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Punch him because he was being such a stubborn ass about this pregnancy.
Hug him because he’d lost his wife and the look in his eyes as he’d told her how Sheri had wanted to protect him had torn at her heart.
That had hurt him, she could see, and no wonder. Much like his brother, he was a protector, and finding out he hadn’t even known Sheri was ill must have been exquisitely painful for him.
Sympathy ached inside her, both for Sheri, who’d tried to protect him from the worst, and for him, for not being able to protect her. They must have loved each other so very much.
Unlike you and Troy.
Beth turned away to look out the windows again so Finn wouldn’t see her face or read the complex mix of emotions that was no doubt plastered across it whenever she thought of Troy.
No, she’d loved Troy and he’d loved her. At least, she’d thought he’d loved her. Turned out he’d only loved her when things were going well and when they weren’t, not so much.
But Finn isn’t like that. You saw the expression on his face. It hurt him badly that she didn’t tell him…
Well, yes, and the thought of him being hurt was oddly upsetting to her. But she didn’t know why she was thinking of Finn in conjunction with Troy. The two had nothing to do with each other. And she definitely wasn’t thinking of Finn as a husband because no way.
He was a…friend. That’s all.
And the father of your child.
Not to mention a stubborn ass.
“Well?” His deep voice scraped over her raw nerves.
She glanced at him.
His expression was very neutral, all traces of the grief and anger she’d seen glittering in his eyes just before gone. It was as if he’d closed a door between them, shutting his emotions firmly away.
It made her want to reach out and open it again, the way it had opened that night they’d spent together up in HQ, when she swore she’d caught a glimpse of his soul.
Don’t go there, girl.
No, she really shouldn’t. Not when she could still feel the heat that had ignited between them when he’d given her that hug.
Wow, had that been a mistake. His arms had felt so good around her, keeping her safe and protected as he’d held her against his iron-hard body. She’d had the sense that nothing could harm her while he was near, not with his strength and utter certainty at her back.
But that was the issue, wasn’t it? It wasn’t so much their physical chemistry as it was their emotional connectedness. Because whether she liked it or not, she was connected to him now. They were having a child together, and he had a lot of qualities she admired very much.
He was standing there looking at her, sexy as hell in his usual uniform of well-worn jeans and black Pure Adventure NZ T-shirt. The one that clung to his broad shoulders and muscled chest. His dark eyes didn’t move from her face, and she had the sense that he would wait there forever for her response if she wanted him to.
You could be in trouble so easily…
Beth turned away again, her heart beating uncomfortably fast.
No, no. Absolutely not. She was not going to fall for Finn Kelly, no way. Except now he was telling her that he was going to be around her, keeping an eye out for her and their baby—yes,theirbaby—and she didn’t know how she was going to cope with that.
Every instinct she had was telling her Finn Kelly was a man she could rely on, and normally she had no problems with her instincts. She could trust him. It was her heart that was the issue and always had been. There was the potential for things to get messy, and that’s not what she wanted. Not now that she was pregnant.
She was going to have to keep her boundaries very clear.
“What exactly is the issue, Beth?” Finn’s voice was quiet in the silence when she didn’t speak. “Because I can see there’s an issue. I’m not going to crowd you or anything, or tell you what to do all the time, you know that, right? It’s just about being around and making sure you’re okay.”
“I know,” she murmured, staring at the view outside, struggling to make sense of her own complicated feelings.
She had to keep him at a distance somehow for the sake of her own sanity, especially if he was so insistent about staying close to her. Because yes, it wasn’t him crowding her that was the issue so much as it washerfeelings for him.
She didn’t want to feel sympathy for him or curiosity about him. She didn’t want to feel safe in his arms. She didn’t want to want him, and she most definitely didn’t want to fall for him.
