Every Breath You Take (Oasis Book 1) (10 page)

The door opened and Finn appeared, looking like he’d rushed to get here. He caught my gaze, and walked straight to us.

“You okay?” he asked.

“I’m fine. You didn’t need to come down here.”

He ignored me and addressed Curtis. “I don’t think it would hurt to sweep the area one more time.”

“He said there wasn’t anything there,” I told Finn because I was defensive.

His jaw tightened. “Powell.”

Curtis nodded. “Of course.”

I sighed. “Thank you, Curtis.”

He smiled at me, and I turned for the exit. Finn caught up to me and held the door. I pushed past him.

“It’s not going to be like this. I don’t need you to walk me everywhere,” I began.

He shoved a hand through his dark hair, a dangerous smile playing at the corners of his lips, like he was barely holding back anger. “I’m not going to discuss this with you right now.” He cast a vigilant glance around. “If you still need to go somewhere, I’ll go with you. Otherwise, I’m happy to walk with you back to the office.”

I gritted my teeth, but didn’t say a word. I started walking back to Business and Finn kept up with me, staying silent the entire way. This was far, far from the vision of independence I had when I came here, and I’d make that clear to Finn. As for now, I was going to get my work done so I could enjoy the weekend.

() () ()

The sky burned to a dark purple outside the windows of my office. I said goodnight to Leslie and Tucker almost two hours ago and kept working. I stayed so focused, I had no idea if Finn had gone as well.

I doubted he’d leave me here alone, but I hadn’t seen him since lunch. I’d closed my door and plotted security points. Then I’d forgotten about security and dove into logistics. I wanted to interview employees and tenants in each community so I wrote up a list of questions. I’d filled in my Oasis map, marking every store, business, and restaurant that already had a location or had leased a space. It was my goal to get the rest of the spaces leased in the next several months so we were almost to capacity.

Reaching for my water, I frowned when I lifted it and it was empty. My stomach growled. I hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast and I couldn’t remember how long my water bottle had been empty.

With a groan over my aching muscles, I stretched out my legs and rolled my shoulders. Then I closed my eyes to stop the stinging. Ten more minutes, then I would go. And I would relax the entire weekend.

When I opened my eyes and Finn stood in the doorway, I yanked in a sharp breath.

“Finn,” I said, my voice coming out a whisper.

“I’m sorry. I thought you heard me.”

“What are you still doing here?”

“Same question.”

I rolled my chair back and stretched my legs again. “I had a few extra projects I wanted to make sure got finished.”

“Me too.” He walked into the room. The tie was missing from his neck and he’d taken off his suit jacket. “I was hoping you were ready to go.”

“If you need to leave, don’t worry about me.”

He frowned and continued walking, around my desk and to my chair. I started to protest when he reached out, but when his hands found the muscles on my shoulders, I relaxed.

“Finn…”

“I’m not leaving without you,” he said, kneading the muscles. “God, you’re tense. You need a massage.”

“I thought that’s what you were doing.”

I closed my eyes again and heard his soft chuckle. “I mean a professional massage, though this is working pretty well for me. It’d work better back at my place.”

I grumbled out my disagreement, which sounded more like a groan. His hands felt too good. And I didn’t want to be mad at him. I just wanted to get through my first few weeks here without a hitch. My overactive imagination was making that hard.

“Does that mean no or yes?” Finn asked.

My eyes still shut, I said, “Being around you makes me tense.”

His hands froze on my shoulders. “Is that so?”

“History,” I said.

His fingers started moving again. “Forget it.”

“What?”

He turned the chair so I faced him. My eyes whipped open.

“Forget it,” he said. “Pretend it never happened. Pretend I came into your life as you started this new job and there’s a chance for something more.”

“But–”

“You’re nervous, I know. Take a chance.”

“Finn, it’s not that simple.”

He leaned in, hands on the arms of my chair, and trapped me in his gaze. “Then make it simple. I meant what I said about not hurting you. I’m not going to do it. It’s a risk, I know, but less than you think. I’m not going anywhere this time. I want you. Us. And nothing you do or say is going to scare me off.”

“It was only three words last time,” I said, remembering. “Three words that scared you off.”

I love you
.

His face twisted. He straightened and dropped his chin. “I know. And I know it hurt you.”

I’d have to be blind not to see the regret there. And an idiot to think it wasn’t real. He felt bad about what had happened. He regretted it. And he was trying to make it better.

“Okay,” I whispered.

Silhouetted against the pale sky outside the window, I couldn’t read the expression on his face. His voice came out so quietly, I could barely make out what he said. “Okay, what?”

“Okay, I’ll forget it.”

His breath seemed to catch in his lungs. The whole room was still for a long moment. And then he reached for me, taking my hand and pulling me from the chair. His arms crushed me close, lips at my ear. “Charlotte,” he said, a depth of emotion in his voice that sounded like it was pulled straight from his soul.

“I can’t…go too fast.”

He nodded, his cheek brushing mine. His hand pressed against my back, holding me to him. “I know. You don’t have to.”

I turned my chin, my lips skimming his. A low groan slipped from his mouth.

“I think I’m done here,” I told him.

He clasped my hand in his. “Come to my place.”

“I’d really like to go home. I want to get used to it.”

