Free Pretend You're Mine: A Small Town Love Story by Lucy Score Page A

teased.
    “We do okay.” He smirked.
    Harper rolled her eyes. Since when did she find smirking sexy? Since right now, apparently.
    “With as busy as you are, how did you not already have a full time office manager?”
    Luke shrugged. “We really started growing about three years ago. And Beth — you’ll meet her tomorrow — used to be full-time office help until she had the twins. Now she’s part-time and just does the bookkeeping.”
    Harper slowed and pulled into a gravel lot. Luke took in the renovated barn that backed up to grassy fields. The smell of steak hung thick in the air.
    “Nice place. What made you pick it?”
    It was Harper’s turn to smirk. “I thought we’d draw less attention here than Benevolence.”
    “Good call.”
    “Are you some kind of famous bachelor or hometown hero? Everyone seems to be incredibly interested in you.”
    His gaze leveled with hers, but instead of the laugh she expected she saw a coolness. “Have people been talking?”
    Harper tilted her head. “Talking about what?”
    “Nothing.” His demeanor changed and he reached over to squeeze her leg. “Come on, I’ll let you buy me dinner.”
    The hostess, a tiny pixie with dark framed glasses and purple streaks in her hair, led them back to a cozy corner booth next to a window overlooking pasture and pond. The sun was just beginning to sink behind the trees.
    Luke glanced around at the textured walls of stone and plaster and the thick ceiling beams. “Nice place.”
    “I thought you might like it,” Harper said, grabbing the beer list. “Meat and a cool building seemed like the right way to say thank you for everything.”
    “Are you ever going to stop thanking me?”
    “Are you ever going to stop doing things that deserve gratitude?” She batted her eyelashes.
    “Smart ass,” Luke grinned.
    They ordered draft beers and steaks as a small band set up in the adjoining room.
    “So tell me about yourself, Harper,” Luke said, stretching his arm across the back of the booth.
    “You’re taking this date thing pretty seriously. What do you want to know?”
    The waitress returned with their beers and Harper took a sip.
    “Well, we are fake dating, so I should know some things about you. Like, when’s your birthday? Where did you go to school? What was it like growing up without parents? Why are you the way you are?”
    Harper laughed. “That’s a lot of questions.” She snagged his beer and sampled it before sliding it back across the table.
    Luke spun the glass around before picking it up, tasting. Harper wondered if he purposely drank from the same spot she did. “I find you interesting.”
    “That sounds like it’s not really a compliment.”
    “I also find you smart, beautiful, funny, and brave. But I can’t figure you out. How does someone who goes through everything you’ve gone through walk around with a permanent smile on her face?”
    “You mean because of my parents?”
    “Your parents, the fire, your idiot of an ex. Your resiliency is impressive. How does that happen?”
    “It’s not really impressive when there isn’t another option. What am I supposed to do, be all ‘woe is me’ for the rest of my life? I still get access to the same sunrises everyone else does, the same 24 hours in a day. And if I don’t take advantage of those things, it’s my own fault.”
    “So the world is too big and beautiful to be sad?” He was teasing her.
    “I can still be sad. But I don’t have to wallow or completely ignore the good that is still waiting for me. That’s careless and wasteful.”
    Luke was silent for a moment, twisting his glass on the tabletop.
    “Also, since you asked, my birthday is March 3. I went to University of Maryland and got a bachelor’s in business. I’m halfway through my MBA online. And growing up without parents was hard. Every holiday, every birthday, graduation, you’re always acutely aware that you’re missing something. Someone.”
    Luke nodded. “Favorite