A couple of days later, Beth stood at the big wooden counter in Brightwater Dreams with Indigo and Izzy. The gallery was a beautiful space with a high ceiling and exposed beams, a gleaming polished wooden floor, brick walls, and purpose-built wooden shelves full of stock. Light poured through the big windows that looked out toward the lake, giving the place a light, airy feel.
The three of them were exclaiming over the perfect, deep-blue sapphire that graced Izzy’s finger. Chase had given it to her the night before and asked her to marry him and of course the answer was yes.
She was incandescently happy and Beth was ecstatic for her. And it only made her more sure that coming here had been the right move. Because if Izzy could find happiness here, then surely she could too.
Izzy wasn’t from Deep River, like Beth and Indigo were. Izzy was from Texas, though Beth and Indigo had met her before, since she was Zeke Montgomery’s sister and had visited Deep River more than once. But they hadn’t expected her to join them on their New Zealand trip as a last-minute replacement for another Deep River woman who’d had to pull out for family reasons.
Izzy had been fleeing a broken engagement and a career in ruins, and so had joined their expedition as the default admin person. She wasn’t creative in the same way Beth and Indigo were, but Izzy knew business inside and out and had been a godsend when it had come to setting up the gallery and figuring out logistics.
She was also kindhearted, generous, and cool under pressure, and Beth liked her very much.
“It’s gorgeous.” Beth stared down at the glittering blue stone with a professional eye. “Beautifully made too. Chase really knocked it out of the park.”
“He so did.” Indigo, standing at the counter next to Beth, leaned in to take a closer look, her brown hair falling over one shoulder as she did so.
Indigo was another Deep River native, though she and Beth had only known each other casually. She’d been brought up in an isolated homestead by her maternal grandmother. What happened to Indigo’s parents, Beth had never asked and Indigo had never said, but her grandmother had been an agoraphobic hermit, homeschooling her and never letting her out of her sight. Indigo had never been anywhere, never done anything, and when her grandmother had died unexpectedly, she of course decided to come all the way out to New Zealand.
As a rebellion against her upbringing went, it was marked and Beth was very curious why Indigo had wanted to come out here, since Indigo seemed to find people, and indeed life in general, quite suspicious.
But whenever she’d asked, Indigo had clammed up, and since Beth had her own secrets, she’d decided to leave it alone. Whatever Indigo’s reasons, coming to the other side of the world to a new country took guts, and it was clear that she had plenty of that.
Izzy gave them both a radiant smile, pleased with their admiration of her fiancée. “I know, right? Isn’t he amazing? So we’re going to have a little town get-together tonight at the Rose. A celebration for Chase and me. You two will be there, won’t you?”
“Hell yes,” Beth said without hesitation, because she liked a party. Or at least, she’d make herself like a party. “Absolutely.”
Indigo wrinkled her nose. “I love you, Izzy, you know that. But I really hate parties.”
Izzy leaned her hip against the counter. “Don’t think of it as a party. It’s more of an informal get-together. A…meeting of friends.”
It was not unusual for Indigo to balk at anything that required social interaction. Then again, even when she’d been doubtful about something, she normally sucked it up and came along anyway. All she needed was a bit of reassurance.
“Don’t forget, you know everyone.” Beth gave her a pat on the shoulder. “It’s not going to be a room full of strangers or anything.”
Indigo sighed. “I know. It’s just…”
“Hmmm.” Izzy’s gaze turned shrewd. “This doesn’t have anything to do with a certain person, does it?”
Predictably, whenever the subject of Levi King came up, Indigo went beet red, and sure enough, she was blushing now.
“What person?” There was a hint of sharpness in her tone. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Except she did know what Izzy was talking about. They all did.
Levi, playboy extraordinaire, had apparently decided that Indigo was his latest challenge, flirting outrageously with her, making her blush, teasing her, and generally being a pain in the ass.
He wasn’t cruel or mean, only his normal charming self, but Indigo had decided she didn’t like him and, rather to Beth’s surprise given her friend’s shyness, had let him know that at every opportunity.
Which, naturally enough, only provoked him even more.
