Page 38 of Take the Blame (Seaside Mergers #3)

Ally Cat was a new nickname Lana and Jules had given me when they witnessed me knock back an entire mini plastic cup of wine and dance with them until other parties arrived.

“Don’t worry, Ger.” Lana patted his shoulder. “This one’s pretty specific. You weren’t here on Halloween, but I have a feeling the Ally we saw the other night only comes out every once in a while.”

“That’s right,” Jules agreed. “You probably wouldn't have even recognized her.”

“You guys, stop it,” I said, setting my stuff down in one of the chairs behind the desk.

Eyes gravitating to the back, I wrinkled my nose.

That’s weird . I always looked to Harper’s spot first, though I quickly adjusted my gaze before he had time to see me staring.

But most of the time he was there, killing time in his chair or leaning over his tablet as he tweaked some drawing or another. “Where’s Harper?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Jules mumbled from beside my shoulder.

My head whipped to look at her. “Juliana Matthews, you stop that.”

Her grin was like an evil cartoon’s. Wide and unsympathetic. “Stop? I didn’t think you knew the word, from the non-stop screams?—”

I covered her mouth. “Jules!”

Her hands slapped over the top of the desk, catching herself from doubling over with her laughter.

Looking around the shop, everyone looked somewhat clueless if not confused—other than Ryan and Lana, who had also been present during Harper and I’s obvious flirting (and more) at the party.

I’m almost positive she was making the screaming part up, though.

There was no way she could hear us from all the way down on the beach .

From the corner of the room, in the front waiting area, a sound caught my attention. It was Harper, sitting on one of the brown leather sofas pushed up against the window with his tablet in his hand and his digital pencil tucked between his lips.

“I’m right here, Boss,” he said, now that he had my attention. “Walked right past me. Don’t recognize me now?”

“Oh,” I said. My gaze drank him up animatedly, from his relaxed posture leaned back in the seat to his steady eyes as they settled over me.

Light fluttering swarmed my torso, and I unconsciously checked him out.

With his tattoos on display, his tapered haircut and faded stubble looking freshly cut and his large legs sprawled out wide in a lazy posture, suddenly the tablet in his lap looked to have the best seat in the room.

A pointed clearing of a throat from beside me yanked me out of my trance and I stammered to add. “Hi.”

“Smooth,” Jules coughed, and others snickered.

Harper didn’t join. His eyes bathed me in his undivided attention, other parties not deterring him in the slightest. When his gaze finished their perusal of me, he smiled. “Hey, Boss. Looking for me?”

I bit my lip, my chin bobbing down to my chest in a nod. Someone grumbled a plea to Jesus Christ behind us and I found my eyes getting heavy with memories of what had transpired the last time I was in front of this man.

In front of, under, all over .

“You’re gonna have to open your mouth, Alta.

” My eyebrows pulled down at the sound of his words.

Unsure if I was really wading through that much sex brain or if he truly just told me to open my mouth for him in the middle of his full tattoo shop.

My skin flamed when that teasing smile replaced his previous one, clarifying.

“To tell us what you’re so excited about. ”

Had I even mentioned I was excited, or did he just notice? I wondered if he could always notice or if it was something new he picked up since we’d gotten… closer.

“Someone get them a room, Jesus,” Quis groaned.

“I think they already found one, bud.” Ryan patted his shoulder. “Two more seconds and they’re gonna use this one too. Ally please, for us, quit it with the Gus pheromones.”

I covered my face. “Why are you only blaming me?”

“Because you at least have some shame. He can’t be stopped.” Ryan shook his head, and I refused to look his way. Sighing, he said. “Just tell us why you’re here, please God.”

“Oh!” I said getting excited all over again. Removing my hands from my face I found Harper’s eyes again. “Guess what happened!”

The next several minutes I spent pacing, excited strides that were drastically different from the near breakdown I had weeks prior.

I gave the cliffs notes version because I’m sure these guys didn’t care about the details of my spreadsheets, but I told them all about how I stumbled my way into being offered a special side project at work.

After our meeting, Mark told me that each one of our product life spans had a purgatory period in which we decided if it would officially be killed or not.

He proposed that if I could use some of the marketing devices I’d pointed out to him in our meeting to show substantial market potential for the product, then I could spearhead the revitalization of it and then hopefully move into taking the lead on it permanently.

