I took Harper to the only restaurant I remembered from when my grandmother was alive. I had very few memories of her—and I hadn’t seen her in decades. But this restaurant had always stuck and it seemed fitting to go to it with Harper now that we were here to finalize the will.

It seemed like a sweet little tribute. I hadn’t known her very well. I hadn’t spent time with her the way Camden had, but she had been alive. and a life that long and full deserved to be celebrated.

When we arrived, the restaurant was still the same, but it had kept up with the times. It didn’t quite look like I remembered it, but it was still the same restaurant and I was glad about that.

Harper and I were taken to a table inside and after the seating hostess left, Harper looked around.

“This place reminds me of home,” she said.

I nodded. It looked a lot like The Spiced Cow, with deep red and gray décor and a selection of spicy food on the menu.

“Did you draw your inspiration from this place?” Harper asked, when she pointed out the color scheme.

“Not consciously,” I said. “But this restaurant made an impression on me. It has the best food I ever tasted, and I think that when I try to imagine what a successful restaurant tastes like, this is it.”

“Tastes like,” Harper said with a chuckle. “I like that.”

A waiter came to take our order and we ordered wine. It reminded me of last night when Harper and I had taken it a lot further than we probably should have. Maybe it would be better if I drank something else, but I wanted to have a good time and I wanted Harper to forget about all the shit that had happened today. That last clause in the contract had been shitty. I’d had no idea Danbury was going to pull a fast one on me. Literally. And now we were stuck with a marriage that had to happen, or money that would never be mine.

It was a shitty deal.

“When did you realize you wanted a restaurant?” Harper asked.

I pulled up my shoulders and sipped my wine. “It was a pretty quick decision. I fell around quite a lot. I had so many ideas. I just wanted to get out there and do my own thing. The idea for a restaurant was the one that finally stuck.”

Harper shook her head. “I can relate to not having an idea of what you wanted to do,” she said. “I don’t exactly have much of a direction, either. At least, not until I started working at the Cow. This is the longest job I’ve had if I have to be honest.”

“Why do you think that is?” I asked.

Harper shrugged. “I never really feel like I belong, I guess.”

“Well, you belong at the Cow,” I said.

Harper smiled and she was beautiful. She looked amazing in black pants and a green blouse that made her green eyes look like emeralds. Darker than usual. Sensual. Beautiful.

“So, what ideas did you have before the restaurant idea?” Harper asked, after we ordered pasta and a side salad to share.

“God, so many things. My own lumber company—I used to be a lumberjack. A coffee shop. An air conditioning company. You name it, I thought about it. I wanted to be in charge, have people work for me instead of the other way around; make my millions.”

“I think the restaurant idea was the best one,” Harper said.

I nodded. “Turns out food is my passion. It took me a while to figure it out.”

Harper nodded. “At least you figured it out. It’s more than I can say.”

“Aren’t you happy at the restaurant?” I asked. “You’re brilliant at what you do.”

Harper smiled. “I am happy at the restaurant. It’s the first place I’ve felt like I’m not a total outsider. That’s saying something.”

“I know what that feels like,” I said. “Zach helped me get the restaurant off the ground and it’s thanks to him I can do what I love, now. I found what I liked by accident, but I owe him big time.”

“You’re lucky to have solid friends,” Harper said, and she was right. It wasn’t just Zach who was a good friend and willing to help me out. Greyson and I were pretty tight, too. And Harper was a great friend as well. She had offered to do this with me, after all. Although, I wasn’t sure what exactly we were, now. We had fucked so we had overstepped the line a little, but there was nothing between us that suggested we were more than friends. Other than the attraction that was now stronger than ever, I still saw her as one of the people that helped me make my dreams possible.

Harper and I talked about our lives before the restaurant, about who we used to be. She seemed to always have been on her own. She was good at it, she said. I could relate. I was an island, too, despite everyone saying that no man should be an island. It was safer and easier that way, and the fact that Harper felt the same way was something I didn’t expect us to have in common.

We didn’t talk about our visit to the lawyer’s office or the contract at all. I wanted her to forget. I wanted to forget. I had no idea how we would deal with the obstacle in front of us but Harper had freaked out and I wanted to help her relax. Nothing would work if she was shitting herself over the contract, and no matter which way we went, I needed her to be calm and in control. For her sake as much as for mine.