Watching the two of them needle each other had become one of Beth’s favorite forms of entertainment.
“You have to go,” Beth said. “You know how much I enjoy watching you and Levi sniping at each other.”
Indigo sniffed. “I do not snipe.”
“Sure you do. You snipe. Levi flirts.”
“She’s not wrong,” Izzy said.
“What do you expect?” Indigo looked cross. “He’s a dick. I keep telling him to leave me alone and he won’t.”
“Well, he might if you weren’t always in his vicinity at every opportunity,” Beth pointed out, since it was true. For all the protests Indigo made, she always seemed to be around wherever Levi was, mostly in the background, glaring at him.
Beth and Izzy found it terribly amusing, since it was clear to both of them that Indigo had a massive crush on him. It just wasn’t clear to Indigo. She was such a little innocent. It was adorable.
“I don’t want to talk about Levi.” Indigo’s blue eyes fixed on Beth. “How’s it going with Finn?”
Dammit.
Beth hadn’t been specific with the other two about why she’d left Deep River—that was her secret and her secret alone. So they didn’t know the Beth Grant she’d once been.
All they knew was the Beth she’d let them see, the Beth she was now: friendly, outgoing, positive, and full of boundless optimism. And also, according to them, the Beth who was currently fixated on Finn Kelly.
Which was a complete and total lie.
She wasn’t fixated on him. Sure, their interaction a couple of days ago up at Clint’s had been…a bit fraught. And maybe she’d let herself get ruffled by the way he’d looked at her, teasing her about that stupid apple. But then he’d been stupid and her reaction to him even stupider.
She didn’t regret eating the sausage roll, though, and certainly not after it had ended with him inviting her for a beer. And it wasn’t because she wanted to spend some more time with him, absolutely not. She just wanted to get his help with Evan and some paintings. That was it.
Anyway, he’d largely been absent since then, so she hadn’t been able to take him up on the offer. Chase had told her he’d been out taking some tourists on a two-day hike, not that she’d been looking for him or anything.
Or thinking about the way he looked at you in the truck and made you feel hot. That’s got nothing to do with anything either.
No, it really didn’t. And he hadn’t looked at her any way in the truck. He’d been annoyed she’d eaten his sausage roll, that’s all.
Sure, keep telling yourself you don’t feel a thing for him, that you’re not attracted to him in any way.
Beth’s cheeks felt slightly hot, and much to her annoyance, Izzy and Indigo were both looking at her with interest.
Double dammit.
She attempted to feign innocence. “Finn who?”
Indigo snorted while Izzy shook her head, smiling. “Okay, but the really important question is have you managed to talk to Evan about his paintings yet? We’re opening next week and I was hoping to have something before then.”
Beth had hoped to have something before then too.
“I’m working on it,” she said. “He won’t see me, but he knows Finn quite well and Finn promised to help me with him.”
One of Izzy’s dark brows shot up. “Oh, so Finn is going to help you? How…convenient.”
Beth opened her mouth to tell Izzy it wasn’t like that when the door to the gallery opened and a tall, lanky girl with dark hair came clattering in.
“Hey, Gus,” Beth greeted her with some relief.
Augusta Kelly, otherwise known as Gus, Chase’s twelve-year-old daughter, gave Beth a giant grin. “Hi, Beth. Hi, Indigo.”
Indigo’s sharp face, usually guarded, relaxed with genuine warmth since it was impossible not to smile when Gus was around.
“Hey, Izzy,” Gus went on. “Dad wants to talk to you about tonight. Can you go see him at HQ?”
“Oh sure.” Izzy stepped away from the counter, glancing at Beth and Indigo. “See you tonight, yes?”
“With bells on,” Beth said.
As Izzy disappeared through the door, Gus following behind her, Indigo sighed again, just a touch dramatically.
“Yes,” Beth said before her friend could say a word. “We have to go.”
“Oh, I know, don’t worry. I’ll be there.” Indigo pulled a face. “It only feels a bit much, especially with all this house stuff to worry about.”
