Contractual Obligation

Chapter Seventeen

The next morning, Harper kissed Doug when he left for the airport. She managed to hold back her tears when he told her he loved her.

“I love you, too.” Although she wished she didn’t, now she knew the truth. She did love him, and the last thing she wanted to do was lose him.

Unfortunately, she had to find out the truth before she could go any farther.

She arrived at the office nearly an hour early. Without Doug there, and with Gorden now happily retired all of three days, Harper tried to focus on her work and couldn’t. She couldn’t stomach the thought of food and skipped breakfast. The clock crawled. By noon, she realized she wasn’t accomplishing anything and took off for the gym to get her workout in early. It allowed her to burn off some tension and time to think without obsessively checking for messages.

She didn’t know what she wanted to do. If she met with Tate and decided Doug had acted in the best interest of his family, she’d back away, no matter the damage to her heart. She couldn’t live with herself if she’d come between them.

But that was Doug’s choice to make, the voice in her head argued. That voice wanted Doug in her bed for the rest of her life.

It doesn’t matter. I can’t live with that.

And what if he acted out of greed? the doubtful voice asked her. What if she decided everything he’d done had been merely an act?

Her heart ached at the thought. She didn’t want that to be the truth. She’d rather walk away willingly than find out she’d been duped. It would be much easier to bear.

She wanted to believe the best of Doug, not the worst. She didn’t want to believe she’d been lied to, deceived, led along.

Wearing herself out in the gym didn’t help quell her racing thoughts. She showered, returned to the office, and set about catching up with e-mails. She still had an hour before Tate was due.

If he showed. If that happened, well, then she’d figure out what to do later.

Tate stopped at a gas station a few blocks from the Holt house and stared at the business card in his hand. He should just return to Gainesville tonight. He shouldn’t spend the money on a hotel room for the night.

But the woman seemed agitated, anxious to talk to him. Maybe she could shed some light on why Doug had done what he did.

Tate found a cheap hotel in a not-too-bad section of town. The next day, he spent his time wandering over to Pinellas County and walking the beaches before making his way back to Tampa. He hoped this Harper Wells lady didn’t mind he wasn’t dressed in fancy business clothes. He hadn’t anticipated meeting with anyone other than Doug. He wasn’t too ashamed to admit he’d been stalking Tina’s Facebook feed and knew Doug would be at the party. He’d been willing to take that small chance to talk to Doug.

He arrived at the building fifteen minutes early and found the receptionist.

“I’m Tate Gillis.” He held up the business card. “I’m supposed to meet with Harper Wells at four.”

“Sure.” She placed a quick call, then stood. “Right this way.”

He wasn’t sure what to expect. He glanced around as he followed her, half hoping to see Doug somewhere. When the receptionist knocked on and opened an office door for him, he found himself face-to-face with the woman from yesterday.

“Thanks, Kim. That’s all,” Harper Wells said.

The receptionist closed the door behind her when she left.

The woman looked as nervous as he felt. She offered him a smile and stepped over to him, holding out her hand. “I didn’t have a chance yesterday to properly introduce myself. Harper Wells.”

He shook. “Yeah, I figured from your business card. Tate Gillis.”

They stood there for a moment in awkward silence before she finally indicated a comfortable-looking leather sofa. “Let’s sit and talk.”

He followed her and sat. “Are you Doug’s boss?”

“Yes. How much did he tell you yesterday?”

“He didn’t. He said he’d signed some sort of nondisclosure contract and couldn’t talk.” He studied her. “You’re not just his boss, are you?”

She shook her head. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know when I hired him that he had a boyfriend.”

Tate fought back bitterness. “Great.”

Harper was afraid of losing his attention before she even had it. “I asked you here today because I don’t want to pass judgment on Doug without knowing all the facts.” She told him about how and why she’d hired Doug, leaving out the more personal parts of the recent developments of their relationship. “From the way I understood it, his parents were drowning in debt and about to lose their house to foreclosure,” she said. “They were swamped by medical bills. When I heard that, I—forgive the cliché—made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.”

Tate sat there for several long, silent minutes, obviously digesting what she’d told him. “I love him,” he finally said. “And yeah, he loves his family. That sounds like something he’d do to help them out.”

“So what do we do?” she asked.

He snorted. “What do you mean? It sounds like there’s nothing I can do. He signed a contract to work for you. I know damn well he’ll uphold his end of it. Especially if it means it’s for the good of his family.”

“But you love him,” Harper softly said.

He nodded. “Yeah. I always will.” His sad expression nearly broke her heart.

They sat there in uncomfortable silence for a moment. She felt horrible, fidgety. “I’m sorry this happened to you, Tate. I had no idea.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“Yeah, it is.”

