Being out alone feels good. A breath of space. Not that I don’t enjoy the guys’ constant presence. I do.
But I wasn’t lying when I told him that I lived alone for years. And I miss this part. A little freedom. The quiet.
My fingers skim over a bundle of herbs on display.
And then I feel him.
Before I hear him. Before I see him. Every part of me knows he’s there.
“I’ve missed this,” Finn’s voice murmurs behind me. “Watching you when they aren’t around.”
It’s low and smooth and filled with something that makes the hairs at the back of my neck rise. I don’t spin around. I just swallow, slow and tight, before turning.
And there he is.
Black shirt, sleeves shoved up to his elbows, ink peeking out from under the collar. His dark lashes seem darker up close, under the fluorescent lights. He looks tired and alive all at once.
And he’s close. So close the air between us feels pulled thin.
“Finn,” I breathe.
He tilts his head, his eyes flicking down, then up—slowly.
“You smell like them,” he murmurs.
My breath catches. He steps forward—not touching, but surrounding. Caging me in with heat and intensity, that look in his eyes tells me he already knows what I’m going to say before I say it.
I take a half step back and bump against the cool steel of the upright freezer. He doesn’t move.
His fingers trail over my cheek, then down my throat, tugging my t-shirt down slightly. They pause just above the fresh mark on my neck. His eyes lock onto it.
“What’s this?”
I swallow. Why do I feel like I betrayed him?
“Little fire, which one did this?”
“Hunter.”
I hate that I answer him. Hate that I care what he thinks.
He presses his lips together, then nods once. “This doesn’t change anything between us, you know. You’re still meant to be with me.”
A shiver dances down my spine—and it isn’t from aversion.
“If he hurts you like Landon did, I won’t be as forgiving,” he adds. “There are ways of making alphas disappear. And I’d do that for you.”
“He won’t hurt me.”
How insane is it that I’m trying to convince my stalker that the man I’m in love with won’t hurt me? I must be just as crazy as Finn. Maybe we’re two of a kind. Maybe that’s why I crave him.
“Good.”
A couple walks past, pretending they don’t see me pinned to the freezer. That’s New York for you—people mind their own business.
I take a slow, steady breath. My chest brushes his as I inhale.
“I told Graham I’d only be eight minutes.”
