by H M Thomas
She nodded.
“I owe them at least another year.”
Her eyes narrowed, and he lifted a shoulder.
“I may have broken a few laws over the years.”
A laugh burst from her mouth. Her eyes went wide and she clapped a hand over her mouth as if trying to contain it. As for him, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d heard such a sweet sound.
“I’m sorry.” She continued to laugh, wiping at her eyes. “It’s not funny, it’s just. A few?”
She’d no doubt read all the court documents by now. She’d know that while he hadn’t known about Raymond Carlisle’s more vile dealing, he’d participated enough in the minor ones.
He shrugged. “So, you see why I haven’t exactly been free to do as I please.”
The laughter died in her throat, and she took a shuddering breath before she nodded. “Will you ever be free?”
“Are any of us?”
She thought she was free, but she’d been manipulated as much as he had. Carpenter and the feds had maneuvered her right into Finn’s path to force his hand.
“Eventually,” he answered her as she stared at him.
“And then what will you do?”
Now he took a deep breath. “Well, for starters I need to build at least two new bedrooms on to this place.”
Her dull green eyes sparkled with unshed tears.
“I missed working with my hands. So, I thought I might stay at home and take care of the kids and build furniture. Probably wouldn’t be the worst life.”
Her head moved back and forth. “No, no it wouldn’t.”
“I’ve got my eye on this girl who’s a pretty badass fed, so I thought she could keep kicking ass, and I’d change diapers or something.” A full-blown grin had bloomed on her face, giving him the courage to take a step forward. “She’s also a trust fund kid, so she could probably stay here in bed with me and not worry about a job.” He slid his hand onto her hip and squeezed before he pulled her against his chest. “What do you say?”
He uselessly searched her gaze for some clue of what she thought. She’d shuttered her eyes the night after Ronnie’s men attacked her. Although she’d confessed that she still loved him, it could take time before she opened up to him again
Both her hands rested on his chest and she rubbed absently over his muscles. “I say you’re pretty confident in your chances.”
His own smile faltered. “Actually I’m not sure at all,” he confessed. “I’m terrified I’ve hurt you too much and you won’t be able to forgive me.”
She dropped her gaze, and he lowered his forehead to hers, waiting until her eyes locked with his.
“You had your reasons,” she started with a sigh. “I hope one day I’ll understand them. Even if I don’t, I’m not willing to lose you again.”
His heart pounded in his chest. “Does that mean we have a chance? Will you marry me and fill this house up?”
Her green eyes glimmered with mirth. “You have to get my dad’s permission first.”
His smile only grew. “No problem, your dad loves me. He’ll be happy to finally have a real man for a son-in-law.”
Giggling, she pushed against him. “I don’t know. I’m the baby. Are you sure he’ll approve of you corrupting me?”
Ha. Like he’d been the one to corrupt her. “You do remember you were the one disguised as someone else the night you seduced me. Right?”
She rolled those hypnotizing eyes and wrapped her arms around his neck. “He’d probably forgive us both if we gave him a passel of grandkids to spoil.”
Hell yeah, he liked the sound of that.
“Absolutely.” He gripped her thighs and lifted her. She wrapped her legs around his hips. God, how he’d missed the weight of her pressed against him. “We could start practicing now.”
She nipped at his lip then slipped her tongue over the tiny wound to soothe it. “Now that is a plan I can get on board with.”
She sealed her mouth to his, kissing him until the familiar taste of her desire replaced that of her tears. He stumbled to the bedroom and fell on top of her on the bed, fitting into the vee of her thighs like a key sliding into a lock. Her fingers slid under the hem of his shirt and he broke the kiss so she could pull it over his head. She tossed it to the floor and stopped.
“What’s that?” Her finger traced the compass over his heart and the new letter tattooed there.
“It’s a G,” he replied, surprised he could answer with the way each of her strokes pulled blood from his brain and sent it straight to his groin.
“There’s no G on a compass.” Again, her eyes swam when they met his.
He nodded. “You’re my true North, Gretchen. As long as I follow you, I’ll find my way home.”
“I love you, Finn.”
Never had he thought three words had the power to heal his entire being, until she spoke and every ravaged part inside him began to knit itself back together.
“I love you too.” He dipped his head again and took her lips, surrendering to the only woman he’d ever love.
HM Thomas grew up in a southern town creating worlds bigger and more dramatic than her own. She credits her dad’s nightly story times for her love of the written word and her mom’s devotion to Days of Our Lives for her love of dramatic fiction.
HM was writing fan-fiction long before it was a thing, taking the characters from her mom’s soaps or her own books and creating even more twists and turns for them. As she got older, she wrote her own friends into the plots. Some of them are still there.
After graduating from a large southern university, HM got her own Happily Ever After and decided to start writing them for her characters as well. She began focusing on romance, oftentimes mixed with suspense.
When not writing, HM enjoys traveling and hiking with her husband, three children and rescue dog. On a good day, she can be found with a book in her hand. On a really good day, there will be sand or a campfire.