Shirley Jump – The Mckennas: Finn, Riley and Brody: One Day to Find a Husband (страница 15)
And oh, so intimate.
In the light of day, the reality of moving in with Ellie presented a bit of a dilemma. Like how he was going to resist her when she was right there every day, in bare feet, humming along to the radio. How was he going to pretend he hadn’t felt anything with that kiss in the courthouse?
Because he did. He’d thought about it all last night, tossing and turning, a thousand percent aware she was also in bed, and mere feet down the hall. He’d made a concerted effort to keep their celebratory dinner more like a board meeting than a date, but still, a part of him had kept replaying that kiss. And had been craving another.
Hadn’t he learned his lesson already? Getting distracted by a relationship left him vulnerable. Made him make mistakes, like nearly marrying someone who wanted only to destroy him. He saw where that kind of foolishness got a person—and it wasn’t a path he wanted to travel.
So he forced his gaze away from her bare feet and her tantalizing curves, and cleared his throat. “Good morning.”
She spun around, and nearly dropped the carafe. “Finn. Oh, hi. I almost forgot …” A flush filled her face. “Good morning. Do you want some coffee?”
“Yes. Please.”
She busied herself with setting up the pot, then turning it on. When she was done, she pivoted back to him. “I’m sorry I don’t have much for breakfast. I’m usually running out the door with a muffin in my hand.”
“A muffin’s fine. Really. This whole … thing was unexpected.” His gaze kept straying back to the ring on her hand. He was now the husband of Ellie Winston. No … Ellie McKenna.
Just a few days ago he’d been thinking how he wanted a relationship without any drama. One based solely on common interests, none of that silly romantic stuff that clouded his brain and muddled his thinking. Now, he had that—
And for some reason, it disappointed him like hell.
What was he thinking? He didn’t need the crazy romantic notion of love. He needed something steady, dependable, as predictable as the columns in his general ledger. The problem was, there was a part of Ellie that Finn suspected, no, knew, was far from predictable. And that was dangerous.
The song shifted from pop to a ballad. The love song filled the room, stringing tension between them.
“I have, uh, blueberry and banana nut.” She waved toward the breadbox. “Muffins, I mean.”
He took a step farther into the kitchen. The walls were a butter-yellow, the cabinets a soft white. No clutter that he could see, merely a few things that added personality—a hand-painted ceramic bowl teeming with fruit, a deep green vase filled with fresh daisies, and a jade sculpture of a dragon, probably picked up in China. It seemed to suit her, this eclectic, homey mix.
Beside him, the coffeepot percolated with a steady drip-drip. The sun streamed in through the windows, showering those curls, those tantalizing curls, with gold. He wanted to reach up, capture one of those curls in his palm. “I’d love one.”
“Which?”
It took him a second to realize she meant which flavor, not which he wanted—her or the muffins. “Blueberry, please.”
“Sure.” She pivoted away, fast. The breadbox door raised with a rattle. Ellie tugged out the plastic container holding the muffins, then spun back. The package tumbled out of her grasp and dropped to the floor. Muffins tumbled end over end and spun away, spinning a trail of crumbs. Ellie cursed.
Finn bent down, at the same time Ellie did, to reach for the runaway muffins. They knocked shoulders and Finn drew back. When had he become so clumsy? This wasn’t his usual self. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay, it’s my fault.” She reached for the muffin closest to them, at the same time he did. Their hands brushed. She staggered to her feet, nearly toppling, and reached out a hand to steady herself. It connected with his bare chest, just a brief second, before she yanked her palm away.
A jolt of electricity ran through Finn. His gaze jerked to her face. Ellie’s eyes were wide, her lips parted. “Sorry,” he said again.
“No, I am.” She looked away from him, back at the floor. “I can make toast, if you prefer.”
Toast? Muffins? Had she been affected at all by that accidental touch? “I’m not hungry. I should get to work.”
Yes, get to work, get to the office and get on with his day. Rather than indulge in any more of this craziness. Get his head clear—and back on straight.
