The Finn Factor

by Rachel Bailey

  I was torn between grudging respect and unwillingness to be outfoxed by a Border Collie. Harvey grinned at me.

  “I know this will probably sound weird,” I said, glancing back at the vet, “but can dogs smile? Sometimes I get the feeling that he’s grinning at me.”

  She gave Harvey another treat. “It’s not uncommon for dogs to smile. Dalmatians have their own special one, but smart dogs, like Harvey, can learn to mimic elements of human facial expressions.”

  I looked down at the dog sitting at my feet—showing his fake sore paw to the vet, while grinning at me. Yeah, this was my life now. I narrowed my eyes at him, hoping he read human expressions enough to work out that I was on to him, then I sighed and went out to pay the bill.

  Scarlett

  Eight minutes after my lunch break had started, I turned my house key in the lock and opened the front door to find Finn working at the dining table and Harvey sitting on the other side of the screen door, waiting patiently, as if he was certain Finn would open it for him soon.

  Finn glanced up, startled. “Is everything okay?”

  “I’m on my lunch break so I can’t stay long.” Luckily work was only five minutes away, but I’d have to keep an eye on the time. “I wanted to check on Harvey.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “You could have called.”

  “I wanted to see him.” Which was part of the truth. There was something I wanted to talk to Finn about, and lately, we rarely seemed to be alone. Well, except for the night in my attic studio, but not a lot of talk had happened then anyway…

  I slid the back door open and let Harvey in. Finn opened his mouth to say something, and I held his gaze, challenging, and he hesitated. Finally his shoulders slumped a little as if he was giving in. “Just promise me you won’t do that when the others are home. I don’t want it to be a habit.”

  “Sure,” I said. Baby steps. “What did the vet say? Did he get a clean bill of health?”

  “Yep, all fine.” He leaned back in his chair, stretching his arms over his head, and I tried not to watch the play of muscles in his arms as he did. That was new. Not the muscles—my inability to look away from them.

  Though, given how much I’d been fantasizing about those arms being around me again, it probably wasn’t surprising. Even when I’d been mad and barely talking to him, I’d been replaying his kisses over and over in my mind. Making up new endings. I swallowed and looked away before he guessed.

  “Uh, that’s good,” I said, glancing back at Harvey.

  “She checked for a microchip but couldn’t find one.”

  “That’s because he’s our dog now, isn’t that right, Harvey?” I sank down to the floor and wrapped an arm around Harvey. He leaned into my side and panted happily.

  “He’s not ours. If no one claims him, he’ll be your parents’ dog. And leave when they leave,” he said emphasizing each word.

  I dismissed his warning with a flick of my wrist. “Details.”

  “You know,” Finn said, coming over to where we were, “the vet thinks he’s faking about his foot.”

  “He is not faking. Harvey wouldn’t lie, would you, boy?” I wrapped my arms around him and buried my face in his fur. He was so soft and smelled of my mother’s apple shampoo. We’d have to get him some dog shampoo, but his first bath had been a matter of making do with what she had.

  Finn dropped onto the floor beside us, but instead of patting Harvey, he leaned his back against the wall and watched us. “The vet said he might have learned to do it to help him beg for food.”

  “She was probably covering her tracks because she couldn’t find the reason it was sore.” I turned back to Harvey. “Don’t you worry, we’ll get your foot fixed.”

  He watched me a moment longer before asking, “So was that really the only reason you dropped home?”

  I flashed him a reluctant smile—he’d always been able to see through me with too much ease. “I was called in to see the boss this morning.”

  “Problems?” he asked, suddenly more alert.

  “Nope. In fact, they offered me a promotion.” It had been totally unexpected and my first thought was I needed to come home and talk it over with Finn.

  “Promotion to what?”

  “Personal assistant to one of the lawyers. More money. My time would be more flexible because I wouldn’t be tied to the front desk. More job security.” It had all sounded pretty good, and the two partners who’d offered it to me had seemed surprised when I told them I’d get back to them about it. They’d given me till the end of the week.