We finished our meal and we each finished two glasses of wine. It was enough to take the edge off, but we weren’t drunk. We were both at a good level and since we had become closer—in more than the most obvious way—it was comfortable to be with Harper now. I hadn’t ever been with a woman where we had been so relaxed afterward. Harper didn’t expect anything from me, not a relationship or a follow up of any kind, and I appreciated that.

It was fucking annoying when they read more into it than there would ever be and they expected me to make good on a one-sided fantasy.

When we stepped out of the restaurant, the sun was starting to set and the world was tinted gold with brush strokes of orange and splashes of pink.

“This is beautiful,” Harper said.

“Come on,” I said, and we headed toward the beach, kicking off our shoes before we hit the sand. We carried our shoes and our toes curled into the sand as we walked along the beach, the waves crashing to our left. The wind whipped Harper’s red hair around her face and she was a vision.

As the sun sank lower and lower toward the horizon, creating a finish line from something that was supposed to be infinite, the beach emptied out until it was just the two of us and a few stray fishermen on the rocks in the distance. We walked and talked and enjoyed the fresh air.

When we reached the pier, the golden quality dipped away with the sun. Everything was colored in shades of purple and silver and the night was pending. I took Harper with me under the pier we had reached and we sat down on the concrete that anchored the pillars into the sand.

“This looks like a fairytale,” Harper said, staring out at the ocean. The water was calm, the sound of the waves on the shore a peaceful whisper.

“It does,” I said, but I was looking at her. So damn cliché, but it was true.

Harper looked at me and her eyes looked almost gray in the dusk, only the edges of her irises still kissed with the light green.

“I’m glad you’re here with me,” I said. “I haven’t had a vacation since I opened the restaurant.”

“I’m glad I’m here, too,” Harper said. She had come here for me, to help me with the money, but I was surprised to hear that she was happy to be here as well. Especially after what had happened today. But I knew she meant it. Harper and I joked around a lot, teasing each other, but Harper wasn’t shy to say what was on her mind and when she told me she was happy to be here with me, I believed her.

“You should take more time for yourself,” Harper said. “You’ve worked really hard and the restaurant in a good place now. You can afford to take some time off.”

I nodded. “I want to take time to book some biking trips.”

Harper shrugged and I chuckled.

“You really don’t like motorbikes, do you?” I asked.

“They’re dangerous, I told you. I had a bit of a run-in with a biker once. He didn’t get hurt but his bike was messed up and I felt terrible. It’s just not enough protection. You know? And you barely see them on the road. It’s like a lightweight boxer in a heavyweight championship.”

I laughed. The boxing analogy was unexpected, but really well said.

“I love your mind,” I said, the words slipping out before I could stop them. Harper looked surprised.

“My mind?”

Nodding, I continued, “You think differently than anyone else I know. I love that about you.”

I had used the word ‘love’ twice in a row. What an idiot. But Harper was smiling, and she was beautiful when she smiled like that. Stunning. It wasn’t the same smile she gave my customers when they walked through the door. It wasn’t the same smile she offered Greyson when they chatted. This smile Harper seemed to have reserved for me. I loved that there was a part of her that she only showed to me, a part of her that no one else could claim.

It was a strangely possessive thing to think, but I was a male and Harper was a beautiful woman. I couldn’t help myself.

We sat in silence for a while, the darkness slowly creeping in. Harper shifted closer to me, hugging herself against the chilly air. I put my arm around her to try to keep her warm and pulled her against me. She stiffened for a moment before she relaxed and leaned against me. Her face was only inches from mine. I looked at her and she was so close I could see the light splattering of freckles on her nose, despite the darkness.

Our lips were so damn close together and when Harper slid her eyes down, I knew what she was thinking. I had been thinking it, too.

I kissed her. I pressed my lips against hers and closed my eyes. When she kissed me back, I pushed my hands into her hair, holding onto her and kissing her like I meant it. Harper wrapped her arms around my neck and I pulled her as close to me as I could.

We started making out, our tongues swirling around each other, our bodies pressed against each other. I wanted to be even closer to her, but in a seated position next to each other, that was hard. I broke the kiss and moved onto the sand, pulling Harper onto my lap. She straddled me and kissed me again, her crotch against mine and my dick hardened against her.