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He screwed up his mouth on one side. “If I didn’t see how they treat you in private, I’d probably be fine with them. But the way they barely let you speak when you’re the person I come over to see, it’s… I don’t like it. I get that they’re family and the rules are different. I totally get it. Strict Catholic Hispanic upbringing right here. It’s just…”
Her heart throbbed in her throat.
Was he real?
And here she’d just decided to follow the path of justice.
What if she told him? What if she was honest and explained what she was doing? Would he help her? Would he be on her side?
“Say something?” Harper pleaded.
“I was beginning to think you didn’t like me all that much, or maybe you were seeing someone else, so I’m just taking it all in.”
“What?” He frowned. “Robin, babe, you are the only woman I’m spending time with. Shit. Yeah, I guess I screwed up if that’s what you were thinking.”
“Can you really call it screwing up if the reason for all of this is that you want me to be treated better?” she countered.
“I should have said something. But how do you say that to a woman you just met and really like?”
“Point taken. For what it’s worth, I don’t like it either.” She had an overwhelming desire to tell him everything. About her mom, Uncle Daar, her suspicions, all of it. But before she did that she needed to talk to Jessica first. “I’ve never really lived with my dad and stepmom. After Mom died, Dad sent me to a boarding school up north. Summers were a lot of traveling or if I was lucky, staying with friends. When I graduated college, I decided I wanted to take a year and really get to know my family. My mom’s death… It was a lot. And it left me very hurt for a long time. I decided to spend a year getting to know my family, seeing how we fit together. I’ve only been living with them half a year, but when my year is over, I’m done. I’ll always love my dad because he is my dad, but I don’t like my family very much. If that makes sense…”
He swiped his thumbs over her knuckles. “It does.”
“What I’m getting at is that I agree with you, but I’ve also committed to this year and doing my best.”
“And when it’s over?”
She shrugged. “I think we’ll have a lot less to do with each other. My stepmother can’t stand me. My father doesn’t go out of his way to speak to me or find out how I’m doing. Why would anyone want to be part of that?”
A lump was lodged in her throat and she felt a little tremble shake her. It was the truth, but she didn’t have to like it.
Harper studied her for a moment, his dark gaze assessing. “I hate that for you. You’re so kind and funny…”
She squeezed his hand. “Thanks. But where does that leave us?”
Chapter Eleven
Monday.Harper’sSafeHouse,New Orleans, LA.
Where the fuck did it?
Harper stared into her golden-brown eyes and wanted nothing more than to fix this. A woman like her deserved someone who would put her on a pedestal. She should have the world. The universe didn’t make people like her every day.
He knew she was still actively helping her Tri Delt sorority raise money for cancer research. He’d seen her slip money into the cups of the destitute on the street. She didn’t do it big and flashy like most wealthy people to draw attention and praise. No, she did it quietly. So quietly that half the time he was certain he didn’t catch it. And that was just her generosity.
Already he’d lost track of her thoughtfulness. If he mentioned a thing in passing, that he liked it or it made him laugh, she remembered. Like the other day when she’d brought him an obscure bottle of bourbon, he’d mentioned enjoying once.
And that piece of shit family of hers thought she was second best because she’d been born a woman?
He didn’t know why her father and uncle were this misogynistic, but it was disgusting. And he had no doubt they’d left invisible scars on her. The idea that those two pieces of shit had ever made Robin think she was less than made him want to scrap the mission and take matters into his own hands. He wouldn’t. Not because he would be guilty of kidnapping and murder, but because he knew it would upset her.
Harper would not be party to behavior that left Robin out. He would not make her think that she was second to anything when in reality, she was top shelf. She was the best damn thing, and he didn’t deserve to touch the ground she walked on.
He swallowed, acutely aware that his thoughts and emotions were spinning wildly out of control.
When he was with her, when he forgot about the job and let himself pretend it was just the two of them, he found himself wishing for it to never end. Being with her felt like… Home? Like he belonged somewhere at long last.
“Where does that leave us?” he echoed her question while his thoughts were sliding closer to a lump of feelings and thoughts he’d been avoiding, like a real man.
