More of You

Chapter 10

It was nearing the end of the second week of Harper working on the Imelda Rivers job, and she had formed a plan of sorts that she hoped would make it possible for her to stay on the job. She was writing down her thoughts, so that she could re-visit the idea later, when the door to her office opened and Luke walked in followed by Lucky. He was carrying a large box that was shaking with what she guessed were puppies.

Lucky ran over to her, and Harper was glad to be able to bury her face in her thick fur as she greeted her. She hadn't really talked to Luke since he had left her apartment almost two weeks before, and she was unsure of where they currently stood with each other.

"Don't you knock?" she asked as she looked up at him with an arched eyebrow.

"It's a little hard to do with my arms full of puppies and Lucky tugging at her leash." Luke sat the box on the floor and Harper looked into the squirming mass of fur.

"They've gotten so big!" she insisted as she reached for the first one.

"Can I leave them with you today? I have to take a trip down to Atlanta to pick up my grandmother, and I have workmen at my house."

"Why, whats wrong with your house?" Harper asked without thinking about whether it was any of her business.

"My grandmother is coming to stay with me and the bathroom needs a few tweaks for her to be able to use it." He sat down in her visitor's chair as the door to the office opened once more and Trudy walked in without being invited.

"I heard there are puppies? Are there puppies?" She looked hopefully at the box. Lucky was not pleased with her arrival and started to bark and punctuated it with little growls so Trudy stepped back, making an excuse, and left the office.

"Now you see why I can't leave Lucky with a bunch of workmen, she'd eat them alive."

Harper took one of the pups and sat back in her chair, watching Luke who was watching her.

She had decided that Luke had been trying to make a point with his outlandish statement about wanting to kiss her, after all he didn't deny wanting to kiss every woman he met, he had only played a bit with the words and made her sound a little more special than the rest.

"I want you to know that I get the point that you were trying to make the other night," she assured him. She didn't want him to think that she was going to obsess about, what were to him, a few throw away comments.

"I have to be on my way, why don't you walk me out. The pups will be fine as long as they're in the box. Lucky will keep an eye on them," he assured her as he caught her looking at them with concern at his suggestion.

Harper was not only concerned about the puppies though, she was also concerned that he was going to ignore the situation, so she wanted to try to talk to him one more time. Nodding, she put the puppy down and walked with him to the door.

"Why don't you have a heart to heart with Lucky and tell her about the value of abstinence?" Luke suggested as he pushed his way out of the main door leading the way to his truck. When they reached it he turned on her abruptly, trapping her against the hood of his truck, placing his hands to either side of her. "Now, tell me what point I was trying to make the other night?"

"Ummm," she licked her lips and he followed the movement, "you were trying to tell me, prove to me, that I'm innocent, and that I don't know as much about men as I could. You didn't have to be quite so in my face about it though," she insisted weakly as his green eyes stared into hers.

When she couldn't take their intensity anymore she looked away. 

"Kissing is totally about getting in someone's face," he insisted. "Besides, you're not so innocent that you didn't know I wanted to kiss you that night in your office and again at your apartment. So, tell me, what do you think I am thinking about right now?"

Harper could feel the heat radiating off of him, but when she didn't look up at him or respond his question he sighed.

"Fine Harper, if you want to pretend that everything is as it always was I'll play it your way, for now." He pushed away from her and leaned on the truck next to her.

"My grandmother arrives this evening, and she would like for you to come to dinner on Friday.  There is going to be a Sunday dinner with both of our families, but she asked for you specifically on Friday."

When Harper opened her mouth to ask why Luke cut her off before she could say anything.

"I have no idea why, it's not something that she has chosen to share with me."

Manny came around the corner of the building, heading to his truck. They watched silently as he opened the door, riffled through it, closed the door, and left, taking nothing.

"What is going on with these people?" Harper asked at the odd behavior that she had just witnessed.

"Our fathers installed a new security system. There are cameras all over the building."

Harper looked up at him shocked. "How does that explain what Manny just did?"

"I looked at the system the other night and noted that this is one of two blind spots in the coverage. My guess is that he was sent out to check up on us and see what we were doing."

"They're watching us?" Harper stood up straight, outraged.

"Why are you surprised, you're the one who pointed out the 'are they are aren't they' mentality that they all have towards us. Well, we're officially their new hobby."

"Is that why you brought me out here? So we couldn't be seen?" She looked up at him suspiciously.

"Yes, I didn't want to talk about what happened the other night where we could be overheard, and if it wasn't so risky I probably would have kissed you too." He pushed away from his truck opening his door as Trudy rounded the corner and walked to her car.

"Are they seriously doing this?" she hissed as she watched Trudy walk to her car and pull out a sweater, taking the time to put it on and look at herself in her side mirror.

"Can I tell Gran that you'll come on Friday?" he asked, ignoring Trudy.

Harper nodded, watching Trudy walk away. When her father rounded the corner, she turned her back so he wouldn't see her anger. He was involved too? She felt a little betrayed.

"If our fathers are in on this, what does that mean?" She looked up at Luke with confusion evident on her face.

"It means that maybe they aren't as averse to the idea of us sharing a kiss as we thought?"

Harper could only stare at him dumbfounded at the idea as Luke climbed into his truck and started the engine.

What exactly did that mean for the two of them, and what exactly had he meant when he said 'he'd play it her way for now'? Did that mean that he was going to eventually kiss her?

Harper felt her heartbeat skip at the thought as she watched him drive away.