Page 13 of Finding Home with You

“Erin! Oh my fucking god, these look amazing!” She throws her arms around my neck in an overly excited, but undeserved hug.

“Don’t thank me,” I say, eyeing Ryan from where’s he’s plunked his ass on a bar stool next to Beck.

“No way!” Kelsey shouts, shoving me slightly before she runs over to Ryan and nearly knocks him over with an even bigger hug. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

“No problem, beautiful girl,” Ryan says before adding, “How else am I going to get you to leave this asshole and marry me?” Ryan looks over at me and winks, making me smile like a damn fool.

“Oh, I don’t think this had anything to do with me,” Kelsey says, looking at me before tossing a thumb in the direction of the stockroom.

I shake my head at her, but her persistent little ass glares at me, and then she storms over, grabs me by the wrist and drags me back there.

“What the hell is going on between you two?” she demands.

I stand there trying to figure out how to answer her question, seeing as I’m not exactly sure myself. Kelsey begins to tap her foot and I roll my eyes, but that doesn’t seem to stop her from prodding for more information.

“Seriously, are you going to stand there and deny that there isn’t something going on?”

“No,” I say, giving her just a little as I try to sort out what I should say, but in that instant I just blurt it out. “I like him. A lot.”

“Clearly.”

I don’t know what comes over me but I suddenly turn into a teenage girl. “Oh my god, Kelsey. I’m losing my mind with this boy. He’s so hot and the sex is amazing, like legit the best I’ve ever had, and he makes me laugh and he makes me so mad that I want to strangle him, but then I want to fuck him.” I suck in a deep breath and continue my rant while Kelsey stands there wide-eyed and grinning. “He’s maddening and sexy and challenging and fuck me.”

She laughs before pulling me into a hug. “I think you’re falling for him,” she says, and I’ll I can say is, “Totes.”

Kelsey stops short of the door and her face falls quickly. “I hate to bring this up, but have you said anything to Ryan about your dad and that situation?” She raises her eyebrows not needing to add anymore since we both know what she means by ‘that situation’.

I shake my head, and suck my bottom lip into my mouth. Kelsey is one of the only people who know what I ran from and how serious it became. She took me in when I had nowhere else to go, and she enlisted Finn’s help when I was scared and unsure how far things would go.

“I know it’s been a while, Erin, but the whole thing is still really scary. You changed your entire life basically, and the fact that you’ve changed your number again says it’s not working as well as we all like to believe.”

“I know, I know,” I say, placating her but also trying to convince myself it’s over, that I have nothing to fear. I’m fully aware that it isn’t over. I’ve been getting semi-regular phone calls from unknown numbers. I’ve had moments where I swear I’m being followed. The fact that I’ve had to change my phone number again is proof that it isn’t. “I don’t really want to involve Ryan if this thing between us isn’t serious.”

Kelsey laughs out loud and shakes her head at me. “I’m pretty sure we just established that this thing you’ve got going on is serious.”

I’m making excuses and I know it, but it’s easier for me to ignore it, to act like it doesn’t exist rather than deal with it. Out of sight, out of mind. I didn’t ask for any of this, and being born into a family with my father’s connections makes me tied to it for life.

Smiling at her, I roll my eyes. “You’re right. I need to talk to him about it, but today’s not the day. It’s Beck’s party and we’re going to get drunk,” I say, pushing the whole thing out of my mind.

Kelsey laughs again, taking my hand she pulls me out of the storeroom so we can finish setting up for the party.

The guests start to arrive and I’m finally able to get back to Ryan who has been chatting at the bar with Beck and Pop. When I nestle up to the side of him, he slips his arm around my waist and pulls me into the side of his body.

Ryan presses a few simple kisses to the top of my head before saying, “I don’t think I told you, but you look beautiful tonight.” He runs his hand up and down my back before stopping and patting me on the butt.

“Thank you,” I murmur back as I press up on my toes and kiss his mouth.

Chapter Five

Ryan

Erin’s mouth is soft against mine and when she eventually pulls back, she grins up at me. She is beautiful, really beautiful. I remember it was the first thing I noticed about her when we met six months ago in this very pub. Memories of that night are still fresh and I can’t resist adding, “Wanna hit the ladies’ room, for old time’s sake?”

Now she’s giggling like a teenager and the possessive caveman side of me loves the light blush that’s creeping up her cheeks. I pull her closer, pressing a hard kiss to her mouth this time as I wonder how I can get us back there without anyone noticing.

“Christ, you two are as bad as they are,” a deep voice says and when I pull back from Erin, I see Beck’s dad laughing at us. I glance over and see Beck, who’s got Kelsey sitting on his lap, doing pretty much the same thing. When he finally looks up, he laughs and I can’t stop the grin either.

This kind of set up, Beck and me with two hot girls was once a very familiar scenario, back in Boston, heading to Finnigan’s after work, where we’d pick up a couple of random girls. Back then it was easy and fun and never going to be anything serious. Neither of us was looking for something long-term with the women we fucked; it was just a way of blowing off steam. Getting laid so we could release the tension of a job that regularly brought us into contact with the city’s worst kind of people.

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