“I’ll clean this up,” she said, gesturing to the mess on the floor. “If you want to hop in the shower and get ready.”
“Sure, sure.” He dumped the crumbs in his hand into the trash, then turned to go.
“Finn?”
His name rolled off her tongue, soft, easy. For a second, he wondered what it would be like to hear her say his name every day. Every morning. Every night. He turned back to face her, taking in those wide green eyes, the sweet smile that curved across her face, and yes, those bare feet. “Yeah?”
She shot him a grin. “Coffee’s ready.”
A heavy blanket of disappointment hung over Finn while he got ready. Hell, what had he expected her to say? Stay? Kiss me? Take me back to the bedroom?
No, he didn’t want that. He wanted exactly what he had—a platonic relationship that let him focus on work and didn’t send his head, or his world, into a tailspin.
Except the image of Ellie in her kitchen, swaying to the music and doing something so mundane as making coffee, kept coming back to his mind. He had lived alone for too long, that was all. That was why the sight of her affected him so much.
He got ready, then headed out the door, leaving Ellie a note that he had to stop by his office and would meet her at WW later. He knew it was the coward’s way out, but he’d been thrown by waking up in her place. It was all moving so fast, and he told himself he just needed some time to adjust.
Later that morning, he was heading up to the tenth floor of the building housing WW Architects, flanked by Noel and Barry, two of his best architects, who’d met him in the lobby. The team Finn brought in had been part of the bidding process, and was already familiar with the Piedmont hospital project, so the trio exchanged small talk until they reached Ellie’s floor. A few minutes later, an assistant led them to a conference room where the WW staff had already assembled. Ellie stood at the head of the table. Her curly blond hair was now tucked into a tight bun, the bare feet were clad in sensible black pumps, and her curvy figure hidden beneath a jacket that turned the blue skirt into a suit.
She was all business now. Exactly what he wanted.
Then why did he feel a sense of loss?
“Thank you for coming today, gentlemen.” Ellie made the introductions between her team and Finn’s. Finn headed to the front of the room to stand beside Ellie. “Before we get started, we … I mean, Finn and I, have an announcement.”
She exchanged a look with Finn. He nodded. They had talked about this last night, and decided the best way to spread the news was fast and first. “We … Ellie and I … we got
Jaws dropped. People stared.
“You got married?” Larry asked. “As in … married?”
“Last night.” Ellie nodded and smiled, the kind of smile that reached deep into her eyes, lit up her features. Just like the smile of a happy new bride. “It was an impromptu thing.”
“You married her?” Noel scowled at Finn. “Is
Finn wasn’t about to tell their employees the real reason he had married Ellie. If he did, it would taint the project. No, let them all think it was some act of passion. Cover up the truth with a lie.
A lie that a part of Finn wished was true. The part that was still thinking about coffee with Ellie and seeing her in the kitchen. “Not at all. Working together is just a … fringe benefit,” Finn said. “Ellie and I agreed to merge our companies for this project. After that, we go back to being separate entities.”
Ellie leaned in and grabbed his arm. That same jolt of electricity rushed through his veins. “Separate business entities at least.” She grinned up at him and for a half a second, he could almost believe she loved him. Damn, she was good at this.
“
Explaining that the practical, methodical Finn they all knew had done just that was suddenly much harder than he’d expected. “Well, I … I …”
“Blame it on me,” Ellie said, pressing her head to his arm. “I didn’t want the fanfare of a big event, and so I told Finn, let’s just run to the courthouse and get it done. Then we can all get back to work.” She peered up at him, her eyes soft and warm. “We’ll take that honeymoon a little later.”
“Uh … yeah,” he said, his thoughts running rampant down the path of what a honeymoon with Ellie would be like. When she was looking at him like that, he could almost believe this was real. That at the end of the day, they were heading back to a little house in the suburbs with a fence and a dog and a dinner on the stove. And more—much, much more—after the dishes were done and the lights were dimmed. “We’re, uh, planning on leaving as soon as this project is done.”