Her Summer with the Marine: A Donovan Brothers Novel (Entangled Bliss)

by Meier, Susan

  Finn chugged his beer, wincing when that hurt his nose too.

  Knowing that his brothers were in this fight with him lifted his spirits. He was no longer an angry man, desperate to save his mother. He was part of the team they had been when they hid together in the closet in Devon’s room.

  But as happy as it made him to have help and support, it only reminded him that Ellie didn’t have any siblings. No one to share her burdens. And as bad as having an abusive father was, having a sick father, a struggling business, a job in another city, and three employees depending on her was pretty bad too.

  He kicked that sympathy out of his head. They were competitors. That was it. He couldn’t be soft on the enemy.

  …

  The next day, Ellie’s ad came out in the Harmony Hills Gazette. But Finn wasn’t worried. It was Tuesday, the day the Rotary Club met for breakfast in the back room of the diner. He’d avoided this group because they were his dad’s peers. But with his dad out of town and Ellie ahead of him with her ad, it was time to get serious about selling his prepaid packages.

  As he expected, all eyes turned to his purple nose as he entered the diner. He deliberately paused to talk with a few people, laughing over the puffiness of his face and two black eyes, but not really letting the conversation steer to his dad. He didn’t want people thinking about his dad. He wanted everyone to see him laughing, making the situation seem small, because that was the best way to diminish the story so his mom wouldn’t have to feel ashamed.

  When he finally arrived in the back room, the fourteen men seated at the long table stopped talking.

  He pasted a smile on his face, walked inside. “Hey, how’s it going?”

  Jeff Franklin, one of the town’s two lawyers, rose and shook his hand. “It’s great. You look a little worse for the wear, though.”

  Finn laughed and pointed at his nose. “This old thing? No biggie.”

  But the gathered group of businessmen, store owners, the town doctor, and Jeff didn’t relax the way Finn wanted them to. He understood that normally his father would have been in this crowd, probably at the head of the table, cracking jokes, pretending to be an upstanding citizen. Undoubtedly, half the guys here wondered about the fight; some might even think his dad was innocent. So he had a little PR work to do.

  He took a seat, ordered breakfast, and worked like a rented mule through breakfast to try to get the group to be comfortable with him. Nothing worked.

  When the meal was done and the Rotary meeting should have started, the strained conversation came to an oppressive halt. He glanced over at the glass double-door entry and there stood Ellie.

  In a white sundress sprinkled with red and yellow flowers and wearing high heels, she stopped his heart. For two seconds, he wished he hadn’t given her the nickname High Heels because it took him back to a moment in his life he wouldn’t mind repeating but knew he couldn’t. Then he saw the computer in her hands and the briefcase.

  No wonder no one was talking to him. They might be upset about his dad. But they were also antsy because his competition was the featured speaker.

  He almost cursed. Apparently, great minds did work in the same direction.

  He rose. “Hey—” He nearly said High Heels but caught himself at the last second. “Ellie.” He stuck out his hand to shake hers.

  She juggled the computer and her briefcase and took it. Electricity sprinted up his arm. This close, he could see the swell of pink cleavage that rose above the curved neckline of her dress. He could smell the sweet floral scent of her shampoo.

  “Finn.”

  Jeff scrambled from his chair and ushered Ellie to the front of the room. “We have the screen set up for you.”

  She smiled. “Thanks.”

  She walked to the front of the room, plugged in her computer, fiddled until she got the PowerPoint program to work, and gave a presentation on prepaid funeral packages that was succinct, eloquent, and professional. After that she spent twenty minutes answering questions, all the while ignoring the fact that her competition was right under her nose.

  Finn said nothing. His attempts to catch her gaze were pointless. So he found himself watching her legs, following the lines of her dress as it flowed over her tight little bottom.

  When she finished her presentation, she smiled. His gaze slid along the soft pink skin of her arms, the top of her chest—skin that he’d touched, tasted.

  She shook the Rotary president’s hand, bid everyone a good day, and left.

