The Best Intentions (Welcome To Starlight Book 1)

by Michelle Major

  The two of them had a lot in common, but Finn didn’t want to believe that single-minded focus on work was something they shared. He had very few examples of happy marriages in his life. His parents’ union had been one of them. His dad had always worked long hours, but he’d loved Finn’s mother with his whole heart. And that had made it all the more difficult when his dad closed down so completely after her death. It was as if Finn and Ella weren’t worthy of love with their mother gone.

  Now the one love Jack had left was in jeopardy.

  Finn shook his head, unsure why he felt such a desire to fix this but needing to do it just the same. “It doesn’t matter. Tell me what to do.”

  Roger’s bushy brows drew down over his eyes. “The bank needs to modernize. Draw in new customers while keeping the old ones happy with the personalized service they offer. Most important, they need to be more cautious with lending and minimize the risk for the bank’s credit portfolio.”

  “How long will it take?”

  “You need to implement some of these strategies immediately. Sooner if possible. If the bank can bring in new depositors quickly, you may have a chance at righting things.”

  Panic and resignation battled deep inside him. He didn’t have six months, or even six weeks, to devote to his family’s bank. How was he supposed to put his life on hold? But if he didn’t, would his dad lose everything?

  As if sensing his mounting anxiety, Roger gave him an encouraging smile. “I have a plan we put together for a community bank outside Portland. They didn’t have quite the same set of issues but close enough that it may help.” He looked from Finn to Kaitlin. “Maybe there’s someone you trust in Starlight to spearhead this for you.”

  Finn heard a soft scoff and kept his gaze on Roger. “I’ll figure it out. Thanks for everything.”

  He stood, still not willing to look at Kaitlin. He couldn’t stand it if he saw doubt in her eyes. Even with Roger’s ideas, Finn knew his bid to turn things around was a long shot.

  “I hear wedding bells might be in your future,” Roger said, almost as an afterthought, as he walked them toward the door.

  Finn stopped so suddenly that Kaitlin bumped into him. She quickly stepped away as he turned toward Roger. “I’m not even dating anyone at the moment.”

  The older man clapped him on the shoulder. “I golfed last week with Peter. We saw Chelsea’s father in the clubhouse. Ray said the two of you were taking a break.”

  Another sharp pain erupted behind Finn’s right eye. He’d met his ex-girlfriend, Chelsea Davidson, at a charity event he’d attended with a client. Her dad was a prominent attorney in Seattle and close friends with Peter Henry, his bank’s chief operating officer. On paper she was his perfect match and they’d dated for almost a year. He never should have let it go on that long, but she made it too easy for him. Chelsea had never seemed to expect anything from him until he realized the one thing she did want was an engagement ring. He couldn’t give her that, even though he knew it would help his bid for a promotion.

  “We aren’t together,” he told Roger but somehow knew it was Kaitlin he wanted to hear those words. “The relationship ended for good.”

  Roger rolled his eyes. “Not if Peter and Ray have anything to say about it. Those two were plotting like a couple of matchmaking mamas.”

  “No wedding bells,” Finn insisted, the words coming out a low growl.

  “Whatever you say.” Roger turned to Kaitlin. “It was lovely to meet you.”

  As the two shook hands, Finn darted a glance in her direction. If the news of his ex-girlfriend affected her in any way, she hid it well. Not that she should be affected. Or that he wanted her to be. Except...

  He left the office and strode toward his car, leaving Kaitlin to catch up to his long strides. He clicked the button on his key fob to unlock the BMW’s doors and slid behind the wheel. As soon as the passenger door closed, he pulled away from the curb, focusing all his energy on maneuvering through downtown traffic.

  He turned after a few blocks and entered the parking garage under the building that housed his condo. He waited for Kaitlin to speak, but she remained silent, as if she somehow understood he was at his breaking point right now. He never imagined being in this position with his father.

  She followed as he got out after parking, and the sound of their shoes on the concrete echoed through the cool, quiet space. He punched the elevator button, and the doors slid open. It could be any normal day, although he wouldn’t usually return home in the early afternoon. But the action of pulling out his keys and heading down the hall on the seventh floor, where his condo was located felt so routine. If he concentrated only on the moment, he could almost pretend his life hadn’t been turned upside down.

  But pretending wouldn’t help anyone.

  “Nice place,” Kaitlin said quietly, and Finn glanced around his condo like he was seeing it for the first time.

  He’d bought it for the location and because the address fit with his image. He hadn’t given much thought to the decor. Any thought, really, since he’d hired an interior designer the firm used to buy all of his furniture. She’d gone for a typical bachelor look of sleek leather couches and contemporary accents.

  It had seemed fine at the time, but he had to admit he didn’t have one comfortable place to sit other than his king-size bed. Best not to think about his bed and Kaitlin at the same time.

  He loosened his tie as he walked into the kitchen. “You really think so?” he asked, pulling two glasses out of a cabinet.

  “If you’re into sterile waiting rooms as design inspiration,” she said dryly, “this place is the bomb.”

  Despite the tension rolling through him, Finn smiled at her smart-aleck comment. Kaitlin Carmody didn’t pull any punches, and her refreshing honesty was damn attractive.

