Chapter Two Shelby
He remembers me. I was one of a crowd of women on a dating show.
We had some conversations while on group dates but never had extensive alone time.
I thought he was going to kiss me one time, but then Ivy came along and interrupted us.
I was there for three episodes, but with the speed they moved while filming, it was fifteen days, and I didn’t get to see Finn every day.
We had a few brief conversations during my time on the show, and that was it.
Obviously, he didn’t feel the flash of connection like I did because he cut me.
He probably watched the show when it aired, and that’s why he remembers me.
“Oh,” I say. “Nice to see you again.” Brilliant.
He’s so much taller than I am, I have to tilt my head back to see him.
It’s shocking seeing him in his Bigfoot form, but his kind brown eyes are the same no matter what form he takes.
They showed him as his shifter on the show, but that was awkward.
I always hate that part of the series; it feels exploitative.
But seeing him as his Bigfoot now feels natural, like he’s comfortable.
He cocks his head and crinkles his hairy brow. “How did you know it was me?”
I tape the gold name badge on his uniform shirt. “Lucky guess. How many Bigfoot shifter Finnegan Kings who work for the Fish and Wildlife Service are there?”
His deep chuckle feels like a cozy fleece blanket settling around me. Is his hair soft or scratchy? There’s no subtle way to check without looking like a freak. When I had my hand on his shoulder, his uniform shirt separated his hair from my skin.
“Do you mind if I shift?” he asks.
“Sure, go right ahead.”
We stand there looking at each other. I’m human. I don’t know anything about shifting. Should I turn around?
“My clothes usually shift with me, but I need to take the waders off first, and, uh, I don’t want to—“
“Would you be pantsless, Finn?”
He looks away, cupping the back of his reddening neck with his large hand. So a Bigfoot can blush.
“No, I have clothes in my field bag. But it’s kind of an intimate thing, so I’m just gonna go into the trees to shift and change.” He jerks a thumb over his shoulder. “Be right back.”
“Okay.” I knew the part about clothes shifting, something to do with natural fibers, but I assume rubber waders don’t fit the criteria.
While he’s doing his thing, I wander over to the edge of the dirt clearing and look out over the peaceful scene.
A pair of swans swim in the distance. I much prefer these to the obnoxious ice sculpture of two swans with their necks forming a heart Konner insisted we needed.
I imagine it melting into a giant puddle, and it makes me smile.
Slipping my phone out of the pocket of my dress, I take a selfie with the swans in the background.
I hear footsteps approach and turn around.
It’s Finn as I remember him. As a man, he’s about a foot shorter than he is in his shifter form and not as brawny, but he’s still well over six feet tall, muscular, and broad-shouldered.
He’s no longer covered with thick brown hair, so I can see his tanned skin.
His facial features are refined, his brow not as heavy, his nose aquiline.
The hair on his face is confined to a neatly trimmed brown beard.
He’s gorgeous. His cocoa colored T-shirt fits snuggly on his biceps and hints at his toned chest and firm abdomen.
Khaki cargo pants cover his long legs, and he’s wearing hiking boots.
He runs a hand through his hair, trying to tame the cowlick popping up on the left side of his head. It’s adorable and gives this handsome, hulking man a boyish air.
“So...are you okay? What’s going on?” Finn’s gaze travels from my face to the view and then to my phone with a furrowed brow. The swans have moved on, and now a small flock of mallard ducks are swimming along.
My sigh is so big it moves my shoulders into a shrug.
“I’m not married to a cheating scumbag, so I’m good.
Today was supposed to be my wedding day, and I went to surprise my groom, Konner.
But I was the one surprised. To find him fucking my best friend.
So yeah, I’ve had better days, but it could have been worse. ”
His gasp causes a whoosh of air to brush across my cheek.
“He cheated on you? On your wedding day? I could tell he was an asshole, but I didn’t realize he was an idiot too. I’m sorry this happened to you.”
The ducks are so peaceful gliding across the pond, but I know we only see the serenity above the waterline. Beneath the surface, their webbed feet are paddling like mad.
