Harper walked into the office the next morning, and the first thing she saw was Manny walking down the hall towards her with a goofy smile on his face.

"What's going on?" she asked as she passed him.

"Meeting's been canceled!" he crowed as he passed her by without stopping.

Frowning, she set her satchel down on her desk and wandered back into the hallway to figure out what was happening. She noticed a lot of people in her father's office so she stuck her head in the door looking around. She wasn't noticed at first as she took in the sight of Possum, Kendra, and Stephanie, another intern, lounging around on the chairs while Trudy and her father hovered over his computer. They were staring intently at something and the others appeared to be waiting to hear what was found.

Luke walked up behind her, slurping noisily on his coffee, and she shot him an aggravated glance, sure that he had done it on purpose since he was right by her ear.

"What's going on?" he whispered into her ear, his warm breath tickling a hair that had come loose from her bun causing goosebumps to rise on her neck. It must be the change in temperature, that must also be why she was aware of the heat radiating off his body behind her. What she couldn't explain was why he suddenly smelled so good.

She ignored the feelings just as she had ignored the dreams she had had about him the night before. The ones where he had kissed her. If she ignored them both they would go away soon enough. At least she hoped they would because they were making her feel totally awkward around him.

"I don't know, but the meeting has been canceled," she whispered back, and when he bent down to hear her she swore she felt his rough cheek against hers as she spoke.

She watched him frown just like she had at the news while he watched as a disappointed expression covered Trudy's face. "Nope, no luck!" She sighed as she pushed away from her father's desk

Luke sipped his coffee again and the movement caught Trudy's attention, making her jump when she noted them both standing in the doorway watching them. Harper would have been amused by all of the guilty looks that turned their way if she didn't have the sudden suspicion that something underhanded was going on behind her back.

"Dad? I heard the meeting was canceled?"

"No, not canceled, moved to this afternoon at four," he explained, all business.

"Are you having computer problems?" Luke asked, sounding unconcerned by the scene they had just witnessed.

"Yes, Trudy set-up a new system and we're not getting the results that we wanted," he explained as he typed something on his keyboard. "Everyone back to work!" He pulled out his chair. "Time is money!" Everyone in the office but Harper and Luke helped him finish the sentence.

"Hey, Luke!" Kendra bounced over to him. "Do you need help with anything today?" she asked hopefully.

He grinned at her. "Nope, not today." He looked over at Harper out of the corner of his eye. "I have to help someone else today," he whispered, letting everyone watching know that he was talking about Harper, that she was the one that needed his help.

It was something he had done many times before, and it had never bothered her before. Generally, she rolled her eyes and walked away, but this time it irritated her so she turned abruptly on her heel and walked back towards her office, her shoulders stiff with resentment.

Luke winked at Kendra before following Harper. When she pushed through the door she saw a cup from the local coffee shop sitting in the middle of her desk and she growled in frustration as she removed her satchel from the top of her desk and slammed it onto her chair.

"You want to meet here or in my office?"

"Let's try a neutral space, how about the conference room?"

"Why neutral? Are we at war?" he asked, unconcerned as usual by her hostility.

"No." She reigned in her temper and turned to him with a smile. "I'll meet you there in about fifteen minutes?" She needed to stay in control. Angering him might mean that the deal would be off, and she would rather deal with an irritating Luke then an offensive Pacer any day of the week.

"Sure," he agreed.

"Thanks for the hot chocolate Luke," she called as he left. His only response was to lift his hand in a wave over his shoulder.

She walked over to her door and closed it before she started to unpack her things. She had to get it together. Luke was the same annoying guy that he always was, one wayward thought had made everything she thought about the man change and she didn't like it. Luke was Luke, he had been annoying her since childhood, last night had been her imagination. She remembered her dream, the first one she could ever remember having about Luke. In it, instead of Luke leaving like he had the night before, he had backed her up against a wall and kissed her, his arms pulling her close. She felt heat steal up her cheeks once again at the memory.

