“Okay.”
“Okay,” I parroted.
“Have dinner with me tonight.”
“Finn—”
“Hear me out,” he cut in, scooting forward until his knees brushed the outside of my thighs. My heart galloped at the barely-there touch. “The connection we had on the island was real, Waverly. I know you felt it too.”
I’d more than felt it. My overtaxed emotions were the reason I fled the island at the ass-crack of dawn, as if the devil himself was chasing me. Except in my scenario, the blue-eyed devil wasn’t after my soul; he wanted to claim a part of me I’d never given to anyone else. My heart.
“Walking away from you was never an option; not once you smiled at me the first time.” With two fingers, he tipped my chin to meet his gaze. “Give this a chance; give us a chance.”
There was no more running; no more hiding. Finn was offering me the chance at a future I never thought I’d have. It was right there in front of me, ripe for the taking, if I would just grab ahold. He’d laid himself out, so it was only fair I did the same.
“I regretted leaving the second I closed the hotel room door,” I admitted quietly.
“Thank you for saying that, beautiful, but I was always prepared to give chase.”
Finn
“She said yes?”
Sloane’s squeal had me jerking the steering wheel a little to the left. Thankfully, the roads were fairly empty. I’d called her the second I was inside my newly purchased car.
“Why do you sound so surprised?”
“Because you, dear brother, are a donkey’s butt.”
Like me, Sloane didn’t have a thick accent. Our father, apparently, had a thing for American women; specifically procreating with them. Who knew if we had more siblings out there in the world; I was almost afraid to know the answer. We’d even joked about doing one of those at-home DNA tests that are all the rage. Maybe one day.
“Ouch. You wound me.”
“Doubtful,” she scoffed. “So what of the other? Is the FBI going to get involved?”
“Waverly wants her team to take a look at what we’ve got. I’ve already asked Joel to forward everything to her email.”
“That’s good, right?”
“It’ll have to be.”
I ended the call right as I made a left turn down a secluded driveway. Rather than a hotel, Sloane booked me into one of those rent-by-the-month houses. According to my sister, I couldn’t properly woo Waverly without a kitchen to cook for her. I’ll admit, she’d chosen well. The place was stunning.
A black A-frame design accented the home’s sleek glass facade. Four pillars of stone, evenly spaced along the front, gave the modern structure just the right amount of rustic charm. Having the mountain range as the backdrop to it all didn’t hurt either. It was the kind of place I could see myself settling down in; raising a family in.
After parking the steel-gray Acura RDX in the teardrop-shaped drive, I got out and rounded the vehicle, taking the time to breathe in the fresh air as I moved down the stone walkway leading to the porch. I’d been on autopilot for years, going through the paces each day in order to get to the next. I lived to work and I worked to live. There wasn’t room for anything else, much less finding a woman to share my life with.
Then I met Waverly. She checked off all the boxes; gorgeous, intelligent, but it was her nonchalant—slightly prickly—attitude that had my cock swelling in my swim shorts. I was used to women who threw themselves at me because of what they thought my wealth and power could do for them. It was mentally exhausting, so I extracted myself from the dating pool long ago. Maybe the fact Waverly didn’t seem to give a feck one way or another was part of the reason I was immediately drawn to her.
Having a vacation fling never crossed my mind, which was why I didn’t—and wouldn’t—push for anything more intimate; not until we were both ready to fully commit to this relationship. I was too damn old to play the field, not that I ever had. To me, you were either all-in or what the hell was the point?
Spending those seven days with Waverly gave me a preview of a future I wanted with every fiber of my being. Of course, it wouldn’t be a walk in the park to convince thegorgeous FBI agent to give us a shot, but I wouldn’t go down without a fight. She was more than worth the effort.
With a newfound determination, I keyed in the code to the wooden door and crossed the threshold. Exposed cedar beams accented the twenty-foot-high vaulted ceilings; giving the space an airy feel. Crisscrossing in the middle of the room, they created the perfect base for the large fan that hung directly above a winding staircase, which led upstairs to the spacious master bedroom and three additional guest rooms; each with their own en suite.
To the right of the entrance was a state-of-the-art kitchen, complete with stainless steel appliances, a marble island—which also functioned as a breakfast bar—and a double oven that would make a professional baker weep with joy. On the other side, an extra-long, chestnut-colored leather sofa sat beneath a wall of windows, which spanned the living area and extended along the entire west-facing side of my temporary home. A matching love seat sat to its side, forming an L shape, but it was the large stone fireplace it faced which held the most appeal. While it was obvious the owners had money to spare, the decor wasn’t distasteful or outlandish; it was a cozy kind of opulence.
Moving through the kitchen, I snagged a bottle of water out of the fridge before striding past the staircase and the formal dining area, then veering right down a short hallway until I reached the sizable home office. My cell dinged as soon as my arse settled behind the mahogany desk, reminding me of the umpteen meetings I had scheduled with my team late into the afternoon. It wouldn’t leave me much time to prepare for my date; however, there was a good reason why my executive assistant was extremely well compensated. Noreen would undoubtedly have everything sorted in a few hours, considering how ecstatic she waswhen she learned the reason behind my sudden detour to West Virginia. I just hoped her enthusiasm continued when she found out my pit stop was likely to become my landing zone.