The “house stuff” was some ongoing drama with a house that Chase had initially organized for the Deep River contingent to move into. It had been meant to happen a few weeks after they arrived, but first Izzy had moved in with Chase, and then the house itself was found to have an unsafe foundation. It had been vacant awhile and the elements hadn’t been kind, and while it seemed to be a good place to live in at first, Clive Grange, who used to own a construction company before he’d moved to Brightwater and bought the vineyard, had pronounced it unsound, the foundations needing to be reblocked.
All of which meant that Beth and Indigo were still living in the Rose.
The Rose wasn’t bad. While it was a bit shabby and ramshackle, it was also quite comfortable.
However, it was still a hotel. And Beth and Indigo were getting a little tired of living out of suitcases.
Not that they had much choice about the matter.
Accommodation was at a premium in Brightwater Valley since the place was tiny and there weren’t any other vacant houses around.
Chase was trying to get in touch with the owner of the house they were going to move into, to get the okay to do some renovations, but the man lived overseas and was proving difficult to contact.
“Yeah,” Beth said, agreeing. “I know. I’ll talk to Chase again tonight if you like, see if he’s managed to make any progress.” She searched around for a silver lining because there was always a silver lining if you looked hard enough. “On the bright side, we don’t have to cook. And Cait’s food is delicious.”
But Indigo must have not been in the mood to be jollied, because she sighed again. “I like cooking. I miss cooking.”
Beth gave her shoulder another reassuring pat. “Don’t worry, we’ll figure it out. How’s that dyeing coming along?”
It was the right question to ask, since Indigo immediately cheered up, going into an in-depth explanation about how Cait had allowed her to use the kitchen in the Rose, and it was great because the stove was big enough for her to have four dye pots going at once.
Indigo lost her pinched look and more or less sparkled when she was talking about the things she loved, and it made Beth happy to see it. She’d been worrying about her friend and hoping that coming to New Zealand had been the right decision for her. In the past month, she’d become very invested in both Izzy and Indigo, but now that Izzy had Chase and was building a life with him, it seemed as if Indigo was the one she really needed to worry about.
“You should wear something pretty tonight,” she said to Indigo as the two of them left the gallery and made their way back to the Rose to grab some lunch. “Like a dress or a skirt.”
Indigo, who lived in jeans and ratty T-shirts and the odd brightly colored shawl she’d knitted, scowled. “What? Why?”
“Well, for a start, it’s an engagement party, so it might be nice to make an effort,” Beth said. “Plus wearing something pretty puts you in a good mood.”
Indigo scowled harder. “It doesn’t put me in a good mood.”
“Oh come on. You’re telling me that wearing a pretty sweater knitted from nice yarn doesn’t make you happy?”
“That’s a low blow,” Indigo muttered. “Anyway, I know where you’re going with this and there’s no way I’m dressing to please some dumb man.”
Beth put on an innocent face. “Did I say anything about dressing to please some dumb man? Besides, that’s no way to talk about my boyfriend, Levi.”
Indigo stopped short and glowered. “He is not your boyfriend.”
Interesting response. Clearly she’d hit a nerve.
Feeling bad now, because as much fun as some gentle teasing of Indigo was, it became less fun when it hurt her feelings.
“Sorry, hon,” she said apologetically. “You know I don’t think of him that way.”
“Well, I don’t either.”
But Beth suddenly wasn’t listening, her attention caught by the arrival of a familiar, mud-splashed truck pulling up outside HQ.
A tall male figure got out, along with some others who were looking as mud-splashed as the truck. Obviously some tourists returning from one of the longer hikes Pure Adventure NZ took people on.
They all gathered beside the truck as the tall man went to haul rucksacks out of the truck’s bed.
Finn, clearly coming back from his hike.
One woman was talking to him, looking at him raptly, as if he were imparting the wisdom of the ages. And no wonder.
Even though he was as mud-splashed as the rest of them, the midday sun glossed his black hair and turned his olive skin a deep golden brown, while the black Pure Adventure NZ T-shirt he wore, damp with sweat as he hauled out the rucksacks, clung to his muscled chest.