“I’m a duck,” I blurt out as I snap a picture.
Finn’s molten brown eyes widen in surprise. “You are? I didn’t know you were a shifter. I thought you were human.”
“What?” I realize how what I said could be interpreted. “Oh! No. I am human. I meant I’m like a duck, where on the surface I look like I have it all together, but underneath I’m a hot mess.”
He nods slowly.
“I need to figure out where I’m staying tonight. I can’t go back to the resort. If I check into a hotel, the press is going to find me.” I’m trying not to panic, but the enormity of what I’ve done is hitting me. I’ve run away. From my own wedding.
All those sponsors who were expecting their products to be featured today.
The posts are all scheduled, so technically I’ll fulfill my contracts, but the expectation was that they were going to be posted by Shelby Albright, the married woman, not Shelby Albright, the runaway bride.
My attorneys were insistent that the contract state that, as long as the posts were made on the scheduled day of the wedding, even if the marriage didn’t occur for any reason on that day or at all, I’d have fulfilled the terms. So I’m not going to be sued, but the relationships I’ve spent years building with all these sponsors suffered damaged. My career is over.
My chest tightens, making it harder to breathe. Twenty-six is too young to have a heart attack, isn’t it?
“Whoa, Shelby, it’s okay. You’re having a panic attack. Look at me.” Finn places a huge but gentle palm on my cheek and tilts my chin so I’m looking up into his face. “Breathe with me.”
He places my hand on his chest so I can feel the steady beat of his heart and the rhythm of his breathing.
The roughness of his palm is a stark contrast to Konner’s soft hands.
I wonder how Finn’s hands would feel against my skin.
I close my eyes in shame. I was supposed to be making vows of faithfulness for the rest of my life to Konner right about now, and instead, I’m wondering how another man’s hands would feel on my naked body.
It’s been months since Konner touched me sexually.
Once we were engaged, he wanted to wait for our wedding night to sleep together again “to make our honeymoon better.” I was fine with that.
Sex with Konner was okay, but nothing earth-shattering.
It wasn’t a big part of our relationship.
I realize now he didn’t care about having sex with me because he was getting it elsewhere. I’m such an idiot.
“You okay?” he asks.
When I nod, his sigh of relief sends his peppermint-scented breath wafting over me.
I remember that from the few minutes we spoke the first night of filming.
He gave me a peppermint candy when I asked for it.
They always kept the liquor flowing on elimination evenings, but very little food.
I was starving. When the limo drove my group of cut contestants away from the mansion on the third elimination night, we convinced the driver to take us to a fast-food drive-through and get us burgers and fries. We charged it to production.
He looks around. “We should go somewhere more private. Your ex knows you’re here. Who knows who he’ll send. How did he know you’d be here?”
“I...I don’t know. I haven’t been here in years, and I’ve never told him about it. I used to come here as a girl with my grandparents. It’s a special place for me, but no one knows.” How did he know?
“Is he tracking your phone?” Finn asks.
I shake my head. “No. My phone is locked down tighter than Fort Knox.” It’s how I make my money. I don’t let anyone have access to my phone.
We both look at my car. Finn jogs across the clearing and drops to his knees next to the rear driver’s side wheel well after pulling a small flashlight out of one of his pockets.
He lies on his back and shines the light around the underside before reaching up and snagging something.
He rises gracefully to his feet and holds out a small magnetic device that was attached to my car.
My wide-eyed look of shock must tell him what he needs to know because he drops it to the packed dirt and slams his booted heel on it.
“Let me make sure that was the only one,” he says.
After a brief search, he concludes it was.
I brush the dirt off his broad back while he wipes off his nicely muscled butt.
I thought he was attractive in a suit when I met him the first time, but he’s a hundred times hotter dressed for the outdoors like he is today.
“Let’s drive back to headquarters, okay? I can drop off my gear, and my truck is there.”
“Good idea.” I look at my Mustang. “Will you fit in my car?”
Finn’s full lips form a sexy grin, and his long brown lashes brush his cheek when he winks. “I’m bendy.”
Alrighty then.