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Page 88
Page 88
He regretted nothing. Not the way she’d felt in his arms and not the way he’d felt in hers. From the beginning, there’d been a shocking sense of intimacy between them, one that had momentarily stunned him, but he’d gotten over it quickly.
He wanted even more but he was smart enough to know a reticent woman when he saw one. She was still unsure. She needed more time.
And he’d already made the decision to give it to her. “Your teeth are going to rattle right out of your head,” he said, cranking up the heat, aiming the vents at her.
Clearly freezing, she didn’t utter a word of complaint. Instead she seemed much more concerned that he would skip the afore-promised pizza. “It takes calories to keep yourself warm,” she said. “Pepperoni and cheese calories. A lot of them.”
“I’ll call it in and have it delivered while you shower,” he assured her.
“No!” She paused, clearly searching for a reason to ditch him. “Lefty’s won’t deliver.”
“Then we can call Mozza’s,” he said.
She managed a derisive snort in between shivers. “Mozza’s isn’t real pizza.”
“Okay.” He pulled into the back lot of Lefty’s. “Stay here, I’ll just run in and get it real quick.”
But she was right behind him, emergency Mylar blanket wrapped around her and all.
Waiting in line, he slid her a look. “You didn’t trust me to pick the right pizza.”
“Not even a little bit.”
Lefty was taking orders himself, he loved people. Smiling broadly at Pru, he said, “Hey there, cutie pie. What happened, you get pitched overboard? Not a good day for a swim, it’s kinda brisk.”
“Don’t I know it,” she muttered. “I had to save Thor. Life or death situation.”
Finn grinned and Pru turned a long look his way, daring him to contradict her story.
Finn lifted his hands in surrender and Lefty went brows up. “Sensing a good story here. Someone start talking.”
“Would love to,” Pru said. “But you’ve got a long line waiting, so—”
“They’ll wait.” Lefty set his elbows on the counter and leaned in. “Is it as good as you trying to kill our boy here with a dart?”
She whirled on Finn. “You know that was an accident! You’ve been telling people I tried to kill you?”
Lefty laughed. “Nah, he didn’t say a word. Never does. Willa told me. Oh and Archer’s guys too, Max and the scary-looking one with the tattoo on his skull.”
Pru smacked her forehead. “How is it possible that the people in our building gossip more than a bunch of guys in a firehouse?”
“Don’t you mean a bunch of girls in junior high?” Lefty asked.
“No,” she said, glowering. “Girls have got nothing on guys when it comes to gossip.” She sent a long look at Finn, daring him to disagree.
“One hundred percent true,” he said and paid for their food. And then because she seemed skittish about going back to her place, he brought her and Thor to his.
As they got out of the car, Pru muttered something that sounded an awful lot like “just keep your clothes on and you’ll be fine.”
Finn hid his grin. “Problem?” he asked her.
She scowled. “Just hungry.”
He let them inside. His phone buzzed an incoming call from Sean and he turned to Pru. “Help yourself to my shower to get warmed up.”
When she’d shut herself in his bathroom, he answered his phone.
“We’re filled to capacity,” Sean said.
“Great. And?”
“And,” Sean said, sounding irritated. “We need you.”
“You’re fully staffed. The pub doesn’t need me.”
There was a silence, during which Finn could hear Sean gnashing his teeth together. “Okay, I need you,” he finally said, not sounding all that happy about the admission. “There’s a bachelorette party here and the bridesmaids are insane, man. They’ve pinched my ass twice. I’ve also got a birthday party for some guy who’s like a hundred and he’s got a bunch of old geezers with him and they’re doing shots. What if one of them ups and croaks on us? And then there’s the fact that Rosa’s sick and says she has to go home early. Code for her boyfriend doesn’t have to work tonight and she wants to go see him.”
Finn heard the shower go on down the hall. He hadn’t had a woman here in this house . . . ever. Not once. The relationships in his life had all been short-lived ones, all existing away from home. He tended to keep his personal life out of his sex life.