Harper jumped in her seat at Luke’s voice. He was standing at her desk staring at her. “You scared me! That’s what’s wrong. Jeez.” She put a hand over her heart knowing full well the real reason it was pounding. Because he was standing so close to her.
“Liar. What’s wrong?”
“I was just wondering if it was going to be hard to find an apartment that allows dogs.” It wasn’t. Hannah had already arranged an appointment to see a tiny townhouse next door to a dog park.
“You’re taking the dogs?”
“Well, yeah. I don’t think your unit would let you take them. Anyway, did you want something?” She uncrossed and then crossed her legs and smiled when he took a step back.
“Uh.” Luke skimmed his hand over the back of his head. “Yeah. Can you come take a look at some wording? Please.”
“Sure,” she said, hopping up to follow him into his office. She waited until he took a seat behind his desk and then leaned over him to look at the monitor. She heard him stop breathing.
“This text here?”
Luke nodded but remained silent.
“You’re worried it’s not clear enough that the geothermal is included?”
“Yeah. You’ve really picked up a lot in a very short amount of time.”
“It’s easy when it’s interesting. And there was a lot here I found interesting.”
“Harper.”
His flat warning tone immediately put her back up.
“Luke.”
“We’ve talked about this —”
She straightened away from him. “Talked about what? A. I was talking about my work here in the office, Captain Conceited. B.Wedidn’t talk. I tried and you shut down and started sleeping on the couch because you’re totally mature.”
“And totally mature is playing games with me when I ask for your help. I know you’re dressing like this on purpose.”
“I never claimed to be mature, and at least I’m honest about what I want.”
“You think I’m not being honest with you?”
She leveled him with a look. “You’re the one playing games here. You make it sound like you’re protecting me when it’s you you’re trying to protect.”
He started to argue and then snapped his mouth shut.
“Can’t argue with the truth. You’re the one worried about how intense this is. You’re the one who’s getting scared. Because you feel something and you think taking sex off the table will make that go away.”
“You understand why we can’t do this.”
“I understand thatyoudon’twantto do this,” she corrected.
“Harper.” He sounded exasperated. “I want you. I have been hard since the second I walked in here tonight. There is no scenario that doesn’t involve me not wanting you.” He trailed a hand down her arm, his thumb skimming over the soft curve of her breast. “I want you more than I should.”
Harper leaned against his desk. “Why does that mean we have to stop? We have a week left. Shouldn’t we be making the most of it?”
“It’s hard for me to logically explain why when you aren’t wearing a fucking bra!” He was yelling now.
She brought her hands to her hips and the fabric gaped between the top two buttons. “You’re overthinking this.”
“I don’t want either of us to get any more attached. And yes, I’m attached, too.”
