Page 81 of Seeing Harper

“No, now, not necessarily. Under the circumstances, I can see why he’d have misread the signs. You’ve been with him constantly since you arrived. Maybe he thought you were attracted to him, too.”

“Because he won’t go away! I have no opportunity to not be with him. Even when I try to beg off he’s urging me to at least share a meal, or allow him to bring me some coffee or something.”

“So, it irritates you because he’s taking care of you? He really likes you. You know that humans become enamored with us very quickly. It’s not really all his fault. And I did ask him to look after you out there.”

“Dad! He said my behavior didn’t look good for you to have a customer relationship with his company!”

“Did he hurt you? Did he put his hands on you in any way?”

“No! I almost broke his wrist.”

“Harper, just come on home tomorrow. He’s coming along, he’s already made travel plans for both of you, and they’re most likely non-refundable. We’ll get through next week of him sampling our soil, and recommending how we can increase our harvest and the strength of our trees in general, and then he’ll go back and you can forget all about him. Unless you decide you’d rather not. He is a good looking man, and he’s pleasant, and he likes you! That’s most likely all this is. You could do worse, he’s very smart, and he’s funny. He’s a lot like you, got a wry sense of humor. I like the boy.”

“Then you let him yank you in with a towel while you’re barely dressed, try to force his tongue down your throat, and subtly threaten your family’s farm when you refuse. I’m done.”

Harper hung up on her father, tossed the phone to the sofa beside her, and simply glowered at it when he tried to call back.

Fifteen minutes later she snatched it up when it rang again, but quickly adjusted her attitude when she realized that the number was from the pizza place. “Hello?”

“Is this Harper, large pepperoni and black olive, extra sauce?”

“That’s me,” she said.

“Pizza’s here,” the driver said.

“Will the front desk let you bring it up? There’s a twenty dollar tip in it for you if I don’t have to go down there.”

“Yes, ma’am! I’ll be right up.”

Chapter 14

Harper arrived at the airport hours early so she could have time to go to the counter and pretend that her business associates didn’t forward her her ticket and try to get them to give it to her after she proved who she was. If not, she was prepared to buy one herself. Thankfully, they gave her her ticket since it was reserved in her name and clearly showed the change of date and time from the previously booked one. She made it through security and boarded the plane in record time. In fact, she was seated on the aisle near the front of the plane, her head leaning back against her seat, her ear buds in, some of her favorite songs playing in her ears when she became aware of someone standing over her. Opening her eyes as she tilted her face up to see who was standing beside her, she pursed her lips together in irritation while taking an ear bud out. “What?” she asked as she glared up at Joel.

“You’re in my seat.”

“No, I’m not. I’m in my seat. It says so on my ticket.”

“I guess the computer got the seating mixed up. I’d put you in the seat next to the window so you could see the views, and I’d have the aisle.”

“Because I’d be trapped beside you, and you could enforce what YOU want on me and I’d have to just sit here or risk making a scene, and you’re banking on that. Let me tell you, I have no problem making a scene. And I have no interest in being trapped between you and a freaking window in an airplane. Do you actually think I’d be so mesmerized that I wouldn’t realize you were getting closer and closer to me?” she demanded.

Joel stood there for a moment before he sighed and shook his head. “No. I was trying to be thoughtful because most everyone wants the window seat.”

She continued to glare at him for just long enough to make him uncomfortable.

“Can I at least slide past to get to the window seat?” he asked.

“You honestly think it’s still a good idea to fly back with me to my home and spend time there while you try again to convince me how genuine you are while you try to schmooze me into believing it’s just business, and my father into believing what a wonderful person you are, after trying to coerce me into inviting you to my room last night or risk my father losing a business deal with you?”

Joel sighed. “Look, I’m not going to apologize for being attracted to you, or for hoping that you might be attracted to me. I thought you were, and I apparently misread the situation. But that doesn’t mean that I did anything wrong, or that I don’t still have a job to do and your father insisted that I still come and take a look at your trees. I didn’t threaten you or your father in any way. I was just so surprised that you quickly became so difficult after having spent such a great week together.”

“His trees, not mine. And you threatened his business relationship with your company if I didn’t comply. Sit somewhere else.”

“Harper, that is all in your head. And it’s a sold out flight. There is nowhere else to sit.”

Harper pressed herself at the back of her seat, tucking her feet beneath her own seat and turning her knees ever so sightly to the side to allow him to squeeze past.

“Thank you,” he said, as he moved past her toward the window seat.