Page 16 of The Truth of Us

Dinner began after that, and the night settled into speeches, courses, and applause. I barely listened. I knew when to clap and when to smile. It was easy… It was always easy.

When Richard North arrived at the table, the energy changed. Some men entered rooms and filled them. Richard entered rooms and drained them.

Elaine greeted Harper warmly enough that most people would think it was sincere. Harper returned it with equal polish.

Richard took Lucy’s chair like an entitled asshole because he was one, and I felt Harper go still beside me. He started in on Julian about legacy, optics, and women. Something about trying one or two before buying one, that made me want to push my champagne flute down his throat.

Harper’s fingers tightened around the stem of her glass.

I leaned toward her. “Welcome to Family Night.”

She didn’t smile. “He’s vile.”

“Yes.”

“Does Julian always let him speak that way?” she asked in a tone I wasn’t sure how to interpret.

“No,” I said, watching Julian. “Sometimes it’s worse.”

Her gaze moved to me then, sharp and cool. “That isn’t funny.”

No, it wasn’t. But if I stopped making things funny, I might have to deal with them, and nobody wanted that.

When Julian stood and took the woman Richard had dragged over to the dance floor, Harper watched him go with an expression that told me she was already calculating the damage.

“Bad?” I asked.

Her eyes flicked to Lucy across the room with Theo. “For Lucy? Yes.”

“For Julian?” I asked because this woman fascinated me, and that was rare.

“For Julian, too. He just won’t know it until later.”

That sounded annoyingly specific.

“You say that as if you’ve seen this before.”

Her smile this time was small. Sad, almost. “I grew up around people who thought optics mattered more than people.”

Something in her voice made me want to ask more. Not to flirt or tease. I… I wanted to know what could make someone like her feel small. But then the music shifted, and couples moved. I stood before I thought too much more about what Harper had said.

She looked up at me. “What are you doing?”

“Asking you to dance,” I replied.

“You didn’t ask.” She laughed.

“I’m about to,” I said with a wink.

“That is not how asking works.”

She had fire in her ice-blue eyes, and I wanted to see more of it.

I held out my hand. “Harper Lane, will you dance with me so I can further damage the professional boundaries you’re so committed to pretending exist?”

She stared at me and then laughed.

God, I liked that sound.