by Lowe, Fiona
She tilted her chin. “Some of us have a smaller carbon footprint than others. Even so, it’s not all going to fit in that car of yours with its pocket-handkerchief trunk.”
“So sue me. Had I known you were moving I would have got you a pickup.” The moment he spoke, he caught the spark of an idea light up those glorious eyes like the white light of a sparkler. He silently groaned.
She tilted her head and strands of hair brushed her cheek. “Great idea, thank you.”
“You don’t have a car?”
She shook her head and put out her hand. He caught the flicker of embarrassment that she immediately squashed with the reality of survival. “I can organize a truck though. I just need your phone to do it because mine isn’t working.”
He knew that was code for, “I haven’t paid the bill.” Annika having her own set of wheels and being independent of him made perfect sense but for some reason he found himself saying, “You don’t have any money for gas.”
“It will come with a full tank.” She hooked his gaze with a straight-up and honest stare. “Look at it this way. It frees you up to get back to Kylemore and back to work.”
Work which wasn’t messy and disorganized like this. She was giving him an out and one he should probably take.
She suddenly spun around to face a large clock and her hand flew to her mouth. “Oh, no, I promised Logan I’d watch him dive tonight. Can you please tell him how sorry I am and tell him I’ll go swimming with him later in the week.”
She seemed more distressed by letting Logan down than by being destitute, which he didn’t understand at all. He thought of all the times when he was a kid and his father had promised he’d come to school concerts and basketball games. On hearing the promise his young self would get a rush of excitement edged with anxious anticipation, which was invariably followed by resigned disappointment when Sean failed to arrive.
“Logan will cope.” He had to or he wouldn’t survive being a Callahan.
She wrinkled her nose. “I’m sure he will but I gave my word and I want him to know that I haven’t just blown him off. Or your parents. Will you pass on the message?”
That would involve having a personal conversation with Logan, Dana or his father—something he never put his hand up for. He tossed her his phone. “Call them from the car on our way to the car rental company.”
An hour later, Finn was behind the wheel of a brand-new truck and Annika was at a loss to work out exactly how this had happened when her plan had been that he was the one renting the vehicle and she was the one driving it.
“So where am I taking you, ma’am?”
She imagined him in overalls with a tool belt slung low on his hips—an image she instantly regretted as her breath hitched in her throat. “You’re enjoying this aren’t you?”
He grinned. “Who knew driving a pickup would be this much fun.”
She rolled her eyes and muttered, “Rich boys and their toys,” before taking a deep breath and trying a different tact. She didn’t want to tell him where she planned to live and she sure as hell didn’t want to have him deliver her there.
She shifted in her seat. “This is really taking you out of your way and I’ll just have to drive you back to the lot to collect your car. So now you’ve had a turn at being a regular Joe, take a right here and we can double back.”
“It’s no problem. What sort of boss would I be if I didn’t make sure you were settled?”
“A normal one.”
“Hey, AKP values their staff.”
He looked slightly offended and she built on it, hoping he’d get pissed and leave her alone with the pickup. “You just want to avoid your family.”
A muscle jerked against the dark stubble on his cheek. “I want to make sure you’re settled so you can concentrate on being my P.A. instead of taking afternoons off to sort out your life.”
A niggle of guilt burrowed in. She should feel grateful that he was helping her. Plenty of people in town would have happily helped but they’d have had pity and defeat in their eyes, because her failure to financially survive in Whitetail would be yet another reminder that most people couldn’t do it without an industry. It made her even more determined to get Whitetail up and moving again so folk could rediscover their spirit and pride. The fact that Finn knew she had nothing was somehow easier to bear, probably because of their natural antipathy.
Antipathy with a lust chaser.
Only she knew if she dared to be honest it wasn’t even close to antipathy. Behind that sexy but brusque business facade lay a very likeable man who needed to get out more.
She crossed her arms, refusing to admit to anything. She had to stick to her game plan. “Geez, it was two hours and I’ll make it up tomorrow, which by the way includes a brides’ meeting at the warehouse.” She poked the air with her forefinger. “There’s another reason I need this vehicle. I’ll be in late and you can’t dock me for being out of the office because you insisted I oversee this wedding-caper idea.”
But his offended air seemed to have vanished and he just smiled as he slowed at a four-way stop. “I have no plans to dock your pay.”
“Great. I’ve got an even better idea. You could pay me in advance.”
He checked the rearview mirror, braked and threw the gear stick into Park before leaning toward her with his palm flat on the bench seat next to her hand. His expression was all business. “That would be unwise. First rule of commerce is never pay before services have been rendered.”
Desperately trying to ignore the fact that the air between their hands pulsed with electricity, she spoke without thinking. “Why? I’m good for it.”