Finn Kelly was gorgeous and any woman with eyes could see that.
Beth mouth’s went dry and her cheeks heated, and even though she desperately wanted to, she couldn’t look away.
This was stupid. What was she doing staring at him like that? She hadn’t seen him in a couple of days, it was true, but it wasn’t as if she’d missed his glowering, broody presence, not one iota.
Why would she? When they weren’t even friends?
Mystery, the stray dog that everyone in the town had tried at some point to adopt but no one had successfully managed to, had trotted from around the back of HQ and was now nosing around the tourists. They all exclaimed over him, giving him lots of attention, but once he realized there were no treats on offer, he sneezed in disgust and trotted off again.
Finn pulled out the last rucksack and dumped it beside the truck with the others, nodding as the woman kept talking to him.
Then he abruptly glanced toward where Beth and Indigo stood.
And even though he was some distance away and Beth couldn’t make out his face, she felt the impact of his gaze like a weight driving all the air from her lungs.
Oh hell. That wasn’t good. That wasn’t good at all.
Indigo noted the direction of Beth’s stare and shaded her eyes, surveying the little group gathered near the truck.
“Is that Finn?” she asked.
Beth tore her gaze away and reached for Indigo’s arm. “Yep,” she said, turning around and starting back toward the Rose, urging Indigo along with her. “I just remembered I promised to buy him a beer in return for help with Evan.”
“Hey,” Indigo protested. “What’s the hurry?”
“Oh, I have to…uh…get something really quick.”
“What?”
But Beth’s heart was beating way too hard and a prickling heat was sweeping over her skin. She knew what that meant—oh she did. She’d felt it with Troy in the first few months of their relationship.
He’d been her high school boyfriend, a calm, steadying kind of guy, and their relationship had felt like a safe haven after her somewhat emotionally chaotic upbringing.
At least until she’d gotten pregnant, lost the baby, and fallen into a pit of depression.
Until he’d decided that wasn’t something he’d signed on for and left.
But no, she wasn’t going to think about him or the baby she’d lost or the depression.
Fun, that’s what she wanted. Fun and happy. Because she’d never had that, not even with Troy. Steady and safe had been great back then, but she was different now. She was brave and fearless now, and safe and steady seemed a little boring to her.
Not that dark and brooding and intense was any better. Or this prickling, feverish heat that seemed to build inside her every time Finn Kelly looked at her.
You probably should stay away from him in that case.
Yes, she should. But that wasn’t an option, not in a town as small as Brightwater Valley. And she couldn’t anyway, not after she’d promised Izzy she’d get at least one of Evan’s paintings for the gallery, not after she’d promised Finn a beer.
No, she was going to have to figure out how to live with him, and that would probably involve completely ignoring the attraction flaring between them.
At least until it had died down, which it would, of course, since that’s what had happened with Troy. It would definitely happen with Finn too, no question.
All she had to do was wait it out.
In the meantime, she’d buy him a beer and ask him about Evan. Tonight even. Treat him like the friend she wanted him to be and not like the lover her body wished he were.
“Oh,” Indigo said. “I’m sure there’s no connection between Finn and you suddenly needing to…uh…get something.”
“No, of course there isn’t,” Beth said as she dragged Indigo up the front steps and into the Rose. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
***
Finn sat at his chosen table in the corner of the crowded pub in the Rose, glowering at the four people standing at the bar.
Correction. He was glowering at one person.
And it wasn’t Chase, Levi, or Izzy.
It was the woman standing next to Levi and talking animatedly to the other three. She wore a simple, white cotton sundress that left her shoulders bare, and her pale, cotton candy hair had been piled on the top of her head in a messy bun. Tendrils fell down around her face, ears, and the back of her neck, making it look like someone had buried their fingers in all that softness and pulled at it just a little.
You’d like to pull at it just a little.
Finn growled under his breath and forced himself to look away. No, he would not like to do that. She was out of bounds, no matter how pretty and desirable she looked in her white dress, all pale skin, soft and sexy with a hint of innocence.
Radiant, that’s what she was.
Shining like the moon in the darkness.
