Page 103 of Can't Get Over You
“Grampa got us lights and decorations,” Finlay said. “We could make our own decorations. Would you like that?”
He nodded, with white sugar around his mouth and on his dark blue parka. “At school, we painted these little balls and popsicle sticks. Can I put them on the tree?”
“Yeah, of course,” Jude said. “We’ll do that when we get home.”
Once they loaded their tree onto the wagon, they settled onto the bench seat. Cody climbed onto his lap, and Finlay sat right next to him. He wrapped an arm around her.
She leaned up and whispered in his ear, “Your wife, huh?”
I did say that, didn’t I?
He grinned.
He liked the sound of it a whole hell of a lot.
Chapter Twenty-One
With Christmas a few days away,it was hard to round up Finlay’s usual group of friends, and Eloise couldn’t get a sitter, so it wound up being just her and Ava.
But it turned out okay because Blue Fire had shown up for a surprise show, and they happened to be one of Molly’s favorite bands.
“I can’t believe this is happening.” Her new friend ogled the lead singer of the band. “I’ve probably seen them ten times. Slater Vaughn is so hot.”
“And extremely taken.” Ava gave a chin nod to his wife, who was hanging out at the bar.
Apparently, the band was recording at Gigi Cavanaugh’s studio and decided to do an impromptu gig at Wild Billy’s. The place was packed, the dance floor full, and the crowd was going wild for the indie/rock music.
Word had spread quickly about the surprise concert, so Gunnar had called in all his servers. At first, she’d been happy to see Jude, but it didn’t take long for women to start hitting on him.So, that’s fun. If she didn’t want to get to know Molly, she’d go home and relieve Wyatt from babysitting duty.
She didn’t need to reenact her childhood.
Molly leaned across the table. “I’m confused. Are you and Jude engaged or married? Because he called you his wife.”
“Hewhat?” Ava practically jumped out of her chair. “Hiswife?”
“Engaged.” She didn’t want to lie to her new friend, but Cody’s well-being was at stake. When this whole situation was resolved, she’d tell her the truth.
“Well, that’s sweet, then. He already feels married to you.” Molly took a sip of her drink. “Is his dad’s name Billy?”
“No, it’s Gunnar,” Finlay said. “Why?”
“This place is called Wild Billy’s. Who’d he name it after? A grandfather or something?”
Finlay laughed. “You know what? I have no idea. This place has always been a bar, but when Gunnar bought it, he renamed it Wild Billy’s. I’ll have to ask him about it.” Her gaze wandered back to Jude. He was talking to the same woman who’d been hanging around for the past ten minutes.
Flirting came with the job of bartender—she got that—but watching it happen was a special kind of torture. She’d felt it as a kid, sure. But now that she’d actually slept with him, it was like a thousand pinpricks to her heart. And mostly, it made her consider the obvious:We’re living together, we’re having sex…but what are we?
He’s into me, I know that.
But what does itmean?
They assigned different values to sex. For her, it meant commitment. But what did it mean for a man who’d never been in a relationship before?
Keep your hands off my wife.
A shudder ran through her. She’d liked that a lot. He’d been so threatening. So possessive.
When she glanced over at him again, he was gone. She sat up straighter, scanning the room, and found him walking off with the smoking-hot blonde.Where’s he going?He followed the woman to a table on the edge of the dance floor and waited while she grabbed her purse and said goodbye to her friends. Then the two of them headed out together.
