Okay, maybe not. The mothers hadn’t pointed to the bed and used their bestmumvoices to order their kids to justdo it already, but none of this would have happened without them and their big fat birthday lie, either. So, right now, with a whole bunch of feelings swirling like a witch’s brew in her stomach and too close to tears to be rational, Sweeney was perfectly happy blaming Ronnie and Connie and their grandbaby ambitions.
It wasbecauseof them, damn it, that Sweeney couldn’t even begin to contemplate anything more than last night with Fin. Because Sweeney and Fin didn’t get a chance to suck it and see. To date for a bit and screw for a bit and figure out if they could be together.
Their mothers had been best friends for almost forty years—there would be expectations. It had to be all or nothing.
Easing out of bed, Sweeney quietly repacked her carry-on and placed it near the door along with her camera bag. She had more clothes in Ballyshannon but it would be easy enough to get them sent on or just leave them there. God knew she had enough clothes in her closet at home.
Home.That thought sat like a cold rock in her squally stomach and when the hell had that happened? When had New York stopped feeling like home?
Leaving that disturbing thought behind in the room with a still sleeping Fin, Sweeney padded to the bathroom, twisting her hair into a topknot as she stepped into the shower. Part of her didn’t want to wash away the smell of him. The smell ofthem. But a long day of travel awaited—it was best to start fresh.
She used his body wash, though, as had become her habit and, on impulse, as she was throwing her belongings into her toiletry bag, she grabbed it from the shower cubicle and threw it in too. Some might have called it strange, maybe even a little creepy, but Sweeney preferred to think of it as sentimental.
It felt like she could keep Fin with her for a bit longer, and she wasn’t going to question that impulse right now.
Zipping up the bag, her gaze fell on Fin’s granny’s ring she’d been wearing for the last four weeks. It was surprising how quickly Sweeney had got used to it being there. Used to its weight. Used to seeing the two hands clasped around a heart every day. Putting it on had felt strange andwrongbut now it felt strange contemplating taking it off.
Shehadto, though, because it had just been a prop in a charade they’d been reluctantly dragged into. And now the charade was over.
Twisting it off, Sweeney placed it in her palm and closed her fingers around it as she emerged from the bathroom to find Fin awake. He was propped against the bedhead, his hair pushed carelessly back off his forehead, his shirtless chest drawing her gaze like moth to flame. He looked warm and sleepy and her heart gave a funny little giddy-up in her chest.
Pausing in the doorway, Sweeney ground her feet into the floor to stop herself from picking up where they’d left off last night. ‘Hey,’ she said.
‘Hey.’ His voice was still husky from sleep as he took in her soft, loose-fitting capris and t-shirt. Flicking a glance at her packed bags, he asked, ‘You’re leaving?’
Sweeney leaned her shoulder into the door jamb. ‘Flights have resumed.’
‘So, you’re…’ He placed a hand over his heart and sighed for dramatic effect. ‘Breaking up with me?’
Sweeney could have kissed him for making this light and easy instead of angsty and uncomfortable. Picking up his vibe, she cocked an eyebrow. ‘Is it really a break-up if it was only ever pretend?’
Except it hadn’t all been pretend and she knew it and, with his gaze locked tight on hers, she knew he knew it, too. Their rekindled friendship hadn’t been pretend. And the sexual attraction that had culminated in last night hadn’t been either.
But Fin didn’t call her on it. ‘Good point.’
Drawing in a steady breath, Sweeney crossed to his side of the bed and gently placed the ring on his bedside table as she sat on the edge of the mattress. ‘I’m sorry to be leaving you in the lurch with the mums.’ Turning up in Ballyshannon tonight without his fake fiancée hadn’t been in the plans. ‘I’ll call mine from the airport and smooth things over.’
For long moments, Fin stared at the ring, his expression pensive, his lips pressed together, and she wondered what he was thinking. Was he relieved the situation was finally over and he could stop living a lie? Was he regretting it had ever started? Or was he maybe a little bit sorry to see the demise of Feeney?
Turning his attention to her, he met her gaze. ‘I can handle the mums.’
Sweeney laughed at the patent falseness of his statement. ‘Themumscannot be handled.’
He grinned like he didn’t think their sixty-year-old mothers being incorrigible was the worst thing in the world, and that added an extra little kick to her pulse.
‘Sure they can,’ he insisted.
‘Fin… the last time we tried, we ended up agreeing to a fake engagement.’
‘A tiny detail,’ he dismissed with a wave of his hand.
He smiled at her then and Sweeney smiled back, and then they were laughing and it soothed the ache that had sprung up in her chest. ‘I’m taking your body wash with me, by the way,’ she said as their laughter settled.
If he was surprised at her announcement, he didn’t show it. ‘It’s all yours. Think of me when you use it.’ And then, as if he’d suddenly realised what he’d implied, he bugged his eyes. ‘No, wait. I didn’t mean… I meant…’ He shook his head. ‘That came out all wrong.’
Sweeney laughed. ‘It’s okay, I get it.’
And she would think about him when she soaped up. In the way he meantandin the way hehadn’tmeant. The distinctive aroma would be a constant reminder of him—for better or for worse.