His jet-black eyes flared with something a long way removed from business, and his voice dropped five tones as he seemed to move closer. “Oh, I’m sure you’re better than good.”
The words caressed her skin with a delicious shiver and then dove deep. Suddenly the roomy cabin of the truck felt as small and cramped as his Ferrari California and she swallowed hard against a dry throat. Every breath she took filled her with him—the spice of his cologne, the musk of his all-male body and the undisputed scent of delicious danger. It called to her. It marched all over her reason and her common sense with its entreaty and delectable promise that a kiss right now would equal the one the night they met.
God, she wanted to feel like that again. She wanted—craved—to have a moment where nothing existed except sheer wonder and amazement. His eyes darkened to hypnotic ebony and every part of her wanted to fall forward into his arms and onto his lips. With a sigh, her eyelids fluttered closed in delicious anticipation.
The truck suddenly lurched forward and her eyes flew open as her seat belt locked and jammed her against the back of the seat, slamming her with a hefty dose of rational thought. Finn’s words boomed in her head. It was out of line and it won’t happen again.
And it hadn’t. As much as she’d wanted him to kiss her and he’d looked for all the world like he wanted to kiss her, Finn was a man of his word. She should have known that especially after their argument at the police station when he’d told her through rigid lips he was an honorable man. He’d rather walk through fire than kiss her again.
She must shake off this insane attraction. She needed to use his self-control to her advantage considering she had none of her own. She needed an immunity booster shot against a dark-haired, dark-eyed Irishman with dimples, and she had to re-find the grim
determination to avoid relationships that had successfully protected her for the last two years. The solution was obvious. She just had to make sure she didn’t spend any more time alone with Finn than was absolutely necessary.
“I need directions.”
She sighed at his hoarse request with defeat licking at her. She’d almost panted while waiting for him to kiss her and now, to add salt to the wound, she hadn’t even managed to deflect him from dropping her at her new home. “Take a left just up here.”
“A left?” Finn checked because his brain was still refilling with blood after he’d almost kissed those ready red lips. Hell, twice in two days was two times too much, given he’d promised her he wouldn’t kiss her again. She was working for him and kissing staff wasn’t P.C., especially when the thought of stopping the kiss once he’d started was harder than not kissing her at all. And damn it, why did he even want to kiss her when she irritated the hell out of him?
He flicked on the indicator. “Doesn’t that road lead out of town?”
“Yes.”
Her teeth snagged her bottom lip and he took the corner too fast.
She raised a chestnut brow. “The brake’s that big pedal on the left.”
He grinned. “And to think, someone’s actually prepared to have you and your smart mouth in their house.” Except the houses were getting farther apart but as she’d been on the phone the entire time he’d been completing the rental agreement, he figured one of her friends or family must live out here.
She didn’t fire back her usual quick response. Instead, she said quietly, “Turn right up here.”
As he slowed, he recognized the grove of maple and birch trees. “This is the entrance to the business park.”
“Well done. You’ve just graduated Whitetail Geography 101.”
Her sarcasm lacked bite, which made him sneak another look at her. Fatigue and worry lines hovered around her eyes and as he killed the engine, he said, “I don’t recall any houses out here.”
“That’s because I only gave you the warehouse tour.” She threw him a bright smile. “So now you know my location, pull in here and we’ll swap drivers and I’ll take you back to your car.”
“Not before I’ve carried in your boxes.” His feet hit the blacktop and he met her at the back of the truck bed.
“Thanks, but there’s really no need because my friends will help me unload later. Like I said, time is marching and business calls. I’m surprised you’re not a barrel of anxious tics from not checking the six messages that came in over the last half hour.” She crossed her arms. “I don’t want to be the one responsible for your meltdown.”
He was fine with ignoring the phone because none of the emergency ringtones had sounded. She, on the other hand, was a barrel of tics and as skittish as a deer. Even when she’d fallen through the window she’d had more poise than she had right now. He stared over her head looking for a manager’s house or something similar but all he could see were the walls of the two warehouses. He ignored her and started walking.
“Finn, you’re going the wrong way.”
He didn’t believe her. He kept walking and when she jogged up alongside him, his hand shot out automatically to steady her when she inevitably tripped over her feet.
He rounded the corner of the farthest warehouse and met a towering field of green corn. He knew there was no house between the entrance and here, and suddenly all her agitation made sense. “You’re not staying here.”
Her chin lifted. “You said you were happy for the town to use the warehouses and I’m part of the town.”
He tried to keep his voice even but it wanted to rise on a wave on incredulity. “I meant them to be used for business not housing.”
Annika squared her shoulders. “The partitions from the Reggies offices are still here as well as a kitchen and a bathroom. It’s everything a girl needs to set up house.”