  Everything inside of Finn stilled. He couldn’t believe he’d wasted even a single second feeling sorry for this woman. Yeah, she didn’t have siblings to share her troubles, but, good God, she didn’t need them. She was a tiger. He might be a more experienced tiger, but she had skills that evened the playing field. And she wasn’t afraid to use them.

  Red-hot arousal flashed through him. That was what he liked about her. Not the sentimental, emotional crap he’d gotten hung up on on Sunday while his ran the cloth along his face. But this. This fierce little Ellie who turned him on with her ability to more than keep up with him.

  He didn’t want a deep emotional connection. He just wanted to have fun. And she was fun. They were fun.

  Maybe they were going about this all wrong?

  He bounced from his seat. “My funeral home offers the same things Ellie talked about. Except I’m not financing through the bank.” No need to explain he wouldn’t give his dad two cents of the interest money. “I have an online bank that’s more convenient. Plus, whatever my dad’s bank offers as an interest rate, I can go a half a percentage point lower.” He nodded once at the group. “You know where to find me.”

  He raced out of the diner and down the street to catch Ellie.

  She didn’t even glance over when he sidled up to her. “I scheduled this meeting yesterday. I didn’t run up to the diner when I saw you going in. I was their featured speaker.”

  “Clever.”

  “I am clever.”

  “And I’ve got to admit you probably looked a lot cuter than I ever would making that presentation.”

  “Are you insinuating I used sex to sell?”

  “Hell, no. I’m just saying you’re really good at what you do.” He pointed as his nose. “Plus, I’m not at my physical best.”

  She peeked over and a laugh poured out of her. “Your nose is an interesting color.”

  “And a reminder that I’m at war with one of their own members.”

  She winced. “Sorry.”

  “So.” He glanced around. “Advantage to you.” Then he stopped and caught her gaze. “Today.”

  …

  Ellie said, “Right,” but her heart stuttered in her chest. His nose looked awful. His family was the topic of conversation everywhere. She wanted to hold him and tell him everything was going to be all right.

  But it wasn’t. One of them was going to lose.

  He stepped closer. “I think I should give you fair warning about something, though.”

  She swallowed. “What?”

  He stepped even closer, so close they were almost touching. “It turns me on that you’re smart.”

  Heat poured through her. “Stop.”

  “I’m serious. And I just figured out that maybe we’re approaching this all wrong.”

  Add the rough-and-tumble sexy maleness provided by his purple nose to his fantastic scent and his cocky attitude, and all she wanted to do was kiss him senseless.

  “We’ve backed away from our little lust thing, thinking it wouldn’t be right to be lovers because we’re competing. But I figured out this morning that it doesn’t make sense. In the end one of us is going to lose big-time. That’s guaranteed. So why are we avoiding the one thing that might make these next few months fun?”

  She stepped back. “You want to have an affair?”

  He bridged the gap between them. “Why not? Even if we split the prepaid funeral packages right down the middle, one of us is going to run out of backup cash, and that perso
n is going to have to sell out to the other.”

  She knew that, of course. With employee expenses he didn’t have and a ten-thousand-dollar Harmony Hills Hideaway payment every month, she was well aware of how quickly backup cash could disappear. “Yeah.”

  “And we know up front that the loser will mostly likely choose to leave town. You’d go back to Pittsburgh and God knows where I’ll end up, but I’d have to leave to set up shop elsewhere. If we know this is temporary, we’ll stay away from all the messy emotional crap and just have some fun.” He brought his fingers to the strap of her sundress and traced it. “We don’t have to share trade secrets or even feel bad about the other’s success or failures. We wouldn’t talk business anymore. We’d just—” He caught her gaze. “You know. Do the fun stuff.”

  “That’s ridiculous.”

  “Aren’t you tired of being unhappy?”

  Longing tumbled through her. She’d pay good money to laugh with him as she had the day of the Dunk the Clown fund-raiser.

