She nodded, swiped her fingers beneath her eyes. ‘I’m glad he did what he did. I’m glad you let him do it.’ She understood now how much he must feel he owed Rupert.
‘So when Rupert asks me to...to take care with his little sister, I listen.’
She stilled. Her heart gave a sick thump.
‘I promised him that I wouldn’t mess with you and your emotions. And I mean to keep my word.’
She stiffened. Nobody—not Rupert, not Finn—had any right to make such decisions on her behalf.
His eyes flashed. ‘You owe me a “truth or dare” question.’
She blinked, taken off guard by the snap and crackle of his voice, by the way his lips had thinned. ‘Fine. Ask your question.’
‘Knowing what you know now, would you choose to destroy my friendship with Rupert for a quick roll in the hay, Squirt?’
* * *
He knew he was being deliberately crude and deliberately brutal, but he had to create some serious distance between him and Audra before he did something he’d regret for the rest of his life.
She rose, as regal as a queen, her face cold and her eyes chips of ice. ‘I’d never do anything to hurt your friendship with Rupert. Whether I’d heard that story or not.’
And yet they’d both been tempted to earlier.
‘So, Finn, you don’t need to worry your pretty little head over that any longer.’
He had to grind his teeth together at her deliberately patronising tone.
She spun away. ‘I’m going to bed.’
She turned in the doorway. ‘Also, the name is Audra—not Squirt. Strike Two.’
With that she swept from the room. Finn fell back into his chair and dragged both hands through his hair. He should never have kissed her. He hadn’t known that a kiss could rock the very foundations of his world in the way his kiss with Audra had. Talk about pride coming before a fall. The gods punished hubris, didn’t they? He’d really thought he could kiss her and remain unmarked...unmoved...untouched.
The idea seemed laughable now.
He’d wanted to fling her out of herself and force her to act on impulse. He hadn’t known he’d lose control. He hadn’t known that kiss would fling him out of himself...and then return him as a virtual stranger.
If it’d been any other woman, he’d have not been able to resist following that kiss through to its natural conclusion, the consequences be damned. His mouth dried. Whatever else they were, he knew those consequences would’ve been significant. Maybe he and Audra had dodged a bullet.
Or maybe they’d—
Maybe nothing! He didn’t do long term. He didn’t do family and babies. He did fun and adventure and he kept things uncomplicated and simple. Because that was the foundation his life had been built on. It was innate, inborn...intrinsic to who he was. There were some things in this world you couldn’t change. Leopards couldn’t change their spots and Finn Sullivan couldn’t change his freewheeling ways.
* * *
Finn heard Audra moving about in the kitchen the next morning, but he couldn’t look up from the final pages of his book.
He read the final page...closed the cover.
Damn!
He stormed out into the kitchen and slammed the book to the counter. The split second after he’d done it, he winced and waited for her to jump out of her skin—waited for his stomach to curdle with self-loathing. He was such an idiot. He should’ve taken more care, but she simply looked at him, one eyebrow almost raised.
He nodded. ‘Keep practising, it’s almost there.’
She ignored that to glance at the book. ‘Finished?’
He pointed at her and then slammed his finger to the book. ‘That was a dirty, rotten, low-down trick. It’s not finished!’
‘My understanding is that particular story arc concludes.’
‘Yeah, but I don’t know if he gets his kingdom back. I don’t know if she saves the world and defeats the bad guy. And...and I don’t know if they end up together!’
Both her eyebrows rose.
‘You...you tricked me!’
She leaned across and pointed. ‘It says it’s a trilogy here... And it says that it’s Book One here. I wasn’t keeping anything from you.’
Hot damn. So it did. He just... He hadn’t paid any attention to the stuff on the cover. He rocked back on his heels, hands on hips. ‘Didn’t see that,’ he murmured. ‘And I really want to know how it ends.’
‘And you feel cheated because you have to read another two books to find that out?’
Actually, the idea should appal him. But... ‘I, uh...just guess I’m impatient to know how it all works out.’
‘That’s easily fixed. The bookshop in the village has the other two books in stock.’