Willow must’ve been out of her mind, thinking her body would settle down after it’d had a taste of Finn Thomas. If anything, their being together had lit an insatiable fire beneath her skin, making her crave him when she had absolutely no business doing so. Like in the middle of a workday. In the middle of every workday.
After their amazing night together, she’d decided to throw caution to the wind and tiptoe her way into this thing between her and Finn for as long as he was in town. It was quite possibly the dumbest decision she’d ever made, but she didn’t care. She was tired of only doing what she was supposed to. Sue her for wanting to do something that felt good…damn good.
Unfortunately, they hadn’t been able to get together since the night she’d snuck out of his and Drew’s apartment sometime in the wee hours of the morning. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d done something like that, tiptoeing into her house like she’d been out doing something wrong. She was a grown woman, for heaven’s sake. Did it really matter what she got up to on her own time and if she got up to it with one Griffin Thomas?
“You want me to make a copy of this paperwork before I get it sent off?”
She jumped at Avery’s question, like she’d been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. Like her best friend could read all the thoughts—the super dirty, completely inappropriate thoughts—going on in her mind.
Willow cleared her throat. “Yes, please. Thank you.”
“You wanna tell me why your face is bright red?”
She averted her attention to her desk and the suddenly very interesting mound of paper clips there. “Not particularly.”
Avery snorted, but she didn’t push. But, really, if Willow couldn’t tell her best friend, what did that say? What was the big deal anyway? Maybe she’d pop over to the bar after work, say hi to Finn and see what kind of progress they’d made inside.
King Construction had been in and out of the building all week, hauling all kinds of material into the place, so she was kind of excited to take in the changes. She was…happy for Finn. And she was happy for her hometown. It’d been her mission to revive the heart of Havenbrook since she’d started working for town hall five years ago, and finally, after all this time, her mission was going to come to fruition. She was proud as hell she’d been the one to incite those changes. Made her feel like she was actually doing something with her life and job, actually bringing something back to this town she loved so much.
She couldn’t wait to see the changes this brought in Havenbrook, because she knew in her heart it was a change for the better. Whether or not her daddy saw it that way.
After their discussion—okay, argument—the day he’d come back into town, she hadn’t attempted to broach the subject again. What was the use? She’d learned long ago to pick her battles, and that was one hill she wasn’t willing to die on. Not since there was nothing her daddy could do about the bar going in. And certainly not since attempting to have a discussion with him was about as fruitful as talking to a brick wall. Except, at least brick walls couldn’t talk back.
“Will?” Avery said, poking her head back in Willow’s office. “It’s about that time again…”
Willow sighed and pushed back from her desk. Mid-afternoon meant it was time to endure another daily meeting with her father. She’d come to dread the afternoons because of them. The meetings did nothing but eat out part of her day…and part of her self-esteem, if she were honest. In all the time she’d been working for him, he’d never once given her a job well done acknowledgment. Nope, all he’d given her was more work and dozens of migraines.
Since Gloria was still out on maternity leave, Willow went straight to his door and knocked, waiting for his bark of a response telling her to come inside.
“What took you so damn long? You’re just across the hall, for God’s sake.”
Her daddy…such a pleasant, soft-spoken man. “Afternoon, Daddy. This shouldn’t take but a minute, and then you can get back to your business.” Which, Willow knew, was absolutely nothing at all, unless you counted playing solitaire on his computer as something important.
“Let’s get to it, then. I’ve got a lot left on the agenda today.”
It took every bit of willpower she possessed in her body not to roll her eyes. She made his schedule, and there wasn’t a thing on it.
She passed over a stack of papers she’d cleared off his desk yesterday and sorted through to make sure they were taken care of. She found staying three steps ahead of her father saved her a lot of hassles in the end. “We haven’t discussed these yet, but I went ahead and got them taken care of. They just need your signature where I’ve indicated.”
He grunted as he took them from her, barely glancing at the papers as he scrawled his name next to the flags. “Mighty nice of you to do something before I had to ask you to.” Once he’d signed them all, he placed them off to the side and leaned back in his chair, hands folded over his rounded belly. “I'll have to look ’em all over, of course, but good job getting the jump on something. It’s nice to see you workin’ hard finally.”
Well, would wonders never cease? It might’ve been backhanded as hell, but was that an actual compliment coming from her daddy’s lips? Seemed after five years of busting her butt, he was finally paying attention.
