Unfortunately, he’d applied his outlook on life to a woman who was firmly entrenched in Jessamine. Her family was here, as was her career. Even if he was the marrying kind at this point, he couldn’t leave Charlotte and he wouldn’t expect her to leave Jessamine.
Libby’s tail thumped against the bedcover, and he grinned. Trust her dog to answer.
“Want to go outside?” he asked in a loud whisper.
Libby jumped down from the bed and followed him to the back door, where he let her out. While he waited for Libby to do her thing, he considered his options.
He could text Harper, letting her know he’d taken care of Libby and that he’d see her tomorrow. Or... he could go a step further and take care of her as well by cooking dinner for them.
No expectations. No nothing.
Just two people having dinner.
Okay, two people who wanted to screw each other senseless having dinner.
He ran a hand over his face. What a mess. His stay in Jessamine wasn’t permanent, not now... and not for at least the next ten years. Harper had to know that. She had to.
God help him if she didn’t, because he couldn’t take her sadness. It physically pained him to see the hurt in her eyes. The disappointment in him like what he’d witnessed this afternoon.
To complicate further, Finley had shared that his pursuit for a better public image was going better than expected. Women could relate to Harper, and men found her attractive. Sure, there were always haters, but he made it a policy to never read the comments, not even on Instagram, because they were starting to invade that space as well.
Too bad they couldn’t confine themselves to Facebook and Twitter.
As for the Kryzowskis and the ridiculous rumors they’d spread of him coming aboard to play for them... it was pure bullshit. Yet, Finley had almost believed it. Yeah, the Kryzowskis had a more established franchise, but to move out West wasn’t what he wanted to do.
“Dinner with Harper it is,” he said. He pulled out his phone with the intent to text his sister-in-law, Bailey, to get some food delivered. She and his brother, Lucas, owned Yates’ diner and had the best food in town.
Except... he wanted to do more than get take-out.
Searching Harper’s well-stocked pantry and fridge, he found some steaks and potatoes. She had a grill out back, and he could bake the potatoes. Yeah, it was a standard guy meal, but he had an ace in his sleeve. Well, if Harper had the ingredients he needed.
An hour later, Harper emerged from the bedroom, her hair messy and her eyes wide and bemused as their gazes collided. He wasn’t sure why. Although, he was wearing one of her aprons, a frilly pink and brown thing covered in amoebas. He was pretty sure that amoeba wasn’t the right term, but it was all he could come up with.
“Sorry, I fell asleep,” she said, her hands going to her hair and patting it down some.
“Don’t be sorry. It’s good for my ego to know what I did to you wore you out,” he said with a teasing grin and she blushed.
Her light gaze bounced from him to her kitchen, more specifically, to the island in the kitchen. “You cooked?”
“Don’t look so shocked,” he said, although he was very much enjoying the adorably shocked look on her face. “My parents made all of us boys learn how to cook.”
“I’m not shocked you cooked.” She licked her lips, and then looked back at him. “I’m shocked you’re still here.”
“Was I supposed to leave?”
Shrugging, Harper shook her head. “I don’t know.”
Libby got up from her spot by the fireplace and walked up to Harper, tail wagging. “I let her outside for you, and then she decided to hang out with me. We’re besties now.”
A smile quirked on her lips. “Are you?”
“Yeah.” He grabbed a glass of iced tea he’d made for himself and handed it to Harper instead. “Make yourself comfortable, and I’ll serve you.”
“Again?” Her face heated, and she took a drink of her tea. An extra long drink of her tea, he noticed.
“You are mighty flirty tonight.”
“I haven’t woken up all the way.”
She was such a sexy, little liar. “Hopefully, dinner will do the trick. If that doesn’t, then my homemade, no-bake cheesecake will entice you into staying up long enough to watch Undercover Boss with me.”
This time, her mouth dropped open. “You made a cheesecake?”
“I did.”
“Not your sister-in-law?”
“Nope.” Grabbing her by the shoulders, he steered her to into the breakfast nook and to the closest chair. “Sit and eat before I get so insulted by your lack of faith in my culinary skills that I have to take drastic measures.”
As she sat down, he hit the Pandora app on his phone and country music began to play, filling the room with sounds of Sam Hunt.
“Didn’t take you for a country music guy,” she said as he sat in the chair closet to her.
“I like all music.”
She glanced from her glass to his place at the table. “This wasn’t for me, was it?”
“No, but you looked thirsty and I can fix myself another.” He leaned in close. “Don’t worry, I don’t have anything that’s catching.”
She pressed her lips together. He got up from the table and poured himself some iced tea as well.
“Wasn’t sure how you liked your steak, so I went with medium,” he said as he sat down once again.
“Honestly, since you took the time to make dinner, I’d eat the steak raw or burnt to a crisp.”
“Aren’t you easy to please?”
“Wouldn’t you be, if someone made you dinner?” she asked, but then shook her head. “You probably have women beating down your door to make dinner for you.”
“They’re beating down my door for entirely different reasons.”
“Do you let them in?” she asked.
He gazed into her eyes. “No.”