  He fixed on me with a serious expression. “Why would you need security when this is a temporary job just to save up before finishing your accounting degree?”

  “Well,” I said, trying to sound like the voice of reason, “as you pointed out, I’m supposed to be saving up, and there would be a pay raise.”

  His eyebrows rose. “You’re actually considering this, aren’t you?”

  Sighing, I snuggled back into Harvey. He let me cuddle him and licked my cheek. See, Harvey understood. Finn, on the other hand seemed to have already made up his mind.

  I peeked a look at Finn from around Harvey’s fluffy neck. “It might not have been what I’d planned, but I’d be crazy not to at least give it some thought.”

  “Scarlett, if you were serious about your accounting career, you wouldn’t be contemplating getting more involved in your temporary job.”

  He had a point, and it was the same one that was niggling at the back of my mind. I disentangled myself from Harvey and headed for the kitchen. I came back with two small tubs of yogurt and tossed one to Finn, then passed him a spoon. When I opened my tub, Harvey waggled his ears hopefully, but didn’t beg. I liked that about him, so I held out the foil lid for him to lick. Finn gave a pained sigh but didn’t say anything.

  “Here’s the thing,” I said, pointing my spoon at him. “Sometimes life throws us a curve ball but it turns out to be the best ball because it curves around to where we were supposed to be and so we should follow to where it leads.”

  He blinked once, twice. “I have literally no idea what that means. You’re supposed to hit a curve ball, not follow it.”

  “Work with me here, Finn. I’m saying I didn’t expect it, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a good thing.”

  “I’m trying, but you’ve always said that you wanted to be an accountant.” His eyes were concerned. “It’s been your entire justification for not letting yourself try a career in the arts.”

  Yeah, that was the kicker. I checked my watch. “I need to go. Thanks for the advice. I’ll think about it.”

  As I left, Finn gave me a wave from his spot on the floor, then went back to his yogurt—watched closely by an optimistic Harvey, who was lying at his feet. I smiled as I closed the door behind me. They looked good together.

  Then again, lately Finn pretty much looked good to me no matter what…

  Chapter Ten

  Finn

  “Hey,” Scarlett said when she got home from work that day.

  I looked up from the dining table and scrubbed my hands through my hair, trying to wake myself up from a studying trance. Amelia was at dance class, and Scarlett’s parents were visiting her brother, so I’d barely moved from the books all afternoon.

  Perhaps it was the study-trance, but she looked like an angel standing there in front of me, her blond hair softly falling around her face, her lush mouth smiling sweetly, her white button-down top covering curves… no, wait. Those curves weren’t angelic, they were made for sin. And that sweet smile? It was knowing. And God above, what I wanted to do to that mouth.

  No doubt about it, I was going to hell.

  I scrubbed my hands through my hair again—this time to wake myself from a Scarlett-trance—and managed to say, “Hey.”

  She went to the kitchen, talking over her shoulder. “I stopped at the store on the way home to get dog shampoo and a couple of things, and ran into your friend Rakesh.”

  “O
h, right,” I said, and looked over the notes I’d been making.

  “He mentioned he dropped by your office today but you weren’t there so I told him you’d worked from home so you could take your dog to the vet.”

  “Harvey is not my dog,” I pointed out, but Scarlett wasn’t listening.

  “Anyway, he asked me to give you a message. Said you still hadn’t bought your tickets for the departmental fundraiser this Saturday.”

  I sighed. “Yeah, I’ll—”

  “So I told him we’d be there and bought two tickets.” She appeared again in the archway with a smile too bright to be real. Yep, I was right—there was nothing angelic about her.

  “You bought them?” I hadn’t even decided yet if I was going, and even if I did, taking Scarlett didn’t seem right.

  She drew them out of her bag and handed them over. “I figured that things had stalled with Marnie, so you’d need a date. Rakesh seemed to expect it would be me, anyway.”

  “I wasn’t sure I was going this time.”

  She shrugged a shoulder. “If you still want to take Marnie, or someone else, that’s fine. You can pay me back later.”