“Um…thank you.”
“Now, don’t go lettin’ it go to your head. I’m just pleasantly surprised, is all. I thought for sure with those Thomas boys back in town, your attention might be…diverted.”
Willow froze, her entire body going ice-cold. She and her father didn’t speak about her relationship—past or present—with Finn. Which meant…had someone seen Finn and her together? Or worse, seen her fleeing his apartment well past midnight, which meant they’d been up to only one thing?
“But you’re smarter than that now, aren’t you?” he continued. “Wouldn’t get mixed up with the likes of him now that you’re not a dumb teenager, rebelling against her parents.”
She breathed out a sigh of relief, realizing it wasn’t based on anything but her father wanting to hold her past mistakes over her head. To him, that was all she and Finn had been—a mistake. An act of teenage rebellion, despite the fact that it had been love, plain and simple. An impassioned love her daddy had swept aside as a crush, or worse, an infatuation.
Had it really been less than an hour ago when she’d thought it wouldn’t a big deal for her to swing by the bar, maybe go out to dinner with Finn? That was laughable. Her daddy would never let her live it down, would make her life even more unbearable if he even caught wind that something was going on between her and Finn.
The two of them hadn’t discussed the details, but if they were going to keep seeing each other, they’d just have to do it on the down-low. Keep it to themselves and not involve everyone in Havenbrook. That’d be better in the long run anyway. Because no matter how she cut this, he was still leaving. At some point, once the bar was up and running and his job here was done, he’d get on a plane and fly back to California, once again leaving her behind.
This time, she just had to make sure he didn’t break her when he left.
HAVING Willow’s luck meant she could go all week never crossing paths with Finn, then make a decision to keep their interaction a secret, only to run into him half a dozen times in a single afternoon.
The first time had been the hardest. He’d spotted her and started strolling her way with that Finn grin she loved so much on his gorgeous face. Her daddy had been coming down the steps at that exact moment, and she’d panicked. Just spun on her heels and walked in the opposite direction.
And so it began. If Finn’s facial expressions were anything to go by, he’d only gotten more pissed as the day had worn on.
She’d considered shooting him a quick text to give him a heads-up of the situation but figured that particular tidbit of information might be better delivered in person, where she could hopefully plead her case.
However, she did not want that in-person discussion to happen in her office, which was why she’d made Avery deal with Finn when he’d come in with a made-up excuse to see her, and why Willow was currently peeking out her office window, holding her breath as she watched Finn storm out of the building. Pissed as hell, thanks to her. Then, as if he could sense her watching him, he looked over his shoulder, straight up at her window.
With a yelp, Willow ducked out of the way just as her office door flew open and her best friend blew in without so much as a hello.
“Care to tell me why I just spent fifteen minutes with one of the hottest men I’ve ever seen in real life, when I know for a fact you were perfectly able to take his impromptu meeting?” Avery asked.
Willow settled herself at her desk, straightening a stack of papers. “Um…not particularly.”
“Tough shit.” Unlike earlier in the day when she’d let Willow off the hook with that phrase, apparently, Avery wasn’t going to be so easily appeased. She shut Willow’s door, blocking them from the outside world and any chance someone would overhear. Never a good sign. “Your father’s gone, and it’s after five, which means it’s officially quitting time.”
“Well, all right then. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Nice try. You’re not going anywhere until I get the scoop on whatever the hell is happening between you and Finn.”
Willow opened and closed her mouth several times, just praying something intelligible would come out. Something that was sort of the truth, but maybe not all of it. She had to keep a few things just for herself, didn’t she?
Okay, that wasn’t it at all. What it really boiled down to was she didn’t want to hear the I told you so’s when Finn up and left again. But it was different this time, wasn’t it? She wasn’t going into it blind. This time, she had her eyes wide open. She knew what she was getting into, what the end game was, and she wasn’t going to be blindsided again.
Willow cleared her throat and avoided eye contact. “I’m not sure what you mean.”
Avery gave her The Look. The one she could have trademarked that proclaimed loudly and very clearly that she was not here to take any of your shit. “Then it was just a coincidence that you turned tail and ran away every time you came across Finn today?”
“I did not!” She totally had.
“No? Never mind the fact that I actually saw it with my own two eyes, but your ex-boyfriend just ratted you out.”
“Of course he did,” Willow grumbled.
