His Assistant - Alexa Land Page 0,47
out, knowing I was setting myself up to be totally devastated?
It was cowardly to cut and run. I knew that, but it felt like a matter of self-preservation.
By the time Harper burst into the office sometime later, I’d succeeded in pretty thoroughly depressing myself. Meanwhile, he was all sunshine and energy, and he exclaimed, “I miss you!” Loco was standing on my desk, pecking at a scrap of tortilla I’d saved her from lunch, and she and I both turned to look at him.
I said, “I honestly have no idea if you’re talking to me or the chicken.” Loco also seemed confused. Not that that was anything new.
“You, Phee! But now that you mention it, I do miss Loco, too,” he said, as he crossed the room to me and sat on the corner of my desk. “You really need to come outside and join the party.” He was dressed in nothing but a pair of shorts, and he swung one of his bare feet as he smiled at me.
After a pause, I said, “I don’t think I can do this, Harper.”
“Sure you can. Just get up and follow me outside.”
“No, I mean I don’t think I can do this.” I gestured between us.
His foot stopped swinging, and he asked, “Are you saying you don’t want to date me anymore?”
“We haven’t exactly been dating.”
“But we can. Is that what’s bothering you, that we’re too focused on sex? I’ve been wanting to take you on a real date, so let’s go out tonight.”
“No, that’s not the problem,” I said.
“Then what is?”
“We’re just very different people.”
“We are, and that’s awesome. I love the way we balance each other out.” The chicken jumped into my lap, and I ran my hand over her white feathers. After a pause, Harper asked, “Did I do something wrong?”
“No. This just isn’t going to work out.” I took a breath and said, “It’s going to be too awkward to keep working for you, so this is my two weeks’ notice. That should be enough time for me to get you organized and hire a new assistant. I know I’ve been acting really unprofessionally but I still take this job seriously, and I won’t leave you short-handed.”
His expression was unreadable as he studied me for a long moment. Finally, he said, “I’ll accept your two weeks’ notice on one condition—I still need you to come with me to Hawaii. I have to read through a huge stack of scripts, and I need you to keep me on task. Plus, I want your unbiased opinion on them. You can also use the time to work with me on my schedule, including booking out the next few months with public appearances. Without a publicist on my team, I really need your help here.”
It hadn’t even occurred to me that he’d still want me to go to Hawaii, and I asked, “Won’t that be a pretty awkward trip?”
“It doesn’t have to be. Given what I paid for it, the house on Kauai is probably huge. You take one wing, I’ll take the other, and we’ll both have plenty of privacy.”
“But—”
“You’re still my assistant for two weeks, so you go where I go during that time. That was always the deal.”
He had a point. “Yeah, okay,” I said. “As long as we’re both in agreement that we’re going to keep this professional, there’s no reason not to go along. You do agree to that, right?”
Harper got up from the desk and told me, “I can control myself if you can.” If there’d been the slightest hint of a smirk, I would have bailed out on the idea of going with him to Hawaii, but he said that with a perfectly serious expression. As he started to leave the office, he added, “Be ready to leave for the airport tomorrow around noon. And obviously, feel free to spend the night here as planned, since we already brought all your stuff from your apartment. I have eleven guest rooms, so take your pick.”
Then he left the office, and I stared after him. I obviously hadn’t expected a big emotional outpouring from him after just three nights together, but I’d expected something. A little effort put into changing my mind, maybe? He seemed more concerned about losing me as an assistant than anything else. That stung a little, but it also showed me I’d done the right thing by ending this before it went any further. While I’d already become emotionally involved, that was obviously