She gave herself a mental shake, she had to meet with him in a few minutes, she could not re-live that memory. She had an entire day to get through, and Luke would be with her for most of it. She closed her eyes taking a deep breath. She could do this. Tomorrow was the weekend and she would have two days to get her head back on straight. The best thing to do was remember every annoying thing Luke had ever said or done, Lord knew there was plenty to remember.

She rolled her shoulders before pulling out the necessary files, setting them aside as she fired up her laptop and checked her emails, unconsciously reaching for the hot chocolate and taking a sip. She was answering a final email when her door burst open.

"You said fifteen minutes, its been over half an hour!" Luke grumbled before he stormed back out, leaving her door open.

Harper breathed a sigh of relief at his hostility, hostility she could deal with.

Picking up her laptop and the files, she marched towards the door following his tall form down the hallway. She paused at her father's office which seemed to be full of people once again, and since she was only able to deal with one problem at a time, she continued on to the conference room.

Luke was sitting at the end of the table checking his phone so she took her time placing her things just so as she waited for him to finish what he was doing. Five minutes later, when he set the phone off to the side, Harper looked at him with a resigned sigh. "Feel better?"

She was used to the men in her life always having to have the last word, Luke included.

"Sorry, I was answering a very important email that couldn't wait," he responded innocently.

"I've heard that excuse before." She snorted as she started to pull out her files.

"What excuse is that?"

"Sorry, couldn't wait," she supplied.

"Not from me," he said softly, giving her a devilish grin. "I'm a very patient person by nature."

She rolled her eyes but couldn't contain a blush.

"So, what was it I couldn't wait for?" he asked, taking in her blush with an interested gaze.

"Me, I was fourteen and you were sixteen, you had just gotten your license and you were dating that Jill girl, your mom asked you to give me a ride home because the weather was supposed to be nasty, but by the time I got out of school you were nowhere to be found. When I caught up with you the next day you said, 'sorry, I couldn't wait'."

He looked at her intently, taking the story more seriously than she had intended him to.

"What did you do?" he asked softly.

"I walked home, there was thunder and lightning the entire way." She still had trouble with thunderstorms because of it. She couldn't handle being anywhere outside or near a window during one.

"Why didn't you just call your mom or dad?"

"Because they were out of town, that's why your mother asked you to give me a ride."

"You could have called my mom or dad," he suggested.

Harper snorted once again. "I didn't want you to die, and your mother would have killed you if I had called her."

"Then I guess I owe you my life and an apology," he said seriously.

"You do, which is why you better not back out of this deal with Pacer." She gave a silent sigh of relief that she had managed to get it away from a conversation which had suddenly turned personal and directed it back towards work-related matters. "I just hope that Jill girl was worth it," she muttered softly as she pulled up her files on the computer.

"Did I really date a girl named Jill?" he asked as he followed her lead.

She ignored the little happy feeling came over her at the idea that he didn't even remember the girl in question.

"What did she look like, was she pretty?" And just like that, he was back to his ladies' man ways. "I'll have to look her up in the yearbook. I mean, if I was willing to ditch you for her she must have been something." It was a backhanded compliment at best. "Maybe she's still around?" he mused as he turned his computer towards her.

"And you wonder why everyone around here thinks you sleep with every girl you meet?"

"Not every girl, I haven't slept with you, not that there is much sleeping involved in my time spent with the ladies," he gave his devilish smile again.

"Yes, you have slept with me, plenty of times, remember all those camping trips our dads used to drag us on as kids?"

"Fine, you win, I sleep with every girl I meet, I am properly chastised, and I am forever indebted to you for not calling my mom." He was suddenly all business as if being reminded of their camping trips was embarrassing.

"Good, remember that. I figure it's worth a few favors, and when I use all those up I have a few more similar stories." She nodded, leaning in to see what he was showing her, thinking once again that he smelled wonderful and wondering why she had never noticed that about him before.