Chapter 11
Finn
O ne minute, Riley is looking at me with fire in her eyes and the next, the softest lips I have ever felt are on mine. When she flung open the door, I almost forgot why I was here. I thought she looked amazing at the bar, but nothing compares to how she looks fresh faced and in her sweats. Besides the murderous look in her eyes, this is the most unguarded I have seen her, and she is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.
Now her lips are on mine, and I can barely even think. At first, it feels angry, like she’s pissed that she even wants to be kissing me, but I’ll take it. I’ll take anything Riley is willing to give me. Before long, her angry, rigid body softens against me and so do her lips.
The kiss turns from angry to tentative, like she’s not sure she wants to continue, but I’ll do anything to keep this from ending. So, I wrap my arm around her and deepen the kiss. I expect her to resist, but she melts into me even more. I run my tongue along the seam of her lips, and I’m stunned when she lets me in.
Our tongues tangle, and I’m a goner. The feel of her tongue on mine is something I’ll never forget as long as I live, and I never want it to end. She meets me stroke for stroke, and I’m in heaven. The smell of her, the taste of her, is all around me until she suddenly wrenches away from me with wide eyes and her hand covering her mouth. “Oh, God. I’m sorry.”
Then she turns and runs inside, slamming the door in my face. I’m frozen in place and my brain has short-circuited. What the hell just happened? I know I should be upset about the way she just bolted from me, but I’m not. I stand there for a few more seconds, smiling. She likes me. She may not want to like me, but she does. That I can work with.
It’s been two days since my kiss with Riley, and it’s still all I can think about. While it was short-lived, I can still feel her body pressed against mine when I close my eyes. I need to figure out when I can see her again and actually spend more time with her. I’ve learned by now that she spooks easily and gets in her head, so I haven’t sought her out. I’m giving her time to be in her head, then I’ll try to get through to her.
While thinking about Riley these past couple days, an idea dawned on me, and it’s something that I need Mason’s help with, and after him showing up late to the bar the other night, the guy owes me one. So, here I am at the Pore Over, waiting for him to get here so we can talk it over. I’m trying to keep my thoughts on the task at hand, but my mind keeps drifting to Riley until I hear the bell over the door chime.
I look up and see Mason walk in, but he’s not looking for me, he’s looking right at Chloe, who’s helping another customer. She looks up at him and turns red from her cheeks to the tips of her ears, but she averts her gaze and doesn’t say hi to him. Strange, Chloe is usually so friendly to everyone. What’s even weirder is that Mason doesn’t get behind the customer that she is helping to order coffee. That guy runs on coffee in his veins. I can’t imagine him not getting a mid afternoon pick me up.
This is the last of my worries. I’m here to figure out this thing with Riley. I wave Mason down, and he comes striding over to the table I’ve saved for us. At least this time, some strange woman doesn’t sit down with me.
“Hey, jerk off,” I say to him as I hit him in the arm.
“Hey, man. You’re not still mad at me are you?”
“It depends on if you’re willing to help me out with Riley, since you royally screwed me by being late the other night.”
He winces. “I was hoping you weren’t still upset about that. I told you I was sorry I got held up at the site. I wasn’t just blowing you off.”
“I know. All will be forgiven once you give me the go ahead to hire someone new for the project.”
He gives me a skeptical look. “Who do you want to hire?”
I swipe my hand over my mouth as I murmur, “Riley.”
His smile is so big it’s making me uncomfortable. “What was that? I couldn’t quite hear you,” he says with his hand cupping his ear.
I sigh, exasperated. “Riley.” He raises his eyebrows at me, so I put my hand up to stop him from responding. “I know what you’re thinking, and it’s not that. I mean, yes, I obviously like her, but she’s really talented, man.”
“Talented at what? You haven’t even told me what you want to hire her for.”
“Oh, right, for interior design.”
“I didn’t even know she did interior design. I thought she worked at Evergreen Hardware?”
I’m really going out on a limb here and praying with everything that Riley won’t murder me in my sleep for telling Mason about her designing. When I walked in on her designing at the store, it seemed like she didn’t share it with anyone, except maybe Chloe.
“So, she doesn’t do it professionally, she does it on the side for fun. She creates these amazing ‘mood boards’, she calls them, and the way that she puts things together is so cohesive but still homey.”
“Look at you using words like homey.” He laughs at me, and I flip him the bird.
“Well, what do you say? I think she could really bring your vision to life on this project. The old style of the building you are creating really needs that comfortable lived-in feel. You don’t want it to feel sterile, like a doctor’s office.”
Now he’s just staring at me thoughtfully. “You really believe in her, don’t you?”
“I do.”
“Okay, I’ll tell you what, I can’t just hire someone because you say so. Even though I trust you, I know you’re a little biased.”
I’m about to go to bat for her when he raises his hand to stop me. “I know you’re biased, so bring her on over to the site so I can sit down and look at these ‘mood boards’ she’s created.”
“What was that now?”
“I want to see her work.”
I can tell without looking at myself in the mirror that all the color has drained from my face. “See, about that, Riley doesn’t exactly know that I’m doing this, and she doesn’t show her work to people. I only saw it by accident. I was hoping that this could be something that could help build her confidence. There’s no way she’s going to agree to showing you.”
“Turn on that charm of yours and convince her, ‘cause my offer stands as it is. If I see her designs and I think it would be a good fit for the project, I’ll give her a chance and hire her on the spot, but not until I see them.”
“Fine,” I say through gritted teeth. I let the comment about my charm roll off my back, even though it stings. I don’t want to charm Riley; I want to support her. I want to show her that she has talent and that other people believe in her. She just has to believe in herself. But before all that can happen, I have to go convince her to show Mason her designs and hope she doesn’t junk punch me in the process.