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But instead of vivid images of a plucky heroine tracking a potential murderer through the streets of London filling her mind, all she saw was Grant. Grant’s eyes, so cold as he stared at her with disdain. Grant’s lips, twisted into that menacing smirk. Grant’s shoulders, broader and more muscular than the last time he’d held her against him and whispered romantic sentiments in Portuguese.
Had she really believed she’d placed all that behind her? Because right now it hurt just as much, if not more, than the day she’d laughed in his face and told him she’d never date a common gardener, much less fall in love with one.
Yup, she thought as she took another, longer, sip.I deserve every bit of his contempt. Didn’t mean a single word, but how was he supposed to know that?
“Nothing.”
Finn reached across the table and placed his hand over the top of her glass.
“If your goal is to get drunk, Amanda just got a port in. I hate wine, but even I drink that stuff.”
An unwilling smile tugged at her lips. It was hard to picture the man sitting across from her, dressed in jeans and a black T-shirt with a little white book stitched on the pocket, as the former Finley Waldsworth, Princeton graduate, womanizer, rising star at Waldsworth Financial and favored by her father so much that he’d formally adopted his stepson so that he would “have a son with the Waldsworth name.”
Now he was just plain Finn Davids, an economics teacher at a local high school, and engaged to the manager of a bookstore and adjoining coffee shop.
Finn’s teasing smile disappeared as his hand shifted off her glass and settled on her wrist.
“Amanda and I can loan you some money, Alex.”
Alexandra shook her head.
“Absolutely not. You have a wedding coming up, a house to buy and I expect by this time next year a nursery to fill.”
Did it make her a rotten sister that her heart twisted with a slight pang of envy as Finn’s eyes automatically warmed and slid to the blonde woman behind the cash register? Amanda caught his appreciative gaze and blew him a kiss before throwing Alexandra a wink. Alexandra raised her wineglass toward the woman who had brought her stepbrother to his knees two years ago.
“What about your plan to pitch The Flower Bell’s services to some of Pamela’s clients?”
“I actually made it into the office of one of them today.”
Finn perked up. “Oh?”
Amanda walked up to their table and set a small-bowled glass filled with a dark ruby liquid in front of Finn and a fruit and cheese plate in front of Alexandra.
“Did you get a contract?” Amanda asked excitedly as she slid into the chair next to Finn. Finn looped an arm around his fiancée’s shoulders.
“Not exactly.” She swirled the remaining wine in her glass and tossed back the rest of it. “It was Grant Santos.”
Finn choked on his port and Amanda reached over and plucked the glass from his hand before he spilled the rest on the table.
“Grant?” Finn managed to finally gasp. “What’s he doing in New York?”
“Who’s Grant?” Amanda asked.
Alexandra shot her stepbrother a pleading look. She loved Amanda and considered her a good friend, but just the thought of explaining her tumultuous history with Grant made her want to crawl under the covers of her bed and sleep for a week.
“Grant was Alexandra’s...boyfriend,” Finn finally said. “My stepfather made them split up after a summer romance when she was nineteen.”
Amanda’s usually sunny expression darkened. She despised David Waldsworth. David had been fixated on Finn’s success. Even though Finn had been Susan’s son from her first marriage, he had become the son he’d never had. He hadn’t accepted Finn’s change of heart, his preference for a simpler life. He had written to his stepson numerous times encouraging Finn to dump Amanda and hold out for a woman who could return him to the lifestyle he’d been raised in. That Finn and Amanda were genuinely happy made no difference.
“Bastard.”
“Agreed.”
Alexandra stared glumly at her empty wineglass.
“I’ll get you another,” Amanda said, standing before Alexandra could protest. She leaned down, gave Alexandra a sisterly hug and disappeared into the back.
“You’re really lucky, Finn.”