  “I’ll pay you back either way, but…” I let my words trail off, unsure how to put it.

  “Finn?” she said, pulling out the chair beside me and sinking down into it. “Have I done something wrong?”

  Aw, hell. Not much got to me more than seeing Scarlett’s worried face. “No, it’s just… I just thought we should be playing it a bit more…cool between us.”

  “Because of a few kisses?” She cocked her head, her hazel eyes puzzled.

  “Yeah,” I admitted. “We don’t want to get into a habit, and going out at night, on something that could feel a bit like a date, might…” Again, I let my words trail off. I had nothing. I got up and headed for the kitchen. Caffeine would help. Caffeine was my friend. I poured water and ground coffee into the pot and flicked the on switch.

  “You think if I go with you,” Scarlett said from behind me, “I won’t be able to keep my hands off you?”

  Without turning around, I shifted my weight from one foot to the other. Her accusation was the exact flipside of the scenario that was keeping me awake most nights. Given half the chance, I wouldn’t be able to keep my hands off her.

  “Of course not.” I grabbed a mug from the cupboard and spooned in sugar, trying to keep my stupid, disobedient hands busy. “I just want us to keep our relationship boundaries clear in our minds.”

  “We’ll be fine. I’ve been your date at these things heaps of times and the boundaries didn’t fall down.”

  “But there was nothing pressing against the edges back then.” I leaned my fists on the counter, my whole body tense. Scarlett’s hand rested on my shoulder, warmth seeping into my skin. My heart rate spiked. A hand on a shoulder was something friends did, something we’d done to each other over the years without thinking. But right now, I wanted to turn under her hand so it was over my heart, then lean in closer—

  “Three kisses are not going to make it too difficult to be your friend at a work function.”

  I edged away from her hand and faced her, my body practically vibrating with tension. “For God’s sake, Scarlett, it’s not just a few kisses.”

  Her forehead scrunched up. “What is it then?”

  She wanted to know? Well maybe if I told her, she’d be more careful and give me some space. “It’s the way I keep replaying those kisses,” I said, my voice sounding almost angry. “It’s the new endings I keep giving them.”

  “New endings?” she whispered.

  “Where we don’t stop.” My chest was heaving as I tried to get enough air to tell her the things in my head. “Where we make it to my bed. Where I don’t stop after kissing your mouth, but keep going till I’ve kissed every part of you I can reach, then keep going some more.”

  The pulse at the base of her neck was throbbing. “Geez, Finn.”

  Her eyes were wide and unblinking. I’d gone too far. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Covering my face with a hand, I thumped my head back on the cupboard behind me. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. Just pretend I didn’t, hey?”

  There was silence. If it wasn’t for the absence of footsteps leaving, I might have thought she was gone. No, even then I’d know she was still there—I could feel her nearness, like I had an extra sense. My skin was alert when she was close by.

  I dropped the hand shielding my eyes and found her watching me, waiting. Her lips were slightly parted and there was a pink flush on her cheeks, running down her neck.

  “I’m not shocked you’re thinking these things,” she said, her gaze not wavering. “I’m surprised it’s not only me.”

  I groaned. “Seriously?”

  “Yeah, but in my endings, we stayed right where we were. Up against the wall.”

  Jesus. She was trying to kill me. I closed my eyes again, hoping that would make it easier, but then her voice came from right beside my ear. “I wrapped my legs around your waist and you drove me out of my mind.”

  A shudder ran up my spine. I swallowed. “But we won’t. If we sleep together, there’s no going back.” She was too important in my life to risk. We’d discussed this. Decided already.

  “No,” she said beside my ear. “We won’t. Even if you kiss me again like your life depended on it. Even if I’m so turned on right now that I’m trembling.”

  The last of my willpower snapped. Without opening my eyes, I turned my head the fraction I needed, and found her mouth. She leaned into me, and I slid my hands from her thighs up her sides, reveling in the curves I found along the way.

