by Vivian Wood
“No,” she said simply. “I want to leave this place. I’m never coming back.”
Finn didn’t comment, nodding instead. He opened the trunk and put her suitcases in, marveling at how someone’s whole life could fit in a steamer trunk, two large suitcases, and a couple of tote bags. And a purse, he noted, seeing the black leather bag she clutched, as if hanging onto it for support.
“Okay. Give me a minute to make a phone call, and then we’ll be on our way. To where, I don’t know,” he sighed. He used the key fob to unlock the car, then pulled out his cell phone.
He tried Noah first, without success. His brother was probably working out, an unbreakable Saturday morning ritual. So Finn called Charlotte, and when she answered, he felt the first shard of hope pierce his haze of befuddled misery.
“Charlotte?” he asked.
“Finn, are you all right? You don’t sound good,” was her instant response.
“Yeah, I just… Well, no. I have a… situation,” Finn said, his gaze sliding over to Nora. Nora blinked at him, her expression blank, and then she turned and opened the passenger door of the car, sliding in and closing the door.
“That doesn’t sound good,” Charlotte said.
Finn closed the trunk and leaned against the car.
“Yeah. I can’t go into all the details right now, mostly because I don’t really know what happened, but… I’m going to need some help. Can you guys come out to the farm later?”
“Of course. Maybe we can do an early dinner, around six?” Charlotte asked.
“That would be great,” Finn said, relieved. “I just… Wyatt has really done it this time, Char. He brought me out to the Lars clan’s property, and walked me into the backyard. And then I was standing in a mating ceremony…”
“Wait, what? Wyatt took a mate?” Charlotte said, her voice rising with shock.
“No,” Finn said with a sad laugh. “I did, apparently.”
Charlotte’s silence was deafening.
“I’ll kill him,” she said. Finn could visualize her expression, her anger staining her cheeks red, her eyes flashing with fury.
“It’s worth discussing,” Finn said, trying for levity. “But I’m not worried about Wyatt. My new… um, mate… I don’t know. I’m going to need some help, I think.”
“We’re all the way out at Mount Hood. We didn’t think we’d see you today, so we got a room at a bed and breakfast,” Charlotte said. “Let me see if I can call them and cancel our reservation.”
Finn thought for a moment.
“No, don’t cancel it. The problem will keep until tomorrow.”
“Finn, this is more important than your brother and I having a date.”
“The more I think about it, the more I realize I need to spend some time talking to Nora before we can sort anything out. It’ll be easier to do that one on one.”
“Nora, that’s her name?” Charlotte asked.
“The one and only,” Finn sighed.
“Are you sure you don’t want us to come? It would be late, but we could still make it out to the farm tonight.”
“I’m sure. There’s a lot going on at the farm today, so I might not even go back there tonight. I don’t want her to feel like she’s got to come hop in my bed just because we had a surprise ceremony today.”
“You really are such a gentleman, Finn.”
“Yeah, well. I’m pretty sure she thought she was going home with Wyatt today, so I don’t want to disappoint her any further.”
Charlotte was silent for a few beats.
“That girl doesn’t know how lucky she just got, Finn. You’re a hundred times the man that Wyatt is. I hope you know that.”
“The heart wants what the heart wants. I doubt it matters to her what kind of man I am.”
“We’ll sort this out, Finn, I promise. Oh, hold on a second.” Charlotte’s voice grew muffled for a moment, as if she was covering the speaker with her hand. “I just filled Noah in. He agrees that we’re coming back tomorrow, straight out to the house to see you.”
“Thank you, Charlotte,” Finn said, feeling his throat thicken with emotion. She really was the best kind of person, and Finn was lucky to have her for a sister-in-law.
“We’re family,” Charlotte said.
They said their goodbyes, and Finn was left staring at his phone. For what felt like the hundredth time in the last hour, Finn roused himself from his shock. He climbed into the car beside Nora, pulling the door shut. The action felt very final.
“My brother and his mate are going to come to dinner later, help us sort this out. We have some time before then to… talk…” Finn said. A laugh bubbled up from his chest at the absurdity of his own words.