Christ, she’s turning you into a poet.
His jaw tightened. He’d thought that hike he’d taken would have helped him get a handle on things, since it was a bloody hard one and for experienced hikers only. Yet it hadn’t. He was still just as obsessed as he had been before he’d left.
He glowered at the wall next to him instead, pretending to examine all the things hanging on it—the pub’s walls were covered in photos, newspaper articles, old miners headlamps, fishing nets, and apparently anything else that had been lying around and could be attached to a wall—going over what on earth it was about her he couldn’t get out of his head.
Was it her smile? Or was it more about how fake it sometimes seemed to him? As if she was forcing it? Which then led him on a path to wonder why and what had happened to her that she felt she had to be so goddamn happy all the time. Also, why did she bother? Who was she performing for?
He didn’t want to wonder those things. He didn’t want to think about her at all.
Some sixth sense made him turn just in time to see Beth approaching his table.
“Here,” she said, smiling that pretty yet fake smile as she put a beer bottle down in front of him. “I owe you, remember?”
The pub was crowded with the inhabitants of Brightwater and humming with the sound of conversation and laughter, all of them here to congratulate Chase and Izzy on their engagement. Yet somehow, even though it was packed, it was as if he and Beth were enclosed in their own private little bubble.
Another thing he didn’t like, not one bit.
Without waiting for an invitation, Beth sat down in the seat opposite him, and he found himself noticing how she’d caught a touch of sun on her shoulders and chest, the skin there a light, pretty gold, highlighting the paleness of the rest of her.
“I thought you might want something to toast the happy couple with,” she said brightly when he didn’t speak. “It’s your favorite, Jim said.”
Ah yes, the happy couple. He was thrilled for his brother, he really was. Izzy was a wonderful woman and she was great with Gus too, and he shouldn’t be sitting over here in the corner being a grumpy ass.
But he couldn’t stop thinking about Beth and now she was smiling at him, and that smile… It was so bright. Yet it still looked fake, as if she was using it to cover something else.
Perhaps she’s nervous around you.
He suspected that was true, though he also suspected her nervousness wasn’t because she was afraid of him. In fact, he suspected she was more afraid of this tension between them than anything else.
In which case you should be putting her at ease.
Yeah, he probably should. He’d promised Clint he’d handle himself.
He glanced down at the beer, then back at her. “Thank you.”
Beth put her elbows on the table and leaned on them, her bracelets making that soft, melodic sound as they fell down her arm. “You mentioned helping me with Evan…”
Behind her, Finn could see Chase and Levi still standing at the bar, while Izzy chatted to Teddy Grange, who along with her husband, Clive, owned the Brightwater Valley vineyard. Izzy wasn’t looking in his direction, but Chase and Levi were, and they had distinctly speculative expressions on their faces.
Finn didn’t like that either.
The last thing he needed was for them to start thinking he and Beth were a thing. Chase hadn’t mentioned it to him and Levi hadn’t either, but the tension between him and Beth was palpable. Levi and Chase would have to be blind not to pick up on it, and certainly it was obvious that they had. And they were wondering.
Which made sitting here with Beth a bad idea.
Chase would start making assumptions and Levi would start making pointed comments, and his own temper would take a dive since he wasn’t in the mood. Better to stop any rumors in their tracks now, before people got the wrong idea and his crappy mood turned what was supposed to be a happy occasion sour.
Finn shoved back his chair and got abruptly to his feet.
Beth stared at him in surprise, her smile faltering. “What’s wrong?”
“We’ll do this later,” he said shortly.
“But what about your beer?”
He paused for a moment, then grabbed the beer, put back his head, and drank the entire thing in seconds flat—because he was thirsty, and she’d bought it for him, and he didn’t want her trying to buy him another.
Putting the bottle back down on the table, he gave her a nod, turned on his heel, and pushed his way out of the bar.
“Hey wait!” Beth called. “What about Evan?”
But he didn’t pause, going straight through the door and out into the warm summer night.
It wasn’t dark yet—it didn’t get dark till after nine—and a dusky twilight lay over the town.