“Now, I know you, and I know something is up. Something happened between you two, and I wanna know what it is. And then I wanna know why I had to practically torture the information out of you.” Avery’s brows drew down. “I thought we were better friends than that.”
Well, shit. This wasn’t some information-mining mission like Willow would get from Rory. This was Avery, her best friend and biggest cheerleader, and Willow had unintentionally hurt her. Lord, a stake to the chest would’ve been less painful than knowing that. With anyone else, Willow would’ve assumed those words were simply a passive-aggressive guilt trip, but not from Avery. She said what she meant and meant what she said—it was one of Willow’s most favorite things about her. She never had to wonder or worry about where they stood. And right now, she knew. She’d hurt her best friend.
Willow slipped around her desk and went straight to Avery, wrapping her arms around her. “I’m sorry. It’s not you. Or us. I promise.”
Avery returned her hug. “So you didn’t tell Mac either?”
“Nope, and I have no doubt I’m going to pay for that tonight.”
“Well, that makes me feel a little better. But I’m still going to need to know what’s going on.”
Willow pulled away with a laugh. “Of course you do.”
“Seems only fair.”
She paced around her small office, her lip caught between her teeth. She just needed to get this over with. Like a bandage. Rip it off and deal with the sting of pain rather than the slow torture of drawing it out. “I, um—”
“Oh my God, you did sleep with him!”
Willow spun around, her mouth agape. Was it written that plainly on her that anyone could tell? She’d worried about that when she’d given her virginity to Finn—that somehow, she’d be walking down the street and people would take one look at her and be able to tell. She hadn’t thought she’d need to worry about it at twenty-eight, though.
“Don’t crush my dreams and tell me he didn’t get better with time,” Avery said. “Is that why you’ve been avoiding him? He wasn’t able to get you off, and now you can’t face him?”
Willow choked on her spit at the same time flashes of their night together flickered through her mind. Oh, he’d definitely gotten better with time. Infinitely. “No, that’s not it.”
Avery’s eyes got wide, and a grin spread across her face. “So he got better?” She fell into the chair and patted the one next to her, gesturing for Willow to sit. “Details. Now.”
Yeah, it’d probably be better if she were sitting down for this. “It’s only happened once…” Okay, that was a lie. It had only happened one night, but there had definitely been more than just one round. Technicalities.
“Just from looking at that man, I’d place bets he can do a lot during that ‘once.’”
Willow tried not to let her memories sweep her away, but she couldn’t help it. Not when they were so fresh in her mind. Not when they’d floated through her head more times than she could count—the first time on his bed, right after when he’d taken her in the shower after caressing every inch of her, even when they’d ventured out of his bedroom for a snack and he’d bent her over the kitchen counter and taken her from behind. Drew could’ve walked in at any moment, which, apparently, had only cranked Willow’s engine a little hotter because she’d come so hard, she might’ve blacked out for a minute.
“Yeah, definitely don’t talk about this with Rory,” Avery said. “Your sex fantasies are written all over your face.”
Shit. Rory. Willow hadn’t even thought about telling her. While Mac would be pissed Willow hadn’t come straight to her and told her everything, she’d get over it soon enough. With Mac, a conversation about Willow and Finn would be relatively painless. With Rory, it’d be a second version of hell.
“I don’t think I have to worry about that. I’d rather strut down Main Street naked than discuss my love life with Rory. Especially when that love life contains one of the Thomas boys.”
“I don’t know—having that conversation with her might actually be easier than talking with Finn himself.” Avery propped her feet up on the desk and leaned back in the chair. “He looked pissed when he came in here. Though I don’t blame him—it was clear as day you were in here but avoiding him.”
Willow blew out a deep breath. She wasn’t looking forward to that discussion, but it’d have to happen sooner rather than later. She couldn’t keep avoiding Finn like he carried the plague. And, truth be told, she didn’t want to. But she also knew her original plan of carrying on like nothing was unusual, like she and Finn seeing each other again wouldn’t register on the radars of the people of Havenbrook, was a pipe dream.
After five years of busting her ass and doing everything exactly right, her daddy had finally, finally bestowed a compliment on her. He was already waiting for her to screw up with Finn being in town. And if she did, he’d waste no time making sure Willow knew exactly how badly she’d messed up.
She wasn’t going to go through that again. She’d had enough of it to last a lifetime.