where he was on a conference call with a supplier. He was kicked back in his chair, work boots propped up on the desk. Not a care in the world. He wasn’t concerned that he had gone and forced her to fall hard for him, only to kick her in the teeth with the reminder that he couldn’t even be honest with her about anything.
That withholding, sexy bastard was a millionaire.
She thought of her guilt-laden reaction to his furniture shopping. He could have furnished a dozen houses with the checks in her hand. What the hell was his problem? Why did he expect her to open up about long buried secrets when he couldn’t even say, “by the way, I’m rich.”
Riding the wave of anger, she grabbed the checks and stormed over to his closed door. She smacked her palm holding the checks against the glass. “What the hell?” she mouthed.
Luke took his feet off his desk and had the good grace to look embarrassed. He shrugged and held up a finger signaling her to wait.
But she was done waiting. Harper dropped the checks on the counter outside his office and grabbed her purse. She would take an early, long lunch and he would just have to deal with it. She didn’t owe him an explanation.
***
Luke found her at the diner counter staring into the depths of her coffee mug. He took the stool next to her and swiveled to face her. He figured he could calm her down in a few minutes and maybe even grab a quick lunch. Time was becoming more precious as the days ticked down to deployment.