He paused on the veranda, staring out across the lake and the mountains beyond, the snow-capped peaks tinged gold and pink in the light of the setting sun. From out in the bush somewhere, he could hear the distinctive call of a ruru, a native owl also called a “morepork.” Early for a ruru, but the sound set off some memories…
He used to love this time of night in summer, sitting with Sheri on the deck of their house. Relaxing with a beer after a hard day’s work and talking about nothing. Talking about everything. Their future, their dreams, their plans, children…
Muttering a curse under his breath, Finn shoved a hand through his hair and tried to pull himself together.
He didn’t want to be thinking about this, not about Sheri. She’d been gone for years. Not that she was ever very far away from his thoughts; it was more that he’d stopped thinking about her every day.
Initially she’d been the first thing he’d thought about every morning when he woke up.
Then she’d become the second.
Now, he sometimes went a whole day without thinking of her, which was progress of a sort, but not the kind of progress he wanted. Not thinking about Sheri, forgetting her, wasn’t something he was willing to do.
She’d meant too much to him and she deserved to be remembered.
Finn stood on the veranda knowing he should go back inside and celebrate with his brother, since he really was happy for Chase. If anyone deserved a chance at happiness, it was him. It had been Chase who’d brought Finn up after their mother had died and their father had drowned his grief at the pub.
Chase who’d dedicated himself to the Brightwater community and worked hard for it.
Chase who’d tried to make his own marriage work and, when it hadn’t, had done all he could for his daughter.
And now that Chase had found happiness with Izzy, Finn couldn’t be more pleased for him. But he didn’t feel like being in the pub with everyone around, toasting the happy couple and smiling and laughing.
He wanted to be alone, where there was silence and no one bothering or watching him, no one being concerned for him. And best of all, no Bethany Grant distracting him with her fake smile and her big green eyes, her pretty cotton-candy hair and her pale-moonlight skin.
Finn went down the steps and was just stepping onto the gravel when a highly irritated feminine voice came from behind him.
“Seriously? You drink your beer then up and leave? Without a word?”
Of course it was Bethany. And of course he couldn’t have a few moments to himself tonight. She was doing what she always did, which was get in his face when he least wanted her to.
Which meant he should be angry that she’d followed him and definitely not feeling as if he’d been shocked, every muscle in his body going tight with anticipation.
He stopped in his tracks, trying to relax, get himself under control, because his physical reaction every time she got near was ludicrous and he was tired of it.
So? Do something about it then. You’re thirty-two. You can’t stay celibate forever.
Yeah, and that’s not what he wanted to be thinking about right now, not at all.
“Finn,” Beth said. “Come on. You can’t just leave me sitting there.”
He gave himself a moment, then he turned to face her.
She was standing on the wide veranda, the setting sun painting her in tones of rose and gold and orange and red. She had her hands on her hips, and for a change she wasn’t smiling. Which sadly didn’t make her any less attractive.
You are so screwed.
“What?” He ignored both the thought and the inevitable pulse of heat that went through him every time she was near. “I said thanks for the beer.”
“Yeah, then you walked out. We were going to talk about Evan.”
“Can we talk about that another night?” He tried to keep his voice level. “I’ve got a couple of other things to do.”
She frowned. “I…guess we can.”
“Good.” He turned around and started heading toward the Pure Adventure NZ HQ, since that was the closest building he could legitimately disappear into. “We can chat in a couple of days,” he added casually over his shoulder.
Beth didn’t respond, and he resisted the urge to look back.
Hopefully she’d have gotten the hint and would go back to the party.
The door that led to the top floor of HQ, which was a self-contained apartment/office area, was around the side of the building, so Finn walked toward it with no clue what he was going to do when he got there. He only wanted to put some distance between him and Beth.
Then he heard a footstep on the gravel behind him.
“No, actually,” Beth said, “I don’t want to chat in a couple of days.”
Shit.
Tension gripped him, his muscles tightening.
He didn’t want to turn around and look at her, so he reached for the door handle instead. The door wasn’t locked—they only locked it during the day, when there were tourists around, since no one who actually lived in Brightwater would steal anything from it. Not that there was anything in there to steal anyway.
