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He flashed me a dimpled smile as I sat up and frowned at him. “Fine. I’m jealous. Is that what you want to hear? It wasn’t enough that Dallas had the fame and fortune and a career I could only dream of. Did he also need the most gorgeous boyfriend in the world?”
He sat up, too. “You think I’m gorgeous?”
“Literally everyone thinks that, Harper.” I gingerly rubbed a small, red mark on his forehead. “Speaking of your handsome mug, I really did get you with that granola bar, and again I’m so sorry. A makeup artist might have to touch you up before taping begins.”
“They were going to do that anyway to get me camera-ready, so no worries. And I suppose we’re even now.”
I asked, “How are we even?”
“You left a mark on me, and I left one on you.”
“Where is there a mark on me?”
“Your neck,” he said. “Didn’t you notice? There’s a little love bite from last night.”
“No, I didn’t notice. I got ready in about two seconds this morning because we were running late, and I barely glanced in the mirror.” I got up and went to the makeup table, then turned my head to either side as I studied my reflection. Sure enough, there was an oval mark on the right side of my neck, and I exclaimed, “You gave me a hickey, and I’ve been walking around all day with it!”
“Love bite is a much nicer term.”
“It’s not a bite. You suctioned my neck like a remora.”
He asked, “What’s a remora?”
“Those long, thin fish that attach themselves to sharks. They suction onto them and hitch a ride, so they can eat scraps when the shark is feeding.”
“How the hell do you know that?”
“Because I read.”
“About sucker fish?”
“About all kinds of things.” I retrieved my messenger bag and fished around in it, then found a bandana and tied it around my neck to hide the hickey.
Harper chuckled and said, “That’s so much worse than letting people see your love bite. It looks like you’re getting ready to pull it up over your face and rob a bank.” He was still sitting on the floor, and he crossed his legs at the ankle and leaned back, propping himself up with his hands.
I ignored that and leaned against the makeup table as I said, “Okay, now that I’m calmer and not hurling snacks at you, please explain your relationship with Dallas to me. Leave out any and all graphic sex details.”
“There are no graphic sex details, because like I said a few minutes ago, we never slept together. We hit it off when you introduced us, so we went out to dinner a couple of times before he took off on the next leg of his world tour. That’s it.”
“That’s definitely not it,” I said. “You two were involved for months.”
“We did keep up a flirtation throughout that summer, and we planned to go out again when he returned to California. But then we both just let it evolve into a friendship when we realized there wasn’t much of a spark between us.”
“If that’s all there was to it, what was with all the flowers and gifts you sent him?”
“That’s how I flirt,” he said with a shrug. He grinned and added, “As a bonus, the guys in his band teased Dallas mercilessly for the flowers and notes, which I thought was hilarious. That made me lay on the sap extra thick.”
“But you never thought to tell me you weren’t actually in love with my brother? Because that would have been nice to know.”
He studied me closely as he said, “I didn’t think it made a difference to you. It seemed like you could barely stand either of us, so why would you care how Dallas and I felt about each other?”
“I didn’t mean to give the impression I didn’t like you.”
“I actually prefer it when people let their real feelings for me show, instead of hiding behind fake smiles and insincerity.”
“But those weren’t my real feelings,” I said. “I was trying to keep you at arm’s length, so what came across as hostility was really just a feeble attempt at self-preservation.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Which part?”
“All of it. Why were you trying to keep me at arm’s length, and why were you worried about self-preservation?”
I exhaled slowly and decided to put all my cards on the table. “I had a crush on you, Harper. That’s why I tried to put up walls between us, because it hurt to watch you flirt with everyone in the world, especially Dallas.”
“You had a crush on me?”
I broke eye contact and admitted, “Have. I have a crush on you.”
He chuckled, and I glanced at him with a frown. “You have the weirdest way of showing it,” he said. “I really thought you hated me, especially back when you worked for me the first time.”
