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Harper laughed and rose, shaking her head at the two women who had become like family. “What’s wrong is, the office is getting crowded. Believe me, everything is A-OK.” She gently nudged them out of the office first and then they all ran into a wall that was Dean’s chest.
Dean, the head bouncer at the Spurs, glanced from Emma to Megan to Harper, lifting an eyebrow in their direction. “Do I even want to know what’s going on?”
“Nope.” Harper squeezed by them all, getting the hell out of there and doing what she was very good at—dodging all things emotional or otherwise. Because in her world, she could not talk about all the things she wanted. And sometimes the best way forward was ignoring truths. She had done it after her parents passed away. She forged ahead, working hard, not thinking too much about how much she wanted them back. Life was all about overcoming hardships. Chase was just another one of those things that for some reason the universe dangled in front of her but would not let her have.
Once they all reached the bar again, Megan and Emma began dealing with the waiting customers. Chase had returned to his seat, eating the rest of the meal she had made for him at the bar, watching the sports highlights on the television next to Brody.
She drew in a long, stabilizing breath, then moved toward a customer waiting at the bar with a ten-dollar bill in his hand. Chase’s gaze met hers. Held. The heat he had contained around Brody was exposed again, hitting her like a wall of lust, making her hyperaware of her heartbeat. She could not stop the shiver of pleasure that followed.
Chase’s firm eye contact and slow-building smile was a telling sign that he knew precisely what he did to her.
Now to find a way to make him act on it.
* * *
An hour later, on the far end of the bar, next to the mechanical bull
that had tossed two men and one woman off its back to the delight of the crowd, a black dart whizzed through the air, landing directly on the bull’s-eye.
“That, ladies and gentlemen, is how it’s done.” Chase gave a gallant bow.
“That was all lucky, buddy,” Brody scoffed, sticking his darts back onto the dartboard, officially ending the game.
Chase laughed, not disagreeing there. He settled in next to the small round table, grabbing his beer and taking a long swig. His stomach was bloated from Harper’s delicious chicken and pasta, and the one beer he’d had.
Brody sidled up to the table. The digital clock behind the bar and beneath the KINKY SPURS sign read 8:55. The bar would soon be stuffed full of twenty- and thirty-somethings ready to put their workweek behind them. Beneath the clock, Chase’s gaze fell to Harper as she shook the martini shaker, laughing at whatever the guy at the bar was saying to her. Tension rippled through Chase, bringing tightness into his chest. That smile always felt like it belonged to him.
“Have you heard that she’s leaving?”
Chase took a swig of his beer, trying to pretend he hadn’t been staring at his best friend’s baby sister. “Who’s leaving?”
Against the rim of his bottle, Brody said, “Harper. She’s leaving for Vegas.”
A sudden coldness hit Chase at his core. “What do you mean she’s leaving for Vegas?”
Brody regarded his sister across the bar, his expression locked down tight. “I guess they had a guest chef come to her school to spend a week with the students. He’s some top chef who owns a restaurant in Vegas, and he’d been part of that TV show she was in. She’d impressed the hell out him back then, and I guess he’s been following her training ever since. Anyway, he called her last week offering her a mentorship with him.”
Chase could barely catch his breath. “When is this happening?”
“She flies out next Saturday.”
“That soon?” Eight days. His mind recoiled at the thought, flushing adrenaline through him.
“Yeah,” Brody said. “And it’s about damn time. She told me she needs to do the mentorship first with this guy, to learn the ropes, so to speak. After that, she can finally go out on her own.”
Chase noted the pride in Brody’s eyes. Of course, he was happy. He wanted Harper to move away and to live a bigger life than she could find in River Rock.
Chase’s throat tightened, making the air seem thicker and harder to draw in, and he slowly looked at Harper, reassessing. He had always known she was talented when it came to cooking incredible food. Christ, the whole town knew it too. For the last three months, she had blown him away every time she had him testing out her creations. “Who is this guy she’s going to work with?”
“I don’t know.”
Chase lifted an eyebrow. “Let me get this straight. Harper is moving to Vegas to work with some guy you don’t know, and this doesn’t bother you?” It bothered Chase.
“Of course, I’m not thrilled about that part in all this,” Brody retorted with a shrug. “But she seems happy, and this is a big step forward to her reaching her dreams that should have happened all those years ago.”
Chase battled against what was right and what was wrong. Dreams were a good thing. But Harper moving away was inconceivable.
Brody suddenly sighed at whatever he saw crossing Chase’s expression. “Don’t even think about it. You cannot interfere with this. You promised me you wouldn’t. Have you forgotten about that?”
