More of You

Chapter 27

Harper sat curled up on the swing with Tank asleep behind her knees. Luke sat across from her with his feet up and his laptop resting on his knees as he worked on his backlog of work. It was the first time in a long time that she was completely relaxed. She shouldn't be, she had no job and no plan for her future so she should be freaking out, but she couldn't be bothered.

"What are you think about so hard?" Luke asked as he set his laptop aside and stretched. Harper couldn't help but admire the way his muscles rippled in his arms before he rested his hands behind his head.

Harper shrugged. "That right now I can't be bothered to care about much of anything."

"Enjoy it while it lasts because if I know you tomorrow will be a different story."

"Probably," she agreed reaching over and pulling on a snoring Tank's ear.

"Have you thought any more about your future?" Luke watched her hand as it stroked Tank.

"No, not really, but I'm pretty sure that no matter what happens I won't go back to construction. The moment I walked out of that office I felt the lightest I have felt in over ten years, despite my father and sister's betrayal."

"Your degree is in business, right?"

Harper nodded. "Yes, I thought that I would be taking over for your dad one day." She reached for her wine glass taking a sip of the ruby red liquid.

"Why don't you do something with that, start your own business?" Luke's attention was focused on her as she drank the wine, and Harper cleared her throat nervously.

"Like what?" Harper asked as she swirled the wine in her glass before inhaling the scent then taking another sip. It had been in the back of her mind that it was just the two of them and it would be all night.

"I don't think that I have ever seen a woman make drinking a glass of wine look so sexy before."

Harper glanced up at Luke, and he was staring at her mouth, his eyes a dark green. Blushing, she gave a nervous laugh. "That could be my business, teaching women how to drink wine," she joked.

"No, that might be a bit extreme, but something with the wine business might not be a bad idea," Luke agreed, getting back to the topic under discussion. "You know the wine business already, it's in your blood, and your name alone will help with making connections. This part of Georgia has a strong wine industry. Perhaps you could team up with your family, be a supplier for their wines?"

Harper's eyes grew wide at the idea. "My own winery, I could start one here?" She felt her heart swell with the rightness in the idea. "Do you think it's crazy?" Her hopeful eyes met Luke's.

"No, I think you should at least explore the idea."

Her excitement faded a little as she started to think of how daunting the idea really was. The amount of money alone was beyond her reach. She had minimal savings but nowhere near enough. "It wouldn't work."

"You know, you're really good at finding reasons why things won't work instead of reasons why they will." Luke threw his arms down to his sides in frustration.

"I'm a realist Luke, the money alone is beyond my reach. I don't have enough and there is no way that I could borrow that kind of money," she argued.

"There are such things as investors. I would invest, I'm sure Gran would, and your family, Aunt Rita, would probably go for the idea, especially if you decided to use their label. An American Sinclair wine, it would open up an entire new market."

Harper felt her excitement start to rise once more.

They were silent as Harper started to dream and make plans, and she was taken by surprise when Luke suddenly changed the topic.