The woman gave her a bright smile.“No way.You leave them here and Cujo the human vacuum over there” —she stabbed her pen in the direction of a huge, attractive guy with well-defined biceps, a shaved head, and a bar through his eyebrow—”will eat them before you get out of the door.”
The man named Cujo looked up and blew a kiss to the receptionist that she returned with a poked-out tongue.He stared at Harper, a strange look of recognition crossing his face.
“Trent,” the receptionist yelled over the music.“Delivery.”
Trent stopped what he was doing and turned on his stool.He smiled at her, putting his machine down and leaning over to say something to his client.
“Hey, Harper.What’s up?”he said, heading over to her.He pulled off his black gloves, tossing them in the garbage.He was wearing a black fitted shirt, the short sleeves highlighting his incredible arms, and dark jeans that hung low on his hips.
“I brought these for you.To say thanks.For last night.”She saw Cujo look up from his station and raise a pierced eyebrow at Trent.
“Can it, Cujo,” Trent barked, but he was smiling.
Warmth surged through her cheeks.She was sure her face was bright red.
“Crap, not like that.Just.You know what I mean.”Trent laughed, her humiliation now complete.
He looked down at the pastry box she held toward him and licked his lips.“Mmm.I skipped lunch.What you got in there?”
He put one of his hands over one of hers and used the other to open the lid.Her heart started to pound as her fight-or-flight mechanism kicked into high gear.A light-headed swirl came over her as the box shook in her fingers.He looked from their hands to her eyes, almost daring her to pull away.
Trent leaned toward her, whispering, “We’ve done this before, Harper.”
His hand was warm over the top of hers, and though blood rushed to her head, it wasn’t debilitating her as much as that kind of contact usually would.She took a deep breath.
“Éclairs!”He took one out, taking a huge bite, his perfect white teeth cutting into the pastry.“Man, that’s good.”He seemed oblivious to her internal panic attack.
“I didn’t know what you would like, so I brought you a bit of everything,” Harper finally managed to get out.
“Seriously, seventeen kinds of thank you,” he mumbled with his mouth stuffed full of the sugary confection.“You didn’t have to do this.”He took another giant bite.
She wondered briefly if his lips would be as soft as they looked.Trent smiled at her as she blushed, immediately embarrassed to be caught staring.
“How are you after last night?”
She looked around, very aware of the number of people in the small space.“Good.I think,” she whispered as she watched him put the last bit of éclair in his mouth before licking the chocolate and cream off his finger.How could a guy look so incredible doing something as terribly mundane as eating?
Trent’s fingers brushed over hers as he took the box from her.
Raised voices from the line of people behind her distracted him.She turned to see two girls arguing with Pixie about their wait time, a reminder of how busy Trent was.
It had been silly to just stop by like this.And it was awkward.Harper nodded toward the door.“Anyway.Sorry for interrupting.I better get going.”
Trent stared at her, brows furrowed for just a fraction of a second.A flicker of frustration crossed his face.“Don’t worry about interrupting.Ever.Sorry I don’t have more time right now.It’s kind of crazy today.”He nodded his head toward the sofa of waiting people.“You still coming by tomorrow to check out your design?”
“Yes.I’ll get off at three.Can I swing by then?”
“Sounds good.I’ll make sure I’m free.And Harper, I was serious when I said you should swing by whenever.”
“Okay, well, I’ll see you then.Bye, Trent.”
“Harper,” he called as she reached the door.She turned and watched him take another bite of pastry.“Remember.Anytime,” he said with a wink.
***
“Bye, Harper!”Cujo’s singsongy voice rolled over the top of the music.
“F.U.Dude.”
