Chapter 16

"You caught me. Alright, yes, I was ignoring the question. I've only been here for less than a week."

"Really?" He seemed genuinely surprised. "One wouldn't easily guess. You seem to fit in well here."

"I'll take that as a compliment." She chuckled.

"It was."

She had to admit he wasn't exactly pushy with his questions and she liked it. At least, it didn't seem like he was a spy sent by her father to find her. God, now she was imagining things. Her family was driving her crazy. She vaguely wondered how the wedding had gone. There was no one to appreciate her joke so she settled for laughing on the inside. It wouldn't do if she just burst out laughing and her date thought she was mad.

"So what did you do before you came here?"

She raised a brow. "You mean my job?"

He nodded. "Whatever it was."

"I was the Managing Director at my father's company." Her choice of tense didn't elude her. She hoped to God she still had her job when she got back.

He eyes widened dramatically. "No way. You mean, you've got both beauty and brains?"

She laughed. "How long have you been waiting to use that line?"

"About two years," He chortled, his white teeth shining in the dim light.

He really was handsome. If the circumstances had been different, maybe she would've liked him or even considered being in a relationship with him. He was fun, well-mannered and a perfect gentleman. As it stood now, she was in the biggest dilemma of her life. She'd been forced to marry a man she didn't know and because of that, she'd run away. Now she was in a town where she didn't know anyone, waiting for the rest of the world to move on with their lives so she could finally go back to hers.

No, not really the perfect beginning to a love story.

Besides, Jane wasn't certain any man in this town could capture her attention like Sebastian did. Their argument from earlier shifted into her mind. She still didn't understand what had happened. One minute they'd been laughing and talking and the next they were arguing. Why did he have such a problem with who she went out with? It wasn't like they were together or anything. Granted, there was a spark between them; something wicked, something titillating and she yearned to discover it to its roots but it still didn't give him the right to talk to her like he'd done.

She stared closely at Harry. Even though handsome, he didn't ignite any spark in her, nothing romantic or even remotely sexual. He was the kind of person she'd want to be friends with. He didn't annoy her like he did yet he didn't make her want like he did either.

"Enough about me. Tell me about you." She said, leaning back against her chair and crossing one leg over the other.

"Alright," Harry smiled at her. "What would you like to know?"

She shrugged. "What are you doing in Stormbrooke?"

"Vacation."

"With your sister?"

He sighed audibly. "She insisted and she can be very persuasive when she wants to be."

"I have a younger sister so I can understand. I'd do anything for her."

"Yeah? What's her name?" He leaned back against his chair just like she did, instead folding his arms across his chest.

"Grace."

"Beautiful name."

She smiled in response. Grace would've loved to hear that. Her sister was a sucker for compliments.

"So what do you do?"

He dragged his eyes around the bar for what seemed like an eternity before his eyes came back to rest on her. "I own a chocolate company."

She was impressed; she wouldn't lie. "That's pretty cool, actually. How did you start out?"

"I inherited it actually. My parents died when I was shy of becoming a proper adult and the responsibilities of the company fell upon my shoulders. Stephanie is my only family right now and the most important person in my life."

"I'm so sorry."

The pieces were fitting together to make sense now. It was why he'd looked like so forlorn and lost when Stephanie had disappeared on him that day.

"That day at the beach, I'd thought you careless and incompetent when you said you couldn't find your sister. I guess I judged you too quickly. I apologize."

Harry started laughing. "Oh, I am all those things. I've accepted that Steph's way smarter than I am. You'd be surprised how many times she's outwitted me, as shameful as it may sound. But it does feel good to hear you say those words so thank you."

She rolled her eyes at him, though a small smile played at her lips.

"I'm glad we could do this. It's been fun." He said in a small deep voice and when he smiled at her this time, she thought it depicted something strange in his eyes.

"I think so too," She concurred, breaking eye contact. The look he was giving her was too intense, too nerve-racking for it to just be normal. Heck, she knew complicated; she was a Hendricks and complicated what exactly what she was trying to avoid.

She already had some electricity flying in the air with Sebastian. Adding anything to the picture right now would just be overkill.

"Harry," She met his eyes again, trying to find the right words. "I just wanted to make sure we're on the same page. This is just dinner. I really enjoyed doing this but I'm not cut out for anything romantic right now. I hope you understand that."

He didn't respond for the first few seconds, and when he did, he blew air out loudly. "Gee, that sucks. Here I was thinking about the best way to ask you to marry me."

"That's not even remotely funny," she said, though she was laughing. "Harry, sarcasm is the lowest form of wit, haven't you heard?"

"Ah, but it is one of the highest measures of intelligence."

"You're ridiculous."

He paused, staring at her. "I will admit that I was hoping to charm the pants off of you because I like you and I think you're amazing and this doesn't change anything but I will respect your decision."

The man was a charmer, no doubt. Again, she cursed the current situation she was in. she would've really liked Harry had she been able to give it more effort and thought. He was the kind of man a woman wanted to spend the rest of her life with, in a calm, quiet house by the beach, surrounded by peace of mind.

Life was a piece of shit.