“No, I’m glad you did. I get asked about my father quite a bit. But everyone forgets my mother. It’s nice to talk about her. She was a wonderful woman.”
“Was she in politics too?”
To that, he shot Iris a smirk that did not make her suddenly want to slip out of her panties. Nope. Not her.
“No. No, my mother was in public relations.”
“Oh, come on,” Iris said, helpless to fight the smile that spread across her face.
“Yep. Had her own firm. Can you guess where Henry’s mother and father worked?”
“So you guys go way back.”
“We went to college together. He brought me home tohis family on the holidays so I wasn’t alone. He comes off as cold, but there’s a heart under there somewhere.”
“I will have to take your word on that.”
The server came back with their wine, making her suddenly aware that she was still holding his hand. She snatched it back and thanked the server, then reached for her wineglass.
“Yeah, smelling it probably won’t help,” Finn said when she put the glass toward her nose. “A quick sip is probably the smartest bet.”
She followed his instructions, deciding it was arguably much better than fish eggs, but not anywhere near as good as her newly beloved coffee.
“I think I can learn to sip this to be polite—barnacles!” She gasped. Her whole body jolted as another scream wailed from the kitchen.
“Seems like this restaurant is a good test of nervous system regulation,” Finn said.
Finn, as usual, was unflappable, no matter how often or how loud the screaming got.
Meanwhile, Iris felt like every nerve ending was frayed by the time they finished their meal and rose from the table.
“You all right? You’ve looked a little pale for the past few minutes.”
Iris chose not to think of the way her belly swooped as he said those words directly behind her, his breath tickling the shell of her ear.
“Yeah,” she said. She sucked in a steadying breath as they moved outside, where everyone gathered around seemed oblivious to the siren calls within. “Much better now,” she said. Her breath caught as Finn’s arm slidaround her, curling her closer to his body to move her out of the way when some guy stumbled backward toward them.
He kept her close as they made their way through the crowd and toward the edge of the sidewalk.
“Don’t look, but we have company.”
“The paparazzi?” she asked, her mind conjuring up images of catching Monty talking to his reflection in the bathroom one night.No paparazzi. Please, I’m just trying to live my life!
“Yes. What do you say to really selling this?” he asked, his hand tightening on her hip, his arm pulling her more firmly against him.
“How?” She was going to pretend not to hear the breathlessness in her voice. Or the way the closeness was setting off little wildfires of need across her skin.
In answer, his head lowered down, his forehead pressed to hers.
“A kiss,” he suggested, gaze watching hers, waiting for her answer.
“Okay,” she whispered. Totallyjustfor the cameras. No other reason.
That rumbling sound moved through Finn again as his hand rose, sliding along her jaw gently as his head angled.
Then his lips were on hers.
If she’d expected something performative and stiff, she was wholly mistaken.
