Miss Prim's Greek Island Fling
She did her best not to choke on her toast and eggs. ‘Doesn’t Rupert know me at all?’ She tossed the words back at him with what she hoped was a matching carelessness.
‘See? That’s what I told him. I said, Audra’s too smart to fall for a guy like me.’
Fall for? Absolutely not. Sleep with...?
What on earth...? She frowned and forced the thought away. She didn’t think of Finn in those terms.
Really?
She rolled her shoulders. So what if she’d always thought him too good-looking for his own good? That didn’t mean anything. In idle moments she might find herself thinking he’d be an exciting lover. If she were the kind of person who did flings with devil-may-care men. But she wasn’t. And that didn’t mean anything either.
‘So...?’
She glanced up at the question in his voice.
‘How long have you been down here?’
‘Two days.’
‘And how long are you here for?’
She didn’t really know. ‘A fortnight, maybe. I’ve taken some annual leave.’
He sent her a sharp glance from beneath brows so perfectly shaped they made her the tiniest bit jealous. ‘If you took all the leave accrued by you, I bet you could stay here until the middle of next year.’
Which would be heaven—absolute heaven.
‘What about you? How long are you staying?’
‘I was thinking a week or two. Do some training...get some condition back.’
He was going to overdo it. Well, not on her watch!
‘But if my being here is intruding on your privacy, I can shoot off to my uncle’s place.’
‘No need for that. It’ll be nice to have some company.’
His eyes narrowed and she realised she’d overplayed her hand. It wasn’t her usual sentiment where Finn was concerned. Normally she acted utterly disdainful and scornful. They sparred. They didn’t buddy up.
She lifted her fork and pointed it at him. ‘As long as you stop calling me Squirt, stop blathering nonsense about love rays...and cook me breakfast every day.’
He laughed and she let out a slow breath.
‘You’ve got yourself a deal... Audra.’
Her name slid off his tongue like warm honey and it was all she could do not to groan. She set her knife and fork down and pushed her plate away.
‘I had no idea you didn’t like being called Squirt.’
She didn’t. Not really.
He stared at her for a moment. ‘Don’t hold Rupert’s protectiveness against him.’
She blinked. ‘I don’t.’ And then grimaced. ‘Well, not much. I know I’m lucky to have him...and Cora and Justin.’ It was a shame that Finn didn’t have a brother or sister. He did have Rupert, though, and the two men were as close as brothers.
‘He’s a romantic.’
That made her glance up. ‘Rupert?’
‘Absolutely.’
He nodded and it made his hair do that fall-in-his-eyes thing again and she didn’t know why, but it made her stomach clench.
‘On the outside he acts as hard as nails, but on the inside...’
‘He’s a big marshmallow,’ she finished.
‘He’d go to the ends of the earth for someone he loved.’
That was true. She nodded.
‘See? A romantic.’
She’d never thought about it in those terms.
His phone on the table buzzed. She didn’t mean to look, but she saw the name Trixie flash up on the screen before Finn reached over and switched it off. Okay.
‘So...’ He dusted off his hands as if ready to take on the world. ‘What were you planning to do while you were here?’
Dear God. Think of nice, easy, relaxing things. ‘Um... I was going to lie on the beach and catch some rays—’ not love rays ‘—float about in the sea for a bit.’
‘Sounds good.’
Except he wouldn’t be content with lying around and floating, would he? He’d probably challenge himself to fifty laps out to the buoy and back every day. ‘Read a book.’
His lip curled. ‘Read a book?’
She tried not to wince at the scorn that threaded through his voice.
‘You come to one of the most beautiful places on earth to read a book?’
She tried to stop her shoulders from inching up to her ears. ‘I like reading, and do you know how long it’s been since I read a book for pleasure?’
‘How long?’
‘Over a year,’ she mumbled.
He spread his hands. ‘If you like to read, why don’t you do more of it?’
Because she’d been working too hard. Because she’d let Thomas distract and manipulate her.
‘And what else?’
She searched her mind. ‘I don’t cook.’