“Okay,” Nora said. She seemed to be completely shut down, immune to surprise as this point. Finn knew the feeling.
“Hey,” he said, reaching out and touching her elbow. She jumped, turning her gaze to meet his.
“Sorry, I’m…” she started, but he could hear the hollowness in her voice. He needed to get her away from this house, take her somewhere neutral where they could really talk.
“Are you hungry? I’m starving,” Finn said.
Nora’s lower lip quivered tellingly, a sign that her strong front was quickly crumbling. She nodded, her eyes growing luminous with unshed tears.
“Is there a good place to eat nearby?” Finn prompted.
“There’s a diner in town that I like,” she said. “Maybe twenty minutes from here.”
“All right. That’s a good first step, I think. Just give me directions,” Finn instructed.
Finn backed up the car and headed down the long driveway, carrying them both toward a new and uncertain future.
89
Four
Nora had to force herself to breathe normally as Finn drove to Cafe Luna, a diner in Eugene that Nora frequented. When her life at the Craig compound became too much, she often packed up her laptop and a book and headed to Cafe Luna, loving their creamy lattes and late-night hours. The fact that they served breakfast 24/7 didn’t hurt, either.
Finn didn’t say much on the drive, other than prompting her for directions, and Nora didn’t rush to fill the silence. She wanted more than anything to freeze time for a few long moments so that she could turn and look at him, really examine him head to toe. He was a complete stranger, this man who was now her forever-mate, and she wanted more from him than the vague impression that he looked like his brother Wyatt.
The thought of Wyatt curled her lips down into a frown. That bastard had queued up this whole affair, stitching Nora up in some murky business dealings between Wyatt and the Craig clan. And then he had the gall to back out on his promise. Not that Nora minded, exactly; she didn’t care for Wyatt one bit. His lascivious grins and slick manner of speaking put her off.
It was more that Nora was a stickler for honoring her promises, in both word and in spirit. Her very presence in this car proved that she didn’t back down once she’d given her word. Wyatt had dishonored a deal of his own making. Worse, he’d made her even more a fool than she already was. She’d walked up to the altar, eyes on the ground, and only when she’d glanced up had she realized that a stranger stood in Wyatt’s place.
That Finn was handsome didn’t matter; Wyatt was handsome as the devil, and he had the personality to match. The confusion and anxiety on Finn’s face had been the only thing to stop Nora from crying foul in front of her whole clan, lifting her dress and taking flight. Well… that, and the promise she’d made to her father. And Lesley’s threats…
Okay, Nora’s reasons for being here were complicated.
“Is this the place?” Finn’s voice startled Nora from her thoughts.
She looked up to see that they were parked at Cafe Luna, and Finn was looking at her as if she might be a half-wit.
“Uh, yeah. Sorry,” she mumbled, grabbing her purse. Finn shucked his suit jacket and wrested off his tie, unbuttoning the top two buttons of his shirt, baring a few inches of smooth
, tanned chest.
While she was still processing that little display, Finn jumped out of the car and ran around to open her door and help her out. She stared at his hand before accepting his assistance, confused. She let him pull her from the car and close the door. She made for the cafe’s front door, nearly laughing at Finn’s insulted expression when she opened the door for herself.
“A gentleman, are you?” Nora asked. She regretted the harsh tone of her words immediately, but Finn seemed to let it roll off his back.
“My mother raised us right,” he said, shooting her a quelling glance. “Wyatt is the exception.”
Nora didn’t reply, but she agreed to herself. She let Finn take the lead in finding them a booth, which was easy enough since there were only two other patrons in the whole place. Nora slid into the hard plastic booth, settling her purse on the bench, and reached for a couple of menus.
She gave Finn a tentative glance, then passed one over. Before he got a word out, the waitress came over, a sixty-something matron with all the friendliness of a honey badger. Luckily, Nora knew Sissy pretty well by now. The woman was prickly on the outside, but soft as a marshmallow inside. It helped that Nora and Sissy had spent hours talking about romance novels, pedicures, and celebrities. Her starched waitress’s uniform didn’t let it show, but Sissy was a girly girl, and liked dishing about men and shopping.
