Willow stewed at her desk for long moments after Finn left her office, her heart racing like a jackrabbit, beating so forcefully she could feel it in her lips. It was like someone had lit a sparkler and set it under her skin, lighting her up from the inside out. That’d always been what it’d been like being in Finn’s presence—intense and raw and all-consuming.
Thankfully, she was older now. Wiser. Had a hell of a lot more life experience under her belt than that naïve seventeen-year-old girl who’d fallen for him in the first place, or the equally naïve eighteen-year-old she’d been when he’d left her. She wouldn’t make the same mistake again, wouldn’t get caught up in his orbit. Wouldn’tallowherself to.
“Holy shitballs.” Avery wasted no time hurrying into Willow’s office as soon as the trio of new business owners left. “It’s not often we get eye candy like that in here, but to gettwoof them at once? Damn, girl. It was likeChristmas.” Her eyes sparkled, her smile huge.
Willow feigned nonchalance, dropping her gaze to the papers on her desk. “Oh, were they good-lookin’? I didn’t notice.”
Avery snorted so loud, she slapped a hand over her mouth, her eyes dancing with laughter. Shaking her head, she dropped her hand as she fell into the chair in front of Willow’s desk. “How long have we been friends, Willow?”
Avery knew exactly how long they’d been friends, so Willow just raised a brow. “You gettin’ at somethin’?”
“Um, yeah,” Avery said with a sharp nod. “How about the fact that you’re lying through your teeth? There’s history there—that wasn’t the first time you’d seen those fine-ass specimens. So, spill. I need details, and I need them right-fucking-now.”
Since Avery was a transplant to Havenbrook, having only lived in their little pocket of paradise for a bit less than three years, she hadn’t witnessed the presence of the Thomas boys. And being Willow didn’t like to talk about the boy who’d flipped her whole world upside down, ripping her heart out of her chest in the process, Avery—even as one of Willow’s best friends—had no hope of knowing who Griffin Thomas was. Least of all, who he was to Willow.
Willow stared at her best friend, seeing the resolve on her face, and sank back into her chair. As much as she definitely didn’t want to rehash the abysmal history, she couldn’t deny it’d be nice to have another ear, besides her younger sister Mackenna, to listen. “All right. I’ll give you a condensed version right now, but all the gory details’ll have to wait until I’ve got atleastthree glasses of wine under my belt.”
Avery’s eyes brightened as she rested her elbows on Willow’s desk, leaning forward. “I’ll bring the wine. And I can deal with condensed right now. Although there was nothing condensed about either of those boys, am I right?” She waggled her eyebrows, bringing a levity to the situation that Willow desperately needed.
With a laugh, Willow shook her head. “How can you make me laugh when I’m ready to crawl out of my skin?”
“One of my many redeeming qualities.”
“Too true.” Willow bit her lip, then let out a long sigh. “You remember me telling you about my high school boyfriend?”
Avery nodded. “The one who bailed after he took your virginity? Hard to forget that story. What an asshole.”
“Yeah, well. Now you know why I called him that.”
“Wait, what? Those guys…?” She widened her eyes and slapped a hand down on Willow’s desk. “No.”
“’Fraid so.”
“Which one? Baseball Hat or Gray T-shirt?”
Willow tried and failed not to think about the gray material stretching over the broad muscles of Finn’s chest, the sleeves banding tight around thick biceps. She heaved a sigh. “Gray T-shirt.”
Avery’s mouth dropped open. “Damn, girl, you hit the virginity jackpot. That boy isfine.”
“What I hit was the asshole jackpot.”
The awestruck look dropped from Avery’s face, and she frowned. Reaching over, she patted Willow’s hand. “I’m sorry, hon. We’ll save the rest for after you’re good and toasted. Wine and pizza tonight. Sound good?”
Willow honestly couldn’t think of a better end to this truly awful day. Except maybe a chance to go back in time and avoid it entirely. “Sounds fabulous.”
“Okay, but can we talk about how you actuallycalledhim an asshole? Is that discussion on the table? Because I have questions. Like, were you maybe having an out-of-body experience? Do I need to perform an exorcism on you?”
“Shut up.” Willow laughed.
“Seriously, I don’t think I’ve ever heard you swear around…well, anyone but me and Mac.”
Mackenna was going to have a freaking coronary when she found out Finn was back in town. Which, according to Havenbrook standards, was going to be in, oh, about seven minutes. Nothing much stayed silent in their sleepy little town, especially not gossip as juicy as the Thomas boys being back. Them being backandopening the very first bar Havenbrook had ever seen? Yeah, that was going to spread like wildfire. Her daddy was going to be madder than a hornet when he found out. He’d fought the wet county law tooth and nail, had heavily rallied against it, saying it’dsullytheir town. And even though it’d passed, he’d thus far somehow managed to keep any restaurants in town from carrying alcohol.
But a brand-new bar in Havenbrook owned byFinn Thomas? Heaven save them all. Her daddy had never been Finn’s number one fan—had, in fact, done all he could to keep Willow and Finn from seeing each other. In the end, he hadn’t needed to do anything. Finn had left all on his own.
“He definitely brings out the worst in me,” Willow finally said.
“I don’t know about that.” Avery stood from her chair, shifting toward her desk in the outer office as the phone began to ring. “I sort of loved seeing that fire in your eyes. Rage looks good on you, Will.”
