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“You, Phee! But now that you mention it, I do miss Loco, too,” he said, as he crossed the room to me and sat on the corner of my desk. “You really need to come outside and join the party.” He was dressed in nothing but a pair of shorts, and he swung one of his bare feet as he smiled at me.
After a pause, I said, “I don’t think I can do this, Harper.”
“Sure you can. Just get up and follow me outside.”
“No, I mean I don’t think I can do this.” I gestured between us.
His foot stopped swinging, and he asked, “Are you saying you don’t want to date me anymore?”
“We haven’t exactly been dating.”
“But we can. Is that what’s bothering you, that we’re too focused on sex? I’ve been wanting to take you on a real date, so let’s go out tonight.”
“No, that’s not the problem,” I said.
“Then what is?”
“We’re just very different people.”
“We are, and that’s awesome. I love the way we balance each other out.” The chicken jumped into my lap, and I ran my hand over her white feathers. After a pause, Harper asked, “Did I do something wrong?”
“No. This just isn’t going to work out.” I took a breath and said, “It’s going to be too awkward to keep working for you, so this is my two weeks’ notice. That should be enough time for me to get you organized and hire a new assistant. I know I’ve been acting really unprofessionally but I still take this job seriously, and I won’t leave you short-handed.”
His expression was unreadable as he studied me for a long moment. Finally, he said, “I’ll accept your two weeks’ notice on one condition—I still need you to come with me to Hawaii. I have to read through a huge stack of scripts, and I need you to keep me on task. Plus, I want your unbiased opinion on them. You can also use the time to work with me on my schedule, including booking out the next few months with public appearances. Without a publicist on my team, I really need your help here.”
It hadn’t even occurred to me that he’d still want me to go to Hawaii, and I asked, “Won’t that be a pretty awkward trip?”
“It doesn’t have to be. Given what I paid for it, the house on Kauai is probably huge. You take one wing, I’ll take the other, and we’ll both have plenty of privacy.”
“But—”
“You’re still my assistant for two weeks, so you go where I go during that time. That was always the deal.”
He had a point. “Yeah, okay,” I said. “As long as we’re both in agreement that we’re going to keep this professional, there’s no reason not to go along. You do agree to that, right?”
Harper got up from the desk and told me, “I can control myself if you can.” If there’d been the slightest hint of a smirk, I would have bailed out on the idea of going with him to Hawaii, but he said that with a perfectly serious expression. As he started to leave the office, he added, “Be ready to leave for the airport tomorrow around noon. And obviously, feel free to spend the night here as planned, since we already brought all your stuff from your apartment. I have eleven guest rooms, so take your pick.”
Then he left the office, and I stared after him. I obviously hadn’t expected a big emotional outpouring from him after just three nights together, but I’d expected something. A little effort put into changing my mind, maybe? He seemed more concerned about losing me as an assistant than anything else. That stung a little, but it also showed me I’d done the right thing by ending this before it went any further. While I’d already become emotionally involved, that was obviously one-sided, since he hadn’t even bothered to fight for me.
Not that I wanted him to.
Did I?
No. Come on. I’d just ended it.
Oh God, I’d actually done it. I’d broken up with him. All of a sudden, I desperately needed some fresh air. I got up and hurried out of the office, and Loco fluttered off the desk and ran after me.
The living room was almost as crowded as the backyard, and some asshole in designer swim trunks exclaimed, “Hey, look at the chicken!”
When he started to reach for her, I growled, “Don’t you fucking dare! She’s not your plaything.” I scooped Loco into my arms for safekeeping before rushing out the front door.
Great. So now I’d bonded with poultry. As if I needed more to miss when this job ended in two weeks and Harper and his household were out of my life.
Chapter 7
Once I was outside, I picked a direction and started walking. It would have been nice if I’d had my SUV, but this would do. I just really needed to get out of that house for a while, and away from the pounding dance music and all those people.
