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So much for her week of rest and relaxation. She swallowed, hating the lonely feeling that was beginning to eat at her already. Two years ago, when she and Greg ended their marriage, she was more overwhelmed than anything else. Working full time and having Addy on her own most days gave her no time to stop and feel much of anything. But now that she’d settled into her routine, loneliness crept up more and more often.
The rap against the door made her head snap in that direction. What did the asshat want now? Was she not packing fast enough for his liking?
Natalie huffed and swung open the solid door, about to give him a piece of her mind, but she stopped short. It wasn’t the way he filled the doorframe like a huge hulking bear of a man. Seriously, he was well over six foot and at least two hundred and fifty pounds. It wasn’t that he was good-looking either—although that was an understatement because the parts she could see checked all the tall, dark, and handsome boxes. What gave her pause was how he was holding her newly purchased frozen peas against his face.
“What happened to your face?” she blurted out.
“Are you joking?” He lowered the peas.
Natalie winced as the angry swollen skin above the barely there beard became visible.
“Youhappened to my face.” Before she could work up an apology, he went on. “I was trying to be the Good Samaritan here. Catching Goldilocks so she wouldn’t get hurt, but you and your thrashing and flailing—”
“You scared me!” Natalie cut him off. “I thought you were an ax murderer—”
“Be glad I wasn’t. You would have broken your thumb.” His brown eyes flared.
Natalie didn’t know what he meant or why he looked so mad about the idea that she might break her thumb. “Did you come in here just to yell some more?”
“Me?” His finger slammed into his broad chest.
“Yes,Finn. I’m trying to get out ofyourhouse. No need to spread any more of your holiday anti-cheer.”
He shut his eyes and took a giant breath before opening them again and relaxing his jaw. Although he was visibly forcing himself to calm down, his dark brown irises still churned like a raging storm. “No—I came to try to make this right. And it’s Declan, not Finn.”
A crazy grump who didn’t remember renting out his own house and had apparently forgotten his name. Or maybe there was a nefarious reason he used two different names. But right now, she didnotwant to know.
“Okay,Declan. Does that mean you’re leaving and I can stay in the cabin Irented?”
“Uh—” He cleared his throat, grimacing, and shifted on his feet. “I mean, there was a mistake. My idiot brother mixed up which house was supposed to be available for the week.” He rubbed at his beard and glanced over her head. “But there’s, uh, plenty of room here. And it’s snowing pretty hard, so you should probably stay until the roads are clear.”
She crossed her arms and huffed, but he hurried on.
“And then I’ll be more than happy to pay to fly you down to my place in Florida. It’s on the beach, and I promise it’s completely unoccupied this week.” He flashed her a tight smile, and even with the bruise forming on his face, it was like a punch to the stomach. Damn. The man was good-looking. Even more so when he wasn’t frowning.
As ridiculous as the scenario was, she couldn’t help but believe the story. Now that she was paying attention, he sounded nothing like the man she’d spoken with twice on the phone. And her anger ebbed at his acknowledgment of the mix-up. It helped, of course, that he was no longer accusing her of breaking into his house. Florida did sound kind of nice, actually. And itwassnowing pretty hard beyond the frosted windows of the bedroom…
She looked into his eyes, and for the first time since she’d fallen into his arms, his frown lines disappeared. His irises darkened from brown to almost black as his gaze raked over her. Focusing on her face again, he sucked in a hard breath, and she felt it echo through every inch of her. Goosebumps broke out on her arms as the room was electrified by a charge he was clearly experiencing too.
“Is naked lady staying? Should I not tell Mom?” Declan’s mini-me stepped up behind him, jerking them out of the moment.
Nope. She was definitely not staying. What kind of man had his kid hide things from his wife? More than that, what kind of married man looked at another woman the way Declan had just looked at her? The last thing Natalie wanted was to cause problems for this family.
“I’m not naked,” Natalie gritted out. The first thing she’d done when she’d retreated to her room was put on jeans and a sweater.
“Do you like Goldilocks better?” Chris asked.
The kid was cute, and maybe someday she’d laugh at this, but today was not that day.
“Chris, Uncle Finn said her name is Natalie,” Declan corrected.
The little version of the big man standing in front of her shrugged and hiked his bag farther up on his shoulder, then moved along casually, disappearing into another bedroom.
“Thanks for trying to make this right, but I’m leaving tonight,” she directed at Declan.
“It’s snowing.”
“And?” She turned back to her bag and threw the last few things in it. “I live in New York. It’s winter. It snows. I drive in it all the time.”
