Page 6 of Exile and Embrace

My gaze drops to her ass.

The way those scrubs hug her curvy little body should be illegal.

“Have you given anymore thought to my request?”

“To come to Oregon with me? No. But now that you mention it, care to explain why you’re going there?”

Ava turns around with antiseptic wipes and some bandages in her hand. “That’s my business and I’ll answer you… If you take me. So, what’s it going to be?”

And there’s that fire that was always so entertaining.

I didn’t use to be on the receiving end of it back then, though.

She really would make the perfect fiancée.

It’s too dangerous, though.

I could keep her safe. I would keep her safe.

Shit, it’s not like I have any alternative, so why the fuck not?

My mouth goes dry as our gazes connect. “You want to go to Oregon with me?”

She nods.

“Okay. Then you need to be my fiancée.”

2

AVA

“Say what?”

I blink a couple times.

This is all just some horrible dream. It has to be.

I wanted to go to Oregon with him, but this? “Absolutely not! I don’t know what kind of scheme you’re up to, but no way in hell. Not happening. I know you Byrne boys, and I know exactly how this ends for me.”

Been there, done that, never happening again.

Finn clasps his hands together, the picture of innocence with his wavy brown hair and big green eyes. “Suit yourself. All I’m saying is you asked to go to Oregon with me, and I need a fiancée. This is a way for both of us to get what we want. It’s nothing big.”

“You say being engaged to you is nothing big?” I scoff and drop the supplies on the little table beside the bed.

I tear into one of the antiseptic wipes.

“It isn’t. It’s pretty easy. We go to Oregon, pretend that we’re a happy couple, and I take care of the business that I need to take care of.”

“Yes, because your brother is going to love that so much when he finds out. I’ve spent the last few years without Declan in my life. I’d like to keep it that way.”

Finn scratches his neatly groomed beard. “We won’t be anywhere near him. He’ll be in Virginia, and we’ll be all the way in Oregon.”

“Stop talking like I agreed to do this with you. I’m not going to. Quite frankly, I want nothing to do with your family. I asked to go to Oregon with you because I didn’t want to travel alone. Not because I wanted to strike a deal with you.”

I dab at his wounds, guilt curling through me as he hisses. I keep dabbing at the blood, getting a better look at the cuts.

“Your cheek needs stitches.”

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