And the flutters stop.My death of the fantasy that Finnegan Manning has a thing for me stabs me right in the chest.Not going to lie, it hurts a little bit.I mean, I know a guy like Finn wouldn’t be interested in me.Not when Bella Truman is in the picture.She’s everything a guy would ever want.She’s tall and curvy.Her hair is long and dark and naturally wavy.She’s not plagued with the frizzy kind of curls I have.She’s also stunningly beautiful.I’m not saying that because I’m her bestie.Ask anyone.The girl is a bombshell.
“Is she seeing anyone?”
“Uh….”Shit.Finn is looking at me expectantly.I hate to break his sweet little heart but, “Finn….”
“Is she?”he asks again.“Seeing anyone?”
Shaking my head, I answer him.“No but, um, Bella… she likes bad boys.”
I think I surprise him, because his hand lands on his chest, right over his heart.“Bad boys?”
“You know.The motorcycle-riding, heavy-metal-listening, cigarette-smoking bad boys.”Truth?She hates heavy metal and cigarettes, but she’s drawn to those guys likes flies on—well, you get the idea.
“I see.”Finn turns on his heel and reaches for the door.“Place looks nice, Lou.”
“Thanks.”I smile and wish there was something I could say to him to make him feel better.“You know what, Finn?”
He looks back at me over his shoulder.“What?”
“If you like Bella, you should go for it.Obviously, that bad boy thing hasn’t worked out for her.Maybe it’s time she went out with a nice guy.”
“You think so?”
“Yeah.”I give him my brightest smile.
“A little secret.”Finn winks at me.“Nice guys can be bad too.”
And I blush so hard, my face feels like it’s on fire.Which, I guess, he thinks is funny.With a chuckle, he pulls open the door.“All right, well, I’ll go over and talk to your neighbor.”Finn rolls his eyes.“Hell, he probably has no idea Mona called this in.I also suspect her nephew is high as a kite.He usually is.”
“Ah.”I wondered about that.I knew the tenant is her nephew, I didn’t know he dabbled in that.
“And since he lives there for free, he’s going to go along with whatever Mona wants.”
“Free?”
“That’s the word on the street.”
“Well, you know as well as I do, the word on the street’s been wrong before.”But, on this subject, there’s probably truth to it.
“Don’t work too late.”He uses two fingers to salute me.“Oh, and lock this when I leave.”And, poof, he’s gone.
I turn to look out the window into the darkness.The streetlight enables me to see him as he walks toward the neighbor’s house.I’d love to go outside and hide in the bushes to hear that conversation, but it’d probably make me angrier.
No.I need to focus on my work.Time to finish painting.
