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Amused at her reaction, I stayed rooted to the spot I’d stopped in and spread my arms. I couldn’t remember ever having this effect on her before. But then again, I’d never found her current hairstyle attractive on a woman other than a certain rebel space princess, so there seemed to be a first time for everything.
“Ball is in your court then, sweetheart. You came up here on a mission, so let’s hear it.”
Her eyes caught on mine, bright blue pools that held a mixture of emotions I couldn’t quite decipher. “We need to set some ground rules.”
“Ground rules.” I tipped my head, a little confused.
“Yes, rules.” The last word held more emphasis, and she huffed out a breath.
“Don’t we have enough of those?”
“Not between us, no.”
“Why do we need rules?” My hand came to rest on my chin, waiting for an answer.
“You make me crazy,” she hissed out, covering her eyes with her hands.
Usually, I enjoyed having that effect on women. But she wasn’t making it seem like agoodkind of crazy.
“What? I feel like I’m missing something here.”
“You’re the most oblivious human I’ve ever known.”
“The most oblivious? Surely you’ve met someone—”
“Do not try to charm your way out of this, Flynn Zachary Jackson. I’m not getting into all the details about why I’m here right now, but Iamhere, so… rules.”
“Harper, I—”
She threw up a finger, silencing me. “Rule number one: lock down the flirting. No more references to “Hungry Eyes.” Rule number two: don’t pick me for any one-on-ones. I’m not here to date you. You made it clear to me once before that I wasn’t someone you wanted to pursue, and that’s fine. So just spare us both the misery, and don’t pick me.”
I opened my mouth to say something, then closed it again. That had been years ago, before I’d followed the advice of my coaches that had changed my life. Harper had been young then, with more life in front of her than I could offer. There’d also been that other time…
The bottom line was Steven—he’d warned me off from Harper and threatened bodily harm if I ever touched her.
By the look of things, she wasn’t aware of that.Interesting.
“Do you want me to send you home at the next rose ceremony? Is that why you’re here?”
It was the last thing I wanted to do, but if it made her happy, I’d do it.
She shook her head. “No. Actually, I need to stay a few weeks.”
I ran a hand across my face. This was more complicated than I imagined it being. “You’re not going to tell me why, are you?”
“I told you. I’m not getting into that now.”
“Fine, we can save that for another time. But Harper, your rules aren’t going to fly.”
“And why not?” Her eyebrows lowered, knit together in frustration.
“Because if you need to stick around, I have to have a reason to keep you. I’ve had a lot of conversations with the producers, and they’re all about the ratings. They’re not above pulling strings to get things to go a certain way if they want it to.”
“I’m well aware,” she replied, looking away.
Finally. A small clue I could tuck away for later.
“If you aren’t interested in me, fine.” Yet as I said the words, my heart twisted in my chest. “It makes this process a little strange, but we’ve got to at least play the game. I’m going to have to talk to you at the parties, or on group dates. We have to give the viewers a chance to invest in us.”
