Pretend You're Mine: A Small Town Love Story Page 9

  Luke waited until she made it into the bedroom before opening the door.

  She heard Frank snicker. “Am I interrupting, boss?”

  ***

  What the hell was wrong with him? He had been nothing but clear with her — and himself — and this is how he played it. Ripping her off the kitchen counter and practically banging her against the fridge.

  Great, and now he was hard again like he had been most of the day.

  He was avoiding the office like the plague because he knew as soon as he saw her, he’d want to do it all over again and more. Frank was yammering on next to him about the job and he hadn’t heard a word of it.

  Was he going to get a hard-on every time he went to the kitchen for a beer now?

  This was supposed to be a simple, uncomplicated arrangement. He gave her a job and a place to stay and she played a role. But obviously that role was getting tangled up for both of them. He was going to have to set things straight. Set boundaries.

  How was he supposed to sleep next to her tonight without tearing that white t-shirt off of her and slamming his cock into her now that he’d tasted her?

  “Are you even listening to me?” Frank was staring at him expectantly.

  Luke gritted his teeth. “Just handle it, Frank. I have to go.”

  “Women make you stupid,” Frank warned him as he climbed into his truck.

  “Ain’t that the truth,” Luke muttered under his breath as he threw the truck in reverse. Now where the hell was he supposed to go? There was no way he was going to go into the office. One look at her with her those soft curves and sweet lips and he was going to bend her over his desk and—

  “God damn it.” He punched the steering wheel. Frank was right. Harper was making him stupid. He never should have let her stay. He should have helped her find a nice little apartment on the other side of town where he’d never see her dancing naked on the kitchen counter.

  What if Frank hadn’t interrupted this morning? What if he had just shredded her underwear and slammed into her tight, hot—

  His hands tightened on the wheel as his cock got even harder. His brain was full of reasons why it was a bad idea. But his body wasn’t interested in listening to a single one of them.

  What if he just stopped thinking about it? Let it happen? The attraction was obviously mutual. He remembered the heat in those deep gray eyes as he touched her. The girl couldn’t hide anything if she wanted to. Those eyes would always give her away.

  If he gave in, he knew it would be fucking crazy. Just the way she responded to his touch, like she craved it more than oxygen. Could Harper handle it if it were just sex? Would it be just sex?

  He shook his head. She deserved better than a quick, casual fuck.

  And he knew with a dark certainty that when he was inside her it would be anything but just sex. It would be a fucking religious experience and he wasn’t ready for that.

  Even if it was just temporary. He was leaving and soon. That should be reason enough to keep his dick in his pants. So why in the hell did it feel like a better reason to do it?

  He wasn’t even stupid enough to pretend that he didn’t want it more than he wanted his next breath. If she lived in that house with him, slept in the bed next to him, it was only a matter of time before he lost control.

  But for now he needed distance. And the longest, coldest fucking shower in the history of man.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Harper had her suspicions that Sophie was psychic. The woman called her within seconds of her walking into the office to offer up a lunch invitation. “I just wanted to catch up and see how things are going with you … and Luke.”

  She was new to family dynamics, but was fairly certain that Luke would be pissed off if she were to share the details of their morning with Sophie. She felt her nipples go hard again at the thought of Luke’s mouth on her, his hands roaming her skin.

  She let out a slow breath. If she didn’t distract herself from the images of this morning that were permanently etched in her brain, she was going to have to skip lunch and go home and change into a new pair of underwear.

  The office door opened. Harper bit her lip and sent up a quick prayer that it wasn’t Luke. She wasn’t ready to see that perfect face, yet.

  “You must be Harper,” a cheerful voice called out.

  Harper swiveled in her chair. A curvy redhead with a tiny stud in her nose breezed in holding a giant bundle of flowers.

  “Beth?”

  “That’s me!” She set the vase on Harper’s desk and stuck out her hand. “I want to hug you, but I didn’t want my gratitude to come on too strong and scare you off.”

  Harper laughed as she took Beth’s purple-manicured hand. “That bad, huh?”