Nora gave Sissy a broad smile as the waitress arrived at their booth.
“Hey, girl,” Sissy grunted in greeting, her eyes flickering from Nora to Finn. “You brought company.”
“Yeah. Uh, Sissy, this is Finn,” Nora said.
“H’llo,” Sissy said, giving Finn a long, slow perusal that Finn couldn’t have missed. He cleared his throat and inclined his head, his gaze narrowing.
“Drinks?” Sissy asked, turning back to Nora.
“Uh… you like espresso?” Nora asked Finn.
“Yeah…” Finn said, his eyes shifting around the restaurant, sizing them up. He looked skeptical at the idea of Cafe Luna offering decent coffee, much less fancy espresso drinks.
“Espresso machine’s in the back, city boy,” Sissy huffed.
“They make a really good latte,” Nora affirmed.
“Okay. I’ll take one. Maybe some ice water and some honey on the side, too?” Finn asked, looking hopeful.
“I’ll have the same, please, Sissy,” Nora said.
Sissy shot Finn a frown and stomped off toward the back.
“Don’t worry, she doesn’t make the coffee. The owner’s son is the resident barista,” Nora informed Finn.
Finn’s skeptical look remained, but he didn’t respond. He looked down at the laminated one-page menu in his hands instead, keeping his thoughts to himself. Nora looked at her menu, too, but she didn’t need to. She got the same thing every time she came here. Sissy knew the order by heart.
“They make great omelets,” Nora said, noticing how Finn’s brow hunched as he scanned the menu. He shot her a quick glance and nodded before returning to scrutinizing the flimsy sheet of plastic.
Nora took advantage of his distraction to study him. Finn was strikingly, classically handsome. He was incredibly tall, way over six feet, with broad shoulders and lean hips. Every inch of him seemed perfectly honed, moreso than just by Berserker genetics alone. Finn worked for it, somehow.
Nora checked out his high cheekbones and dramatic jawline, artfully drizzled with dark stubble. His mouth was full and expressive, his nose proudly Roman, his brows two dark slashes that served to emphasize his eyes. And oh, those eyes… They were the same aquiline hue as Wyatt’s, a piercing turquoise that made Nora’s mouth go dry, but Finn’s eyes were softened by laugh lines. The frosty ice in Wyatt’s gaze was tempered in Finn’s, humanized a little.
“Are you the oldest?” Nora blurted out, the words out before she even knew she was speaking.
Finn raised a dark brow at her out-of-context question, but he only shook his head.
“Youngest in the family. Wyatt’s the second oldest. We’re several years apart,” Finn said, searching her face for a moment.
Nora blushed and nodded, and when she didn’t reply, he returned to the menu. If Finn wasn’t older, then the answer must lie with Wyatt, his character. Truly, Wyatt didn’t seem like the type for a lot of genuine smiles. The type for happiness in general, truth be told. It was one of the things Nora disliked most about him, the fact that he was aggressively unhappy and seemingly content to remain so.
Sissy returned with their lattes and ice water, plus a plastic bear-shaped container of honey, which the waitress dropped in front of Finn with a disapproving glare.
“Alright,” Sissy said to Nora. “Portabella and swiss omelet, extra crispy french fries, raisin toast with honey butter. Right?”
Nora nodded slowly, cringing inwardly at how unhealthy her order probably sounded. She wasn’t exactly on the thin side, as Lesley loved to remind her, and her order explained why to a T. She peeked up at Finn to gauge his reaction.
“That sounds awesome,” he said, tossing the menu onto the table. “I’ll have the same.”
“Mmmhm,” Sissy said, giving him a suspicious scowl. The waitress snatched up the menus and left in a hurry.
“She’s charming,” Finn said wryly, watching Sissy flee to the kitchen.
