Page 80 of Dare to Love Again

“How do you do that?” she demanded to know.

“You wear your heart on your sleeve and your emotions on your face. And knowing your story, and what you gave me tonight, it isn’t hard to put two and two together.”

“I don’t mean to dwell, really I don’t, but it’s difficult, especially at milestones.”

He gazed down at her, and she could practically see the wheels turning.

“I’ve never been with anyone outside a club, or in my bed, not since...”

His hand rose to her face and tipped it back. “I’m honored to be a milestone, darlin’.” His eyes twinkled, and a sexy grin encompassed his face. “I gather this means you think I’m something special?”

She’d used that exact word to describe him earlier. Damn! She was falling in love not only with a mind reader but one with spot-on recall. Her throat tight with emotion, a nod was the best she could do for an answer.

His smile gentled, and he dropped to her side to gather her close. With his mouth against her temple, he murmured, “For me, too, lass. We had a spark the first time we met, and it has sizzled every time since. I have a feeling this is more than special, but the beginning of something extraordinary.”

“I hope so,” she whispered.

“I know so,” was his confident reply.

***

ESME WOKE FEELING HEAVYheaded and slightly disoriented. Lying still, she tried to get her bearings. It was her room. She could see her clock on the table, but the display was angled away too much for her to read it. The lamp was the same as always. Her sheets smelled like Downy, nothing new there, and Phin’s weight was across her waist, stretched long and heavy like always.

She reached down to pet him, and instead of fur, encountered skin.

With a shriek, she shot up and twisted around; her elbow catching something solid. When she heard a click of teeth and a low groan, she realized it was Finn’s chin.

Her hand flew to her chest to still her racing heart as the other slid up his arm.

“What the fuck, Esme?” he demanded to know in a deep growly voice.

“I’m sorry, but you scared me. I woke in a fog and thought you were Phin. But then you didn’t feel like Phin.”

There was a moment’s pause, before he drawled, “Darlin’, I am Finn.”

“Not Finn with an F. Phin with a Ph.” This clarified nothing for him, and he popped up on an elbow. In the dark, she could make out his perplexed frown.

Twisting, she stretched and switched on her lamp. Turning back, she shrugged apologetically then pointed to the end of the bed where Phineas sat watching them, his tail swishing back and forth at a leisurely pace. It surprised her. Usually, upon waking, he was demanding to eat.

Esme glanced at the big gorgeous man gazing at her big gorgeous cat who shared the same name—sort of.

“You named your cat Finn?” he stated incredulously. “Is that why you’re partial to calling me that?”

“Yes. But I didn’t name him after you, but for Phineas Frog, a character in a kid’s book. I call him Phin, or Phinny, for short.”

This got her a look that said don’t even think about calling the human Finn, Finny or her ass would pay the price. She wouldn’t dare, but she had to suppress a giggle because his disgruntled look was hilarious.

“Anyway,” she explained further, “I’ve had him for years, so it’s nothing recent, but it is a weird coincidence, don’t you think?”

“Phin,” he grunted, still staring at his namesake.

Suddenly, her fickle feline moved forward, walked up Finn’s big body, and planted his twenty-plus-pound booty in his lap. Esme looked on in stunned amazement as he purred and his cheek rubbed all over Finn’s chest and the underside of beard-stubbled chin.

“I can’t believe this. He hates everyone but me.”

“He’s a good judge of character,” Finn observed as he leaned back on the pillows and indulged her cat in a behind-the-ear scratch.

“You don’t get it. He even hated Andrew, and we made sure he fed him, but even that didn’t help. At best, he tolerated him.”

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