Her chin lifted and her eyes sparked. ‘Yes, I have. What’s more I don’t regret it. I think you’re wrong about him.’
Finn shot to his feet. ‘You can’t have! That’s not possible!’ He pointed a finger at her. ‘We talked about this.’
Audra’s chin remained defiant. ‘We talked about a lot of things.’
They had and—
He shook himself. ‘None of what I said means I’m ready to settle down.’
Her hands went to her hips, but the shadows in her eyes made his throat burn. ‘I think that’s exactly what it means. I just think you’re too afraid to admit it to yourself.’
He might be ready to put his freewheeling, adrenaline-loving days behind him, but it didn’t mean he’d ever be ready for a white picket fence.
Even as he thought it, though, a deep yearning welled inside him.
He ignored it. Happy families weren’t for him. They hadn’t worked out when he was a child and he had no faith they’d work out for him as a man. ‘Look, Audra, what you’re feeling at the moment is just a by-product of your excitement...for all the changes you’re going to make in your life, and—’
From the corner of his eyes he saw Rupert lean forward.
‘And the romance of the Greek islands.’ If he called her Squirt now, she’d tell him that was Strike Three and...and it’d all be over. He opened his mouth, but the word refused to come.
Audra drew herself up to her full height, her eyes snapping blue fire. ‘Don’t you dare presume to tell me what I’m feeling. I know exactly what I’m feeling. I love you, Finn.’ She dragged in a shaky breath. ‘And I know this feels too soon for you to admit, but you either love me too. Or you don’t. But I’m not letting you off the hook with platitudes like that.’
He flinched.
Her eyes filled and he hated himself. He glanced at Rupert. The other man stared back, his gaze inscrutable. Finn wished he’d shoot off that sofa and beat him to a pulp. Rupert turned back to Audra. ‘When did he start calling you Princess?’
He could see her mentally go back over their previous conversations. ‘After that kiss—the steamy one.’
Rupert pursed his lips. ‘He doesn’t do endearments. He never has.’
What the hell...? That didn’t mean anything!
Audra moved a step closer then as if Rupert’s observation had given her heart. ‘You might want to look a little more closely, a little more deeply, at the reasons it’s been so important to you to look after me this last fortnight.’
‘I haven’t looked after you!’ He didn’t do nurturing.
‘What do you call it, then?’ She started counting things off on her fingers. ‘You’ve fed me up. You forced me to exercise. And you made sure I got plenty of sun and R & R.’
He rolled his shoulders. ‘You were too skinny.’ And she’d needed to get moving—stop moping. Exercise was a proven mood enhancer. As for the sun and the R & R... ‘We’re on a Greek island!’ He lifted his hands. ‘When in Rome...’
Her eyes narrowed. ‘You read a book on the beach, Finn. If that’s not going above and beyond...’
Rupert’s head snapped up. ‘He read a book? Finn read a book?’ Audra glared at him and he held his hands out. ‘Sorry, staying quiet again now.’
So what? He’d read a book. He’d liked the book.
‘And that’s before we get to the really important stuff like you challenging me to follow a path that will make me happy—truly happy.’ She swallowed. ‘And don’t you think it’s revealing that you sensed that dream when no one else ever has?’
His mouth went dry. ‘That’s...that’s just because of how much time we’ve been spending together recently—a by-product of forced proximity.’
She snorted. ‘There was nothing forced about it. We spent three days avoiding each other, Finn. We never had to spend as much time together as we did.’ She folded her arms and held his gaze. ‘And I know you spent those three days thinking about me.’
His head reared back.
‘You spent that time bringing my dream to full Technicolor life.’
He scowled. ‘Nonsense. I just showed you what it could look like.’ He’d wanted to convince her she could do it.
‘And while you’re analysing your motives for why you did all those things for me, you might also want to consider why it is you’ve enjoyed being looked after by me so much too.’
She hadn’t—
He stared at her. ‘That ridiculous nonsense of yours when we went running... And then making sure I didn’t overdo it when we went jetskiing.’ Enticing him to read not just a book, but a trilogy that had hooked him totally. ‘You wanted me to take it easy after my accident.’