Something pinged Tate’s intuition, niggling at him. Harper didn’t look well at all, and in the half hour or so he’d spent with her, she was looking progressively worse. When she got up to pace, he wondered if she was on drugs or something. “I mean, I feel this is all my fault,” she insisted. “I never meant for this to hap…” She stopped pacing.

He stood. “Are you okay?”

She looked at him, swaying on her feet. Before she hit the ground, he raced to her side and caught her, carrying her back to the couch. He headed to her desk to grab the phone and call for help when he spotted a blood sugar monitor, one of the compact all-in-one kinds, lying on her desk, next to her purse.

He grabbed it and raced back to her, holding it up so she could see it. “Are you a diabetic?” She didn’t appear to be wearing any kind of medical alert bracelet or necklace.

She tried to sit up but couldn’t. He steadied her as he used the monitor to check her blood. She tried to push him away, mumbling incoherently, but he wrapped an arm tightly around her as he waited for the results. “Hold still.” Then it flashed her sugar level on the screen.

“Dammit, you’re at fifty!” He glanced around and spotted the minifridge behind her desk. Rummaging through it, he found not only her insulin, but several bottles of apple juice, as well as some other, healthy snacks. He grabbed a bottle of juice and quickly brought it to her, forcing her to drink it as he sat next to her, one arm around her shoulder, his other hand holding the bottle to her lips.

After a few moments, she quit fighting him, took the bottle from him, and sat up under her own strength. “Thank you,” she muttered.

He breathed a deep sigh of relief. “You scared the crap out of me.”

“I’m sorry.” She looked embarrassed, red in the face.

“It’s okay. You need to be more careful with that, though.”

“I usually am. I didn’t feel like eating, and I exercised at lunch time instead of at night.” She finished the juice and looked at him. “How’d you know what to do?”

“Doug’s mom’s a diabetic.”

“Oh. Right.” She laughed harshly.

“What?”

She shook her head. “You aren’t going to believe this. He doesn’t know about my diabetes.”

“Who?”

“Doug.”

“How is that possible?”

“I never told him.” She carefully stood, picked up the monitor, and took it back to her desk. She got a couple of string cheese sticks from the fridge and slowly ate them. “I hid it from him. None of my staff knows. Only my father and Gorden, my former assistant. And he’s like a father to me.”

“What’s the big deal?”

“It’s a big deal to me.” She turned to him. “I value my privacy. I don’t want anyone feeling sorry for me.”

“Yeah, but if you drop in front of a meeting full of—”

“I am normally much more careful than I was today.” She took a deep breath. “Sorry. I shouldn’t snap at you. It’s my own damn fault for not eating.”

“Well, if you’re involved with Doug, you should tell him. He’s going to find out eventually.”

She stared at Tate. He had to be an extraordinary man to not hate her right now.

That only made her feel more guilty.

That’s when an idea hit her. “I sent him over to London this morning on business. He’ll be gone at least four to six weeks, possibly longer.”

“Oh.”

She perched on the corner of her desk. “So tell me about yourself. What do you do?”

“I underwhelm my parents by not pursuing a better job that utilizes my MBA. I was promoted at the place I work at after Doug left. I make enough to live by myself.” He shrugged. “I just haven’t felt the urge to better myself lately.” He sighed. “I guess now I can move on.”

“How would you like to make a hundred grand a year?”

He laughed. “Um, yeah, I’d love to. Unfortunately, I don’t make half that.”

“You can. If you come work for me.”

He stared at her. “What are you saying?”

“I’ll hire you.”

“What about Doug?”

She shrugged. “What about him? I was going to have to hire someone else to help out sooner or later.”

He held up his hands. “Hold on. I thought you said you and Doug were involved with each other?”

“Yeah, well, I don’t feel right about that now that I know about you. Here’s the deal. I’ll hire you, and when he gets back, the two of you can pick up where you left off. I still need Doug’s help with my situation. But…” This already hurt. She knew she’d regret giving Doug up for the rest of her life, but she couldn’t live with her guilt, either. “No one needs to know he and I aren’t an item. Let everyone think we still are.”

“What about his nondisclosure agreement?”

“I’ll get everything modified. You sign on, with a nondisclosure agreement of your own, for the remaining term of his contract. When it’s over, the two of you are free to do whatever you want.”

This was crazy. Unbelievable. He wanted to punch himself in the thigh to make sure he wasn’t imagining it.

He also couldn’t say no. “Okay. You just hired yourself another assistant. When do I start?”

“Today.”

“What?”

She nodded. “Today. I’ll get everything set up with human resources, call Gorden in to help train you in a crash course, and you’ll start immediately.”

“But I need to quit my other job. And I need to move.”

