Page 45 of Wintertime Love (Holiday 2)

Finn looks over at the commotion and there’s a question in his eyes.

I sniff and shake my head. I prepare a hot chocolate and take it over to him. I sit across from him and nudge the cup towards him.

He looks over at the mug. “This isn’t coffee.”

“No, it isn’t,” I agree, pleasantly.

“But—”

“I made this myself,” I pretend to sigh, heavily. “If you don’t want it.” I begin reaching for the cup.

He snatches it out of my reach, saying immediately, “No, I want it.”

I smirk.

Sometimes, he so easy to read.

His eyes move back to his screen and he’s reading something as he sips the hot chocolate. Then, he looks over at me after a few minutes, blinking in surprise. “Are you voluntarily spending time with me?”

I purse my lips. “Is that a crime now?”

“Not at all.” He sets down the mug, looking pleased.

“What are you working on?”

A sudden look of discomfort flashes on his face.

It happens so fast that for a second I wonder if I imagined it.

“Answering some emails.”

I lean back in my seat and study him. “What do you really do, Finn? Don’t you have an office that you need to be at?”

“So eager to get rid of me?”

I give him a small smile. “That’s not what I meant. It’s been around a month and you’re still here. I find it strange.”

“Nosy little thing, aren’t you?”

I shrug. “I’ve been called worse.”

His lips crack into a reluctant grin. “Would you believe me if I said I was guarding my turf?”

I stare at him and blink rapidly.

He explains, smirking, “By turf, I mean you.”

“Me. No, I got it.” I raise a brow at him. “I’d call you a liar. And by liar, I mean you’re going to need a fire extinguisher for your pants.”

He chuckles, closing his laptop and giving me his full attention. “All right then. What do you want to know?”

I fiddle with my fingers, unable to hold that amber gaze for too long. “Well, you said that you hadn’t decided on what to do about the bar yet. But it’s been a week and more. And you’re still here. And now you and I are – I mean…“ I struggle with putting my thoughts into words, never having been put into a situation where I’d have to present a vulnerability like this but Lucia’s words are beating against my skull. “How long do you intend to stay here?” I blurt out the words and it takes me a second to realize how it sounds. “I didn’t mean to —”

“I understand what you mean.” Finn watches me, an inscrutable emotion in his eyes, his face calm.

I don’t know who I’m talking to right now: the sharp businessman, the playful flirt, or the dominant lover. My shoulders tense, waiting for him to respond.

“Does it scare you, what’s between us?”

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