Page 57 of Take the Blame (Seaside Mergers #3)

Chapter Thirty

ALTA

“Woah!” I breathed, wrenching quickly out of the way. “Excuse me, I’m so sorry.”

The woman only nodded, the back of her hand pressed firmly to her mouth as she rushed out of the doors of the tattoo shop. Was she crying?

Well, that was weird .

She seemed older, and not to discriminate or anything, but something about her said that she wasn’t the type to be in here for an actual tattoo.

Stepping into the shop only corroborated the sentiment that something was up. There was a weird air about the room. From the way the boys stared down at their work with more unmarked attention than I’d ever seen from them and the way the girls shared wary looks between each other, it was obvious.

Looking around the room with newfound wariness, my eyes snagged on a figure in the hallway. Tall and beautiful and… mad.

The frustration that rolled off of Harper as he looked after something at the front door was palpable. The tortured look in his eye transforming my happy wave into something hesitant and then nonexistent as I quickly tucked my hand back down to my side.

He wasn’t focused on me. He wasn’t focused on anything but the door for a long time. And once those sharp eyes came back to the room, they landed on mine.

His frown deepened, his expression going… helpless? His shoulders turned quickly, and the door to his office slammed before I could even react.

Confused, I looked around the room for help, but apparently no one was willing to speak up about what just happened.

They all were pointedly looking away from me.

It took all the willpower I had to gently set my stuff down behind the counter, rather than just dropping everything in the middle of the floor.

I was at his office door in a second.

I lifted my hand to knock but just turned the knob instead. If it was locked, he clearly wanted to be alone. If it wasn’t, then he wouldn’t be.

The knob turned right away.

“Harper, it’s me,” I said as I slowly pushed the door open. “Alta.”

He said nothing as I pushed the rest of the way inside. But he let me, and when I found him, just on the other side of the door, he was slumped into his desk chair with a hand covering his eyes.

I went to him.

More like my feet catapulted me to him, no questions or prefaces needed. He didn’t look okay, and something about that broke the timidness inside me .

“Hey, Harp?” I eased out. He didn’t move, so I crouched before him in search of his eyes, pulling gently on the hand that covered them.

I was rewarded only seconds later with a familiar brown gaze leaning on mine for support.

But it wasn’t the same. Something was so wrong it instantly turned a flip in my gut.

I didn’t let my worry show on my face though, instead forcing an empathetic smile. “How ya doing?”

He winced, but his hand moved, slowly going to pick up my own. Lacing our fingers up and holding onto mine like he was holding me there. “Not too hot, Boss.”

His voice sounded like pure pain, and I felt that pain tenfold hearing him like this.

I hated seeing him like this, hated when he was mad but especially hated when he was sad.

I’d almost combusted when I hurt his feelings before.

Now somebody else had done it and I was ready to explode on whoever had hurt my Harper.

I wanted to ask who’d brought this on. Who in the world had brought my favorite smile down, but none of that would help him now. It wouldn’t return the brightness to his face.

But maybe I could try.

“What can I do?” I asked, tugging on his fingers a little. “Want to switch up our deal? You could… use me to feel better this time.”

His tortured eyes caught mine, holding them for a long beat of silence, studying me like he wasn’t sure if I was being serious. Slowly, still apprehensive, he nodded.

I almost jumped at the chance to do something for him. And since I was already down here, I began lowering to my knees.

Harper’s eyes recognized my movements instantly, and he caught me by the arm and stopped my descent.

He cleared his throat. “No, Boss. Not like that.”

I blinked at him confused, and he moved further. Bending so that his hands were on my waist, he guided me up into his lap. With my legs slung across his and my eyes holding onto him, I waited for his explanation .

He was slow to give it. Opting to pick up each of my fingers and put them back down as he gathered himself. It was a motion I recognized he did when he was nervous about something.

The sensation of his stubbly beard tickled my palm as I ran it up his cheek. “What is it, Harper? Whatever you want, I’ll give.”

He looked up at me. “I just want to hang out, do stuff, spend time with you.”

My eyebrows pulled together. “That’ll make you feel better? Spending time with me?”