Breathing was nonexistent throughout my spiel. And when I finally stopped, having pushed out every bit of information as fast as I could, I swayed, catching myself against the wall for balance.

“You okay?” Jules asked, her palms outstretching cautiously.

“Yeah,” I breathed. I let my shoulders hit the wall as I slumped against it happily. “Just a little lightheaded. I didn’t eat in all the excitement!”

A snap from the couch brought my eyes back over to Harper. But instead of finding him there, he was right in front of me. Grabbing for me, his large hands grasped onto my shoulders, gentle but firm as he pulled me up from the wall.

I gave a confused look upward. “Harp?—”

“Going to lunch,” he called over his shoulder. “Ger, you’re in charge.”

“Naturally,” Gerald scoffed.

“Bye kids,” Jules waved her fingers.

“Oh! My wallet!” I said, turning back for my bag.

“You don’t need it,” Harper huffed, continuing to pull me along.

“Jules!” I called. She was already ahead of me, rushing my bag over and pushing us out the door like a mom sending her kid off on a first date.

Outside, Harper let me go but stayed close as he led me around the side of the block to the little parking lot where employees kept their cars.

“Where are we going?” I asked excited again, this time at the prospect of food.

The look he gave as he peered down his shoulder at me turned my stomach over like a pancake. His eyes were smiling. His mouth was too, the corners turned up just slightly as he took me in.

And of all the ways he had touched me before, all the ways I wanted him to touch me again, the man simply leaned a playful shoulder into mine and bumped me before saying. “You’re the boss.”

And at that moment I felt okay, because I felt like he’d go anywhere with me.

The restaurant I chose was one of my favorites. I usually carried it out for lunch and ate between appointments, but being able to sit down and try something new was exciting too.

Being able to sit next to Harper, as he slid in beside me in the dark vinyl of the half-moon booth might have been even more exciting. Nervous energy bounced through me, channeling to my fingers that tapped along the table restlessly and my eyes that bounced all around not knowing where to land.

I wasn’t uncomfortable. The opposite, actually. I was only so dang nervous because I could feel the side of Harper’s muscled thigh pressing into my bare one. My sensible work skirt wasn’t particularly short, but it did ride up as I sat, allowing for that much less of a barrier between us.

I liked the feeling of him touching me. But was it weird if I touched him back?

A hand on his leg would be too couple-like.

But a hand elsewhere would be too forward.

And what about conversation? Did I ask him about his day?

Did we talk about the other night? What?

I didn’t know what to do, and as comfortable as I felt with Harper, we’d stepped over an irreversible line last time. And I wasn’t sure how to act.

Warm breath hit my ear, causing me to jump.

“Why so stiff, Boss?” Harper’s husky voice spoke right into my body, causing me to shudder. “Don’t tell me you’re still not loose after three in a row.”

Every inch of my skin lit on fire, because yep.

He did just refer to how many times he made me orgasm while we were sitting in the middle of a restaurant.

At least it was dark in here. The primary color they opted to decorate being black, gray a close second.

The lighting was also low, even though it was the middle of the day.

And he was being a wise guy again. With much relief, I realized I could handle this Harper, because he was the same Harper he’d always been. The only difference now being that I was allowing myself to admit that I was as attracted to him as much as I was annoyed by him.

Relaxing, I gave him a look. “And what about you Mr. ‘ I won't last long’ .”

He sucked in a breath, his hand going to cover his heart. “You wound me, Alta. Ease up, I told you that in confidence .”

I giggled, feeling light again. Pulling the menu toward us, I opened it wide enough so that we could share. “I’ll make it up to you by letting you choose the appetizer.”

We contemplated between bruschetta and what could only be described as fancy mozzarella sticks and ultimately I let him have his fried cheese.

Only, when the waiter appeared at our table and welcomed us by asking for our drink order, the bruschetta was ordered instead, along with a drink I had been wavering over as well.

When I looked at him expectantly, thinking he’d explain, he simply poured us both glasses of water from the pitcher and said, “So?”

Sluggish, my brain didn’t seem to catch onto his meaning. “So?”

He bumped my knee with his own, leaning forward on his elbows as he looked down his shoulder at me. “So, what’s up with this thing at work? Are you doing it? Your story sort of broke off with you almost fainting.”