“Fine. Call them and quit. Tell them it’s an emergency. I’ll pay to move you down here. Hire movers.”

“Where will I live?”

She smiled. “With me, of course.”

Tate felt like he was being bounced around in the middle of a crazy tornado. He couldn’t believe what was happening to him, much less that he might have a chance of getting back together with Doug. He felt bad having to break the news to Jenny. He called her as he drove home to Gainesville that evening. Fortunately, she understood, and he didn’t have to go any further than telling her it was a chance to get back together with Doug.

As he surveyed the apartment, he realized there really wasn’t a lot he wanted to take. Except for their bed, which they bought new out of fear of bedbugs, everything else in their apartment in the way of furniture was second-hand or cheap-ass discount-store crap. And if he’d be living at Harper’s, he wouldn’t even need the bed.

By the time he finished packing his clothes and personal belongings, he still had room to spare in his car. The next morning, he called a couple of his friends he knew were hurting for cash and let them pick through and take what they wanted before they helped him move the rest of the stuff outside to the sidewalk, where he put up a “Free, Take Us!” sign. By the time the apartment had been emptied, most of the items they’d put outside were gone.

Tate felt close to dropping from exhaustion as he drove back to Tampa after midnight. He called Harper, and she gave him directions on how to get to her house from the interstate.

It was nearly four in the morning when he reached her driveway. He decided to leave the unpacking for later. She led him to his room, which had its own bathroom.

He collapsed onto the bed and fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

The next afternoon, Tate awoke with a start, feeling disoriented.

What the fuck?

Then it all came back to him. He was at Harper’s.

He hadn’t really had a chance to look around when he came in. Now, as he sat up in bed, he spotted familiar items that made his heart ache. Doug’s favorite books, pictures of his family.

The three dragon sculptures he’d given Doug on each of his past three birthdays.

That made him choke up. He got out of bed and walked over to the shelf. Displayed prominently next to pictures of his family.

Then he saw another picture. Of the framed pictures of them together that Doug had taken when he left, the only one he had out in the open was one of him and Doug sitting next to each other at a friend’s barbecue party. This was the only picture where they weren’t hugging or kissing or had their arms around each other.

In other words, innocent looking.

He remembered the Saturday afternoon when it was taken, soon after they’d started seeing each other. They’d gone back to Doug’s that night and made love until dawn, slept all morning, and spent Sunday naked in Doug’s apartment, watching movies and making love.

Pushing the memory away, he headed to the bathroom. When he emerged, he heard a knock on the door. “Yeah?”

Harper opened the door and peeked in. “I heard you were up. Do you want breakfast or lunch?”

“What time is it?”

“Two. I’m working from here today, said I wasn’t feeling good. I wanted to be here to go over stuff with you and help you unpack.”

“You don’t have to help me.”

“I want to.” They stared at each other for a moment. “Look,” she said, “I know this has to be weird for you, but I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it. And I’m sorry.”

“Quit apologizing. You didn’t do anything wrong. Because of you, Carl and Sarah won’t lose their home. They’re good people who hit a bad patch.” He looked around the room. It was bigger than the bedroom he and Doug had shared at the apartment.

Hell, it was nearly as big as their whole apartment. “I would like to ask a favor, though.”

“Sure.”

He looked her squarely in the eye. “When Doug gets back, tell him about your diabetes.”

Her expression clouded. “He doesn’t need to know.”

“Listen, his dirty little secret—me—was a lot bigger than yours. He has a right to know. You barely know me and you trust me with it.”

“I didn’t really have a choice.”

“It doesn’t matter.” He walked over to her. She was pretty. Not runway-model-gorgeous, but real. The kind of woman who had a kind heart, but who thought she needed to keep a steel wall up to protect it whether she wanted to or not. “Whatever kind of act you think it is you have to put on for everyone else, when it’s just you and me, I want to see the real Harper. No bullshit. You’ve had to deal with a lot in the past few days, and so have I. We’re on the same team here, and I think the least we can do is be totally honest with each other.” He held out his hand to her. “Deal?”

She nodded as she took his hand and shook. “Deal,” she softly agreed.

He gave her a smile and finally got a sad one in return.

Damn, he wanted to take that sadness away from her. Just the short amount of time he’d spent with her showed him she was a good-hearted woman. It wasn’t her fault Doug had deceived her, and as upset as Tate felt at Doug, he could understand his former lover’s rationale.

He could also see why Doug would fall for Harper.

They ate pizza in the living room that night in front of the TV. They talked about themselves and about Doug. By the time they bid each other goodnight and headed for their separate bedrooms, Tate had the beginning seeds of an idea just crazy enough to possibly work.

First things first, he’d have to learn the job and get Harper to trust him.