Oh no.The truth hit her like a tsunami.I like Rusty. I really, really,reallylike him.
She grabbed her boots and jumped to her feet. “I gotta go,” she said, hurrying toward the house. Here she was, making the mistake of falling for a guy when she shouldn’t be falling for anyone—especially someone who absolutely positively only wanted her friendship. How could she be so stupid?
She dashed past Senior, wishing she could kick herself because she wasliterallyrunning away from Rusty. He had to think she was nuts. But she was too freaked out to stick around.
“Don’t rush off on my account,” Senior said as she blew by him.
“I forgot I have an appointment.” Her stockinged feet hit the linoleum floor. “A Realtor’s job never ends!” She winced at her lame excuse, grabbed her purse off the table, hopped over the hole in the living-room floor, dashed out of the house, then almost tripped on the crack in the driveway before jumping into her car.Please start. Please start.This would be the worst time for her Mercedes to break down again. When the car purred to life, she grabbed the steering wheel and nearly squealed out of the driveway.
When she was out of Rusty’s neighborhood, she slowed down, but her thoughts continued to race. She had a problem, a big one, and his name was Rusty Jenkins.
No, that wasn’t fair. He couldn’t help it that he was so... so...
So wonderful.
He wasn’t the one turning her life upside down. She was doing a bang-up job of that herself.
By the time she reached her own neighborhood, she was a little calmer. She would get over this. Her life was full, too full to deal with romance. Today had been an outlier, and tomorrow she would go back to working ten hours or more a day now that she had three new leads that hopefully signaled the end of her slump. The Mercedes was running smoothly, and Rusty was confident he’d fixed all the problems, so there was no need to interact with him.
Wait... She was still his real-estate agent. And she hadn’t told him about the Miles Road property. She triple-tapped her forehead with the heel of her hand for forgetting something so important.Time to regroup.Okay, she would tell him that Miles Road was under contract, then she would find a house for him to buy, then she would sell his house, andthenthey wouldn’t have to see each other...
Except for the auction. “Argh!”
She could do this. She could be professional. She was a master at it. Eventually these inexplicable feelings for him would disappear, and her life would go back to normal. Whatever that was.
She turned onto her road, suddenly exhausted. She wanted nothing more than that cup of tea and to fall into bed.Matlockwould have to wait for another night.
But as she approached her driveway, she saw an unfamiliar car parked in front of the garage door. When she pulled up, the door opened, triggering the automatic outdoor lights. She was about to grab her phone to dial 911 when she finally recognized the car and the man standing next to it. Her entire body froze.
Jack.
***
“Well,” Senior said, staring at the kitchen entryway Harper had just escaped through. “Wasn’t that somethin’, her running off like that?”
“Yeah.” Rusty ran his hand through his hair, then stopped when he felt the short ends. He’d completely forgotten about his haircut until now. In fact, it was the last thing on his mind. Harper was the first, and the second. Third and fourth, too, because he couldn’t figure out what he’d done to make her jackrabbit out of there.
“Uh-oh.” Senior pointed to her cell lying on the kitchen table. “She’ll probably need this soon.” He turned to Rusty, his mouth open as if he wanted to say something else, then clamped it shut. His eyes nearly bugged out of his head. “Boy, if I didn’t know any better, I’d believe there was a stranger in my house.” He grinned and walked over to him, then reached up and tousled the top of his hair. “You look mighty fine, son. Mighty fine.”
Thanks to Harper.He could still sense the soft warmth of her palm in his hand. When she said she couldn’t see Sirius, he’d jumped at the chance to help her find the famous star—and what better way than to guide her hand to where it was? Lying under the stars with her hammered home what he’d spent the entire day trying to ignore: He was falling for her. Hard. And when she surprised him by not letting go of his hand, he’d experienced a few minutes of pure heaven.
Then Senior showed up and spoiled everything. Normally his grandfather’s teasing didn’t bother him. But the old manhad broken the spell, and Rusty had jerked away before Senior caught them holding hands and embarrassed Harper.
Turned out she’d been embarrassed anyway. That had to be the reason she’d left so fast.
Senior walked over to the fridge. “I came in here to fix me a nightcap, and I saw the straw wrapper on the table,” he explained, as if anticipating Rusty’s question about why he’d interrupted them. “When I didn’t find you in the house, I thought I’d check the backyard.” He pulled out a bottle of spicy tomato juice and shut the refrigerator door. “I remembered you used to go outside on clear nights like this. Didn’t figure you’d be out there with MissHarper, though.”
“Don’t give me that line of bull.” Rusty plopped down at the table. “You knew exactly what you were doin’.”
Senior set the juice on the table, his jovial expression gone. “Hey,” he said, sitting down next to him. “I was just havin’ a little fun. I didn’t realize things were so serious with you two.”
“They’re not.”
“Don’t be so sure about that.”
Rusty didn’t have the patience for Senior’s attempt at encouragement. “You saw how she hightailed out of here.”
“Because of herappointment.”
