r of the community. Of course, they’ll be infuriated by a personal attack on me.
I should feel better but I feel dirty instead.
I clean up after everyone leaves, not wanting to go home, where I know Finn will be. But if I don’t go home, where else would I go? Everything I’ve said would have been pointless if I hide in here.
I scrub the counter, my lips pressed into a thin line. Asshole. Small minded, tiny dicked ass-
The sound of the door opening has me looking up.
I narrow my eyes when I see who it is. “Are you blind? It clearly says ‘Closed’.”
Finn tucks his hands in his jean pockets. “I wanted to talk to you.”
I walk over to the booths and start wiping them. “Haven’t you said enough?”
“Clara,” he begins.
I refuse to look at him, moving my arm, taking out my frustration on the innocent table. “I have nothing to say to you. Get out. I have a lot of work to do.”
“I’ll help.”
I blink and then look up at him. “What?”
Finn meets my gaze, not flinching. “I’ll help you clean up. Just listen to what I have to say.”
A startled laugh bursts out of me and I put both palms down flat on the table, shaking my head. “Are you stupid? Do you think I’m so completely devoid of self respect that I would listen to anything you have to say? I know you outbid me for the bar. You must have known that I was the other party in the deal. And even if you didn’t, you found out this morning. And yet, you didn’t have the decency to tell me. Instead, you come in here, in my place of work, and in front of all my customers, you call me a whore.” My body vibrates with fury, “And you think I’m going to hand you a broom and we’ll have a good time as you try to get back in my good graces. Get out, McCarthy. We’re done.”
Finn takes my harsh words, silently, and then he takes a step towards me, “I’ll leave. But before that I’ll still have my say.”
Stubborn bastard.
I want to pick up one of the trays drying on the counter and hit him on the head with it. “Do whatever you want, then.” I turn my back on him and get back to fixing the chairs now. I expect him to say a few false words of apology and then leave. I’m not expecting him to stride towards me, grab me by wrist and whirl me around to face him.
My face flushes. “What the hell are you doing?”
“Stop ignoring me,” he growls. His grip is firm and yet he’s careful not to hurt me.
I try to yank my wrist back but he’s not having it. He backs me into the booth so the edge of it is cutting into my back, uncomfortably. “You—”
“I didn’t mean that,” he cuts me off, his voice calm, his eyes flashing. “I don’t think you’re a whore. I never meant to imply otherwise. I just saw you flirting with that man minutes before you and I were supposed to go on a date. Since the moment I saw you, I’ve been drawn to you like a moth to a flame. I want you. I’ve never met a woman who makes me so irrational.” His tone is getting more heated by the second.
I tremble when he presses his body against mine, pinning me against the edge of the table.
His eyes are dark as they roam down to settle on my unpainted lips. “I respect you. I like you. I admire you. What I said in that moment was said out of spite. I just wanted to hurt you like I felt at that time. The minute those words left my mouth, I would have done anything to take them back.”
“B-but you can’t,” I whisper, my mind blanking out with his close proximity, even as I try to find my scattered brain cells. “You made sure to humiliate me.”
“Then tell me how to earn your forgiveness,” he murmurs.
His face is so close to mine that I can feel his hot breath on my lips. My heart is racing even as my head screams to push him away.
Suddenly the idea of him kissing me makes the alarm bells go off in my head and I grit my teeth and shove him away. “I’ll think about it!” The words are out of my mouth, spoken in desperation and I groan, mentally.
“You mean it?”
Now if I say no, that makes me out to be a liar. I grind my teeth as I answer him, “You still lied to me about the bar. By omission even.”
“I didn’t know how to tell you this morning. I had no intentions of hiding it from you. Till you brought it up, I didn’t know you were the other party.” He releases me easily.