  Her mouth was all heat and decadence, and the way her tongue stroked along mine proved she’d never needed any sort of kissing lesson. Within a few moves, she had me totally at her mercy. As my hands reached her neck and slid into her silken hair, a soft sound escaped her throat. It reverberated through me, straight to my groin.

  The sound of a key in the door stopped me cold. The only other people with a key were my sisters, so that would be Amelia coming home from her dance class. The last thing I needed was my little sister finding me in the kitchen with the biggest hard-on known to mankind.

  Wordlessly, I pushed Scarlett back, looked down to my jeans then jerked my head in the direction of the front door. Scarlett grinned, understanding. She ran her fingers through her hair, undoing the rumpled effect my hands had created, and headed out of the kitchen to give me some cover so I could escape. First item on the agenda: a cold shower.

  Finn

  We’d been at the departmental fundraiser for a bit over an hour, and I was slowly going insane. Scarlett was standing a few steps away, surrounded by a group of male PhD students from various faculties, laughing and teasing and generally being the life of the party. She was so damn hot I was having trouble breathing.

  Her old-time movie star curves were hugged by a slinky black dress I’d touched briefly when I’d put a hand on the small of her back as we walked in. My palm still burned. She’d even worn her green leopard print glasses, which had always been my favorite. Her laugh lit up her eyes, lit up the room, and when she threw me an occasional glance, she lit me up, too.

  I’d known bringing her was a bad idea, but since our conversation about it had devolved into a make out session, I hadn’t wanted to discuss it again. Later that night she’d said, “I’ll still come to the fundraiser with you,” and I’d nodded, not trusting myself to speak.

  Rakesh appeared at my elbow and handed me another beer. At this rate Scarlett and I would be catching a cab home and I’d pick up my car in the morning.

  “You know,” Rakesh said as he twisted the top off his bottle, “I’ve always been jealous of your friendship with Scarlett.”

  “Mmm,” I said, watching her say something that made a guy from Geology blush.

  “Yeah.” He took a swig of the beer before he continued. “You two have something nice. Always looking out for each other, and you’re there when things go wrong wit
h your girlfriends or her boyfriends.”

  “Sure,” I said, still watching Scarlett.

  “Actually, I want to ask you something.”

  “Shoot.” I took a mouthful of beer.

  “You going to have a problem if I ask her out?”

  My skin turned ice cold.

  “I know it’s kind of strange to ask you, and it’s not like I’m asking permission, but we work together and I don’t want things to get weird.”

  I looked at him and tried to control my breathing. Rationally, I should be thrilled. Rakesh was a really decent guy who always treated the women he dated well. He’d known Scarlett for a couple of years, and they’d hit it off from the start, so he wouldn’t only be interested in getting into her pants. He must really like her. Here, finally, after four years of scrutinizing her dates, was a guy I could approve of. Plus, if Scarlett dated Rakesh, it would help us move back into the friend zone.

  I should have told him he totally had my blessing to ask her out.

  But I couldn’t.

  The thought of Rakesh kissing her lush mouth, of him touching her smooth skin, made me want to throw up. Or grab her and kiss her in front of everyone so they’d all know to back off. Which she definitely wouldn’t appreciate.

  So instead I shook my head sadly at Rakesh. “Don’t waste your time. She’s seeing someone.” The lie rolled easily off my tongue. Too easily.

  He cast a speculative glance in her direction. “Is it serious?”

  “Yeah, seems so. They’re keeping it quiet for now, but she’s really into him.” I was definitely going to hell. No question about it. I’d promised not to interfere in Scarlett’s dating life again and here I was doing it. Worse, I didn’t regret it in the least.

  Rakesh sighed. “To be honest, I’ve always had a bit of a crush on Scarlett, but never thought I’d have a chance with her.”

  “Seriously?” I’d had no idea. I drank the rest of the beer to give myself some thinking time. What if Rakesh was The One for Scarlett and I’d just ruined it for her? He might be the love of her life. But even the thought of them together made everything inside me tense—I couldn’t do it. Couldn’t tell him she wasn’t seeing anyone. I was a bad, bad person.