  Beth shook her mass of auburn curls and rolled her eyes. “You have no idea. I’ve been on Luke’s case for a solid year about hiring a full-time manager. He just keeps saying, ‘I’ll get to it.’ And then never does.’”

  “Let me guess, he’s been —”

  “Busy,” Beth finished for her. “Yeah, that’s Luke. I’m just so glad you’re here, and I can already tell that you’re a nice, normal human being, so I’m not even going to worry about how it will be working with you.”

  “Were you expecting someone with two heads?”

  “I wasn’t sure what to expect from the woman who finally landed Luke Garrison,” Beth dropped her giant purse on the floor next to her desk and flopped down in the chair. “With these long-term bachelors, you can never tell if they’ll be bowled over by beautiful and normal like yourself, or if they’ll just finally go insane from loneliness and grab the first crazy that comes their way.”

  “I could totally be crazy and just be hiding it to lure you in to a sense of complacency,” Harper warned.

  “That’s true,” Beth said, booting up her computer. “Maybe I should take those flowers back until you’ve truly earned them.”

  “Oh, before I forget. Luke told me you’re a caffeine fiend so I made extra coffee, and there’s French vanilla creamer in the fridge.”

  “You’ve earned the flowers back,” Beth said, springing up and making a beeline for the coffee pot. “I don’t care if you’re crazy or not. You’re thoughtful, and you understand my deep and abiding love for caffeine. This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”

  Harper laughed and turned back to her computer. Beth would be a good distraction from thoughts she didn’t need to be thinking right now. Like the feel of Luke’s hard cock against her.

  Damn it.

  ***

  Harper beat Sophie to the cafe by a few minutes, so she settled in with the menu and an iced tea. Sophie all but collapsed into the chair opposite her.

  “Oh my God, thanks for having lunch with me today. Josh is driving me crazy,” she said, wringing her hands around air. “He gave himself a hair cut with freaking safety shears. I didn’t even notice until I caught him trying to put his hair clippings in the dog dish.”

  “And here I thought parenthood was all ethereal moments of story time and nap time.”

  “And scraping dried spaghetti off the legs of the dining room table time and holding your ears because your toddler is practicing for a career in opera time,” Sophie added.

  Harper smiled into her drink. “Rough day, huh?”

  “I should have just had you meet me at the liquor store so we could drink our lunches. But enough about me. How’s work? How’s living with Luke?”

  “It’s good. I’m still working through the backlog of paperwork and updates, but I like it.”

  “Uh-huh. And how’s the home life?”

  “It’s, uh, good, too. Luke’s pretty easy to live with.”

  “I hear you both were caught practically naked in the kitchen this morning.”

  Harper choked on her tea.

  “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 his sister. 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 never wanted like 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.

  She tried to focus on what Beth was telling her about accounts receivable when the scuff of work boots on the hardwood floor stole Harper’s attention. “Nice to see you in some clothes for a change.” Frank snickered and strolled past them into Luke’s office.

  “Funny, Frank.” She shot his departing back a dirty look.

  Beth snickered.

  “Hey.”

  Harper spun in her chair. Luke, hands shoved in his pockets, stood behind her.

  “Hey.” She felt her cheeks flush. The last time she had seen him, her hand had been wrapped around his throbbing, hard—

  “Hi, boss,” Beth chirped.

  “Beth.” He nodded without taking his eyes off of Harper. “Give us a minute, will you?”

  “Sure thing. Gotta call my motherin-law anyway and make sure the twins haven’t destroyed the house yet.” She hustled out of the office and down the stairs.

  Luke stepped in and leaned against Harper’s desk. She felt her nipples tighten and hastily crossed her arms over her chest. Keep it together, Harper, she cautioned herself.

  “How was your meeting this morning?”

  “Not distracting enough,” he said, leaning against her desk.

  Harper blushed.

  “We’re probably going to have to talk about this.”

  Talk about it? She’d rather do something about it.

  “You just want to tell me all the reasons this is a bad idea.”

  “I don’t want you to get hurt, Harper. This can’t go anywhere. I’m leaving. This is all temporary.”

  “Haven’t you ever made a temporary bad decision before?” she asked lightly.