  “God knows I am. My father can’t hide anymore and my brothers stepped in and took over dealing with my mom. And I like you. I don’t want to pretend I don’t.”

  “Are you suggesting we date?”

  “Why don’t we just see what happens?” He smiled. “Tell you what. I’ll give you until my nose heals to think about it.”

  Another laugh bubbled up. “Until your nose heals?”

  “It’s not exactly easy to kiss someone when your nose is swollen. Even a pretty girl.”

  Warmth spread through her. The look that came to his eyes intensified it. He traced his finger along the shape of her dress strap one more time, his rough skin brushing her sensitive skin, raising gooseflesh. Then he smiled, turned, and walked up the street.

  Her breath whooshed out. His idea was ridiculous. They were rivals. They shouldn’t be fraternizing…

  That was a stupid word. Having an affair wouldn’t be fraternizing. It would be…

  She swallowed. It would be fun. And nothing would come of it because he was right. They knew what was happening. One of them was going to win and one of them was going to lose everything. Loser would leave town. No messy breakup if there were no expectations.

  …

  Ellie didn’t see Finn for weeks after that. But she saw evidence of his presence. Many of the people she contacted about prepaid packages told her they’d already met with Finn. She put ads in the paper that ended up side-by-side with his ads. There was no way to tell who was getting more business, or to know if either of them was getting any business at all. Lots of people were holding off on making a decision while they thought through which package they wanted. July became August. The hot sun slowed everybody down. And on sleepless nights, Ellie began to see what Finn meant.

  Fighting was hard. Facing the fact that she might be the one to lose was harder. And her dad had almost totally slipped away. She needed a distraction. She just wasn’t sure it should be Finn.

  The night of Sissy Martin’s wedding, Ellie slithered into the sparkly pink tank dress she’d bought on a shopping trip with Ashley, and felt absolutely decadent. The hem was at least four inches above her knees and the top dipped enough to show a bit of cleavage. She put on tall spike heels and licked her suddenly dry lips. There was no guarantee Finn would even be at the wedding, but if he was, she wanted to look good.

  She wasn’t going to walk up to him and say, “Has your nose healed enough to kiss me yet?” A man who’d ignored her for three weeks might have changed his mind. And she hadn’t really decided becoming lovers was the right thing to do.

  She just wanted to be pretty enough that her options were open. If he gave her that look at the wedding and her hormones danced a samba, then she wasn’t turning him away.

  With one last peek at her makeup, she headed out. She didn’t drive. The fire hall was just up the street. Wedding card in hand, she made her way to Main and crossed at the light. As promised, Tom and Ashley—looking amazing in the frilly red dress she’d bought on their shopping trip—had found their seats at one of the round tables set up in the big echoing area of the hall that usually housed the fire trucks.

  The scents of chicken and rigatoni filled the air as ladies in white blouses and dark dress pants prepared the long buffet. Aqua and white streamers looped across the ceiling. A DJ had set up in the corner of the room, and the sounds of soft rock “dinner music” drifted around them.

  “Holy cow.”

  Ashley spun around once, showing off the frilly skirt of her short dress. “Don’t you love it?”

  “I do. You look amazing.”

  “And you look amazing yourself.”

  Ellie smiled. “I’d forgotten how much I liked to dress up.”

  Pulling out Ashley’s chair, Tom said, “It seems weird to dress up to go to the fire hall.”

  Ashley gasped. “Hey, the bride will be dressed up. In a gown. So will the bridesmaids.” She laughed and gave him a quick kiss. “Don’t spoil our fun.”

  Feeling foolish now that Tom had mentioned it, Ellie looked around as she seated herself. What was she doing trying to entice Finn?

  She said, “It seems like everybody’s dressed up,” but the chair beside her moved.

  She glanced up to see Finn, pulling it out from under the table. “We don’t get a lot of chances to dress up around here.” He sat beside her. “So we take them when we get them.” He paused to smile at Ellie. “You’re beautiful tonight.”

  Two things hit her at once. First, he looked so great in a light-colored suit, white shirt, and aqua tie that brought out the blue in his eyes that her mouth watered.