I know it was an obvious question, but my brain couldn’t compute that I could make Harper feel good outside of the bedroom. The man somehow made me feel invincible, yet I was struggling to see what I did for him.

His easy answer put that all to rest.

“Always, Alta. You standing in the same room as me could make me feel better.” His hands went to my fingers again, hesitation present, and my heart almost broke. “I know you probably have a lot to do but… Can you… will you spare a day for me?”

Yep, broken. Shattered. Gone into a million little pieces only so that he could use his soul to write his name onto all of them before putting it back together. Harper was tattooing himself all over my heart, permanently etching himself on it and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it.

Except guide his eyes back up to mine and give him my answer.

“Always, Harper.”

“Do you always drive this slow?”

“I think what you mean is, do I always drive this safe ? And the answer is yes. ”

“Uh-huh,” he hummed skeptically, his shoulder pressing suspiciously close to mine as he leaned over to snoop at the speedometer. “Should’ve told me we needed to add driving lessons to the docket, Boss. I would’ve moved it up to priority number one.”

I laughed. “It’s snowing, Harper. I’m not going to go ninety on the highway.”

“That’s fine. But you could go at least sixty.” His voice was disguised as helpful, but really what he was being was annoying. And it lifted my heart. It was a far cry from the sad and mopey he’d been for the first couple hours after we left the shop. “Or even fifty.”

“Shush, you. We’re almost there anyway,” I said.

“Which begs the question. Where the hell are you taking me, Ms. Fernandez?” he asked.

“Just sit tight and stop making a fuss.” I felt his eyes on me and I peeked over at him.

He was so calm now, I could tell he was deep in his thoughts.

My hand over his knee served as an anchor to keep him from floating too far away.

And like I’d been doing periodically through the drive, I gave it a squeeze. “ No te preocupes .”

“No te—” he trailed off, tongue tied. And when we sounded it out together, something we started practicing with the many words he was gaining interest in, his face moved in that soft smile he often got when I told him he’d said something right. “That means don’t something.”

“Don’t worry,” I said, providing the meaning. And even though he nodded his understanding, I still felt the slide of his gaze landing on me again. I passed him a quick glance before returning my focus to the road. “What?”

“Can you say it like before?” he asked. “Please?”

I swallowed. I would never guess Harper could be shy about very many things.

But he was always so hesitant to take comfort from me.

To take any comfort at all. And though he was quick to give support and encouragement, he seemed hesitant to receive it.

Hesitant to ask for anything that wasn’t in benefit of me, in fear that I’d…

I don’t know. Say no? Run away? Something .

Which is why I had no problem giving him what he tentatively asked for. That and probably because it was closer to truth than simple comfort.

Turning my hand over so that he could place his palm against mine, I corrected my earlier statement. “ No te preocupes, amor .”

He sucked in a short breath then sunk back into the seat. “Okay, if you say it’s alright, then I trust you.”

Incredible responsibility came with those words. I just hoped I could break through his bad mood with that trust he was putting in me.

Sea spray misted us as soon as we stepped foot out the car.

It was freezing but familiar as we looked out onto the little seaside prairie, the ground turned stiff and white with the season.

Parking close to the water was about the only option on this small stretch of land.

It only got smaller as the patch of frozen grass ran straight into a soft grainy shore before it began to narrow into the rocky, sediment heavy sand bar leading straight out toward our destination.

“Uh, Boss?” Harper looked around as I rounded the trunk and gathered the two chairs, blankets and warm drinks I’d packed up for the trip. “Please tell me this is not where you murder me.”

I smirked, appearing by his side. “This is not where I murder you… Unless you keep asking ridiculous questions.”

Almost unconsciously, he relieved me of all the items I was carrying and I began leading the way.

The apprehension in his voice only grew as we started down the dirt colored path.

Water and foam licked each side of the narrow walk, the waves pushing up and back around the spit’s edge, crashing into the large rocks and spraying us more and more the further out we traveled.

“For once, I think I’m grateful you have no regard for rhetorical questions,” he said. “But I still don’t think I’m satisfied with the answer. Baby, what the hell are we doing? ”

“Isn’t it obvious?”

“Not even a little.”

I laughed. “We’re going up there.”