“When is Billie arriving?” Amelia asked without looking up from the Border Collie’s bright blue toenail.
“Friday.” Finn’s birthday was Saturday and we were having a small family party for him. With Amelia already home, and Billie coming back for the weekend, our party list was almost complete.
“I haven’t got him anything yet,” Amelia said. “I’ll have to do something this week. Are you giving him a painting again?”
“Yep, it’s almost finished.” The ritual of the teddy bear painting would be continued. Which made me think of Marnie looking at them hanging in Finn’s bedroom, which made me scowl. But it also made me think of Finn in there thinking of me being practically naked, which made me swoon a little and smudge purple polish on the fur beside Harvey’s nail.
“Do you still see Darren?” my mother asked out of the blue.
There was only one Darren I could think of. “You mean my old roommate?”
“That’s the one. He was such a lovely boy.”
“He used to steal my underwear.”
“Ew,” Amelia said.
My mother frowned. “Did he? He seemed so nice.” She turned the page of the newspaper. “What about Sarah?”
“She was arrested for growing pot in the spare room,” I said without looking up from Harvey’s nails. “She moved interstate after that and we haven’t kept in touch.”
Amelia sat back. “Geez, you’ve had a bad run of roomies. Lucky Finn rescued you from all that. We’re much better.”
“That you are,” I agreed.
The year I’d been living in Finn’s house was probably the longest I’d ever lived in one place in my entire life. I felt safe here. Kinda stable, as if I’d set down roots. Not to mention only having to pay teeny tiny rent while I was saving up.
“Good,” Amelia said. “You should live with us forever.”
Before I could answer, the front door opened, and Finn strode in wearing Lycra riding gear that outlined his leg muscles and the breadth of his shoulders. He was panting, his hair was a mess, and his skin was covered in a sheen of sweat. I’d seen him looking that same way about twelve hours ago when we’d had sex, and he looked just as good now. I pretty much melted into the floor. His eyes skimmed over the room, snagged on me for a heart-stopping moment, then continued on, playing it cool in front of his sister. At least I think that’s what he was doing. We hadn’t really discussed what last night meant for our friendship.
“Hey, Finn,” Amelia said, “is there anything in particular you want for your birthday?”
“Uh, not really.” He headed for the kitchen then reappeared with a sports drink. He arched his neck as he drank, and my eyes were drawn to the strong column of his throat, to the Adam’s apple that bobbed as he downed the drink, and to the not-so-faint bruise just below his jaw that I’d made last night. Crap. I glanced around the room, wondering if anyone else had noticed the new mark, but it didn’t appear they had.
Or had they noticed too much and were pretending to be oblivious for politeness’s sake? Crappity crap. Lucky they couldn’t see the bite mark on his shoulder or the scratches on his back…
I looked back down at Harvey’s nails and tried to ooze I Haven’t Had Sex With Finn vibes. Nope, nothing to see here. Just two friends who happen to be in the same room at the same time, not thinking about sex.
Finn moved closer, I could feel him, but I didn’t look up. I was too busy pretending to not have had sex with him.
“You know this dog is not a toy, right?” he said.
Amelia glanced over at me with a puzzled expression, reflecting the one that was probably on my face, then looked up at her brother. “What do you mean?”
“It’s not normal to paint a dog’s nails.”
I shrugged. “Normal is relative. Harvey doesn’t mind.”
“Harvey is doing whatever it takes so you don’t throw him outside.”
At that, Harvey got up and limped around me to stand beside Finn, then raised his sore paw. He was such a sweet dog—even when his paw was hurting, he was willing to shake hands and be pleasant.
Finn frowned down at the Border Collie. “You’re not tricking me. The vet said there was nothing wrong with your foot.”
My mother tsked from the sofa. “Vets don’t know everything, and dogs have pure souls. They don’t lie.”
Finn snorted. “This one does. He has plans and schemes.”
Harvey whined at Finn, clearly desperate to be liked. I scooted over on my knees and wrapped my arms around Harvey’s warm, furry body. “Don’t worry, boy. We all love you.” Harvey licked my cheek, knocking my purple glasses off. I giggled as I replaced them and looked up to see Finn watching me with eyes that were an even darker blue than usual…and filled with scorching heat. All the air was sucked out of the room.
Amelia began to gather the nail polish bottles and put them back in the basket. “We were talking about your birthday,” she said over her shoulder. “Is there something special you want to do?”
Finn blinked hard then looked at his little sister. “Uh, something low key. Maybe grab some pizzas.”
“Not enough.” Amelia sat back on her haunches. “Billie’s coming home all the way from Melbourne for this, so we have to do something.”
“She’s right,” my mother said. “Birthdays are important rites of passage. We should mark it with an appropriate event. I know you’ve been the man of the house for a while now, but have you ever had an initiation into manhood? We could do something to pay you back for having us here.”
Finn turned panicked eyes back to me, clearly imploring my help, but it was way too much fun. I couldn’t resist teasing just a little. “Hmm. Twenty-four. Isn’t that an important year for men? Maybe we could—”
His eyes narrowed on me, then he interrupted, his voice calm. “Has Scarlett told you about her promotion at work?”
“Promotion?” my father echoed. “I thought this was a temporary job?”
Finn’s eyes lit with amusement and he took off down the hall for a shower, leaving me to a lecture about not getting settled in the temporary job, especially now I’d managed to extricate myself from accounting. The Universe had given me a gift with my artistic talents, and I wasn’t honoring that gift by ignoring it. Amelia and Harvey made themselves scarce, and I couldn’t blame them. I smiled and nodded in all the right places, but inside, I was planning payback.
Finn
It had been three days and twenty-two hours since I’d made love to Scarlett. And, even though we still hadn’t discussed it, not one of those hours had passed without me thinking about it. In detail.
Even now, sitting in the silversmithing workshop, where I was supposed to be learning how to work with silver so I could make my own replica of the pipes of Ur, all I could think about was that she was sitting beside me at the bench. Only inches away. Close enough to touch.
I reached across the bench to grab another sheet of silver, brushing her arm, the touch a little too lingering to be accidental. God, I loved her skin. Loved the way it felt, loved the way it smelled, loved the way it tasted…
She stilled and whispered, “Not while I have a sharp pointy thing near my fingers, Finn.”
Sensible. Besides, in the three days and twenty-two hours since she’d blown my mind, the only time we’d been alone was the drive to this workshop, and that had only been about five minutes, so we hadn’t discussed where things stood between us. How our friendship had fared. We were in some kind of limbo.
Sure, I’d caught her shooting me heated looks, but I’d seen her avoiding my eyes even more, and that made my gut squirm with nerves. If a temporary loss of sanity had ruined our friendship, I’d never forgive myself. Getting us back on track was a priority, and this class was a good start. Two friends, attending an art workshop together. Nothing unusual about that. As long as I could stop imagining myself kissing every bit of skin I could see. Which I had to stop doing. Pronto.