I flew back to Seattle on Friday when our tickets had been booked. I had wanted to run after Harper right away, but I hadn’t known what I would say to her or even how to approach it. I felt like it was my fault she was gone. It hadn’t occurred to me that Camden might be there and when they had arrived and bullied her, I had done nothing to stop it. I hadn’t taken care of her like I would have if she had really been my fiancée.

If she had really been my fiancée and someone had spoken to her like that I wouldn’t have allowed it. Ever. So why hadn’t I done something about it? It haunted me and I felt guilty.

When I landed in Seattle, I headed to the Cow right away, hoping Harper would be there. I knew she used work as an escape and God knows she had a lot to escape from.

I walked through the door of The Spiced Cow but Harper wasn’t at the hostess station as I’d hoped she would be. I walked through the restaurant and into the kitchen. Greyson stood in front of the grill, whistling, cooking the spicy burgers we offered on our menu.

“Have you seen Harper?” I asked.

Greyson looked up, surprised. “Oh, you’re back. Hello,” he said. “I was wondering when you would be around these parts again.” Greyson was in a good mood. I was in a shitty one.

“Do you know where Harper is?” I asked.

Greyson shook his head. “No. Wait, I thought she was with you.” He frowned. “Is everything okay?”

I sighed and shook my head. “It’s not.”

Greyson scooped the burgers off the grill and put them on the toasted buns, adding the hot sauce before putting the plates up and ringing the bell for pickup.

“That’s the last of my orders for now, so I’m all ears. What’s up?”

I shook my head. “It was a disaster, man. The whole thing. First, they wanted me to marry her to get that cash. Marriage, not just the promise of it.”

Greyson raised his eyebrows. “That’s a tall order, but it’s a lot of money.”

I nodded. “It scared Harper shitless, obviously. We just dropped it for a time and out of the blue, she said he wanted to do it.”

“What?” Greyson asked. “Harper agreed to marry you?”

I nodded.

“Well, I’ll be damned. I never thought that woman would commit.”

“Yeah? Well, that’s the other half of the problem.”

I told Greyson what had happened at the meeting yesterday, how they had pushed her into a corner and insisted she was a failure when it came to commitment.

“I didn’t protect her when I should have,” I admitted. “And I feel like shit.”

Greyson nodded slowly. “And you love her.”

I looked up at him. “I don’t know what to do, how to get her back.”

“It sounds to me like you’re more serious about Harper than the money.”

I nodded. “I am. The money is a nice idea. It’s a lot of cash that I can do a lot with, like for the restaurant. But it’s never been everything to me. Not even when Harper offered to play this game with me. It was supposed to be a fun adventure. Now it’s a fucked up mess and I feel guilty as hell about it.”

“So, tell her how you feel,” Greyson said.

“I can’t do that,” I said.

“Why not? It’s pretty clear you love her. I don’t know what happened to you in California, but you don’t look the same. And when a man looks the way you do, the only hope is winning back his woman.”

“Harper isn’t my woman. She never was. That’s half the problem.”

Another order came in and Greyson took the order slip to start the food. He took ingredients from the panty and started cooking.

“If you ask me, it’s time to make sure she is, then,” Greyson said, even though he was focused on his food. “If you care about her and you want her to be yours, go get her. There’s nothing wrong with some old-fashioned romance. Women eat that shit up.”

“I don’t want some cliché recipe that gets her to do what I want,” I said.

Greyson chuckled. “I know. That’s what you’ve been using to get women in your bed, but what I’m talking about is being honest about your feelings. I know that doesn’t seem old-fashioned to you, but that’s what I meant.”

Oh, right. “You have a way with words, you know that?”

Greyson grinned. “It’s probably why I’m still single. So, what are you waiting for? Go win back your woman.”

I nodded. Greyson was right. I had to go see her. I had to tell her how I felt about her and that she was what I wanted, not the money. No matter what we did, even if it took years before she decided to be mine. I wanted her.

