Page 56 of Off-Limits Love
“I’d tell you to stay away from her, but I see now there’s no need. Enjoy that ride home.”
Brad’s laughter filled the air as he walked toward the hotel and the silence that followed left her pulse sounding too loud in her ears.
Seconds passed, but Finn stayed rigid, standing in front of the truck with his fisted hands and shoulders tight. “Finn…”
Finn turned and avoided her gaze, looking down as though to make sure she was tucked safely inside the truck before shutting the door .
She lowered her head to the seat back and groaned.
Could nothing ever be easy?
Mak tried her best to ramble through an explanation on the ride back to Sam’s, but Finn tuned her out and focused on the road as he battled the anger and hurt running rampant in his head.
She’d told him. Warned him. Stated point-blank that she only wanted him as a friend. Saw him as a friend.
But after kissing her and feeling her response to him, something had obviously short-circuited in his brain when it came to her. After the evening together, he’d thought things had changed.
Every muscle in his body had locked up the moment he’d heard Mak defensively—emphatically—say they weren’t together, and he’d stayed that way since. To the point he felt like he was having a full-body spasm.
He needed a trip to Elias’s gym so he could punch something and pretend it was Jensen’s face. Jensen’s face and the stutter in physical form.
Because while Jensen had talked and talked, Finn hadn’t been able to say a word, his throat a vise locked tight, making him the same stupid fool.
“Finn, I’msorry, okay? But it’s the truth. We aren’t together—but I didn’t mean it to sound the way that it did. Finn, please. Say something.”
Ah, that was it, though, wasn’t it? He couldn’t say anything. Not when it mattered most, like back there when her ex was being an ass and verbally attacking them both.
Or now when his mind churned with all the anger and rage he’d held pent up inside him since the night of his parents’ deaths.
He couldn’t say anything without embarrassing himself and Mak, and it infuriated him that the stutter still held him in its grip despite all the years since the accident. It made him crazy that he couldn’t open his mouth and tell Jensen off without sounding like an idiot. Like the freak Jensen called him.
He drove down the road as fast as he dared, given the pedestrians and traffic, and hoped there wasn’t a cop sitting on the Wilmington side of Snow’s Cut Bridge as he crossed over. The bridge was a known speed trap for those in the area and a great way to ticket tourists and locals alike. Of all nights, tonight was not the night he needed another run-in with the police.
“Finn Blackwell, you listen to me,” Mak said in a tone he’d never heard her use before. “I’m not leaving this truck until you hear what I’m telling you. I didn’t mean for my words to sound the way that they did. You are a great guy. A wonderful man. But we’ve already discussed the reasons why the timing isn’t right for us. I know we kissed, and it was— It was everything, but we were just caught up in the moment. It doesn’t change the situation.”
His hands tightened over the wheel, and he inhaled what had to be his first deep breath since leaving the hotel.
He could feel her gaze on his face as he changed lanes to make the U-turn that would let him get to Sam’s driveway and then his own.
Once he’d made the turn and crossed the two lanes to turn right into Sam’s driveway, however, she reached over and placed her hand atop his. “Finn, stop. Right here.Stop!”
He hit the brake, slowing the truck with a slight jerk and crunch of gravel before shoving it into Park with more force than necessary.
They were about halfway down the long driveway, in the shadows beneath the pines. The bright lights from his farm flickered through the trees and over her beautiful face as she stared at him, looking all earnest and sincere and—even sad.
“I didnotmean that to sound the way that it did. I—I panicked when Brad threatened a custody battle again, and it— My response was just automatic. To defend myself because we arefriends. I like having you for my friend, and I-I don’t want Brad to mess that up.”
Finn tightened his grip on the wheel before letting go and shifting sideways on the seat toward her.
And because he couldn’t help himself, he stretched out an arm, gently sliding his hand into her loose hair and cradling her head in his palm. “What if,” he said, the words emerging low and more breath than sound as he used his hold to gently draw her toward him, “I w-want m-more?You?”
He watched as her eyes widened a bit before she blinked, looking as though she couldn’t believe what she’d heard. Or was afraid to?
“We agreed,” she said softly. “Because of me using your kitchen and—and Emi and Sam. Finn, tonight was fun. We had fun, but—it’s not a good idea.”
“C-could b-be,” he said, leaning closer, watching as her wary eyes grew soft and hazy before he lowered his gaze to her full, tempting lips.
He heard the way her breath hitched in her throat, the sound telling him she wasn’t as immune to him or the chemistry between them as she wanted to be.