  “Let me guess.” He turned and placed the glasses on the island that now separated them, then reached into a lower cabinet for a bottle of liquor. “You’re into lace doilies and embroidered throw pillows?”

  One side of her mouth kicked up. “You might benefit from a needlepoint pillow around here. Maybe with the message ‘Trust me. I’m a banker.’”

  “I’ll keep that in mind the next time I’m out shopping.”

  He poured a finger of liquor into each glass, then pushed one toward her.

  “Liquid lunch?”

  “Liquid and then lunch,” he clarified. “It’s been that kind of a morning.”

  She picked up the glass, grimacing as she sniffed the scotch.

  “That’s an eighteen-year-old single-malt scotch.”

  “Still smells like lighter fluid if you ask me,” she told him but took a tiny sip as he downed his.

  “Not much of a drinker,” he said when they’d both placed their glasses back on the counter, his empty and hers still filled.

  “Not anymore.” She hugged her arms around her waist. “Back in the day I could have drunk you under the table.” She tapped one finger on the rim of the glass. “Even then I didn’t like the taste. But temporarily obliterating reality made downing copious amounts of cheap booze worth it.”

  The more time he spent with Kaitlin, the more difficult it was to imagine her as a hard-partying wild child. Her presence grounded him, and he couldn’t imagine her ever losing control. He had to admit he would have liked to see her lose control. Not with alcohol but from his touch.

  Shaking his head, he undid the top two buttons of his shirt, then grabbed two water bottles from the refrigerator.

  “This might be more your speed,” he said as he handed her one.

  She nodded and took it from him, her fingers grazing his.

  “What are we doing here, Finn?”

  “I need to pack,” he answered simply.

  She took a drink of water, then pressed her lips together. “How long will you stay in Starlight?”

&n
bsp; He liked that she didn’t pretend not to understand his intention. “Like I said, I haven’t taken a real vacation in years. I can get some time off. My boss won’t like it, but I’ll be able to manage most of the day-to-day business remotely.”

  “How long?”

  He blew out a breath. “A couple of weeks.”

  She closed her eyes for a moment. “Thank you,” she whispered.

  “I don’t know if it will be enough,” he admitted. “But if I can manage to implement some of the initiatives Roger mentioned...”

  “I’ll help in whatever way you need. Everyone at First Trust will pitch in. No one wants to see the bank fail.”

  Finn eyed the bottle of whiskey. Of course it wouldn’t help the situation to get totally drunk, but it would certainly feel good in the moment. He grabbed the bottle and shoved it back into the cabinet before he made a decision he’d certainly regret. “What about my father?”

  “Jack wants the bank to do well. You can’t think otherwise.”

  “I know he’s dedicated, but you have to understand that First Trust is in this situation because he wouldn’t modernize and he won’t say no to anyone who needs money. As much as I wanted there to be a smoking gun or a villain—”

  “Me,” she interrupted.

  He inclined his head. “I apologize for that. But yes, I wanted you... Doug, who smells like onions... Anyone to blame for all of the problems. A bad guy is easier to vanquish than an old man so stuck in his ways that he runs his own business into the ground.”

  “Doug always smells like onions,” she said, wrinkling her nose. “No matter what time of day it is. That’s weird, right?”

  He laughed again. “It’s kind of nasty.”

  Her features softened, as if it made her happy to hear him laugh. God help him, he liked the idea of making this woman happy.

  “We can convince your father to make the changes,” she promised. “I know it.” She reached across the island and squeezed his hand. Her fingers were warm, her touch comforting. When was the last time someone had comforted him? When had he ever allowed it?

  He looked down at her small hand covering his. Emotion gathered in the back of his throat and he pulled away.

  “I was a jerk to you.”

  She flashed a crooked smile. “I understand why Doug had suspicions. I became pretty protective of your dad during the cancer treatments, and no one understood the reason. Of course, I also figured you were a jerk in general.”

  “That could be.”

  “It doesn’t matter.” She waved her hand as if dismissing his rudeness, which bothered him. He got the impression she’d dealt with more than her fair share of disrespect and managed it far too easily.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Oh.” Her mouth formed the syllable on a small puff of breath. Clearly she also wasn’t accustomed to hearing those words. “Okay. Well, it’s fine. Really.”

  He wanted to argue but could tell his attention to this detail bothered her. That was the last thing he wanted. To be honest, he needed Kaitlin’s belief that the mess at the bank could be fixed. Even if she was faking her faith in him, it meant something. More than was smart for either of them.

  “I’m going to change clothes and pack a couple of suitcases. I need more than I brought for the funeral.” He pointed to the flat-screen TV that dominated the far wall of the condo. “Feel free to watch a show or whatever.”

  “Whatever,” she echoed.

  “We can get something to eat on the way back if you want.”

  “You don’t need to do that,” she told him. “I know your dad said I need to have more fun, but—”

  “I need fun.” He shrugged. “And food. You don’t want to see me when I don’t get three squares a day.”

  “Then you’re a meal behind,” she said, glancing at her watch.

