Fin lifted the buzzer. “Our table is ready.” His expression softened. “Join Zane and me for dinner.”
“No. You have a table for two.” I downed the last of my cosmo. “There’s a bubble bath calling me. I need to go upstairs.”
“You live here?” Zane asked.
“I do.”
Fin took my glass from my grasp. “I think it’s a good thing you’re not driving. Zane can get our table, and I’ll walk you to your place.”
A laugh bubbled from my lips. “Chivalry isn’t dead.”
Fin offered me his hand.
CHAPTER 20
Vee
The bar and patrons faded, and my world wobbled as I laid my hand in Fin’s. Perhaps the few bites of a dry chicken sandwich weren’t sufficient to counteract the potency of four cosmos. “Thank you.” I eased myself down from the barstool. “I can make it upstairs fine on my own.”
“I could pick you up and carry you.”
I attributed the way his threat made my heart beat in double time to the alcohol. A scan of his handsome features searched for a sign of jest and came up empty. “Wouldn’t that make theLexington Herald? Maeve Hubbard and current first-string quarterback, Griffin Graham…”
Fin tipped his head toward Zane.
“I’ll get the table,” his brother said, standing and walking away.
A strong arm wrapped around me. “What floor?”
“Seven.” I sighed, allowing Fin to lead me out of the bar and back toward the elevators. My mind swirled with the happenings of the day. The range of emotions from anxiousness to elation to fear, and to…I wasn’t sure what to label my breakup, the jumbled mix with a lack of nourishment had me totally drained.
As we stopped for the elevator, I pulled away from Fin’s arm. I could stand on my own. Crossing my arms over my chest, I asked, “Do you think Troy will be all right?”
“He’s young and strong. He’ll be all right. I just don’t want him to come back sooner than he should. I’ve seen that happen too many times.”
The doors opened.
We stood silently as the elevator emptied. Together, we stepped in. I reached into my bag and pulled out my keycard.
Fin took it from my grasp, placed it over the sensor, and pushed the button for seven.
“I could have made it home.”
His sexy lips quirked. “I have no doubt, Ms. Hubbard, that you can do anything you set your mind to.”
When the doors opened, I led the way down thehallway. My condo was the last door on the left—a corner unit with two walls of windows and a wraparound balcony.
My tongue darted to my lips as we reached my condo. “We made it. Thank you, Mr. Graham.” I reached into my tote for my keycard.
Like a magician, Fin produced the card from his hand and placed it over the sensor. The light turned green as the locking mechanism whirled. Turning the knob, he pushed my door inward. The humming was my reminder to enter the security code.
The temperature rose as we both stared into the darkened condo, lit only by the dusk sky through the floor-to-ceiling windows, and turned back to one another. I stepped inside, entering the code on the keypad. Instead of stepping away, Fin stood in the doorway unmoving, his sandalwood scent tickling my senses and his muscular body close enough to touch. The urge to lift my arms over Fin’s shoulders and press my body against his was overwhelming. My alcohol-soaked mind tried to speak reason, but my body was pretending not to hear.
“Zane’s waiting,” I finally said.
“Vee.” His deep baritone rendition of my name ricocheted through me.
Lip’s advice came back, a reminder to ask Fin why he didn’t return my calls.
