Page 50 of Dark Night Golden Dawn
The house was an exact replica of the one she’d imagined since she was a little girl. She’d always dreamt of living in a house in the woods, rather than in the busy city. It wasn’t that she didn’t love Nuva Troi, but sometimes she needed quiet, distance. And this was the house she’d always dreamed of—from the peaked roof, to the arched doors, to the leaded glass windows, it was everything she’d imagined, or at least it looked to be so here in the dark.
“Can I see inside?”
He pulled her close to him, tucking her back against his chest as he spoke. “Before we go in, I need to confess. I think I built this for you. At first, I told myself it was just because I liked the house you always talked about, because it was the kind of home I wanted as a child, but never had. But once it was built, I knew it was more.”
Harlow waited for Finn to continue, feeling his breath through her shoulder blades as he hugged her tightly. She lifted her face to his, resting her head on his shoulder. “What do you mean?”
“I couldn’t fill it with furniture or art because I hoped someday you’d do it your way, even though that seems impossible—I need you to know that I don’t expect anything from you. If you don’t want me, I’ll understand and I promise, I’ll help you do everything I said I would and then I’ll leave you alone… But you’re the reason I agreed to participate in the season. I hoped I’d see you again, and maybe things might be different.”
The words tumbled out of him in a desperate way she wasn’t used to hearing. His voice cracked with emotion, as he pressed his palms into the gentle curve of her soft stomach. His erection was hard against her ass, but the touch was less sexual, and more for comfort, somehow wistful as he ran his hands over her.
She looked away from him, back at the house. Some part of her knew they were crossing a threshold she might not be able to return from, but she felt reckless. Here in this moment, what she wassupposedto be doing with Finn was far away, removed from this conversation entirely. It was as though they existed in a different world for a short time, one where she could trust him, where they might actually have a chance.
Even so, she asked, “What about your parents? Didn’t they want you to?”
She felt him shrug. “They did, but I didn’t know that when I came home for good, when I moved in here. All I knew was that you’d broken up with Mark, and if I was going to have another chance with you, this was it.”
Her breath caught at the mention of Mark, and it felt as though poison leached into her. A memory flashed in her mind’s eye: Mark calling her a slut on the way home from a dinner with friends, where she’d talked for too long to one of his colleagues about the rare book trade. There had been nothing to it; the friend was just that, a friend—but he’d screamed at her for hours when they got home. He said she’d made an idiot of herself and embarrassed him. That she was a fool to think anyone else would want her the way he did.
After that, he’d started going out to bars, parties—everywhere really—without her. She hadn’t minded at first. His friends were wary of her, and it was easier to just stay home with Axel and enjoy the peace. But of course, that was when he started meeting other women. Came home smelling like them, with lipstick all over him. He hadn’t even bothered hiding it. And then, eventually, he’d kicked her out. Some hidden memory of that day pressed against her consciousness, that glass wall that hid something she wasn’t supposed to think about, ever.
“Where did you go?” Finn’s deep voice, so steady and different from Mark’s shrill tone, brought her back to the moment she was in.
“I’m sorry,” she said quickly.
“For what?” He turned her, so he could see her face, his fingers tipping her chin up until her eyes met his. “What could you possibly have to apologize for?”
She shrugged, lowering her eyes.
“I mentioned Mark... Is that what’s wrong?”
Harlow shrugged again, her breath shuddering through her, panic barely at bay. She shouldn’t think about Mark. Not right now.
“Harls,” Finn said, his voice so soft and gentle that she nearly let her panic flow, nearly let her fear take over, just so he could comfort her, prove to her that she was safe. “What happened with you and Mark? Why did you break up?”
“Because I wasn’t good enough for him,” she said bitterly. “We didn’t break up. He dumped me. Kicked me out of our apartment. Kept my cat.”
Finn’s entire frame tightened, tense as his eyes began to glow with fury. “He kept yourcatwhen you left?” His fingers laced through hers as he started toward the house. “Come on. We’re going to get your cat.Now.”
The word “now” sent a shiver through her. She’d seen Finn like this before, but only rarely. He could be chilly, but he was usually calm. Now he was furious, and so lethal her skin prickled with awareness. Immense power flowed off him in waves, filling the tapestry of magic that surrounded them, lighting the threads in their immediate vicinity in a vicious glow.
There was nothing left of the vulnerable man he’d been a few minutes ago; now he was wholly the immortal predator, dangerous and terrifyingly beautiful. But Harlow wasn’t frightened in the slightest. In fact, she was something else altogether. She was aroused, nearly as aroused as she’d been when he mercilessly teased her on the lawn.
His nostrils flared. He couldsmellher desire. Why had she forgotten that?
“Are you…” he trailed off, his eyes glowing.
“I already got Axel back,” she said, interrupting his recognition of what seeing him so ready to help her was doing to her body. “Last week. I went to go get him when Olivia and Mark were out.”
“You did?” Finn’s voice was strained, as though he were almost disappointed that he wasn’t going to get the chance to enact some kind of violence on Mark tonight.
“Yes, he’s safe at my apartment. Larkin is staying with him tonight. I know that’s a little silly, but she likes getting away from the maters and the twins and she loves animals… so, it sort of works out perfectly, since I’m a little overprotective right now.”
“That’s good.” A shaky breath shuddered through him. “You could have asked me to help.”
She nodded. “I know. But I needed to do it on my own.”
Finn cupped her face in his hands and kissed her forehead so sweetly it brought tears to her eyes. “Do you want to go home and see him? We can go together, spend the night there if you want. Or I can drop you off and go. Whatever you want.”
