Page 47 of Rules in Love
We stood silent, watching our connecting hands shake. Finn was the one to eventually break and pull his hand away. “Are you ready for the big trip? I wish I knew what Jason had planned. He won’t tell me a damn thing. I wanted to Google the hotel and check that it was clean looking.” As I laughed, I noticed Finn’s brown leather overnight bag slung over his shoulder.
“Shit, I left my suitcase at home. Fuck, I knew I’d cock something up.”
Finn braced my shoulders and smoothed his hands up and down my arms. “Hey, you didn’t cock anything up. It’s just a bag. I’m sure we can get it on the way. Don’t stress.” He then flashed his cheeky smile and leaned into my ear.Damn, he smells so good. Like chocolate and dreams.“Besides, it might be a good thing. You could throw some clean sheets in. Just in case. I do wish I knew the hotel’s name.”
“I’ll be sure to do that,” I laughed. “You’re very good at distracting me from my worries, Finn Austen. I think I can help you with yours, too. Jason gave me a hotel brochure yesterday. It might be on my desk.”
I grabbed his giant hand and led him into the elevator without even thinking. My grip was loose initially, but he had taken command and had a firm hold of me by the time we made it to my desk. Regretfully, he had to let go so I could rifle through a mountain of paper strewn haphazardly across my workspace. Surprise, surprise, I couldn’t find it. “Hmm, maybe I took it home.” I could hear snickering and turned to see Finn smirking behind me. “What’s so funny?”
“Nothing, I was just admiring your organization.”
I shook my ass, just a touch. “Well, as long as that’s all you were admiring, I suppose that’s fine.”
He sighed, shook his head, and laughed, “Fuck, you can’t help it, can you?”
“What?” Batting my eyelashes, I attempted to look all innocent and sweet.
“Being all sexy. Shaking your ass and flirting with me.”
“I was doing no such thing. Now, find out where we will be spending the night together and if I need to bring a full case of linen.”
He didn’t go, thank God. The next ten minutes were brilliant, and I was the happiest I’d been all week. Things just felt right when we were together. Even when Jason and an extra flirty Victoria joined us in the conference room to discuss the plans for the day, Finn’s attention remained on me. His eyes ignited the fire I seemed unable to snuff out. It pleased me greatly—Victoria, not so much. Which pleased me even more.
“Thanks for taking me home to get my things, Jason. Sorry again.”
“Stop worrying and apologizing, Scarlett. It’s fine. What’s the address, again?” Jason asked.
While worrying I’d annoyed Jason with my worrying,andforapologizing too much about my worrying and apologizing, Finn replied on my behalf. “Oh, it’s close. Chuck a uey…I mean, make a U-turn, then take the next two lefts, and it’s the third house on the right.”
Victoria and Jason looked at each other and smiled at us in the backseat. Seeing their reaction, Finn chuckled nervously and pointed at his temple. “I brought her home when it was raining one night. Have a good memory.”
As we pulled up to the curb, my quirky neighbor was out for her mid-afternoon wander and unsurprisingly caught my boss’s attention. “Is that woman walking a bunch of cats in a stroller?”
“Yes. Yes, she is,” I answered as though it was the most natural thing in the world. “She rescues strays, particularly injured ones, from local shelters and cares for them until they are rehabilitated. I found her quite odd at first, but she is lovely once you get to know her. Isn’t she Finn?”
“Oh, you know the cat lady, Austen? Wow, you have spent some time here, haven’t you?” Jason smirked.
Victoria looked as though she was sucking a lemon. It was great.
“Not really. We were introduced the day I dropped Scar off. Mr. Pickles was stuck under the car, and…oh, well, it’s a long story.” Finn got out first to open the door for me, then stood on the sidewalk and, much to the delight of Mrs. Horowitz, stayed to chat with her while I got my bag.
When I returned outside, she was laughing. Finn, not so much. He looked strained, a bit miffed, you might say. Like Victoria had shared the lemon. “Have a lovely time away. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, Scarlett!” Mrs H. winked as Finn took my case from me and threw it in the trunk. He then joined me in the back of the car, slumping in his seat much as Ben would do when he’s overtired and about to explode into a tantrum.
I went to thank him for taking my case but was distracted by a loud grinding noise. It was Finn, grinding his teeth. Before I could ask what was wrong, he captured my wrist and caught my eyes. “Who’s Brett?”
“What? Brett? Why, why? Who told you about Brett?”
“Your neighbor was feeling my biceps, and she said she liked the look of me more than, and I quote, ‘that Brett.’ So, who is Brett? Is he your boyfriend, Red?” His grip tightened, and so did every muscle in my uterus.
“No, he’s not. But he was, I guess, kind of. It was a long time ago, and he is still in my life, but we are not together. It’s a bit complicated. I promise I will tell you about it one day, just not yet. But he is definitely not my boyfriend.”
Victoria spun to face us, a pure shit-eating grin fixed on her face. “Is he your husband, then?”
“No, I just said he wasn—”
“So, he’s your ex-husband?”
The pressure of Finn’s hold increased again, and I could feel his eyes boring into the side of my head. Nothing I could do at that moment could stop the verbal diarrhea from flowing. “What? No, Victoria, not my ex-husband, either. I slept with him—well, I didn’t even sleep with him. We had sex in the back of a Mini Cooper when I was in university, if you must know. We kept in touch and have been friends since I moved to the States. No relationship. No marriage. Sex once, maybe three times, but it was all on the same night.”
