Chapter 3
CHAPTER THREE
FYNN
THIS WOMAN IS killing me. Giving me hope for the first time in so fucking long and it’s making me want to be stupid.
“Fynn?” There’s uncertainty in the way Valerie says my name, and I want to reassure her in spite of my better sense.
“I’m here.” I rub one hand over my face, scratching at the stubble I’ve let grow too long again, as I fight with myself. Even if—by some miracle—Valerie genuinely doesn’t know who I am, she’ll find out. And when she does, she will walk away from me. I can either save her the trouble and be the one who does the walking away or—
Or I can let myself live in a fantasy world for just a little longer. Since I know what a greedy, lonely bastard I am, there’s no denying which one I’m going to pick.
“Is everything okay?”
I blow out a long breath. Giving in to the need that’s been eating at me since those first words from her full red lips buried themselves under my skin. It’s been so long since I’ve had this sort of a connection with another person and God knows I need it now more than ever. “It’s just been a long day.”
Valerie chuckles, the sound soft and breathy. “I know. I found you trying to drink an entire bottle of bourbon all by yourself, remember?” She’s quiet for a minute, her voice unbelievably gentle when she asks, “Do you want to talk about it now?”
She asked about my day before, back when I fully believed she knew damn well how my day went. How all my days go.
But I’m not convinced she does anymore. I almost believe Valerie really doesn’t have a clue she’s not supposed to be talking to me.
Certainly not kissing me.
Yet she did, and the memory of the soft brush of her mouth over mine makes me want to give her something back. “A business partner backed out of a deal I’ve been working on for almost a year at the last minute.”
“That sounds bad.” There’s sympathy in her tone and it seems genuine.
Leaning back against the cushions of the sofa I’ve been sitting on since arriving home, I adjust the line of my dick as it perks up, fully invested. All because a woman’s showing me sympathy. Fecking ridiculous. “It’s just frustrating.”
Things were going fantastically when I first came to Sweet Side. My mother had been here long enough that my name was already well known and making connections was easy. Within six months I had a handful of developments in the works. This area is growing and the commercial possibilities are endless. So many of the existing buildings are ageing out of use—crumbling thanks to the brutal combination of salt and humidity. I was set to double my already substantial holdings in under five years.
Then I made the mistake of attaching myself to a woman with as many connections as I had. Maybe more.
Obviously more.
“I’m sorry.” Valerie’s simple words warm me in a way I can’t explain. Maybe it’s just her voice. It certainly warms parts of me. But it’s the sincerity in what she says that makes me want to tell her more.
“Me too.” I work a few more buttons of my shirt free as I take a sip of the bourbon I poured myself as soon as I walked through the door of my apartment, intending to continue what I started before Valerie stepped in.
But then she texted me. And the desire to forget today disappeared.
“Can you pull in another investor to replace them?” She pauses. “Or maybe negotiate a more favorable deal with the one trying to withdraw?”
I sit up a little straighter, her surprising suggestion making me consider Valerie outside of what I’ve been focused on. I know she’s gorgeous with a body like a fucking goddess. Soft and curved in all the right places, including a set of tits a man could bury himself in and never try to find his way out of. The possibility such a distracting exterior might be hiding something equally alluring underneath has my already intrigued cock standing to full attention.
“Both good ideas.” I take another sip of my drink as the reality of my situation sits cold in my gut, stealing the momentary reprieve Valerie’s company gave me. Reminding me her company is also only temporary. “Both easier said than done.”
“I could help you.”
Her offer takes me by surprise and makes my response come out harsher than it should. “You?”
She scoffs. “Don’t sound so appalled I might have a skill set, Mr. Hadaway. One you seem to be in desperate need of, by the way.”
The irritation in her tone makes me smile, and I don’t miss that she's gone from calling me Fynn to Mr. Hadaway, a development that’s only making me harder. “Tell me about this supposed skill set, Miss—” I just realized I don’t know her last name.
“Berdard.” The way she says it is almost lyrical. “And maybe I don’t think you deserve my skill set anymore.”
My smile widens at her jab. I’ve always loved a woman with a spine and this one seems to have a backbone of steel in spite of her sweet softness. “You might be right, but tell me about it anyway.”
She scoffs again, but Valerie Berdard’s scoffs are nothing like the ones I hear from other women. Instead of a nasally snort of a sound filled with distaste and disgust, hers is softer. Lower. Almost like a moan and it forces me to shove the heel of one hand against my aching cock, trying to get it to go down so I don’t feel like a lecher.
“I might just keep it to myself now considering you doubt I have any skills.” I can hear the pout in her voice and wish I could see it. Be close enough to do more than see it. The thought pushes me to say something I probably shouldn’t.