“There’s no way in hell you’re staying out here.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Call your parents.”
“They don’t live here.”
That surprised him. Although he spent his life avoiding his family he knew many people had families they wanted to spend time with, and he’d assumed her family was part of the attraction for her living in Whitetail. “Brothers? Sisters?”
She shook her head and he recognized the stubborn glint and failure to back down that had burned them both the night at the police station.
Confusion circled him. “You’ve been extolling the virtues of Whitetail from the moment we met, so even without family, someone will put you up.”
“I can think of twenty people who’d offer in a heartbeat, but I’m not imposing on any of them. They’ve all got their own set of worries and I’m not adding to them.” She blew some hair out of her eyes. “I’ll pay you rent.”
“I don’t want freaking rent.” He could just see the headlines in the local paper: Callahan in Kylemore Luxury While P.A. Lives in Warehouse Squalor. He knew enough about Annika Jacobson to know she’d fight hard for what she wanted and despite being taken to the lowest point, she was determined to try and survive without taking charity. But even a woman who stretched his patience to the nth degree didn’t deserve to squat in a warehouse. Hell, it wasn’t safe out here in the middle of nowhere. “I’ll pay for your accommodation.” He made a quick call to the Whitetail Motel.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Callahan,” the apologetic clerk explained. “It’s the musky fishing tournament in Hayward and we’re full with overflow accommodation. You could try the B and Bs.”
He called them. Same deal. No vacancy.
Shit.
She rubbed her arms as the cool of the evening settled over the heat of the day. “Once I get a coffee maker I’ll be very cozy here.”
“I’ll have Rory evict you if you even try. This time he’ll agree with me.”
For the first time since he’d met her, she seemed at a loss for words. The woman who thought on her feet and was his equal in quick thinking, was strangely silent.
She ran interference with Bridey and Logan today. The thought shone like a light bulb in his head. If she was at the house out of business hours she could do that even more. “You can stay at Kylemore.”
Her blue eyes widened in disbelief. “I can’t just move into Dana’s house.”
He shrugged. “My father has a guest cottage and it’ll save you a long commute to work.”
He watched her thinking about it. Her expressive face hid nothing as she ran through all the aspects of the offer, even though she virtually had no choice.
She suddenly stiffened. “And I’d be sharing with?”
He laughed, understanding completely. No way would he have been offering if it involved her staying with him. He’d have no chance of honoring his promise not to kiss her. “The guest cottage is down by the lake and you’ll have your privacy just like I have mine at my cabin.”
She hesitated and he could clearly see the war of housing need versus imposition. He threw her a line. “You can pay my father rent.”
Her hand shot out. “Deal.”
Chapter Seven
“She’s what?”
Annika had heard the shock in Finn’s voice a moment before he slapped the side of his head with his palm as if it would somehow alter the words he’d just heard Bridey speak.
They’d arrived at Kylemore a few moments earlier and she’d expected everyone to be down by the lake enjoying t
he cookout she’d unfortunately missed. Instead, chaos reigned. The sound of raised voices coming from the kitchen sizzled, and Annika recognized Sean’s velvet voice being answered by Dana’s softer but equally determined one. Added into the mix were the occasional words spoken by Bridey.
Annika’s feet had frozen on the threshold of the terrace’s sliding doors, not wanting to intrude on what was clearly a domestic dispute, but Finn had cupped her upper arm and propelled her forward. “Don’t mind another happy Callahan vacation. I’ll just grab the key to the guest cottage and we’ll get going.”
At that moment, Bridey had stepped out of the kitchen and straight into her brother’s arms. She’d given him a quick hug, which he’d returned warmly before jerking his head toward the kitchen. “What gives?”
“They’re adapting to the news that Mom’s in the guest cottage.”
That bit of information had rendered Finn momentarily speechless before he’d spluttered out, “She’s what?” Then he’d slapped himself on the side of the head. “What the hell is she doing there?”
Bridey sighed, and Annika noticed strain around her usually bright green eyes. “Mom missed the last step as she deplaned and she’s sprained her ankle pretty bad. The B and B had stairs,” she added, as if that explained everything. “They were able to rent the room right away because of some fishing thing so we didn’t lose the deposit.” She caught sight of Annika. “Oh, sorry, Annika. Hello.” Curiosity clung to her cheeks but she stopped short of saying, “Why are you here?”
Finn interrupted. “What about flying Mom home and employing a nurse?”
Bridey rolled her eyes. “That’s exactly what Dad suggested and Dana went ballistic saying, ‘Kathleen stays in the cottage until she can walk out of it.’”
Finn paled. “How long is that going to be?”
Bridey turned her hands palms up. “I don’t know. The doctor in Whitetail said it was a bad sprain.”