“Yeah, well, I don’t want to chat now.” He tried to keep the growl out of the words as he pulled the door open, but he didn’t think he’d been successful.
“Why not?” Beth’s voice was husky and very close behind him now. “It won’t take that long. You either help me or you don’t.”
Well, if that’s all she wanted, then that was easy enough to give her. Anything to get her away from him.
“Fine, I’ll help you.” He stepped through the doorway. “I’ll talk to him tomorrow.” Then he began to pull the door closed behind him.
Only to encounter some resistance.
Oh, for God’s sake.
Left with no choice, he swung around.
Beth stood in the doorway, holding on to the door and preventing it from closing. She was still bathed in sunset colors, and what was even worse was being able to see the shadow of her body through that little white dress and it was a glorious sight. Lots of delicious, rounded curves that he knew would feel warm and soft beneath his hand.
God, it had been so long since he’d touched a woman. So long since a woman had touched him…
How long are you going to remain on that particular cross?
Finn shoved the thought away. Whatever, he was tired of keeping his temper in check and he was tired of her following him, especially when he’d made it very clear he wanted to be alone.
He scowled. “What part of ‘I’ll talk to him tomorrow’ don’t you understand?”
Surprise flashed across her face, as if she hadn’t been expecting him to be quite so grumpy. Well, too bad. She was the one who’d pushed herself on him, not the other way around, which meant she could suck up his reaction.
“I do understand.” She eyed him. “But you got up and left without a word and I—”
“Because I wanted to be alone. I did not want to have someone following me around demanding I explain myself to them.”
“I’m not—”
“Is that all?”
She blinked. “Well, I…I mean…are you okay?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“You…well, you walked off.”
“I’m tired. And as you can see, I’m okay.” He turned back to the stairs, since he wasn’t going to have a bloody argument with her at the front door, and continued up them.
With any luck, she’d take his foul temper into account and leave.
The stairs opened directly onto a small living area that housed a couch, multiple bookshelves full of books and other knickknacks, a coffee table, and a wood burner. This was for the use of Pure Adventure NZ staff and it served as a break room/planning area and, before Izzy came on the scene, a place for Gus to hang out after school since if Chase was working, he couldn’t take her home immediately.
There was also a kitchen off the living area and a bathroom down a short hallway, along with a small single bedroom.
Finn stalked into the middle of the living area, then came to a stop, his back to the stairs. He could smell a faint, sweet scent. Peaches or apricots…
Apparently she hadn’t gotten the hint and left.
Ahead of him were windows that looked into the green fields and the beech forest that covered the hills of the valley, currently bathed in the glow of the summer sunset.
But he wasn’t taking in the view. Every sense he had was concentrated behind him, on the woman who’d followed him up the stairs.
Sure enough, Beth said quietly, “I’m sorry. I’m not trying to be a pain. I just… Have I done something to make you angry? Because if I have, I’d really like to know what it is so I can stop doing it.”
Finn shut his eyes.
He couldn’t let her blame herself—he couldn’t. He’d promised Clint he’d handle himself and that he wouldn’t let anyone get hurt. Yet here he was, snapping at her when she hadn’t even done anything wrong.
It wasn’t fair of him to take his issues out on her. Especially when his issue was his stupid dick.
You need to tell her, be honest with her.
Finn took a breath and opened his eyes, stared sightlessly at the window and the view beyond.
“You haven’t done anything,” he said into the silence. “The problem is me.”
“Okay.” She sounded puzzled. “So…what is it? Is there anything I can do?”
Finn turned around.
She stood at the top of the stairs, her arms folded across her breasts, a crease between her brows, staring at him as if he was a mystery she wanted to get to the bottom of.
“No,” he said flatly. “There’s nothing you can do.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Because you know if I’m doing something that you—”
“Beth.”
She blinked at the sound of her name. “What?”
“The problem isn’t what you’re doing. The problem is you.”
Shock rippled over her face. “Me? But I thought you said—”
“That it was me? Yeah, it is. The problem is me wanting you.”