“I don’t doubt you have skills, Valerie, and I’d love to learn about all of them.” My words come across suggestive as hell, which is exactly how I mean them. I might have managed to turn her down before, but that was when I was still almost positive Valerie was playing with me. Now, with more than a few blocks between us, I’m feeling a little more comfortable being what I haven’t had the opportunity to be in so fucking long it’s almost painful.
A man. Interested in a woman.
The soft sound of her inhale has my cock twitching against my hand. “It didn’t seem that way earlier.”
“I was trying to be a gentleman earlier.” As fucked-up as it is, I like that she sounds a little hurt I rejected her offer of a slumber party. A woman like Valerie probably has to knock men off with a stick. No doubt she isn’t used to being turned down for a romp. And doesn’t the thought of that just piss me the fuck off—thinking of the men who would have taken her up on the offer.
The men who have. I shouldn’t give a shit who this woman has fucked. I’ve known her all of two hours. Yet here I am.
“ Are you a gentleman, Fynn? ”
The question pushes a button I didn’t have a year ago, hitting the sore spot I have no idea how to soothe. “If I wasn’t, I would be fucking you right now,” I swallow down the rest of my drink and set the glass on the table beside me, “wouldn’t I?”
“Fair enough.” She’s quiet for a little too long and I start to get nervous. “So what does that make me since I was willing to fuck you tonight?”
Hearing that word in her sultry voice isn’t even enough to soften the blow of her statement. The insinuation it carries. But if Valerie thinks I’m trying to say she’s anything but a lady then she’s damn wrong. “It makes you every man’s dream girl.”
“Even yours?”
Like there’s any doubt she’s my dream girl. My dick has been standing at attention so long my balls are ready to burst. “Especially mine.”
“Then you should ask to take me out tomorrow.”
Maybe it’s my aching cock. Maybe it’s the lingering guilt I feel over making her think, even for a second, that I would judge her for what could have happened tonight.
Or maybe it’s because I can’t find anything I don’t like about this woman. “I would beg for the chance to take you out tomorrow, Valerie.”
Her low, velvety laugh carries through the line. “I can’t imagine you have to beg for much, Fynn Hadaway.”
I’m smiling in spite of myself. “You might be surprised.”
But getting on my knees for this woman isn’t an unappealing thought. In fact, it’s one of the best thoughts I have. Being on my knees, shoving that tight skirt she wore up to her waist so I can bury my face between her thighs.
Valerie laughs again, soft and breathy. “I suppose I can save you the trouble this time.” The sound of sheets shifting almost makes me groan, knowing Valerie is lying in bed, my voice in her ear.
I have to see her again. No matter what happens, it will be worth every second I get with her.
Even if it implodes.
“Then what time am I coming to get you tomorrow, Valerie Berdard?”
I’M IN FRONT of her place a little early, like the overeager bastard I am.
The stupid, overeager bastard I am.
No doubt Valerie has figured out who I am by now. I glance up at the building, just in case she’s planning to launch a bucket of cold water down over my head.
“Trying to figure out which one is mine?”
My dick springs to life at the sound of her voice, threatening to be as big of a pain in the arse today as it was last night. I wanked off three fucking times before I could finally fall asleep. Damn thing acts like it’s been ignored for half a year.
“Maybe.” I turn to find Valerie standing just outside the building’s entrance and my breath stutters to a stop. Last night before I finally managed to make myself hang up with her, I told Valerie to be ready to walk when I picked her up this morning. I was hoping she would be less distracting in casual clothes.
No luck on that one. The woman could probably drive a man to distraction even if every inch of her was covered in a damn potato sack.
Especially if she was talking. Because Jesus Christ that voice.
She stops at the bottom of the steps and glances down at her attire, brows pinching together as her eyes lift to meet mine. “You told me to be ready to walk. Is this not okay?”
She’s wearing a pair of tattered jean shorts that both hug every curve I dreamed of last night, and put her legs on full display. A fitted tank clings to the ample swell of her breasts and the soft curve of her waist. The long length of her dark hair is pulled up with a few strands already falling loose around her nape. She looks good enough to fucking eat, and the offer she made me last night blares through my brain, making me reconsider the plans I have for our day.
But I told Valerie I was a gentleman and I want her to believe it. Need her to believe it because, while she might not have heard the rumors about me yet, she will. And I want to build as much doubt as I can before that happens. It’s the only chance I have at this point, even if it’s a slim one.