  “Exactly.” He placed a hand to his stomach. “I’ll be ready in five.”

  Running a hand through his hair, he walked toward his bedroom. He grabbed two oversize suitcases from the corner of the closet and began tossing in clothes. No need to bother with his best suits. Even at the bank, he’d be overdressed in Starlight. He shoved in as many clothes as he could fit, a few pairs of shoes, including his old and recently underused hiking boots, then pulled the two pieces of luggage back toward the main living area of the condo.

  Kaitlin stood to one side of the sink, using a dish towel to dry the whiskey glasses. As he watched, she returned the clean glasses to the cabinet, folded the towel and set it on the counter.

  “You didn’t have to do that.” He felt oddly touched by the small display of domesticity.

  “I have an idea for our late lunch,” she told him. “Or early dinner. Whatever you want to call it.”

  “Is it fun?”

  “Yes, unless you’re a stodgy, sanctimonious stick-in-the-mud.”

  He barked out a surprised laugh. “No pressure.”

  “Exactly,” she agreed. She walked forward and wrapped her fingers around the handle of his smaller suitcase. “Let’s go.”

  The small gesture of solidarity caused a faint pinch in his chest, somewhere in the vicinity of his heart. They walked to the parking garage in companionable silence and loaded the trunk with his luggage.

  “You’re confident you can get the time off from work?”

  He shrugged and hit the button to turn on the car. “Yes, but it wouldn’t change my decision if not. I have to do this. We both know it.”

  She punched something into her phone, then hit a button, and the GPS gave him instructions for which way to turn out of the parking lot.

  “Are you going to tell me where we’re headed?”

  “On an adventure,” she said, brown eyes dancing.

  Adventure. Finn rolled the word around in his head for a moment. It felt unfamiliar and slightly terrifying. His life was about order and stability, and he was heading back into the murky waters of life in Starlight. He wasn’t sure that counted as adventure or if his nerves could handle anything more right now. But Kaitlin was beautiful and smiling at him like she really wanted to spend this afternoon together, despite what an ass he’d been.

  She was giving him a second chance, and he might not be the sharpest knife in the drawer but he was smart enough not to turn it away.

  “Where you lead,” he told her as he pulled out into the shockingly sunshiny Seattle day, “I’ll follow.”

  Chapter Seven

  Nerves danced across Kaitlin’s stomach as Finn turned his fancy car onto the dusty gravel driveway twenty minutes later. They weren’t far from downtown, but it might have been a different planet.

  “Since when is there an amusement park in Seattle?” he asked, leaning over the steering wheel to take in the tall Ferris wheel, twisty roller coaster and various other festival rides.

  “It’s a traveling fair,” Kaitlin said and bit down on her lower lip. “They’ve been open in this location every June for as long as I can remember.”

  “Seriously?” He glanced over at her. “I had no idea. Is this the part of town where you grew up?”

  She swallowed. “Mostly,” she admitted, knowing how shabby this area must seem compared to his upscale building or the sprawling rancher that was the Samuelson family home in Starlight. “I moved around a lot. Foster care and all that. But this was close enough that my friends and I could ride our bikes here on summer afternoons.”

  “That must have been awesome,” Finn said, maneuvering the car over a deep rut in the pasture to park between two Ford trucks. “The most we had was a dunk booth at the town Independence Day festival.”

  “Your life in Starlight was perfect,” she chided. “Don’t try to tell me any different.”

  “Would you believe I’ve never been on a Ferris wheel?”

  “Come on. What about the one on the waterfront downtown?”<
br />
  “Not once.”

  “Then I’m glad we’re here.”

  She unclipped her seat belt and reached for the door handle.

  Finn placed a gentle hand on her arm, and she turned to find him grinning from ear to ear. “Me, too.”

  Warmth spread through Kaitlin, and she forced herself to climb out of the car before she did something really stupid like launch herself across the console and into his lap.

  She had no idea why she’d thought to bring him here in the first place. But ever since Jack had said she needed to have fun, Kaitlin had been thinking about the last time she’d associated that word with her life. The MegaFun Amusement Park had sprung to her mind. No matter what had been going on in her life during any given year, summer nights spent stuffing her face with cotton candy and running from ride to ride with her friends always made her forget.

  Finn needed to forget everything going wrong in his life, at least for a few hours.

  And the fact that he’d never been on a Ferris wheel confirmed that she’d made the right decision. As much as she wanted to keep her distance from him, even more she wanted to see him patch up his relationship with Jack. Maybe he’d even choose to stay in Starlight. She knew that was his father’s dearest wish.

  One step at time.

  “I haven’t been here for a few years,” she told him as they approached the ticket booth. “But if it’s the same as it used to be, we can start with a few ride tickets or get an all-access band. Either way—”

  “Kaitlin.”

  She turned, frowning as Finn stared at her in disbelief, his muscular arms crossed over his chest. He’d changed from his suit into a casual olive green collared shirt and loose jeans, but he still looked out of place amid the couples and families walking past. With his expensive haircut, chunky designer watch on his wrist and general air of superiority, he clearly wasn’t part of this world. Her world. The one she’d belonged to for so long.