Chapter 35: Chapter 35
C H A P T E R - F I F T E E N
The good news, I realized as I approached my house, was that neither Dad's nor Melinda's automobiles were there.
Dad told Melinda over the phone the previous evening that they would be spending the day cleaning and organizing their house. I informed him that I would assist after I completed a couple hours of work in order to keep on schedule.
The bad news was that Finn was sitting on a Harley that was in my driveway.
Shit.
He swung his leg off his bike as I backed up to the curb so I wouldn't block him in. I moved toward the front door as he started toward it.
When I approached, he said, "Hey peaches."
I hadn't bothered with makeup or hair. I'd showered and changed into a new pair of yoga trousers, a camisole, and a zip-up sweatshirt. I hoped I looked like hell, but judging by the way he watched my hips move as I walked, I doubted it.
Or, at the very least, my hips did not.
"Hello," I said.
His gaze shifted from my hips to mine. "Do you have a moment?" ”
"It depends," I said. "Are you come to inform me Isabelle now owes you three million dollars?" ”
“Nope.”
"Are you here for Isabelle?”
“Nope.”
"Did you come to scare me in any other way?"
“Nope.”
"This would involve asking me out on a date," I cautioned.
"Babe, don't date," he said.
This caught me off guard, so I cocked my head to the side. "Do you not? ”
"Does a date consist of tequila shots followed by five hours of sex?" he inquired.
"Um... no," I said.
"In that case, I don't date."
I gave him a kind grin.
Then, naively, I inquired, "Can you have sex for five hours?"
He gave me a kind grin.
Yikes.
Now, let's go on.
"All right, you have a minute."
"Compelled," he grumbled.
When I opened the door, the alarm began to sound. Then I became concerned since I had forgotten the code. Then I took a big breath and recalled the code. The beeping stopped after I entered it in.
Shoo.
I turned around to see Finn follow me in and shut the door.
"See you tamed," he observed as he looked about.
"No, my stepmother has been staying with us owing to fire damage to her living room." She became domesticated."
"She in residence now?" he inquired.
"She's tidying up the fire damage at her home."
"That sucks, sweetie," he said quietly.
"Tell me about it," I said as I stepped into my house, throwing my bag and purse on my couch and turned to see he had followed me.
I cocked my head to look at him.
"I don't have any tequila," I said, and he laughed and flung his head back. I had to concede that his chuckle was as somber and rumbly as his voice, and I enjoyed it.
Shit.
It's time to set some ground rules.
"You should know that I made a new life decision yesterday." "I've given up on guys."
His brow furrowed. "Do you have? ”
“Yep.”
"Does Falcone know about this?"
"I didn't share directly, but I did send a message."
His pupils constricted. “Why? " he inquired.
"It's a long story, and I don't intend to be harsh, but I have some job to do. Then I must collect all of my tiny black dresses and high-heeled shoes and donate them to Goodwill. Then I have to go assist clean up after the fire. After that, I had to go home and bake cookie dough. So maybe we can talk about it."
He rejected my advice. "You appear to have a full day."
"I've got a full life."
"It appears you're about to punch some holes in it, Falcone, no high-heeled shoes."
"I've chosen to go trekking."
He smiled.
"As well as ferret rescue," I said.
His grin softened into a smile.
"Um... did you want to talk?" I inquired.
"Yeah -" he began, but did not finish because the room erupted.
That's correct, it blew up.
We were standing there bantering when the windows smashed inward, glass breaking, plaster erupted from the walls everywhere, and there was, of course, the tremendous boom of many automatic rifles all around.
I stupidly froze, but Finn did not. He grabbed me up at the waist, bowed low, and carried me across the living room to the kitchen, where he set me on my feet and shut the door.
"What's going on?"
" I yelled, without pausing to look for bleeding bullet wounds on him or me.
"Fuck," he murmured as he ripped his phone from his trousers and flicked it open, pressing me across the kitchen till I struck the back wall at the same moment the cacophony entered my living room.
As he pressed in, I put my hands on him, covering me with his body.
“Finn! ”
The sounds ceased.
He held his phone to his ear and was clearly engaged. "Gia's residence, drive-by." That sounds like three or four weapons. I'm separated from my bike and Gia's automobile. "I need quick recon, and I need to know why the fuck they chose her house for a drive-by." He took a breather. "Right," he said, closing his phone.
I was looking up at him, my throat choked, adrenaline coursing through my veins, every centimeter of flesh on my body tingling, a sensation all too familiar.
"Finn," I said quietly.
"Stay here, hang tight," he said, looking down at me. " I'll be right back."
He'd come back?
What did he mean when he said he'd be right back?
He then vanished.
Oh God. Shit. What exactly did I do? My living room was bombed!
My purse may be found in the living room. My phone was tucked away in my handbag.
Shit.
Why hadn't I thought to place a phone in the kitchen? Why? Why? Why, why, why? When it was safe to be in my fucking house again, I installed a phone in every room the first thing in the morning.
"Gia," Finn said as the kitchen door opened and he extended his arm to me.
My anxious gaze was drawn to him as I remained crushed against the rear wall.
“What? " I yelled.
"Come here," he said.
Was he insane? The living room was right here! That room collapsed ten seconds ago!
“What? " I snapped once more.
“Now!" He backed up, and I moved. He grabbed my hand and carried me through my living room nightmare, out the front door, and directly to his bike. I crawled up behind him, wrapped my arms around him and clinging on tight, after he flung a leg over. The engine roared, he backed it out onto the street, and we took off.