Page 43 of Finlay

Ducking out the door before he had a chance to reply, I found myself whistling as I strolled along the street.

Chester was about to learn just how charming I could be.

Chapter 13

Chester

Just this morning, I’d been unloading my secret desires about what I wouldn’t give for a night of pleasure with Finn. Dreaming of how it might feel to have his undivided attention for a few hours. Scheming ways I could bring it up to him. Ways that didn’t involve me tripping over my own tongue or dissolving into a panic attack.

Then what happens? He comes into my shop and asks me to help him win someone else over for the very thing I’m dying for.

It was fine. This was fine. I wasfine.

I wasn’t. But really, what was I supposed to do about it? Finn had his attention set on someone else already. I had to be fine with it. It wasn’t appropriate for me to be anything else.

If I were being completely honest, it wasn’t like I ever would’ve worked up the courage to hit on Finn. He was too gorgeous. Too charming. Too…everything.

I wouldn’t even have known where to start with him. If I’d ended up in bed with him, I probably would’ve done something wrong, just as I used to with Matt. It wasn’t justhim either. None of the men I’d been with had left my bed particularly enthused. Not through my lack of trying, believe me. I always seemed to ruin the moment though. Somehow.

Despite knowing all that, I couldn’t disguise the sick jealousy rolling in my stomach as I went through the motions. There was no escaping the shattering of my fantasies. Okay, they were far-fetched fantasies, but I liked them. Imagining a night with Finn had kept me company on many lonely evenings of late.

It was a shame someone else was going to live out my fantasy. A shame, but not a surprise.

A pettier person than I would make this bouquet into a disaster. Sadly, I wasn’t particularly petty. I was too much of a perfectionist to do anything other than my very best. I kept reminding myself of the facts.

Finn is a customer.

He’s placed an order.

This isn’t personal.

It’s business.

That final one had me squaring my shoulders. This was business. My business. A business I was extremely proud of.

Finn would get my best work, just as all my customers did.

I surveyed my stock with pursed lips, mentally starting to build the bouquet. The language of flowers had always fascinated me. You could convey so many feelings without having to say a single word. Finn had been clear about the message he was trying to send. Desire. Longing. Attraction.

Whoever these flowers were for, he was a lucky bastard. I hoped he knew. These flowers should reinforce that. Even if he didn’t understand the meaning behind the individualblooms, the gesture itself was so sweet it should make his heart ache.

Just as it had mine when Finn told me.

Now it was up to me to make a bouquet worthy of Finn. Of his feelings towards this man. I could do this.

I chose red roses, obviously. Tulips—red again. White camellias. A couple of tall calla lilies. I stood back and eyed it thoughtfully. Heliotrope would be just the thing to finish this off, but I wasn’t sure eternal love and devotion were the messages Finn wanted to send.

Not yet, anyway.

My stomach swooped at the thought that he might one day. If things went well with this man, he might come in asking for other flowers. Ones implying he wanted forever instead of one night. I tried to imagine how it would feel making up those arrangements.

Probably not much better than this.

You’re being ridiculous,I told myself as I veered away from the heliotropes and towards the sweet peas. Blissful pleasure sounded more like what Finn was after.

Again, lucky fucking bastard, whoever he was.

A yellow hyacinth caught my eye and I shook my head with a wry chuckle. No, jealousy was not something Finn needed in his bouquet. It didn’t matter that he wouldn’t know why I’d included it.

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