“Because I’m a feckin’ eejit who wanted to be someone else for a while. Someone who didn’t have a boatload of responsibilities or threats looming over my head. I wanted to live in the here and now with the most beautiful woman I’d ever met. I’ve spent most of my life surrounded by people who only wanted to get close to me because of what my money could do for them. None of it was real. Then I met you and something shifted inside of me.”
He loosened his grip as the fight left my body, though not completely, which, in hindsight, was a good thing considering his next words nearly sent me to my knees.
“I never expected you; never expected to meet someone one day, then fall on my ass for them the next. Hell, I didn’t even want to go on vacation. Sloane threatened to quit her job if I didn’t let her book the trip. She’s the one who made the reservation using my middle name. I just went along with it for the sake of anonymity.”
Spinning around, my fury faded at the honesty drippingfrom his eyes. “So you didn’t stalk me to a Caribbean island?” I smirked, trying to save face.
He smiled, tracing a finger down the side of my face. “Afraid not. Honestly, I never thought you’d say yes to a date. Then for seven days, I tried to figure out a way to tell you the truth without losing you completely. It didn’t matter in the end because I woke up to an empty bed.”
“Sorry about that.” I winced. “How did you find me?”
“Sloane. I was such a feckin’ mess when I called her. She sweet-talked the resort manager into giving her your name and address. I’m certain there was also a healthy donation to his bank account. Within a few hours, I was on a plane bound for West Virginia. I’ve been here since yesterday. However, your boss took his sweet time before he agreed to the meeting. Plan B was to show up at your house tonight.”
Hesitantly, I backed away, returning to my seat. Finn followed, claiming the one next to me. Between the shock of seeing him again, learning his true identity, and hearing he may be in danger, a dull ache had begun thrumming behind my eyes. Dropping my chin to my chest, I pinched the bridge of my nose between my thumb and first finger, trying to keep the headache at bay until I could swallow a couple Tylenol.
Warmth spread across my back as Finn rubbed his hand along my spine. Immediately, my shoulders relaxed, the motion soothing away some of the tension from the last few minutes. Taking a deep breath, I blew it out, then angled myself to face him.
“Okay. Walk me through the details.”
Finn explained how the first envelope with his pictures inside was left for him at the front desk of the hotel he wasstaying in. He switched hotels immediately, hoping that would solve the issue, except it didn’t.
“A week later, someone slid another envelope under my hotel room door. This one had pictures of Sloane and the twins.”
“None of this makes any sense. What’s the motivation?”
“There are a couple of groups out there who believe what we’re doing is unnatural; that we’re playing God. My security team thinks it could be one of them.”
“Do you?”
Without thinking, I reached out, covering his hand with mine. He took it a step further, flipping his hand and interlacing our fingers.
“I’m not sure. It feels too personal.”
I agreed, but until we had more information, there was no way to rule anything out. Honestly, sending someone pictures—while creepy as fuck—wasn’t a crime. Although we assumed they were meant as a threat, that’s all it was at this point; an assumption.
“Did you file a police report?”
“I tried. The officer who arrived politely informed me I was basically wasting his time.”
“Besides the pictures and the attempts to hack your computers, has there been anything else?” His silence was both deafening and telling. “Finn?”
“It’s nothing, really.”
“Tell me.”
“You get even more beautiful when you’re bossy. Did you know that?”
Slowly, he leaned forward, his ocean blues connecting with my greens. He was so close, the warmth from his breath danced over my lips. All at once, the feelings I’d tried to suppress for the past two days came flooding back like atidal wave breaching the shoreline. It was enough to snap me out of my Finn-induced haze. I pulled away before I did something crazy…like beg him to kiss me.
Clearing my throat, I asked again, “Tell me.”
“There are times when I get the strangest sensation; like I’m being watched.”
“I want to bring my team in on this.”
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”
“You wanted my help, Finn. This is me helping. Trust me to do my job.”
