“You don’t like doing prophies? There’s nothing more exhilarating than getting that hard-to-reach calculus off. It’s like watching someone pop a really gross pimple, satisfying and mesmerizing.”
Dan stared at her like she had three heads. “You and I have very different definitions of satisfying. Satisfying is finding the natural patterns and trends in numbers. Manipulating them and moving things around, working until you finally solve this incredible puzzle. That is satisfaction.” He gave her a smug grin.
She couldn’t do anything but shake her head, stunned. How could anyone think there was a career more satisfying than dentistry?
“And here I was, thinking you were perfect…” she said softly. She clamped her jaws shut at the realization that she’d said the thought out loud. Dan’s eyes went wide with a dangerous glint that flooded her with embarrassment and panic.
“So this was fun,” she rushed out, standing up and nearly knocking her chair over. “I better get home.”
She moved to reach for her coat, and her hands shook as she turned it around and around, trying to find the armholes that seemed to have sewn themselves shut during dinner.
She was about to drop the damn thing and make a run for it, but Dan’s hand closed around the neck of her jacket. His other hand gently grasped hers, and he spun her away from him. She heard the coat ruffle behind her, then felt him slipping it over her shoulders. Her throat felt dry, and her skin tingled at the fabric’s drag over her arms.
“It’s getting late. I’ll walk you home,” Dan said in a gravelly whisper, dangerously close to her ear.
Her thighs turned liquid-y.
“That’s okay,” she said, taking a big step away from him. “It’s cold, and you should go home.”
He stared at her with a bemused smile. She shifted from foot to foot. “And I have a quick stride. It’s not far. Plenty of … lights … around.”
He continued to stare at her with mock interest as she rambled. He slipped on his own coat.
“So many lights,” she said weakly.
“So you said. Lead the way.”
CHAPTER 7
DAN
“So, what did you do in … finance?” Harper asked as they walked to her apartment, the word coming out like it tasted sour. Dan couldn’t help but laugh.
“I worked as a junior portfolio manager at a firm up in New York.”
Harper glanced at him in surprise. “That sounds important.”
Dan shrugged. If he talked about his old life too much, he’d miss it.
“Why’d you leave?” she asked.
There weren’t enough drawers in the world to unpack that emotional baggage, so he tried to wave off the question.
“You’d probably find the reason as boring as the profession.”
“Maybe … but I doubt it.”
Dan let out a deep breath, not wanting to go there. “It’s a long story. My dad got sick, and I came back to help my mom during the transition. They … She’s a dentist. She worked part-time at his practice, but now she’s the only one running it, and she’s overwhelmed. She seems to think she’s incapable of handling it on her own and she’ll lose the whole thing. She … suggested I make a career change and go into the family business.” He was quiet for a moment before adding, “Persuasive woman.”
“Did your dad … Is he okay?”
“He passed away,” Dan said without emotion. Because he didn’t feel any.
But the sadness that filled Harper’s eyes made him want to take the words back.
“Hey, it’s okay,” he said, tucking an arm around her shoulders and squeezing. “We weren’t close. It wasn’t a big deal.” Only changed the trajectory of his life and saddled him with an overwhelming sense of duty to his mom. No big deal at all.
“Oh,” she said softly, pushing her hair behind her ears. They continued walking in a loaded silence before she spoke again. “I … I lost my mom when I was twelve. If you ever want to talk about your dad…”
“I don’t,” he said, the words sharper than he’d intended. Harper flinched, blinking up at him.
They looked at each other, the heavy, shared burden simultaneously bonding them together and wedging them apart. Dan didn’t say anything more, and they both bent their heads, staring at the ground as they walked.
“This is me,” Harper said, gesturing at an old, converted brownstone on the corner, holiday lights strung around the railing at the front steps.