Page 55 of Off-Limits Love
After all the evening had wrought, it seemed like the most natural thing in the world to lean up when he lowered his head to kiss her, even though warning bells went off in her head that she was the one who’d said she needed a friend more than a boyfriend.
But this sweet, gentle man? Her gentle giant? She couldn’t imagine not kissing him right now.
Finn groaned softly, and the sound shot a tingle through her body. His grip tightened, and he curled his arms up, shifting her higher against him while angling his head to take the kiss deeper. That he could lift her so easily left her with a heady feeling, and her heart rate kicked up even more as she lost herself to the moment.
She let him control the embrace, reveling in the sensation of being cradled so securely, enveloped in his strength and warmth and scent. Safe. She felt safe, and it rocked her entire world.
She breathed him in as deeply as she could, the muskiness of his cologne and soap mingling until her mind spun with the deliciousness and all doubts and fears faded away, replaced by Finn’s steadfast presence that drew her like nothing ever had before. Making her wonder what if…?
A powerful motor and blinding lights flashed over her eyes, causing her to wince. The car pulled in a few spaces away, interrupting the moment with a blare of the radio.
She reluctantly ended the kiss but stayed close, trying to gather her wits—until she realized the person who’d slammed from the vehicle walked toward them instead of away. “Finn.”
He must have heard the tension in her tone because he sat her on the seat of the truck and blocked the door with his large body as he turned to face whomever approached them.
“What’s going on here?” Brad demanded.
Mak took in Brad’s designer jeans and button-down shirt opened one too far. He had way too much product in his hair to give it a mussed look. How many times had he left the house like that saying he was going to put in a few extra hours at work?
“Were you really just kissing my wife?”
“I’mnotyour wife, Brad,” she said in a droll tone. It was amazing what hindsight did to a person. The awareness that nothing was as it had seemed at the time when her focus had been on Emi and the house and making sure things got done in an effort to appease the unappeasable.
“I wasn’t talking to you. I was talking to F-f-f-f-finn.”
Mak saw the way Finn’s shoulders tensed up even more and his hands fisted at his sides. She heard his angry inhale, but he stayed silent and her heart broke for him. “Brad, what I do is none of your business.”
“It is when my daughter is God knows where, while you’re here with a man who spent his school years in the principal’s office for fighting. That gives me reason to be concerned. I think maybe a judge would agree.”
She turned on the seat to hop out of the truck, but Finn shifted sideways and pressed in with his body to block her exit, forcing her to remain there with a brief warning glance.
She stayed put, but she wasn’t going to stay quiet. “The only reason Finn was there was becauseyoubullied him. He had—has—a right to defend himself from you.”
“So that’s how this will go, is it? Fine. I thought I was doing the right thing by letting Emi stay with her mother, but I’m not so sure now.”
Her gut knotted with a nauseating twist of fear. “You know she’s better off with me.” Brad was never home and often worked odd hours. Especially when it allowed him to screw his coworkers in a backroom.
“Not when you’re here with him.”
“One has nothing to do with the other, Brad.”
“That’s not what you said in court when you brought up me dating,” Brad countered, his hands on his hips like it made him look intimidating compared to Finn’s taller, bulkier frame.
“I wasn’t dating while we were married! You were! It mattered in court because it’s a testament to your integrity and moral character.”
Brad all but sneered at her. Or maybe it was her words. It didn’t matter. He would always deny any wrongdoing and claim anything he’d done was justified because she’d “forced him” to do it. As though she’d forced him to sleep with other women. Forced him to lie and cheat and steal and do all the other awful things he’d done that weren’t his fault because Brad wanted the freedom of a king and the accountability of a toddler.
“You’re really going to risk losing Emi to be with him?”
“We’re not—” She broke off, but it was too late. She saw her words hit Finn like a knife to his back. Saw him stiffen as though she’d physically attacked him.
Just as that registered, so did Brad’s mocking laughter.
“You’re not together— That was F-f-finn shooting his shot?” Brad asked in that obnoxious, bullying tone, his lips curled in a derisive smile. “Guess that didn’t work out so well for you, eh, freak?”
“Brad,stop it. Grow up, and act like a man instead of a bully!”
Brad scoffed and turned to walk away but paused in the act, his gaze locked on Finn andthatlook on his face.
