Page 16 of Take the Blame (Seaside Mergers #3)

Chapter Ten

ALTA

I barreled through the door of the shop like a bloodhound on a mission. One quick scan of the area didn’t produce the person I was looking for. Funny how that worked since he was just present when he wasn’t supposed to be.

From what I could see, the shop only consisted of the girls and Quis. All people who wouldn’t mind my next actions.

“ Harper !”

Fast—faster than I thought he would— Harper appeared in the hall of the back rooms holding onto the doorframe. His eyes appeared urgent as he scanned the room, and when those warm brown orbs caught onto me, they locked.

In seconds he was across the room and in front of me. His big hands grasped my shoulders and pulled me close to him, basically into his chest. I had to brace my hands on the sides of his waist to stop my face from smashing between his pecs.

“What?” he asked, taking me off guard. He was looking around the store like a maniac.

Looking for someone, as he peered around me and out the front window.

When he didn’t see anything he pushed me away.

Only far enough to look down at me with genuine concern, repeating. “What’s wrong? What happened?”

I opened my mouth but closed it quickly. Staring up at him I couldn’t help the floppy dance my heart was doing in my chest as I registered the look on his face.

Concern .

Not to mention the fact that he was touching me. Harper had never touched me before and now his warm palms were searing into me in a possessive hold that put butterflies in my gut.

“What’s wrong Alta?” he asked again. “Did he hurt you?”

“No,” I said, softly. I had been prepared to let him have it or at least let him have it Alta style, but the earnestness of his concern halted me. Lowering my voice I said, “No one hurt me, Harp. I just came in here to talk to you.”

Like a storm his face changed, and without hesitation this man who had never before touched me, was now holding onto my bicep like it was a stress ball. Judging by the firmness of his grip, he was pretty dang stressed.

“Harp?” I squeaked, confused.

“I need to talk to you,” he said.

That’s all he said before he started pulling me toward the back.

Looking down at his hand and up to the tick in his jaw, I squirmed. Heat curled up my back to my neck at the gruff way he was handling me. Me . Little Alta. And I couldn’t explain the rush it sent to the strangest places.

Suddenly I was flushed. I was always made fun of for showing my emotions on my skin. If he dared to look back at me now, he’d see the telling color that was rising to my cheeks.

“Um,” I squirmed some more. “I don’t think that’s necessary.”

“Oh, it’s necessary,” he grumbled. Harper! The guy who was always laughing at me! He was grumbling now and looking like he wanted to punish me once he got me to that back room.

Alta! I scolded myself as the thought of Gus Harper punishing me stirred me up.

Yanking his office door open, he pushed me in and followed right behind me.

The door slammed, and I jumped at the snap of it, my thoughts giving me whiplash as they came crashing down from nearly getting turned on just a second ago.

Just in time for him to release me and point a reprimanding finger my way.

“Whatever’s going on with you, I need you to sort it out. Now ,” he said. And he was serious. For once in his dang life this man was being serious, yet he was talking absolutely crazy!

“ Excuse me ?” I breathed incredulously.

“You heard me,” he said. Taking a couple steps toward me and towering like he was some big menacing force.

Which he was. All broad and tattooed and speaking in this deep, growly voice I had yet to hear from him before.

But I wasn’t afraid of him. He could try to intimidate me all he wanted, but I would not back down.

Puffing my chest out and raising my chin high, I met his gaze with a glare.

His eyes slitted and for the first time, Harper looked mean.

My lip trembled but nothing else. His own lip curled when he saw it, like he was disgusted.

“You’ve been acting off, and I don’t like it. ”

Off? Had he really noticed?

Looking away, I crossed my arms, mumbling. “That’s none of your business, Harper.”

“No, fuck that Alta,” he said. Fingers gripped me by my chin and pulled my gaze up to meet his blazing one. “You made it my business as soon as you started skipping my appointments and storming in here yelling like someone was chasing you—trying to give me a heart attack and shit.”

“I did not yell , Harper! You’re being ridiculous.”

“You yelled,” he said. “You came in here hollering for me after you were with some random guy. What did you expect me to do?”

“My brother, Harper. Not some random guy, my brother . With whom I was having a very important conversation before you bombarded it for no good reason, by the way,” I said.