“Do you let anyone in... ever?”
“Do you?”
“No.”
He picked up her hand and laced his fingers through it. Standing, he pulled her up with him. “I think we need to dance this one out.”
“Not talk?” she asked, laying her head against his chest as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
“We let our words get in the way.”
They swayed as one as a different singer crooned about unexpected chances at love. Harper was a short woman, so short that he could rest his chin on the top of her head. Normally, he preferred a tall woman, one that was easy to kiss or take against the wall. Except he’d lifted Harper with ease and fucking loved how she’d clung to him while he walked across her floor.
He could still feel her pink tongue on him, licking and tasting his body as her inquisitive hands roamed all over him. Best of all, he couldn’t get the taste of her out of his mouth. Couldn’t get the sounds of her pleasure, of her moans and screaming his name... out of his head. It was fucking music to his ears.
Involuntarily, his arms tightened around her, his cock grew hard, and soon, it became difficult to dance without rubbing up against her.
No protection, he reminded himself.
He spun her around, and then dipped her, eliciting a laugh. The sound warmed his heart. Warmed other places as well. What was wrong with him, and why in the hell couldn’t he control his body’s response to her? For a man who thrived on control and rules, the whole situation was unsettling.
“Food’s getting cold,” he said, abruptly stopping.
Harper tipped up her chin, her dark lashes slowly rising and falling as she gazed at him. Desire was evident in her eyes. “We should eat.”
Neither of them moved for a few long minutes. A commercial began to play, breaking the spell they were under.
With a smile, Harper returned to the table and sat down. Austin did the same, and they both dug into dinner.
“Thank you for making supper,” Harper said between bites. “No one’s ever done that fo
r me before.” She tilted her head to one side. “Outside of my parents, that is.”
Grasping on to a much safer topic, he asked, “Are you close to them?”
“As close as a child can be. Growing up, I was the center of everything. It was a little hard becoming independent once I graduated high school,” she admitted.
“Reality bites.”
“More like student loans. Thank God for part-time jobs.”
“Do you still have a part-time job...? Wait, you sold Tristan and Lemon their house.”
“I did, but honestly, Tristan was the one to find it. I only charged them half my rate because I barely did half the work I usually do.”
“Why weren’t you at their party?” He would have remembered meeting her there, even with all those McCoy women fluttering around the place.
“Had the flu. One of my students gave it to me.”
“Just think, if only we had met then...” His words trailed away. Actually, if they had met then, nothing would have happened because he was still seeing Bianca.
“If only,” she said, and then resumed eating.
Yeah, if they had met then, he couldn’t be sure he would have noticed her at all. Or what he would have done if he had noticed her.
“This weekend, I’m playing in a charity golf game, and there’s a party afterwards. Would you like to go as my date?” he asked.
Her fork stopped halfway to her mouth. “I... I can’t. I already have plans.”
His heart sank. “That’s a shame. I really wanted to introduce you to my teammates.”
“Maybe next time,” she lightly replied.
Although he didn’t think Harper was the type to punish a guy for screwing up, he didn’t miss that there was a lot of meaning behind her ‘maybe next time’. He had to get her back on his side. The only way he knew how to do that was to share something about himself. Something that was a little vulnerable and a little funny.
“When I was little, around four or five years old, I wanted to be a policeman and arrest the bad guys.”
“Did you?”
“Yeah. I would chase my brothers around and pretend to arrest them. I thought it was the start of a long career in the making.” He grinned ruefully at the memories. “Unfortunately, the first time my dad took me to a gun safety class, I ran to his truck and refused to leave. Didn’t like how loud the guns were.”
Her eyes clouded with sympathy, and she reached over to cover his hand with hers. “You poor thing.”
Trust Harper’s sweet nature and kind heart to help him out. “When we got home, I picked up the football Caleb bought me for Christmas and started playing with that instead. Hell of a lot quieter.”
“Except for the roar of the crowd.”
“There is that.” He began to cut up the steak on his plate. “What about you?”
“I always wanted to be a teacher. Growing up, mine were so nice and helpful. People looked up to them. They valued their opinions, you know?”
“We’re not so different, you and me.”
She raised a brow. “Do tell.”
“We both want to be valued for our talents and not public opinion or the latest trend.”
“I never thought of it that way, but you’re right. Maybe one day, they’ll pay teachers like football players.” She gave him a lopsided grin, complete with dimples. “But then they’d saddle us with filling seats and getting endorsements.”
He laughed. “Is there any insider knowledge or tips you can give me for tomorrow? I like to be prepared before I go into a new situation.”
“Um... be yourself, be honest, and whatever you do, don’t pull Frankie Smith’s finger no matter how much he begs you to.”
“Duly noted.”
She let go of his hand, smiling all the while. He supposed he couldn’t be that disappointed she’d stopped touching him if she was happy.
“What days do you plan on coming in?”
“Every day you want me,” he said.
Her gaze flew to his. Something passed between them. It was hot, sweet, and... fleeting. Mostly because Harper bowed her head and refused to look at him again until they were done.
