Page 4 of Finally Home

“I mean, when people ask how we met. We can’t exactly say we met just days before at a bar. We need to have our stories straight if we could ever pull this off.”

“Oh, right, hmm.” He purses his lips together in thought, and it’s fucking adorable. God, his lips look so soft, and I wonder how they would feel along my skin. Would he kiss me if we were to actually try to do this?

For fuck’s sake, Holland, get your shit together. Here is this stranger, albeit a gorgeous stranger, offering to help you, and all you’re doing is thinking dirty thoughts about him.

“How about you turned on the radio one night and heard me pouring my heart out on a radio show, and we eventually found ourselves in New York at the top of the Empire State Building?”

I let out an obnoxiously loud giggle. “Umm, you mean like in the movieSleepless in Seattle? Do people even listen to the regular radio like that anymore?” I quirk a brow at him, not only wondering how the hell he came up with this idea but also how he knows the plot of the movie.

“Oh yeah, I guess that’s why it was so familiar. Okay, how about we met in an online chat room and swapped emails back and forth, not realizing we had already met in real life and were mortal enemies?”

Mortal enemies?Is that even a real thing these days?

Before I can even comment that the story is also a plot of a popular romantic-comedy moviealsostarring Tom Hanks, a blanket of nerves washes over me. This is silly and would never work. I could never pull this off, and then I think the situation would just be worse in the end when my family figures out the truth. So instead, I stay quiet and stand up.

“You know what? Never mind. This is just a bad idea. Thanks for offering, but this is my problem, not yours.” I grab my wallet from my purse, which is dangling off the back of the chair, andthrow a few bills on the bar that I’m sure is enough to cover the bill and his tip. I just need to get out of here, and fast.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Oliver shouts as he rushes around the bar to stop me, but I ignore him. I almost get away, but he wraps his fingers around my wrist and tugs me back into him. “Please, I’m sorry. I want to help you.”

“Why?” I croak out and lift my eyes to meet his. I swallow slowly as everything around us fades.What the hell is happening?

He clears his throat and steps back, as if he knew what I was thinking, and runs his right hand through his hair. Pieces fall back over his forehead, and I have to form my hands into fists to keep myself from reaching out and brushing them out of his eyes.

“You know, I don’t really know. But ever since you walked in here, I just felt drawn to you. I want to help you. You look like you could use someone in your corner.”

The sincerity in his tone is actually quite overwhelming. How can someone whom I just met make me feel more than my family can? More than Brett ever could.

When I don’t move, he continues. “I know it’s crazy, but hey, aren’t we all a little nuts at times?” He gives me what I assume is a signature smirk, and the weight lifts off my chest. He might be right that we all are a little nuts, but this seems more like taking a dive straight off the high-dive board and jumping into only a small bucket of water. The chances of this crashing and burning in our face is pretty freaking high.

Ollie walks us back over to the bar, pulls out the chair I had just been on, and holds his hand out for me to take a seat. Ignoring my better judgment of just walking away, I take a seat as he rounds the bar again.

“Should I be concerned with your knowledge of chick flick movies, mainly ones starring Tom Hanks?”

He chuckles. “What? I can’t be a manly man and still enjoy the plots of watching folks fall in love?” He pauses for a moment. “Okay, so my mom was in love with Tom Hanks, so I’m pretty sure I’ve seen all of his movies at some point. I can’t help but leave it on the TV when I see one of them on. It makes me think of my mom.”

I smile at how openly he talks about his mom. I wonder what his relationship is with his family. Is he close to them? I can’t help but also wonder what it would have been like to be close with my family or to have their support. Maybe if I were, I wouldn’t be going along with this crazy plan.

Oliver refills his water glass. “How about you walked into Tilley’s one night,” he says, acknowledging the name of where we are, “and I purposely sent the wrong food to your table multiple times so you could call me over to complain, and it was more so love at first sight. You were super pissed, but once I confessed I did it on purpose just to talk to you, you quickly forgave me.”

He comes up with that idea so effortlessly, as he had the others, that I quickly rack my brain for movie plot points but come up empty on them.

Leaning back against the back of the bar, crossing his arms and ankles, he continues. “I told you I’d make it up to you over dinner. And you accepted. The rest we can just say is history. We’ve been inseparable ever since.”

I watch him, speechless.

“That good enough for you?”

Still at a loss for words, with my bottom lip between my teeth, I only nod.

I completely ignore the straw this time and bring the glass to my mouth and take a large swig, this time welcoming the burn.

“Hey,” Oliver calls out from my side. Wait, when did he walk around the bar again? He steps up to me, so close that his body presses against mine. I have to spread my thighs toaccommodate him, and my breath hitches at his closeness. For someone who’s probably been working all night, he smells good—reallygood. Is that eucalyptus or maybe sage? Whatever it is, I’m not sure how to explain it, but the scent is both calming me and making my heart beat faster all at the same time.How insane is that? Maybe I’m more than just a little crazy, like he mentioned moments ago.

Oliver grips my chin so my eyes lift to his, and I can’t look away. “The only way we’re going to pull this off is if you have faith. Can you do that?” He slides his hand from my chin to palm my cheek. There is something so intimate about the movement.

Am I even breathing right now?

His blue eyes dip and focus on my throat as I swallow slowly before nodding.

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