He smiled, but it looked forced. “Sure.”

“You can stay for a bit, though, right?”

His fingers squeezed mine before releasing them so I could gather the items from my desk. “Of course.”

Finn kept his hands to himself as we rode down the elevator and walked to the Housing Community. But when we stepped into the elevator there, he linked our fingers again. His hand was still familiar, still strong around mine, but comfortable. Like we’d never stopped holding hands.

But everything else was different. New. Exciting, even. It was the first time in months I’d let myself consider I could move on with someone.

I pulled out my key card and noticed something on the floor when we reached the door. Just a simple wrap of tissue paper around a single red rose.

Glancing at Finn with a half-smile on my lips, I bent down to retrieve the flower. “Roses aren’t really your style.”

Finn’s jaw clenched and he backed up, gaze traveling the hallway. “I didn’t send this.”

“What?”

He reached for the flower. “Is there a card?”

“Paige, then. Or Tucker, maybe…” But I didn’t know why either would send me a single rose to my apartment. A red rose…just like what Mark used to send.

Finn pulled out an envelope and ripped it open. His breath hissed through his teeth.

“Finn,” I said. “What? What does it say?”

He tried to tuck the card in his pocket, but I snatched it from his hand.

“Charlotte.”

I ignored him and read the words on the card. My stomach dropped.

I see you
.

Chapter Nine

The paper fluttered from my fingers. Finn snatched it off the floor and said, “Get inside.”

My stomach jolted, but I opened the door and stepped inside. Finn back and forth down the hallway once more, and then walked in one direction and disappeared from view.

I stepped out the door again, squeezing my fist against my heart. “Finn?”

“Go back inside,” Finn said, appearing around the corner.

“No one is out here.”

“Charlotte.” He returned to the door and ushered me back inside. He set the flower on the kitchen counter and frowned at it. Then he pulled out his phone.

“Wait, who are you calling?”

“Powell.”

“No.”

He barely flicked a glance at me. “No?”

I plucked the phone from his hand and held it behind my back.

“Char–”

“Don’t. Just stop for a minute. I need to think. I need…”

He stepped up to me, jaw tight. “I’m trying not to snap at you here, Charlotte, but there’s nothing to think through.”

“God, Finn. You don’t even–this might not–” I stopped, taking a slow breath. “Please. Can you let me deal with this?”

“You have to talk to me. You have to tell me what’s going on.”

“Don’t call anyone. Not just yet.” When he looked like he was going to argue, I appealed to him. “Please? I don’t want to jump to conclusions and I don’t want to worry anyone else if it’s not necessary.”

He still didn’t respond, so I touched his cheek. His face softened, and I leaned up to kiss him. My lips did a harmless brush, but his arms clasped around my waist and pulled me to him.

“This doesn’t mean we’re letting it go,” Finn murmured, his breath against my mouth. “We still need to talk.”

“I know. Just not right now.”

A knock at the door made me jump back. My heart lurched into my throat.

“Stay there,” Finn warned, pushing me to the wall that separated the kitchen and the hallway.

I clasped his phone to my chest and watched as he gripped the door handle and turned. A warm voice greeted him from the hallway. After a moment, he sighed and opened the door all the way.

A man walked through with a large canvas bag. He smiled at me kindly. “Would you like it in the kitchen?”

“The wine you requested,” Finn said. His shoulders relaxed.

“Already?”

“We had several bottles in stock,” the man said. “For your convenience.”

He unloaded them onto the kitchen counter, filling the space with three of the wines I’d liked the most at the tasting.

“You ordered all these?” I asked Finn.

“There are more coming,” the man explained. “We had to order a few, but I expect them by next week.”

Finn smiled at me. It still held a hint of tension, but at least he wasn’t demanding we call Curtis. The flower still sat on the counter and when Finn noticed what I was looking at, he politely asked the man to take the flower with him when he left.

Once we were alone again, I stepped out of my heels and leaned against the counter. “Thank you for the wine.”

“My pleasure. Would you like me to open a bottle?”

“You’ll stay for a bit?”

He nodded, already heading for the opener. “As long as you’d like.”

I rubbed my shoulder. “What I’d really like is a hot bath, but–”

“Go ahead. I’ll open a bottle, figure out dinner, and when you’re ready we can relax. Catch up.”

“Really?”

Finn abandoned the wine opener and walked to me. “Is it a surprise that I’d really want to be here with you, or a surprise that
anyone
would want to?”

My mouth opened soundlessly.

He skimmed his hands down my arms. “You’re an amazing woman, Charlotte. I hate that anyone would try to make you think otherwise.”

The blood drained from my face. I didn’t want him to know about Mark or refer to Mark or even think about him. I wanted that chapter in my life over. But I didn’t think Finn was going to let it go that easily.

He stepped back. “Enough seriousness for now.”

Relieved, I nodded and turned for the hallway. Behind me, Finn worked in the kitchen, moving around like he was already familiar with my place. If we worked toward a relationship, he would probably be here a lot.

Surprisingly, I didn’t mind as much as I thought I would. This was still my place. My new home. My move, my chance at a new life. I could make it what I wanted.

I started the water in the tub and added bubbles. And, because I could, I lit candles before I sank deep in the warm water. I could relax easier knowing Finn was here, especially after the rose.