“She’s actually really nice. She’s just… she’s had a rough time with men,” Nora said, feeling the need to defend the cranky woman who’d become her friend. Nora’s only friend in Eugene, actually. When Nora had left Seattle to return to her father’s homestead, she’d left behind her entire social circle, dozens of friends and a human boyfriend that Nora had really grown to like.
“Didn’t mean to offend,” Finn was quick to say.
Nora looked up and their gazes caught and held for several long beats, awkwardness flaring between them. Nora dropped her gaze first.
“This is awful, isn’t it?” she asked, biting her lip.
“It’s a little uncomfortable,” Finn admitted. He splayed his big hands out over the table, leaving Nora to marvel at their sheer size. She copied his movement, noticing how tiny her hands looked in comparison.
“I’m sorry this happened to you,” Nora said, keeping her eyes on the table.
Finn’s silence drew her attention after a moment. His gaze was intent on hers, a hundred unfathomable emotions sweeping across his face. Nora desperately wished that she knew him well enough to interpret just a few of those feelings.
“Nora, I know… I know we’re in a bad situation, here. I mean…” Finn paused, clearly struggling to find the words. “We’ve been thrown together, and our expectations…”
He stopped and sucked in a long breath.
“We are so screwed,” Nora said. She grinned at the ridiculousness of the whole situation, and Finn grinned back. His smile lit his whole face, taking him from gorgeous to jaw-dropping, and Nora’s heart faltered. She giggled, and before she knew it they were both howling with laughter, unable to contain themselves.
Tension seeped from Nora’s soul. For the first time in days, she felt a flicker of hope. Finn was clearly not his brother, not even remotely similar to that asshole Wyatt. He hadn’t proved to be immediately repugnant; in fact, so far he was proving to be courteous and charming. Nora’s whole world was spinning on one end, but perhaps the fallout wouldn’t be as bad as she’d assumed.
“All right, all right,” Finn said, his laughter easing. “I guess the first step is just… getting to know each other a little.”
Nora nodded, picking up her latte for a long sip. Finn mirrored her movement, tasting his latte. A reverent look crossed his face.
“This is good,” he said, reaching for the honey and spooning some in before stirring his coffee.
“Yeah. Coffee is really important to me,” Nora said.
“Well, there you go. We’ve got one thing in common. Like that song, what’s it called? ‘I said, what about, Breakfast at Tiffany’s…’ You know that one?”
“But applicable, sadly,” Finn said.
Sissy appeared with their plates, dropping their food off in stormy silence. They ate and chatted, talking about their families.
“My father is the only family I’ve got,” Nora said around a bite of raisin toast slathered with honey butter. “My mom died years ago, and I moved to Seattle at seventeen. When I came back, my father had taken a mate who’s even younger than I am.”
“How old are you?” Finn asked, curious.
“Twenty-five.”
“I’m twenty-seven,” Finn said. “In the spirit of getting to know each other. I have to ask, though… You and your father don’t seem especially close. You said you were off living in Seattle… How did you end up back in Eugene?”
“Ah. Good question,” Nora said, setting down her fork. “I told you that I left at seventeen. Things weren’t good at home after my mother died. The clan had a lot of misfortunes around that time, including losing my mother’s trust fund when she died. I wasn’t thriving here, exactly. I wanted to get out, go to college, get away.”
“And you did, obviously.”
“Well, not easily. I tried to run a few times on my own. The last time I ran, I got as far as San Francisco before my father’s men caught me and dragged me back.”
Finn’s easy expression hardened, but he was too polite to interrupt. Nora took a breath and continued her tale.
“The reason my father bothered to keep tabs on me at all is simple. I’m the only capital he’s got. I’ve got no brothers or sisters, and the clan has no real money or power. He needed to keep a bargaining chip up his sleeve, and I’m all he has. Or had, I guess.”
“You seem certain of his motives,” Finn said, curious.
“He’s pretty open about it. He doesn’t even like me as a person, but he values me for political reasons,” Nora said with a shrug. “Anyway, I cut a deal with him. He let me leave the clan, promised me a small stipend and four full years of freedom. In exchange, I’d come home when he called.”