After washing the dishes and cleaning up the kitchen, Austin couldn’t find another reason to stay any later.
“Guess I’ll be going now.”
Harper met him at the door, opening it wide. “Thanks again for the steak dinner. It was delicious. The cheesecake was divine, and I’m really looking forward to you volunteering with my students tomorrow!”
What the hell was with her forced cheerfulness? Shit. He was so damned confused right now. It wasn’t remotely funny, but he was certain that if he asked Harper to explain, he wouldn’t like the answer she’d give him.
“See you tomorrow at 7:45 sharp,” he said, stepping outside.
“Night.” She closed the door before he could say more.
Disgruntled, he strode to his truck, his balls aching. The woman had turned him on and off so many times this afternoon, he felt as though he was about to burst.
He facilitated between marching up to her front door and pounding on it until she answered, or blowing off the entire volunteering thing so he could head to Charlotte almost a week earlier.
Except that was what a quitter did. A quitter gave up after a setback... or five. Austin had never quit in his life, and he sure as hell wasn’t about to start now.
If she wanted a purely professional type of relationship, no matter how hard he could make her come, then that was what she would get. Well, she would get that until she came to her senses and—
He paused by his truck, more than a little taken aback by his turn in thoughts. Never in his life had he chased after a woman this hard, and after three dates—he was for damn sure counting tonight as a date—she’d practically thrown yellow flags at nearly every one of his plays. Hell, she threw flags when he wasn’t looking and made up rules she wasn’t willing to share with him so he could play to win.
Thing was, he didn’t want to play a game with her.
He wanted... well, he wanted what he thought he wasn’t ready to have.
Fuck.
He needed to talk to someone. Someone with experience in this sort of thing.
Quickly, he shot off a text to his brother, Mason.
Austin: I need to talk to you.
Mason: Post it on our Facebook page.
Austin: No.
Mason: Can’t be that important.
Austin frowned. His brother would do everything he could to avoid face-to-face conversations.
Austin: I don’t want anyone else’s input—just yours.
Mason: Seeking the master’s advice, huh?
He rolled his eyes, but if stroking his brother’s ego would gain him an audience, so be it.
Austin: You know it. So, what time can I come by tomorrow afternoon?
Mason: Skylar said be here at 5:30 and you can stay for dinner
Austin: See you then.
***
Just as he said he would, Austin showed up in Harper’s classroom exactly fifteen minutes before the bell rang. Of course, half the school showed up in her classroom, too. All under the guise of needing to borrow something, or to ask for Harper’s advice on a matter. It was downright painful, not because of the way people were acting, but because she had to be near a man who had done his level best to take care of her last night.
A man who’d put up with her hot-and-cold act without coming down to her level. Honestly, she was afraid. Afraid by the rush of feelings he brought out in such a short amount of time. Afraid by how quickly she could forget herself when he was around. Afraid of how bad it would hurt once he was back in Charlotte, back to his old life, which did not include her at all.
She sneezed.
“Bless you,” Austin said, gathering the stacks of construction paper so that he could sort them by color.
“Thanks,” she whispered. Her head started to ache. By the time the tardy bell rang, her entire body was simultaneousl
y freezing and burning up.
Austin kept glancing her way, even as parent volunteers appeared out of thin air to help out in her classroom. Where had they been on field trip days?
“I’ve sorted paper, counted out googly eyes, and given each kid a glue stick, like your instructions said. Is it alright for them to start or should I wait for you?” Austin asked.
“You can start.” She glanced over at one of her longtime parent volunteers. “Will you help Mr. Lawson, please?”
The volunteer immediately sprang into action.
A coughing fit racked her body and she excused herself from the room, heading to the teacher’s lounge to rest for a bit. The school nurse happened to be in there as well, filling out paperwork for new students.
“You look awful, Harper,” she said. “C’mere and let me take your temperature.”
Harper waved her away. “I’m fine.” This time, she sneezed four times in a row.
“You are not fine.” The nurse stood and took Harper’s hand. “Girl, you are burning up!”
“Really? I’m freezing.”
“Open.”
Harper dutifully parted her lips, and then pushed them together to keep the thermometer in place. In a matter of seconds, it was beeping. The nurse took it and scanned the temperature reading.
“Go home,” she said with a sympathetic smile. “You have the latest crud going around, and I can’t let you stay here with a fever of one hundred and two.”
“What about my students?” Harper protested.
“Reggie will tend to them.”
With a little shove, Harper left the lounge and headed to her classroom to get her things. Going home sounded like a fabulous idea. Crawling into her bed and sleeping for a hundred years sounded even better.
“Are you sick?” Austin asked, attempting to place his hand against her head, but she stepped back.
“Don’t touch me, or you’ll get it too,” she said. “I’m going home. Reggie, er... Principal Phelps will be in here soon, so you can work with whoever he gets to substitute for me.” Black dots appeared in front of her eyes, and she swayed. Grabbing the chair so she wouldn’t fall, she bent over to grab her purse.
Love So Perfect (The Lawson Brothers #5) Page 8