Page 8 of Off-Limits Love
A glance in her rearview revealed him still standing there, watching as she drove away.
She exhaled with a whoosh and gripped the wheel tight as she forged through the line of trees toward the highway. The image of Finn burned into her brain as the oh-so-sexy cowboy from one of her favorite romance novels. She’d have to reread it as soon as possible, but only because she now had a face to put with the quiet cowboy depicted among the pages.
Finn’s speech issue isolated him. That much was obvious. And maybe she had things totally wrong, but she couldn’t help but think Finn surrounding himself with animals and doing what he did for a living was Finn’s way of coping.
After all, animals didn’t care if you spoke to them so long as you cared for them. And maybe he talked to them because they didn’t judge.
She paused at the end of the road to wait for a break in traffic and frowned, her thoughts running wild.
Finn had his animals. She had her baking. They used different strategies to cope with things that bothered them. But would either of those outlets ever be enough to move beyond the issues that plagued them?
ChapterThree
Finn watched as Makayla—Mak—drove off in her little silver car, his thoughts darkening when he remembered the way she’d flinched away from his touch.
Maybe he had caught her off guard and surprised her, but his gut told him her response was based on something more.
His grip tightened on the bag in his hand. He was a firm believer that if a man lifted his hand to a woman in anger, he ought to get it broken as a result and a lesson taught, but the thought of a man taking a hand to someone as small as Makayla?
“So what’d she bring you?”
Hudson’s voice broke through his anger, and Finn reminded himself that whatever her deal was, it was none of his business. She was with Sam, so she’d already taken steps. That was a start at least. “Sweets.”
“Seriously? Like homemade? Let me see.”
Finn held the bag out of reach.
“You can’t be serious. You’re not going to share?”
Finn chuckled at his baby brother’s upset. “She brought them for me.”
“Yeah, but I’m here on my day off being your gopher all day, so you have to. Come on, gimme one, at least.”
Finn put his feet in motion and grinned when Hudson quickly fell into step behind him like a playful puppy.
One taste of the treat had left him hungry for more, but these called for a coffee break as well.
Hudson followed him into the house, dogging every step.
“Wash up and get plates,” Finn told him “We’re not animals.”
Hudson’s boyish grin split his face as he took off down the hallway to the bathroom. Finn shook his head and washed his hands at the kitchen sink before he grabbed the coffee pot to fill and put on. Hudson entered the kitchen and grabbed plates and forks and even a few paper napkins before going to the table.
“Wow, these are fancy. But why are they so small? They’re like one little bite-size snack.”
Just like their baker.The thought hit him like a fist to the gut and sucked the breath from his lungs. He forced it away and removed two mugs from the cabinet, turning to see Hud staring down at the containers of goodies like a kid about to have his first treat after growing up in a sugar-free house.
The coffee finished, and Finn poured them each a mug before moving to the table to have a second taste of Mak’s delicious treats.
This time he went for a strawberry one and fought back a groan because it was just as good as the German chocolate he’d eaten earlier.
“Dude, these are awesome. Think she would make my birthday cake? I’d kill for a huge one of whatever this is when we all get together.”
“It’s German chocolate. And maybe.” Finn tucked that bit of information back to inquire about later and resigned himself to the fact that the treats weren’t going to last long. He grabbed a third to try the brownie bites and knew he couldn’t pick a favorite if he had a gun to his head. Hudson seemed to agree as he grabbed a fourth.
A knock sounded at the door before their brother, Elias, called out. Hudson said they were in the kitchen, and Elias entered a moment later.
“You call this working?” Elias asked.