He frowned with his entire face, the creases in between his eyes clearly showing the thought he was putting into my words. Annoyingly, he landed on, “I had a good reason.”

I blinked, waiting for that “oh so important” reason to surface. He shifted, me somehow making him uncomfortable for once even though it was still him who had my face in his hands. Against my will, I shivered.

“You went missing,” he finally said, like it was the truest thing in the world. I just blinked at him as he puffed out a sigh. “You missed three appointments, Alta.”

I rolled my eyes. So dramatic.

“I missed one , since this now counts as another. Plus, I contacted you to let you know I’d be gone,” I said.

“Yeah,” he shifted again, his grip softening some, but not letting me go. He just moved his thumb absently along my jaw, looking at me intently. “But why? Why are you suddenly missing my appointments? You mad or something?”

“No, Harp. I’m busy . I’m juggling a lot of planning between my sister’s festival and the block party and I felt comfortable that Ink and Mar was set until at least the end of the month, when everything dies down.”

“You mean to tell me if I’d have said yes to your party you would still be coming around here?” he asked.

A thought the size of a soap bubble popped into my mind. Tiny, but suddenly it was the biggest thing in the world .

Looking up at him, I swallowed, wanting nothing more but to know. “What if I did?”

“Then I’d say yes,” he said simply. “In a heartbeat.”

I shivered but shook my head. “That’s not why you should do it, Harper. You should be doing it because it’s a good idea,” I said. My eyes dropped. “But you don’t seem to think so.”

He frowned. “You’re mad.”

“I’m really not. I’ve just got a lot to do. Too much to be hanging around here when nobody’s going to take me seriously.”

“ You are ,” he grumbled, leaning closer so he could catch my fallen eyes.

I gave them to him. Glaring. Pouting. I don’t know what, but I was staring enough that hopefully he could decipher my emotions. “I’m not mad. Anger and frustration are two different feelings.”

“What’s got you so frustrated?”

“ You ,” I grumbled. When he waggled his eyebrows, my mouth wobbled, the tiniest smile slipped free before I chuckled helplessly.

“I don’t know. Everything? My brother out there, he’s also my boss, and before you interrupted, I was trying to get him to agree to let me move to the marketing department at the company. ”

“He’s got that much pull?” he asked.

I blinked, remembering that Harper wasn’t from here, so he didn’t immediately know everything about my family’s influence in this town. I nodded, “Yup. He makes the decisions, and he’s great but he’s busy and I finally got him to make time to hear me out and?—”

I broke off, my voice shriveling as the backs of my eyes stung. I’d really screwed this up. I was never going to get out from under my family’s false illusion now. Never . Not without Ox’s blessing.

You let him order you around. Ox really thought I was that weak.

Harper’s voice was sullen as he realized his mistake. “But I screwed it up. ”

I sighed, my entire body depressing into the sound. “No… I mean yes, you ticked him off for sure. But he was already backing out. My sister needed his help.”

“But I thought you were getting his help.”

“Melissa comes first,” I said, my voice betraying me as it wobbled, frustration leaking from every word.

“Why?” he asked.

I glared. Not at him, but near his shoulder, feeling peeved. “Because she’s important and I’m me.”

“I don’t like the sound of that, Boss,” he grumbled and I must admit, I did sort of enjoy the sound of Harper being grumbly on my behalf. It was like having an ally in an unlikely source.

I just shrugged. “Then you don’t like the sound of the truth.”

“Why don’t you just say something?” he asked. “Stand up for yourself. Tell them how you feel.”

I looked at him, and suddenly my throat felt the size of a straw, the swallow I attempted rough and stinging. “Because I can’t .”

He looked at me, his thumb grazing up and down my jaw lightly.

His gaze caressing me with the same considering appraisal he always held.

Something about his expression told me that he knew.

Even though I hadn’t said the words, he understood why I couldn’t stand up for myself.

I was stuck, and just because he’d somehow broken the seal to my prophetical niceness didn’t mean everyone else had.

No one else had truthfully.

After a moment Harper’s gaze caught a strange quality to it. One of guileful intrigue I’d never seen before. Like he was both studying my reactions and ready to probe them forward.