Page 38 of Beautiful Chaos

I guess he was finished talking.

A few minutes later Jasper walked back into the room and slid a card in front of me and the printed email I was hovering over. Reading over the card quickly, it stated:

You are Cordially invited…

“OMG is that an invitation to Saturday’s event?” I said excitedly, jumping from my seat and knocking over the chair. Feeling embarrassed, I hurried to adjust the chair, but my sleeve slid up my wrist as I did. Jasper’s hand snatched my hand back before my fingers contacted the metal.

“What happened here?” he snarled. I looked down to the area of my wrist his eyes were fixated on.

My scars.

I quickly yanked my hand back from his hold. He looked at me with wide eyes searching for answers.

“That’s um nothing,” I said as I self-consciously pulled the sleeves down repeatedly until my wrist was completely covered again.

“Who hurt you, Harper?” he asked, his voice softened as he tried to contain his anger with a fire burning in his eyes.

Possessive.

I felt myself shrink back from him as I nervously looked away. I don’t know how to understand this concern from him… or anyone.

He quickly caught on to my shift in body language and took a step back, adjusting his expression to look more friendly.

It’s something he has been doing all along… which made me wonder why he was so careful not to invade my personal space or touch me.

If even indirectly.

Chapter 26

JASPER

Since Harper arrived at my penthouse, I’ve been working from home.

Something I never do.

Max had been holding down the office for me, not that there was much to hold on to since I was handling the brunt of it in my home office. I’d held Max off from coming around since Harper has a hard time with male presence, but Max was coming today to go over some business that I won’t be able to leave unattended much longer.

Aster called Harper and mentioned that she wouldn’t return home until Monday, which gave me an additional five days with her.

Harper suggested she go home, insinuating that she was overstaying her welcome.

She’s so considerate. Such a good girl.

I just needed to rearrange some briefings and postpone a court appearance. Even with 24/7 security, thinking of leaving her with another man made me uneasy.

When Harper told her boss that she would be attending the event at the plaza and that she would give a ‘First-hand experience interview,’ he was so pleased he gave her the rest of the week off, paid.

What she didn’t realize was that his newfound generosity had a bit of my encouragement behind it. Let’s just say, Max is good at what he does. Digging up some dirt on that filthy excuse of a man wasn’t hard to do.

Seated in my office, I switched to a different screen displaying the cameras installed throughout the house, excluding the bathrooms and dressing areas.

I had my eyes everywhere. Mostly to see what was going on when I was away. Growing up with my father being who he was definitely caused some unnecessary shit to come about so it’s never a bad idea to have some extra security around here.

The cameras have come in handy for keeping a watchful eye on Harper and anticipating her needs. I spotted Harper sitting on the sofa in the living room, she seemed to have made herself comfortable watching a movie on the big screen. She completely hijacked the sofa blanket from the first night she came here. She’s done nothing without it wrapped around her.

At first, I thought she was cold, so I raised the thermostat, but she kept carrying it around like a security blanket. It was endearing to see her becoming more relaxed in my home.

She wasn’t happy about not working the whole week but when I asked her how long it’s been since she took a day off between the two jobs, she couldn’t tell me. My guess is she has tried to drown her trauma with work, much like I do, way too often.

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