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“Whoa there, back down a bit.” She glanced over her shoulder like she was making sure we were still alone, then adjusted her position to get her legs just a bit closer to her chest.
“Would you please tell me what’s wrong?”
“Yes.” She gave me a tired, yet level stare. “But before you get all protective on me, it’s about work. I couldn’t get out of the inn last night.”
“I thought the producers arranged for you to be able to go every night?”
“The producer’s aren’t the problem.” With a heavy sigh, she leaned her head onto her knees.
“Who is?”
“I’m in a house full of women, competing for a man. I kissed you in front of everyone on the group date. There’s no way to know for surewho, but I have my suspicions. It’s not anything I can’t take care of myself.” She turned her head to face me, a soft smile on her face.
“What happened, Harper?”
Her cheeks flamed, something I typically loved. But I knew it wasn’t about me.
“Someone came into my room and hid my things.”
I blinked, unsure that I heard her right. “Someonehidyour things?”
“This is so embarrassing,” she muttered. “Toiletries, clothes, all the things. No idea where any of it is.”
Rage filled me, and I fought the urge to seek Laurel out to shut this whole thing down. This was a grossly overstepped boundary, a safe space violated. Harper didn’t deserve it.
“Let me fix it.” I kept my voice low, fighting the urge to scoop her face into my hand and run my fingers down her jawline.
“What are you going to do? Tattle? There’s no way that whoever did it knew they were also hiding my keys to the café. By the looks of things, they just scooped it all up and ran with it. But I can’t exactly bring it to everyone’s attention that I’m sneaking out at night.”
“Is there another key? A code for the lock?” I’d noticed she had a keypad as a secondary locking measure.
“Both. But I couldn’t see, and I didn’t want to lock out the system. I’ve got a small flashlight.Hada small flashlight. That’s missing too.”
“Let’s go. We’ll go right now.”
“How? You can’t exactly leave.”
“It’s early. We aren’t due for filming”—I paused to glance down at my watch—“for at least a couple of hours.”
“It’s too risky, Flynn, no.”
“What are they going to do, boot me? I’m the star of this show.” I winked at her, my argument more confident than I was.
“Still not very humble, I see.” She twisted her mouth around in thought before biting her lip. For the first time that morning, she looked hopeful, and that made it all worth the risk. “Do you have a plan?”
“No, but I can come up with one quick. Can you go grab your coat?”
She shook her head.
Anger bubbled up in my chest. I’d deal with that later.
“It’s fine, I’ll give you mine. I don’t care if it’s only next door. It’s too cold for you to walk around without one.”
She rolled her eyes at me. “Still can’t step out of that big brother role, can you?”
In a flash, I reached out, cupped her chin, and scooted closer to her. “I haven’t been in that role in a long time, and I don’t plan on stepping back into it now.”
All I had to do was lean in, kiss her pouty lips. She’d already kissed me. But we were taking a risk sneaking out of the house in daylight hours, and I didn’t want to add layers to an already complicated situation.