  Second, memories of kissing him, touching him, being touched by him, blazed through her, telling her that he was right. It almost seemed nature had created them to be lovers.

  He slid his arms across the back of her chair, skimming his fingers along the bare skin at her nape. “I understand you have my trophy.”

  Her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth.

  “I won.” He smiled. “You can’t keep it.”

  Little tingles bubbled through her. “I was going to bring it to you, but—”

  “But you wanted it for yourself. I get it.” He glanced across the table. “Hello, Tom.” He moved his gaze from Tom to his wife. “Ashley.”

  Tom nodded. “Hey, Finn. How’s it going?”

  “Same old same old.”

  Ellie held back a shiver. Her life had boiled down to a routine of talking to her Tidy Whitiez team, visiting a dad who didn’t even wake up most days, and selling funeral packages. She needed fun more than anyone could guess. If he made a pass at her tonight, she knew she’d melt. But she also knew it would be the right thing. No hiding. No puritanical pretense. Just the truth.

  Two more Dinner Belles and their husbands joined them. Carol Connor and her husband, Bill. Brooke Nelson and her husband, Drake. The men took over the dinner talk, with Tom and Finn discussing investments, and Bill and Drake throwing in their two cents. The bride and groom toasted. The guests clanked their forks against their glasses to get them to kiss. The bride and groom danced, then the bride danced with her dad.

  Ellie’s heart unexpectedly dissolved into a puddle of sadness in her chest.

  She’d never have a dance with her dad. Her mom wouldn’t shop with her for a wedding dress. She was alone.

  She was alone.

  OMG, she was so alone.

  Finn rose. “Come on, let’s dance.” Without giving her a chance to reply, he took her hand and pulled her from her seat. As she rose, he whistled. “Look at you.”

  She blushed.

  Holding her hand, he led her to the dance floor. “So…have you given any thought to my suggestion?”

  She swallowed. With her hand in his, behaving like any normal couple, they were announcing to everyone present that they liked each other.

  She glanced around at all the people noticing. The odd looks. The raised eyebrows.

  “Yes.”

  But instea
d of pressing her for her decision, he took her into his arms for the slow dance, and studied her face for a second. “You know what I figured out about us?”

  “I have no idea.”

  “We’re always too serious.”

  She laughed. “That’s because our lives are a mess.”

  “No. Our parents’ lives are a mess, and we’re always dodging fallout.” He spun her around once. “So what if we took a night, one night, and just were ourselves?”

  A little dizzy from the twirl, she stared at him.

  He spun her around again, then dipped her. “Look, I know my suggestion seemed crazy, and I can also see you’re scared.”

  “I’m not scared. Your dancing is making people look at us.”

  “They should. I’m a great dancer, and you are incredibly beautiful tonight. And for once, just once, for one night, we are going to have fun. And to hell with what everybody thinks.”

  The idea that he wasn’t pressing her for sex slid through her. When he’d suggested they have an affair, she’d thought they’d be doing it in secret, not in public. “I’m not sure I know how.”

  He laughed, then twirled her around. “Just do what I do.”

  “I doubt I can twirl you.”

  He laughed. “Twirling’s my job. Saying silly things that make me laugh is yours.”

  The fact that she’d made him laugh bolstered her. “I guess I can handle that.”

  They danced for three songs, just two normal people having fun at a wedding, and she proved she could handle it. After another two songs, though, she was tired and thirsty. Instead of going back to the table, he led her to the bar.

  Landon Farbaugh walked over. “What’ll it be?”

  “What do you have?”

  Jimmy named two popular beers that were on tap. “Or we have cranberry juice and vodka or citrus soda and whiskey.”

  He turned to Ellie. A woman who only drank wine, she had no idea what other alcohol she would like, and she shrugged. “Cranberry juice is good.”

  He turned back to Jimmy. “One cranberry juice and vodka and one draft.”

  He handed her the drink, and she poured it down her throat like water.