“Caden,” Greyson said, when I headed out the kitchen. “I’m sorry I made you think that Harper would hurt you. I know I said you needed to protect yourself from her.”

I shook my head. “It was sound advice. That’s not why this happened. Don’t sweat it.”

Greyson nodded and started on a vinaigrette. “You know she cares for you, right?”

“How do you know?” I asked. “Harper is a closed book. She doesn’t rely on anyone. How can you tell?”

Greyson looked at me like I was asking him a stupid question. “She offered to go with you and pretend to be your woman. Even though she was getting nothing out of it. She didn’t want your money. If that’s not enough of a sign for you, she also said she would marry you to save the deal. If that’s not caring for someone, I don’t know what is.”

Why hadn’t I seen it before? It changed everything. If I knew Harper wanted to be with me, winning her back didn’t seem too daunting. I needed to go to her. Now

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Greyson called after me with a chuckle when I ran out of the kitchen.

I got on my bike and drove to Harper’s apartment. I hoped she would be home. I really needed to talk to her and if I couldn’t find her there, I wouldn’t know where else to look. I pushed the buzzer and waited for what felt like forever.

“Yeah?” her voice finally sounded over the speaker.

“It’s me,” I said. “I need to talk to you.”

I wasn’t sure if she would see me. She was quiet for so long I began to think she was ignoring me, but then I heard the click of the door lock. I pushed through it and ran up the stairs to her walk-up apartment and knocked on the door.

When she opened the door, it was clear she’d had a bad night. She had dark circles under eyes that were swollen like she’d been crying. Her hair was a tangled mess and she didn’t wear any makeup.

Despite it all, Harper was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen.

She left the door open and turned back into her apartment. I followed her in and closed the door behind me.

“Do you want coffee?” she asked, putting the kettle on the stove.

I nodded, then watched her move around her kitchen, preparing two cups. She seemed so deflated, and I hated it. I especially hated that it was partly my fault.

“I need to talk to you,” I said.

“So? Talk.” She didn’t sound aggressive. She sounded numb.

I took a deep breath.

“I was wrong,” I said.

Harper looked at me and frowned. “How?”

“By not standing up for you and fighting for you. You were right. I should have done it. I was a coward, and I’m sorry.”

Harper looked unsure but she nodded. “It’s okay,” she said. “It was a weird situation.”

I nodded. It had been weird but that was no excuse.

“So, what are you going to do, now?” Harper asked. She leaned her hip against the counter and folded her arms across her chest. She wore pajama bottoms and a tank top. She looked amazing, even in her messy state.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“About the money,” Harper said. “I know I lost you your fortune. Is there a way you can still get it? Maybe find someone else.”

I shook my head. “I don’t care about the money,” I said.

Harper blinked at me. “But everything we did was for the money.”

“You’re right,” I said. “It was. But somewhere along the line, I stopped caring about the money. I was in California with you, and you became the center of my attention. It became about spending time with you, and the money became an afterthought.”

Harper shook her head. The kettle boiled and she pulled it off the burner. “I don’t understand,” she said.

“I don’t care about the money. We were there for the money, but in the process I fell in love with you. And now that the money isn’t happening, I just don’t give a shit. I only want you.”

She narrowed her eyes at me. “What?” she asked.

“I love you,” I said. “I was a coward for not telling you sooner. I wanted to but I was afraid that you didn’t feel the same way, and that it was too soon.”

Harper had tears in her eyes. “You don’t care about the money?”

“Only about you,” I said.

Harper covered her face with her hands. She breathed out with a shudder before she took away her hands again and looked right at me, her eyes a brighter green than I had ever seen them before.

“I love you, too,” she said.

We were frozen in time for a moment before I jumped up and walked to her. I wrapped my arms around her body and kissed her. She put her arms around my neck and kissed me back, and this was all I wanted in the world. If I lost everything else, if I never saw that money, I didn’t care. I only wanted Harper.