They had spent the morning reviewing each other's projects then they broke for lunch. Luke had invited her to grab a burger, but she had brought her lunch so she declined, glad of the reprieve. The entire morning she had been overly aware of his every move. Normally, the brush of his arm or his standing close behind her wouldn't have mattered, but since the idea of his kissing her was now implanted in her head she was unable to think of anything else.

An hour later he was back, and Harper could hear his voice as he laughed at something that someone said to him in greeting. She gulped the rest of her water then pushed the remnants of her lunch into the trash before reaching for her phone and satchel. This time she wouldn't keep him waiting, she wanted to get this done and be rid of Mr. Pacer once and for all. She took one last look around the office as she walked towards the door and right into a solid wall of chest, bouncing backwards from the force of the contact.

"I guess there's no need to ask if your ready to go," Luke joked as he took in her flushed appearance. Hopefully, he thought it was because she had been rushing. She didn't want to admit, even to herself, that it was the shock of having touched his very solid chest. It had only been an instant but it was long enough to feel the massive wall of muscle under her hand.

"I'm ready," she agreed as she walked past him towards the exit.

"Where's the fire?" he asked with an amused tone.

"I want to get this over with before you change your mind." She kept right on walking, not turning around, forcing him to follow her.

After they cleared the door, he placed his hand on her shoulder stopping her. When she still refused to turn and look at him he walked around to stand in front of her, taking her chin in his hand, forcing her to look up at him.

She told herself that she had allowed him to do it only because she would have looked ridiculous fighting him.

Luke looked around them, making sure no one could hear them.

"What's going on?" His serious expression gave nothing away and Harper's heart skipped, fearing that he had realized why she was acting so weird around him all of the sudden. That she had developed a sudden and unexplained attraction towards him.

"I don't know what you mean, there is nothing wrong," she insisted, doing her best to meet his eyes without blushing.

"Is there something going on with Pacer, has he said or done something inappropriate?"

Harper snorted, relieved that he was talking about Pacer. "It would be easier to recount the times he hasn't said or done something inappropriate."

Luke dropped his hand from her chin, and she watched the muscle in his jaw jump in anger at the thought.

"I appreciate your concern Luke, but it's a little late to start worrying about men behaving inappropriately around me, I grew up on constructions sites, remember? Granted, it's not nearly as bad as it used to be, especially since I'm the boss now, but it's still there. It's just hidden better. In Pacer's case, he is part of that good ole' boy network, and he has no intention of hiding his feelings about women on a construction site."

Harper watched Luke's jaw flex a few more times and she patted his arm, amused that she was the one having to reassure him. "Am I driving?" she asked hopefully, not realizing that her hand was still on his arm and she could feel his muscle playing beneath his shirt as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his keys.

"No, you have to change the radio back, remember?"

She dropped her hand with mock sigh, trying to detract from the awkward move.

"Fine, but I have to stop by Schmidt's. He has a custom glass window that I need to pick up for the Pacer job."

He clicked the button on his key fob while she moved to the other side of the truck and climbed into the cab by herself. He had never opened her door for her before, why should he start now?

They settled into their seats, but before he put the truck into reverse he looked from her to the radio pointedly, and with a dramatic eye-roll, she began to reprogram all of his stations with his helpful reminders of which ones went where.

"You know, it really would have saved you a lot of breath to just do it yourself," she insisted as she set the last one and retreated back into her seat.

"Probably, but that wasn't the point," he insisted once again.

"So you keep saying." She focused on the scenery that passed by the window, noting that the trees were just starting to bud. It had been a very cold winter and she was looking forward to a warm spring. Maybe she really could take a vacation and go somewhere fun.

"What are you thinking about so hard," Luke asked, not bothering to take his eyes off the road.

"I was thinking that maybe I could actually take a real vacation this year, go somewhere exciting."

"Like where?"

Harper shrugged. "Somewhere away from here." She watched the familiar buildings as they sild past her window. "It would be wonderful to pretend to be someone else, even if it is only for a short while."

"Why do you want to be someone else?" Luke asked, sounding confused.

Harper hadn't realized that she had spoken aloud and she was mortified that he had heard one of her private thoughts. She could only shrug as she looked at the window.

"Harper?" he urged. He rarely used her name. He always called her by that dreaded nickname, Miss Priss. "Why would you want to be someone else?"

"Did you ever want to do something besides construction?" she asked softly.

"No, not really. I enjoy my job, I'm not chained behind a desk and I get to help people make their dreams come true." He sounded so sure of himself. "Do you want to do something else?" he asked as he pulled into the parking lot of Schmidt's Stained Glass and parked the truck, cutting the engine.

"What do they say about a dream deferred?" she asked off handedly as she unbuckled her seatbelt ready to make her get away.

Luke wasn't finished though as he reached out and grabbed her arm, stopping her from leaping out of the truck. "If you don't want to do the job, don't do it. Quit."

Quit, it would kill her father and even if she quit it still wouldn't make all of her dreams come true. It would only leave her jobless and create a family rift. She looked down at his hand on her arm, noting the difference in the color of their skin tones. His hand was dark against her paleness. "Thank you for the advice, I'll take it into consideration."

He grunted his frustration as he let go of her arm, watching her jump down from the truck. He didn't say anything as he followed her into the shop at the back of the building, but she could feel his dissatisfaction at her lack of reply.

"Hey Ronnie," she greeted Ronald Schmidt, the son of the artist who created the stained glass. Ronnie handled the business side of things, allowing his father to be the artist he truly was.

"Hey Harper, Luke," he greeted in return. "You here to get the glass window for the Pacer job?"

Harper nodded as she watched Delia Standish float up from the back of the store and head in their direction. She was a small and delicate looking woman. Her light brown hair had subtle highlights and was shoulder length, and her make-up was applied with perscision. She was as feminine looking as Harper wished to be.

Ronnie watched her approach before turning his attention back towards Harper. "Are we still on for our date tomorrow night?" he asked as he reached for the invoice and handed it to her.

"Sure, I'm looking forward to it." Harper smiled. It had been a long time since she had been out on a date. Maybe it would help take her mind off her worries for at least one night.

"I know!" Delia's gentle voice crowed with delight. "Let's make it a double date, what do you say Luke? You, me, Harper and Ronnie." Delia looked at everyone as if they should be just as pleased with the idea as she was.

Luke looked from Ronnie to Harper with a shrug. "Sure," he agreed.

"Fine by me," Ronnie agreed and they all turned to look at Harper expectantly.

"Sounds like fun," she agreed with a weak smile. There went her fun night out as well as her Lukeless weekend.

They spent the next ten minutes talking about plans, and when it was all decided an awkward silence descended which didn't bode well for their upcoming double date.

"We're kind of behind Ronnie, can we load up now?" Harper broke the silence, knowing she was being a bit abrupt, but the last thing she wanted to do was keep talking about something that was already proving to be uncomfortable and would prove to be one more bad date to add to her growing list.

Luke was instructed to pull his truck around and they loaded up as quickly as they could.

"You wanna talk about it?" Luke asked as he drove out of the parking lot.

"Nope," she said as she looked at the invoice that Ronnie had given her.

Luke must have sensed her displeasure because for once he didn't tease her about what had happened as they rode in silence towards the job site.

But she wished he had teased her, if only to banish the feeling of dread of having to go out on a double date with him.