CHAPTER 31
Emma
I look down at the Mercedes floor mats and the blue sneakers I bought for two dollars at the Goodwill in Reno.They’re canvas, and I had to knot one of the shoelaces when it broke.
I glance over to see that Finn wears well-worn cowboy boots.They’re dusty and scuffed up, but it’s obvious they’re super expensive, probably hand-made.They’re the kind of boots you take to get resoled instead of replacing.The kind of boots that are designed to last a lifetime.
I suspect most everything about Finn is like that.Quality.Cared for.Built for the long haul.
“You situated?”
I nod.He shuts the door, and I watch him jog around to the other side and hop up in the driver’s seat.He lets out a satisfied sigh and caresses the leather steering wheel.“Now, this is more like it.I don’t have to be a contortionist to fit.”
“You’re very tall.”The instant the words escape, I regret it.I wish I were more of a conversationalist, more clever than I am.But I can’t shove the words back in my mouth, so they just hang there between us.Inappropriate.
It is all kinds of wrong for an employee to comment on her boss’s height, his weight, his dark curls, those eyes of his that are the color of a midnight sky, his SUV, his daughter, or how sexy he is.
Too sexy.Irresistibly sexy.Dangerously sexy.
“Six-foot-four,” he says.
It takes me a moment to realize he’s talking about his height.I’d already movedwaypast that in my mind.
“Everyone asks us, but no, none of us ever played basketball.We played football and baseball some, but mostly, we were too busy shooting and riding and getting into trouble to focus on team sports.Until the SEALs, anyway, which is the ultimate team sport.”
He shoots me a smile that takes my breath away.
I swallow.“All of you were SEALs?”
He nods.“Right down the line.But we all got out at the same time.We started our own company.”
“I see.”
Finn starts the car, but he then he immediately turns it off and turns to me.Something is about to happen.Every nerve ending in my body goes on the fritz when he leans in toward me.His hand reaches out.I’m sure he’s going to pull a Declan on me, just grab my arm and haul me away.
And then he’ll kiss me.
I struggle against the instinct to close my eyes.I need to see him, watch him as our lips meet for the first time.
Finn is an outrageously handsome man.But I’ve seen handsome men before and never felt this spellbound, this kind of intense awareness.So I think the attraction I feel isn’t just about his looks.It’s because of who he is.A man who protects his daughter.A man who lost his wife in the worst possible kind of tragedy but has kept going.A man who knows what it means to be part of a loving family.
The same man who looks at me with hunger in his gaze.
I still.My lips part because I’m powerless to stop them.My body is on autopilot, demanding that I sit up and take notice of what’s happening, and then give in to it.
Finn comes nearer.His hand reaches across my body and…
He grabs the seatbelt, yanks it across me, and fastens it with aclick!
“Safety first,” he whispers, his face nearly touching mine.His breath caresses my mouth, and my tongue sweeps over my lower lip as if to catch it and taste it.
His violet eyes darken, and he stops breathing altogether.“I wouldn’t want to lose you, Emma,” he adds, his voice low and gravelly.
He leans back into his seat and stares forward for a long moment before he pushes the button to start the car.He clicks his own seatbelt.
We drive halfway back to the ranch in complete silence.No words.No music.No road noise seeping in through the Mercedes’s windows.When he finally does speak, I’m so startled that I jump in my seat.
“So, you’re from Reno.”