  He shook his head. “I’ve never been tempted before.”

  “How about now?”

  “Now?” He reached out and ran his thumb over her lower lip. She parted her lips at the touch and tasted him. “I’m very tempted.”

  He leaned down to her, bracing his hands on the arms of her chair. Her white sundress rode higher on her thighs. Luke’s gaze locked with hers and he ran a calloused palm up the inside of her thigh.

  Harper took a shaky breath, her hands in a death grip on the arms of her chair. “Do you see why this is a bad idea, Harper?” he said quietly. His fingers brushed the edge of her white cotton briefs.

  She swore her heart stopped.

  “One look at you and all I can think about is being inside you.” The pads of his fingers leisurely circled her sensitive folds through the thin layer of fabric. “Of how close I came to making you come today. Of what it would be like to drive you to the edge and feel you come on my cock.”

  “Any day now, boss,” Frank called from Luke’s office.

  Luke closed Harper’s legs and dropped a hard kiss on her mouth. “We’ll talk later.”

  He turned and headed to his office, leaving a boneless Harper trembling behind him.

  ***

  Harper was still feeling the tremors of what Luke had said to her. She spent a good portion of the rest of the afternoon staring blankly at her screen. When Luke left to hit another job site, the smoldering look he sent left her breathless.

  She suddenly wasn’t so sure she could survive sex with a man like Luke. If just a glance from him had this effect on her, and if the rest of his body was as skilled as his fingers, she might literally die in his arms.

  It was a risk she was willing to take.

  Beth whistled when Luke closed the door behind him. “Talk about chemistry. I thought he was going to eat you alive with his eyes.”

  Harper fanned herself to fade the blush on her cheeks. “Is he always like this?”

  Beth shook her head. “No way. This is the first time I’ve seen about-to-erupt-volcano Luke.”

  That put some hot visions in Harper’s head. Luke about to erupt. Oh, God. She was going to get brain damage just thinking about it.

  He texted her just as she was packing up her things to go home.

  Working late. Don’t wait up.

  Harper felt a mix of disappointment and relief. Some time to herself probably wouldn’t hurt. She went home and stared at the TV for several minutes before realizing she had forgotten to turn it on.

  Shaking herself, she got up and wandered around the
house. It was a new experience, having time to spend the way she wanted. What did she want? An image of Luke flexing his jaw as he drove his fingers into her immediately answered that question.

  “I need to get a freaking hobby,” Harper murmured, trying to ignore the ache between her legs. A hobby that didn’t involve getting off just thinking about Luke.

  In the end, she made a grocery list and a dinner menu for the rest of the week and hit the store. She unloaded all of the groceries, made herself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and turned in early with a paperback she picked up at the store. It was a murder mystery. A better choice than the romance novel she had initially picked out.

  With any additional stimulation, she’d probably mount Luke in his sleep.

  She finally fell asleep clutching the paperback to her chest and dreaming of knife-wielding maniacs.

  ***

  When she woke in the morning, the bed felt empty. Luke’s side was undisturbed.

  She hurried down the stairs, still in Luke’s t-shirt, and stopped abruptly in the living room doorway.

  His six-foot-three frame was crammed onto the sofa, an arm thrown over his head and dangling over the wooden arm. He was still in his clothes.

  “Luke?”

  He woke immediately and tried to sit up. He groaned and tried to stretch the crick out of his neck.

  “You slept here?”

  He had to turn his whole body to look at her because his head wouldn’t turn on his neck. “Ouch. Yes.”

  “Super comfortable, huh?”

  “Slept like a rock,” he lied.

  “I must really scare the hell out of you,” Harper snapped over her shoulder as she walked back to the kitchen.

  She ignored his grumble from the living room and helped herself to some orange juice.

  Luke peeled himself off of the couch and staggered down the hall, trying to work the kinks out.

  She poured him a cup of coffee and handed it to him.

  “Don’t give me that face,” he said, his voice rough with sleep.

  “Oh, you deserve that face. You can’t even sleep in bed with me now? I’m not going to ravage you.”

  He sighed heavily and Harper rolled her eyes. “Just drink your coffee.”