Clearing my throat, I force my eyes to drop to the Chucks on her feet. “I was thinking of showing you around town. You said you’ve only been here a few weeks, so I thought you might enjoy a tour from another recent transplant.” I drag my eyes to hers, careful not to let them linger over the parts of her I want to drag more than my eyes over. “You look—”
Beautiful.
Sexy as fuck.
Like you should be under me in my bed.
“Great.”
“Thanks.” She rubs her lips together, eyes skimming down my front, before shooting a hurried glance over one shoulder and up the building at her back. “You look pretty great too.”
“I think you mean I look hawt .”
Her eyes snap to mine and a pink blush warms the porcelain of her skin. “I don’t even know how that happened.”
“I’m not complaining.” I step in, craving the scent of her in my nose. The flush of her skin deepens as I move in closer than I initially intended. The woman is like a magnet and I can’t resist her pull. “No one’s ever called me hawt before.”
Her eyes slide back down my frame, lingering on the stretch of chest peeking out the open buttons of my short-sleeved shirt before dropping to the clean cut of the navy shorts that feel a hell of a lot tighter now than they did when I put them on. “I doubt that’s true.”
There’s no mistaking the heat in her gaze and it tests my willpower in a way nothing ever has. Because I’m weak, I let myself move closer, just to see what happens. “Is that your way of letting me know you find me appealing, Valerie?” I slide my hand into hers, the brush of her soft skin against my palm almost enough to make me groan. I link our fingers, using the hold to tug her into my side as I turn and lead her down the path.
Six months without physical contact has left me a needy, greedy bastard, but I’m not sure that’s my problem. She’s painfully fucking perfect, and I plan to soak up every second I can have with her.
Before the bottom falls out.
Taking her out today is a risk. Parading around the town that turned on me without giving me the chance to defend myself. Not that I could have. I can’t prove a negative. Can’t prove I’m not the cheater Jessica, and every woman she knows, believes I am.
But I’m not the only one lacking proof. All she had was an overheard conversation in a nail salon. A damning one, admittedly.
But none of it was true. I’m not a cheater. Never have been. Never will be. It makes the sting of all this even worse. Was it that easy for the people around me to believe her? To decide I’m untrustworthy enough to cut all ties?
Apparently so.
“Where are we going first?” Valerie’s velvet voice pulls me from things I can’t do fuck all about, to the first bright spot I’ve seen in months.
Her.
“Where do you want to go first?” I glance down at her. Without her wickedly high heels, the top of Valerie’s head hits the middle of my chest, making it impossible to see her face like I wish I could .
“What about the beach?” The eyes I’m already missing lift to mine, giving me the fix I need of their honey-colored hue. Her smile falters. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” I must not have hidden my surprise at her suggestion as well as I thought. “Haven’t you been to the beach already? It’s less than a block away.”
Valerie shakes her head, lip pinching between her teeth. “I’ve had a lot going on.”
“Still. The beach is most people’s first stop when they come to town.” I keep my steps slow as we walk, wanting to drag this day out as long as possible. “Where have you been?”
She continues chewing the lip I’ve been dreaming of biting myself. “Not anywhere, really.”
I wait for her to expand on that, but when she doesn’t, I ask, “So if you didn’t move to an oceanfront town for the ocean, what did bring you here?”
Valerie’s expression shutters. “It was just time for a change.”
“I understand.”
Her eyes jump to mine. “You do?”
I nod. “That’s what brought me here as well. I wanted something new. Something exciting.”
I fucking got it, didn’t I? Just not in the way I expected. But maybe the tides are finally turning in my favor. It might only be a temporary reprieve, so I plan to take full advantage.
Which is why I stop in front of one of the many touristy shops filling the squat row of buildings lining the road, a plan forming. It takes me all of two seconds to commit when I see the racks of bikinis lining the front window.
Valerie lets out a little yelp as I change our trajectory, tugging her into the store behind me. “I thought we were going to the beach.”
“We are.” I grab a couple towels off the shelf, tucking them under one arm before continuing to the rack that brought me inside, the image it construed of Valerie’s perfect body warming in the sun baked into my brain. “Pick one.”
Valerie’s eyes rest on the collection of barely existent bathing suits, widening the smallest bit. “You want to get in the water?”
“If you haven’t been to the beach, then I’m assuming you haven’t been for a swim either.” It’s a weak argument that I’m doing this for her benefit when this is a purely selfish move.
Maybe I am as bad as they say.
Valerie’s lower lip pinches between her teeth again in that move that’s driving me to distraction, and a hint of excitement flares in her eyes. “I’ve never been in the ocean.”
I grab the first pair of trunks I see and add them to the towels under my arm. “Then yes, I want to get in the water.”