Concern.
Not to mention the fact that he wastouchingme. Harper had never touched me before and now his warm palms were searing into me in a possessive hold that put butterflies in my gut.
“What’s wrong Alta?” he asked again. “Did he hurt you?”
“No,” I said, softly. I had been prepared to let him have it or at least let him have it Alta style, but the earnestness of his concern halted me. Lowering my voice I said, “No one hurt me, Harp. I just came in here to talk to you.”
Like a storm his face changed, and without hesitation this man who had never before touched me, was now holding onto my bicep like it was a stress ball. Judging by the firmness of his grip, he was pretty dang stressed.
“Harp?” I squeaked, confused.
“I need to talk to you,” he said.
That’sallhe said before he started pulling me toward the back.
Looking down at his hand and up to the tick in his jaw, I squirmed. Heat curled up my back to my neck at the gruff way he was handling me.Me. Little Alta. And I couldn’t explain the rush it sent to the strangest places.
Suddenly I was flushed. I was always made fun of for showingmy emotions on my skin. If he dared to look back at me now, he’d see the telling color that was rising to my cheeks.
“Um,” I squirmed some more. “I don’t think that’s necessary.”
“Oh, it’s necessary,” he grumbled. Harper! The guy who was always laughing at me! He was grumbling now and looking like he wanted to punish me once he got me to that back room.
Alta!I scolded myself as the thought of Gus Harper punishing me stirred me up.
Yanking his office door open, he pushed me in and followed right behind me. The door slammed, and I jumped at the snap of it, my thoughts giving me whiplash as they came crashing down from nearly gettingturned onjust a second ago. Just in time for him to release me and point a reprimanding finger my way.
“Whatever’s going on with you, I need you to sort it out.Now,” he said. And he was serious. For once in his dang life this man was being serious, yet he was talking absolutely crazy!
“Excuse me?” I breathed incredulously.
“You heard me,” he said. Taking a couple steps toward me and towering like he was some big menacing force. Which he was. All broad and tattooed and speaking in this deep, growly voice I had yet to hear from him before. But I wasn’t afraid of him. He could try to intimidate me all he wanted, but I would not back down. Puffing my chest out and raising my chin high, I met his gaze with a glare. His eyes slitted and for the first time, Harper looked mean. My lip trembled but nothing else. His own lip curled when he saw it, like he was disgusted. “You’ve been acting off, and I don’t like it.”
Off?Had he really noticed?
Looking away, I crossed my arms, mumbling. “That’s none of your business, Harper.”
“No, fuck that Alta,” he said. Fingers gripped me by my chin and pulled my gaze up to meet his blazing one. “You made it my business as soon as you started skipping my appointments andstorming in here yelling like someone was chasing you—trying to give me a heart attack and shit.”
“I did notyell, Harper! You’re being ridiculous.”
“You yelled,” he said. “You came in here hollering for me after you were with some random guy. What did you expect me to do?”
“My brother, Harper. Not some random guy,my brother. With whom I was having a very important conversation before you bombarded it for no good reason, by the way,” I said.
He frowned with his entire face, the creases in between his eyes clearly showing the thought he was putting into my words. Annoyingly, he landed on, “I had a good reason.”
I blinked, waiting for that “oh so important” reason to surface. He shifted, me somehow making him uncomfortable for once even though it was still him who had my face in his hands. Against my will, I shivered.
“You went missing,” he finally said, like it was the truest thing in the world. I just blinked at him as he puffed out a sigh. “You missed three appointments, Alta.”
I rolled my eyes. So dramatic.
“I missedone, since this now counts as another. Plus, I contacted you to let you know I’d be gone,” I said.
“Yeah,” he shifted again, his grip softening some, but not letting me go. He just moved his thumb absently along my jaw, looking at me intently. “But why? Why are you suddenly missing my appointments? You mad or something?”
“No, Harp. I’mbusy. I’m juggling a lot of planning between my sister’s festival and the block party and I felt comfortable that Ink and Mar was set until at least the end of the month, when everything dies down.”
