Probably. No doubt there were questions he hadn’t even thought of. But in all honesty he couldn’t take any more tonight. He was utterly drained. God only knew how she had the strength to smile after everything she’d just told him. But then, compared with what had come before, he supposed relaying an account of it would have been a walk in the park. Her courage was staggering. Her resilience was a thing of awe. He’d thought that he was pretty tough, but he had nothing on her. He had nothing at all. ‘We’ll talk more in the morning.’
CHAPTER FOUR
WHILE GEORGIE GOT ready for bed she reflected that, as she’d suspected, it hadn’t been easy telling Finn her story. In fact, reliving events even on the most superficial level had been horrible and exhausting. But it had also been cathartic. The weight and severity of what she’d been through had been overwhelming and now that she’d shared some of it she felt slightly lighter, as if a socking great rock was beginning to lift from her shoulders.
It had helped that Finn was such a good listener. He’d offered no opinion and no judgement. He’d just sat there letting her talk. Of course, it was entirely probable that there’d simply been too much to take in for him to be able to respond with anything more than the most basic of questions, but nevertheless she was grateful for his restraint. And his involvement. It was such a relief to know that she was no longer in this alone, but who exactly was she in it with?
Remembering his suggestion to look him up, Georgie fished her phone out of her bag, then climbed under the gorgeously soft covers of the enormous bed. She tapped his name—complete with surname—into a search engine and spent the next fifteen minutes clicking on links and reading articles.
But, instead of cementing the feeling of safety and security that had been burgeoning inside her, what she discovered blew it wide apart. Because, while she’d already guessed that Finn was successful—what with owning a hotel and a club, driving a top-of-the-range car and living in a penthouse—never in her wildest nightmares would she have imagined that he was one of the richest men in the world.
Yet he was.
His company owned hotels and bars and clubs and restaurants and he was worth billions. He’d worked his way up from virtually nothing to become a top player in his industry. His power was immense and his influence was wide-reaching, and it was suddenly terrifying because now she couldn’t help thinking that what if, once he’d had time to absorb the truth about where she’d been and what she’d been doing for the last six months and reflect on it, he considered her unfit to be a mother to his son? What if he tried to take Josh away from her in earnest? She wouldn’t stand a chance. If it came to a custody battle, a judge would take one look at her with her recent mental health record and another at Finn with his billions and that would be that. Case closed. She was sure of it.
She’d gone into so much detail, she thought, a wave of nausea rolling up from her stomach to her throat. About her behaviour. About her conflicted feelings towards Josh. She hadn’t told him the worst of what had happened, but it had been enough. More than enough.
Her vision blurred and a cold sweat broke out all over her skin at the thought of how much she’d revealed, how vulnerable she’d made herself. What had seemed such a relief a mere half an hour ago now felt like the biggest mistake of her life. What did he think about it all? What could he be plotting? How could she possibly sleep, not knowing what he intended to do next? Morning was too far away. She needed clarification now.
Throwing back the covers, Georgie leapt out of bed and crossed the hall. When she reached his room she didn’t think to knock; all she could focus on was protecting Josh and herself and fighting her corner. She opened the door and strode in. Finn was standing next to the bed, wearing a look of surprise on his face and nothing but a towel wrapped around his hips.
‘I have one more thing to say,’ she said hoarsely, barely able to hear her own voice above the thundering of her heart, ‘and it can’t wait until morning.’
‘What is it?’
‘I am not perfect. I am still in recovery. But I can do this. And I am capable. I am not a risk to either myself or Josh and I never will be. I will not let you take my son away from me. I will never let you take him away from me.’ She stopped, breathing hard, the force of the emotion swirling through her nearly knocking her off her feet.
‘What are you talking about?’ he said with a frown. ‘I have no intention of taking him away from you.’
‘You did earlier,’ she fired back. ‘In the bedsit.’
‘Yet here you are.’
His dark, steady gaze was locked on hers and something in it, together with the very valid point he’d just made, calmed some of the wildness whipping about inside her. ‘How can I believe you?’
‘You have my word.’
‘I don’t know you well enough yet to know if that means anything.’
‘Then you’ll just have to trust me.’
‘How can I?’
‘My mother died when I was ten,’ he said, a shadow flitting across his face. ‘I know what it’s like to grow up without one. It is not something I’d ever wish to inflict on my own son. Josh will always know both his parents.’
His words sank in and she swallowed hard. ‘Do you really mean that?’
‘I do,’ he said with a brief nod.
‘OK, then,’ she said, letting out a breath as the tension and steam inside her eased. ‘Good. Thank you.’
‘Was there anything else?’
‘Ah, no. Sorry to barge in like that. I didn’t realise you were...’ What? What had he been doing? Her gaze, which had been fixed firmly to his, broke away to travel over the rest of him. His hair was damp. The exposed skin of his broad, muscled chest gleamed in the soft golden light of the room. He’d clearly just come out of the shower, and, now that she wasn’t all fired up with needing to say her piece, it hit her with the force of a freight train that she was standing in his bedroom and he w
as practically naked.
‘...In the middle of something,’ she finished lamely, feeling her cheeks burn as she dragged her eyes back up.