He wanted to laugh at the look on her face. Like she couldn’t believe he wanted to dance with her.
I wonder if she was a wallflower in high school. “Yeah, really. You look like you want to dance.”
He knew he didn’t imagine the blush that filled her cheeks. “I’m not a good dancer.”
“Good.” He stood and held out his hand. “Neither am I. I stink at it. I’ll make you look good.”
He finally coaxed her out onto the dance floor. She felt right in his arms as they swayed around the floor to a poorly done rendition of a Carlos Santana song. “See? Nothing to it,” he said.
“I didn’t even dance at my senior prom,” she softly admitted.
“Why?”
She shrugged. “No date. I couldn’t bring myself to go out there and dance alone like some of the other kids. It was all I could do to make myself go stag.” She looked up at him. “I’m not making an ass out of myself right now, am I?”
“No. You’re not.”
She’d meant about opening herself up to him a little, revealing some of her past. He’d rightfully assumed she meant about her technique.
That was okay by her. She needed practice being with someone, and Doug was the logical candidate.
They danced a few more times by the time they finished their dinner. He was a gentleman, offered his arm to her as he walked her to her room. When they stopped at her room door, she didn’t want to let go of him. He was handsome, nice, and intelligent.
“Well, thank you for a very nice evening,” she finally managed so she wouldn’t look like a total idiot standing there.
I could stare into his brown eyes all night long.
He offered her a playful smile that melted her panties. “Well, thank you, Harper. You’re the one that picked up the check.” He blushed a little. “I’m not a mooch, I want to make that clear.”
Dammit, she wanted to kiss him. Really wanted to kiss him. “It’s okay,” she reassured him. “This was a business dinner.” She promptly kicked herself in the ass. It was more than that, who was she kidding? “Knock at seven in the morning, so we can go grab some breakfast?”
“I’d like that.” He seemed to pause, as if hesitant to leave.
Kiss him. Kiss him, you stupid bitch.
She couldn’t force her body to move. She fumbled her room key out of her pocket and managed to get her door open. “Well, I’ll see you in the morning.”
He nodded. “In the morning.” She stepped inside and closed the door behind her, then waited until she heard his door open and close next door. She leaned against the door and smiled. He was so sweet.
She started for her bed when she spotted the mini fridge and groaned. She needed to check her sugar. Finally, after doing it and completing her bedtime routine, she slipped under the covers, closed her eyes, and replayed how nice it felt being in Doug’s arms.
Doug dropped his clothes on the floor and climbed into bed with the TV remote. He’d enjoyed himself way more than he wanted to admit. At one point, he was glad their dance had ended because he was afraid she’d feel the hard-on struggling for release. She felt good in his arms, as if made for him.
She was also a much better dancer than she claimed to be, although he suspected she really thought she sucked at it.
He didn’t want to think about Tate tonight. He wanted to close his eyes and think about Harper. Because he knew in his soul that’s where his future lay, even if she’d bought him to ensure it.
Tonight, however, despite how badly he felt about Tate, and how much he missed him, he realized he didn’t mind Harper being the focus of his immediate future.
No, I don’t mind at all.
By the end of their meetings that week, Harper knew she could call Doug a friend. While she still hadn’t revealed her diabetes to him, she had opened up to him a little. He talked about his family. She loved hearing stories about him growing up with his sisters. As an only child, despite her close relationship with Gorden’s kids, it wasn’t the same as having her own flesh-and-blood siblings.
She even let Doug drive her car back to Tampa. She enjoyed the smile on his face as she encouraged him to open it up on I-75. “You only live once, right? Go ahead,” she said. “Enjoy it. That’s why I bought it, to drive it and have fun. Don’t baby it.”
“Why not get a Mercedes?”
She shrugged. “I wanted a Mustang. Always promised myself growing up I’d buy myself one, and that’s what I did.” She realized she could relax with him driving, something that rarely happened when someone other than her father or Gorden was driving.
She settled back in her seat. “This was fun. Thank you for coming with me.”
“I enjoyed it.” He smiled. “Do we get to do this a lot?”
“Once a month at least. Before you know it, we’ll be getting you over to my dad’s house on Boca for weekend fishing trips. I hope you don’t get seasick.”
“Not usually, but I haven’t been out on a boat much.”
“No problem. My dad will be happy to teach you the basics.”
“Do you think he’s going to buy this act?”
They hadn’t spoken about their contract at all until now. “I think,” she said, “that he’ll keep his mouth shut.”
At least, I hope he will!
Chapter Twelve
Doug settled into the job. As his knowledge grew, so did his duties. He was already going to meetings on his own without Gorden there holding his hand. One Tuesday afternoon, Harper knocked on Doug’s open doorway.
He looked up from his computer. “Hey.”
She stepped in and closed the door behind her. “Any plans for tonight?”
“No, why?”
“I want you to accompany me to a Chamber of Commerce meet and greet after work. Starts at seven o’clock, so we need to leave here by six thirty.”
“Do I need to change clothes?”
“Nope, you look fine. We’ll leave from here.” She grinned. “Your first chance to get out and meet people. Time to plant the first seeds. You’ve been working here over four weeks. Time to start showing you around.”
He smiled. She couldn’t get over how sad he sometimes looked. She wished she could walk over and hug him and make him feel better. He was such a sweet guy.
“What about dinner?” he asked.
“We’ll eat there. Lots of goodies to suck up. Cash bar, though.”
He shrugged. “I’m not much of a drinker.”
“Yet another thing I like about you. We’ll take your car.” When he gave her a quizzical look, she added, “I want people to see me getting out of your car.”
“You don’t think that’s giving people too much credit to notice something like that?”
“You have no idea. The speed of gossip in this group is pretty much the same amount of time it takes people to start bitching about Facebook changes. I have no doubts my father will ‘coincidentally’ drop by tomorrow to check in. ‘And, oh by the way, guess what so-and-so called me today and told me.’” She laughed. “And it’ll make it even better when Rebecca Castor starts trying to feel you up after she’s had a few appletinis and I elbow her out of the way.”
That earned her a genuine laugh from Doug. “Sounds like I need hockey gear to survive this.”
“Don’t worry. I’m a damn good goon. I’ll protect you.” She left the office to the sound of his laughter. She liked that she could make him laugh. That was good, especially since he’d seemed so sad the past couple of weeks.