“Relax. I’m a professional actor. We’ve got this. Just go with it. If we don’t see him, we’ll just act normal. It’s not like I have sex in a booth at a restaurant when I’m with a woman.”
I laughed as he pulled open the door to Cottonwood Café. The place was always booming during the day, while Reynolds’ Bar and Grill, Finn’s brother Hugh’s restaurant, was always booming at night.
“Well, if it isn’t the couple of the hour.” Mrs. Runither, the owner, clapped her hands together. “It’s about damn time you two figured it out. Don’t get me wrong, Dr. Studmuffin is easy on the eyes, too. But Finn Reynolds, I mean… he’s the whole package.”
“Damn straight.” Finn puffed out his chest and smirked. “You’ve always had my back. Bring it in.” He held his arms out, and the horndog, Mrs. Runither, couldn’t get there fast enough. My eyes gaped open when she made no attempt to hide the fact that she was squeezing his ass. My head fell back in laughter. This was what I’d missed about being home. The comfort. The laughs. Cottonwood Cove was my home. My happy place. I just hadn’t liked the job I had when I was here. I wanted to go out and experience something new, be my own person, and find myself. But I always wanted to come back. Home was where my heart was. My family. Finn. Carl. All my friends.
Why couldn’t he have just understood that?
“Wow. You got the whole cheek in there, didn’t you? You don’t want to make my girl jealous, do you?” he teased as he pulled back and kissed the older woman’s cheek.
Very few people tolerated Mrs. Runither, but Finn had always embraced her.
He didn’t mind that she was a dirty old bird and completely unprofessional in the way she violated her customers.
He shrugged it off.
That was the beauty of Finn.
He didn’t take life too seriously.
I hoped he’d never change. He was the eternal Peter Pan.
But he didn’t always understand my internal clock and the timeline pressure I felt to achieve the things I wanted out of life.
“Oh, that’s right. You two are bumpin’ dirties now, aren’t you?” she purred, and I couldn’t help but zone in on her tangerine-colored lipstick that was drawn so far outside the lines of her lips that it looked like clown makeup.
“I mean, look at her. Do you think I could contain myself around her?” His tongue swiped out to wet his lips, and Mrs. Runither groaned as she watched him.
Damn. He really was a good actor.
“Okay, Finn, we should probably get to our table,” I said, anxious to sit down and get away from this awkward conversation.
“Yes, baby,” he said. His tone was so sexy that my eyes widened. “Her ex isn’t here, is he? We don’t need any fights breaking out in this fine establishment of yours.”
He’d always been good at getting information out of people.
“Not that I’ve seen today, but he and his new lady friend do come here often. Christy Rae Lovell is a big fan of my mac ‘n’ cheese.”
“Well, if they do come in, we’d appreciate you sitting them far away from us.” Finn kissed her cheek, and I swear I could see hearts appear in the woman’s eyes.
This was why women needed to be careful with Finn.
He’d broken more hearts than either of us could count, but he’d always managed to walk away still loved. He didn’t lie about who he was, and women found that endearing.
She led us to the table in the back, and I stopped to say hi to several locals. Matilda, the owner of The Tipsy Tea, jumped to her feet to hug me. She’d always been one of my favorites in town.
“I’m so happy you’re back home, Reese,” she said as she hugged me tight. My favorite birthday party of all time was the tea party at her shop when I was eight years old. Of course, Finn had been the only boy in attendance, and he’d been just fine with it. She’d owned that store for as long as I could remember.
“It feels good to be home.” I pulled back and smiled at her.
“And this,” she said with a wide grin as her gaze moved from me to Finn. “I always suspected you two would end up together.”
A sharp pang hit my chest at the realization that we were lying to a lot of good people. Before I could react, Finn’s arms wrapped around me from behind, and he nipped at my ear, which made me squeal.
What the hell was he doing?
He didn’t need to pour it on this thick when Carl wasn’t even here.
“I always suspected it, too, Matilda. I just wasn’t mature enough to recognize it before now. But the heart wants what the heart wants. And I’m all in.”