Bet in the Dark (37 page)

             
And he looked at me like he wanted to devour me.

             
My bad breath was completely forgotten.

             
He rocked against me, his leg building pressure in between mine. I gasped and clutched at his shoulders.

             
“You’re so beautiful,” he whispered above me. My whole body reacted to those words, melting into him. He leaned down, kissing me so sweetly on the corner of my mouth. “I’m never going to be able to stay away, Ellie.”

             
Just as I was about to tell him not to Britte started banging on my door, causing us both to jump. Fin’s head shot up and he glared at the door like he could destroy it with the power of his stare.

             
“Ellie, I know Fin’s in there!” She shouted. “Beckett’s on his way over right now! I’m so sorry! I asked him last night for help with the couch my dad’s bringing just to get him to shut up about it! I had no idea you would be uh…. busy.” She squeaked the last word and I felt my skin flush bright red.

             
Fin looked down at me, a proud smirk twisting his lips. “You are busy,” he murmured. He went back to nuzzling my neck, kissing me again but lighter, slower kisses, the original desperation gone.

             
“Ellie!” Britte shouted, a bit frantically.

             
“Ok, thanks, B!” I called back but my voice was hoarse from sleep.

             
“God, you sound sexy,” Fin rumbled against my throat. His shadow of a beard was scratchy against my skin, abrading it with each movement of his face, but I found that I loved the feeling of it, loved how I could feel where his skin had been touching mine.

             
“Fin,” I whispered, refusing to believe he had to go.

             
“I’m leaving, but only because Beckett would never accept us if he found me here like this,” he sounded so responsible. So…. hopeful. “I’ll call you later.”

             
And then he was off me and sitting at the edge of the bed. He straightened his t-shirt and then reached down for his shoes.

             
“You work today?” he asked from over his shoulder.

             
“Yes, it’s my Sunday shift,” I explained. I was a little shell-shocked after spending the night in Fin’s arm and the morning make-out session in which I did none of the kissing.

             
“Get next Sunday off,” he ordered plainly, as if I wouldn’t argue with him.

             
“I don’t know if I can, it’s kind of late-“

             
“If you can’t get it off, I’ll talk to Ty.” He stood up and looked down at me with those heated eyes, his jaw fixed and his expression fixed into the one I knew better than to argue with.

             
“Ok, bossy,” I rolled my eyes and sat up. The consequences of what just happened seamed to roll over me in waves. I knew I had to stay away from Fin, but I kept torturing myself with him over and over.

             
Fin narrowed his eyes at me. “We’re going to talk later,” he promised in that same authoritative tone.

             
“Fin, I don’t think that’s a good-“

             
He cut me off again, “We will talk later.”

             
Stubbornly, I continued, “We just need to remember we’re friends. I think it’s safest if we-“

             
“We’ve never been friends, Ellie. Stop that thought right now.” He leaned down then and shut me up by kissing me quickly but passionately on the lips. I was effectively silenced. And then, forever getting the last word in, he whispered sweetly, “We will talk later.”

             
I could do nothing but nod, even while I wondered if I had somehow given up all control of my life to him.

             
Given my heart to him.

Chapter
Seventeen

              I walked into Bailey’s still in a daze. Beckett had come over, not ten minutes after Fin left. I wanted to feel relief that they didn’t run into each other, but I was inexplicably disappointed. I had the irrational desire to introduce Fin as “not my friend,” even though I didn’t know what that meant.

             
“Hi, Beckett, this is Fin. He’s not my friend. We’re going to talk about that later. Oh, and don’t mind that our clothes are wrinkled and it’s obvious we spent the night wrapped in each other’s arms. That’s just part of our non-friendship. Also, as a side note, I owe him seven thousand dollars that he thinks I lost in online poker, but I didn’t really.”

             
Yeah, that sounded about right.

             
I clocked in and put my apron on, going about my regular hostess duties. I was the only one scheduled this early in the afternoon. Two other hosts would be coming on closer to dinner service, but I had to make sure everything was set up first.

             
It would be an easy but busy night. Sunday’s were mostly always the same. The dinner rush was early and heavy and then it would die down and the rest of the night would drag on. Britte usually worked with me, but she requested this weekend off when she knew she would be moving this weekend.

             
I made sure all the tables were set up with ketchup bottles filled and salt and pepper shakers in working order. I couldn’t stop replaying last night in my head. Fin convincing me my brothers just loved me, spending the night cuddled in his arms, this morning….

             
Ugh. He was just too perfect. How was I supposed to remember things like my moral integrity when he confused every part of me.

             
I walked to the back office that was through the stainless steel kitchen. Cooks and expeditors were prepping food while the two dishwashers were stacking clean glasses precariously high. I didn’t know everyone well, but working in a restaurant was like working with extended family. We knew everything about each other and for the most part got along, although gossip flew out of control.

             
The cooks whistled at me while I walked past and I shot them a flirty wave. They were lecherous and brazen but they were mostly harmless. Plus, everybody wanted to be on their good side, so we all put up with it.

