Chapter 7 #2
“Thanks for all you did at the Wayfarer.”
“It was a labor of love.”
She hugged him. “You’d better call me.”
“I will.”
Finn went to collect Chloe and was on his way to a clean escape when they ran into his dad and Chelsea coming in the front door as they went out. Finn introduced them to Chloe.
“We know Chloe,” Chelsea said. “She cuts our hair.”
Of course she did. He was realizing she knew everyone on the island except him, or so it seemed.
“Where’re you going?” Kevin asked.
“We’re calling it a night. I’m not feeling great.” Finn could tell his father saw right through the white lie. He and Riley used to joke that Kevin had a built-in, finely calibrated lie-o-meter.
“Sorry to hear that.”
“I’ll check in tomorrow.”
“Talk to you then.”
With his hand on Chloe’s lower back, Finn ushered her out of the house and into the cool evening air.
He felt a tremendous sense of relief at having escaped from the loving cloister of his tight-knit family.
God knows they meant well, but sometimes he wished they didn’t have to be up in each other’s business the way they were.
Of course, that didn’t apply to when Riley was falling for Nikki.
Finn had been up in his brother’s grill the whole time.
That’d been fun. Trying to explain the way he felt about Chloe, even to Riley, wasn’t fun. It was pure torture.
“You’re so tense.”
Chloe’s words interrupted his musings as he got into the truck.
He decided to be honest with her. “I’m trying to understand why meeting you has turned my whole life upside down.”
“Has it?”
“Completely. And I don’t get why.”
“If it makes you feel any better, I’m equally confused.”
Her confession buoyed his flagging spirits, and then he paused to ask himself why it mattered so much that she was confused, too. She’d already told him this wasn’t going to happen. He looked down at the floor, wishing for answers he didn’t have.
His phone vibrated with a text, probably from Missy, who’d sent a countdown image earlier that showed fourteen days until June first. But when he thought of her, of returning to her and the relationship he’d had with her, he felt dead inside, as if that was the worst possible thing he could do.
Inspiration struck with sudden clarity. “I’m here for a couple more weeks. Spend that time with me. No promises, no commitments, just two people who enjoy each other hanging out together.”
She rolled her bottom lip between her teeth and eyed him with hesitation. “I’m not sure I can do that.”
“How come?”
“I’m afraid I’ll get attached and be heartbroken when you leave.”
Her honesty gutted him. “I already know I’m going to be heartbroken if I never get the chance to know you better. I’ll be careful with you. I promise.”
“I… I need to think about it. I’m sorry… It’s just that there are so many reasons why this isn’t a good idea for me.”
He wanted to know all her reasons. He wanted to know everything there was to know about her, and that was unprecedented for him.
Even after all the years he’d spent with Missy, he’d never wanted to know everything about her.
Their relationship had been lighter, more surface-level than what he wanted with Chloe, which flew in the face of his plans to leave the island and return to the life he’d been living before he came here.
None of it made the first bit of sense to him, but he’d meant what he’d said about wanting the chance to know her. “Let me see your phone.”
After unlocking it, she handed it over.
Finn punched in his number and then sent himself a text before returning the phone to her. “Text me, call me, FaceTime me—any time you want. I’ll be waiting to hear from you, okay?”
“Okay.”
He covered her hand with his. “And if it’s a no, that’s okay, too.”
She turned her hand and curled her fingers around his, sending the charge of electricity through him once again. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me for being a gentleman. My father and uncles wouldn’t have it any other way. The first thing they taught all their sons was the meaning of the word no.”
“The world could use more fathers like them.”
“I agree, even if at times I chafed against their ‘guidance.’”
“I’m sure you did, but they had the right idea. They raised an incredible group of men.”
“That’s nice of you to say.”
Finn hated to lose the connection to Chloe by releasing her hand, but he had to in order to start the truck and drive her home.
He wanted to ask what she was thinking but refrained, trying to show some restraint.
One thing he already understood was that if he asked for too much too soon, he’d push her away.
That was the last thing he wanted to do.
He pulled into her driveway and left the truck running when he got out to walk her to the door.
“Thanks for a great time. Your family is amazing, but you know that.”
“They are fun to be around.”
“That’s putting it mildly. They’re like a reality TV show—the good kind.”
Finn laughed. “The stories I could tell you…”
“I’m sure they’re epic.”
“They are, and if you decide to call me or text me, I’ll tell you all about them.”
“You’re very tempting, Finn McCarthy.”
If he’d ever received a more meaningful compliment, he couldn’t recall it. “Am I?”
“You know you are.”
“I don’t know any such thing.”
She looked up at him, her expression vulnerable. “You could have anyone. Why me?”
Finn caressed her face and moved closer to her as she took a step toward him.
“Why not you, beautiful, sexy, mysterious Chloe?” Before he realized what was happening, his lips were touching hers in the gentlest possible kiss, and the sheer power of that kiss nearly brought him to his knees.
“Say no if you don’t want this.” He waited, breathlessly, to see what she would do, and then she raised a hand, curled it around his neck and drew him into another kiss.
Everything—and everyone—ceased to exist for him the second she kissed him. He had experienced desire, but nothing like the heat that blasted through him when her tongue brushed against his as her hand grasped a handful of his hair.
Finn whimpered. He actually fucking whimpered. She was ruining him for any other woman one sensual stroke of her tongue at a time. It took everything he had to slow down, to pull back, to stop this before it became something more, something she had told him she didn’t want.
His brain swirled with the confusion that had been present since he met her.
The push-pull of what he wanted, what she wanted, his plans to leave…
Leaning his forehead against hers, he was content for the moment to breathe the same air as she was, to let her distinctive scent surround and comfort him.
“Finn…”
“Hmm?”
“This is crazy. I don’t do these things.”
“What things?”
“Tell someone I can’t and then kiss his face off.”
He chuckled. “If it’s any consolation, I’m as confused as you are by what’s happening here.
I thought I had a plan, and then I got my hair cut.
And now, I don’t know whether I’m coming or going.
” Framing her face with his hands, he compelled her to look at him.
“All I know is I want more time with you. I just want more.”
“I want that, too.”
Never had four little words meant more to him. “You do?”
She nodded. “Two weeks?”
“That’s all I can promise for now. My lease is up at the end of May, and I told my former boss in Connecticut I’d be back to work for him in early June.
” His heart sank when he thought about Missy and the countdown she’d sent earlier.
Before he did anything else, he needed to talk to her.
His reaction to meeting Chloe was a sign he couldn’t ignore.
No matter what happened with Chloe, his relationship with Missy needed to be over once and for all.
They had run their course a long time ago and had held on to each other more out of a sense of nostalgia than anything.
But he could worry about that later. Right now, he had Chloe in his arms, and he never wanted to let her go.
“I’m afraid of getting attached.” Chloe’s words, softly spoken, touched him deeply.
“We’ll keep it low-key.” Even as he said that, he wondered if he could do it. Would they both end up crushed in the end? “And we’ll proceed with caution.”