             
I found Ty alone in his cluttered office, working on the schedule. Papers were stacked in random piles on his desk; his computer was set off to the side, but covered in more papers. The shelves above the desk were heavy with training manuals and videos, and where there weren’t thick binders there were manila folders filled with more paperwork. He looked up at me and gave me a tired smile. Ty was not messy, Ty was regimented and orderly. But he shared this office with two other managers and the owner. I wondered if his exhaustion stemmed from the paperwork tornado as much as anything else.

He seemed too big for this office, his huge, broad shoulders filling out the small space and his tree trunk sized legs not fitting under the desk well at all.

              “Hey, Els,” he greeted.

             
“Hey, Ty,” I smiled back. I didn’t even know what pulled me in here. This morning I had been determined not to let Fin get away with bossing me around. But since then, I wondered if it had something to do with the Sunday dinner I heard him talking to Ty about before. There was hope that he was taking me to meet his family before I could squelch it. And even though I’d been talking myself out of this all day, I was still here. I was still asking.

             
“How can I help you?” he looked down at the schedule again and frowned.

             
“Um, I was just wondering if I could have next Sunday off?” I tried to sound casual but Ty’s head snapped up immediately.

             
“Why?” h demanded.

             
I wasn’t expecting that question. I didn’t really think it was any of his business. “I just need it off.”

             
“Does this have something to do with Fin Hunter?” he asked carefully. His eyes narrowed on me and his body went still, alert. I felt like a threat, like I was an enemy or something and he was back in the army deciding how best to deal with me.

             
My voice shook when I answered, “Yes, it does.”

             
His tone was hard steel when he asked, “Is he taking you to meet his family?”

             
“I don’t know. He just told, um, asked me to get Sunday off.”

             
“Then he’s taking you to his grandma’s. He does one thing on Sundays and that’s spend time with his family.” He softened his voice just a little bit and he relaxed back into his chair. “Did he tell you about them?”

             
“Yes,” I answered.

             
“So are you a couple?”

             
“No,” I replied quickly. When Ty’s eyes narrowed again I realized I answered too quickly. “It’s complicated.”

             
“Ellie, when I warned you before to stay away from him that was because I knew he could hurt a girl like you. Hurt you deeply. I know he has a reputation, and I know you’re too good of a girl to get mixed up with that. But if he’s taking you home to meet his family then you are one of the only people I know of that has the ability to hurt him. I’m fiercely protective of that boy, so you better tell me how it’s complicated and how you plan to un-complicate it right now.”

             
I gulped. Oh boy. I was not expecting that at all.

             
“Close the door and sit down,” Ty commanded.

             
“But my job-“

             
Ty pulled something up on the computer quickly, his fingers clacking against the keyboard rapidly. “Stephen just clocked in. You’ll be covered for a while. Now tell me what is going on between the two of you.” He waited for a minute while I gathered my courage and seemed to infer something from my silence. All of a sudden, he snapped, “You’re pregnant, aren’t you?”

             
“Oh my gosh! Ty!” I hissed. “You cannot just throw out accusations like that! And no! I’m not pregnant.”

             
Holy hell, that was going to get back to my brothers somehow.

             
“Alright, you’re not pregnant. Then tell me what’s going on.”

             
So I did. I started with my terrible roommate and identity theft and how Fin needed money and he thought I owed it to him. I told him how we worked out a deal, and I’d been scrimping and saving for the last four weeks just to save up something for him because I couldn’t go to my family. When he gave me the stink eye for my stubbornness I explained a truth I hadn’t realized until that morning. I didn’t go to my family at first because I didn’t want their help, but lately I realized I would do anything to help Fin. Now I didn’t go to them because I didn’t want them to think badly of Fin. I didn’t want them to look down on his online poker game when all he was doing was trying to provide a better life for his family and I didn’t want them to look down on him for demanding money from me when it would be so clear to them that it wasn’t my debt to begin with. Now I didn’t ask for help because I was protecting Fin. I finished my story with how close we’d gotten through this whole thing, and how we both wanted more but the money was standing in the way.

             
“So why doesn’t he just erase the debt?” Ty asked at the end of it.

             
“I won’t let him. If he cancels the debt because he wants to sleep with me, then that means I sold out for seven thousand dollars. I can’t, Ty. I would never respect myself and neither would he.”

             
“But it sounds like he wants more than sex,” Ty observed.

             
I blushed deeply; this was a weird conversation to have with my boss.

             
“He’s never said that to me,” I argued. “And I wouldn’t want to have more anyway. He graduates in a month, and his whole life revolves around taking care of Declan. I don’t want to get in the way of that. Besides, I’m a mess, a walking disaster. I don’t even know what I want to major in yet and next year I’ll be a junior. I’m not good for him.”

             
“What you’re trying to tell me right now is you’re not
good enough
for him.” My breath hitched in my throat at his words. I’d been ignoring those thoughts and feelings, but now that Ty just laid them out there for me I couldn’t help but agree that they were true. “Listen, Ellie, I know your ex-boyfriend messed you up-“

             
“No, he didn’t,” I interrupted. “I don’t care about Colton.”

             
“Eleanor, you dated him for a long time, five years or something.”