Home > The Engagement Arrangement(2)

The Engagement Arrangement(2)
Author: Jaci Burton

   She was not interested in Finn Nolan. Like, not at all.

   Liar, liar, because your panties are on fire.

   “Shut up,” she whispered to herself. She took off her dress and hung it up, went into the bathroom to wash off the remnants of her terrible date, then climbed into bed to read a book. But she couldn’t concentrate, Finn’s words still pinging around in her head.

   Was he the guy she’d always wanted, always needed, but had never realized it?

   Stop playing with those boys you’re not interested in and let a real man into your life.

   She pulled her legs in toward her chest and wrapped her arms around them, thinking about how he’d looked when she’d walked up the steps. His long, jean-clad legs stretched out, his cowboy hat tipped low across his brow, hiding his magnificent stormy gray eyes. And that Irish lilt to his voice—that alone could melt a woman’s clothes right off her. He needed a haircut, all that rich, silky black hair spilling out from underneath his hat, making her itch to run her fingers through it while his mouth crashed down on hers and his tongue—

   Whoa.

   Okay, maybe she had an attraction. And maybe she always had. She still remembered when he’d first arrived on the ranch. He’d been eighteen then, and she’d been seventeen. He’d been lanky and shy and oh so heartbroken about his mother’s death that her heart had just about broken with him. But he had a smile that lit up the entire state of Oklahoma.

   Oh, she’d fought that attraction with everything in her. After all, Mom had trusted all of them to take care of Finn, to treat him like family. And when he’d loosened up and become part of the family, she’d held that attraction she’d felt to herself, while Finn had come out of his shell and laughed and made friends and had girlfriends and treated her just like he treated everyone else.

   Then Mitchell had come along, distracting her with his sweet talking and empty promises of happily-ever-after.

   What an eye opener that had been. Happily-ever-after was for fairy tales. That was why she worked the winery and left the wedding stuff to her sisters.

   She rolled her eyes, realizing that thoughts of Mitchell were like buckets of cold water all over her libido, dousing her hot fantasies of Finn.

   With a sigh of disgust, she turned out the light and climbed under the cool covers.

   She and Finn weren’t meant to be, anyway. He worked on the vineyard, they saw each other every day, and the two of them fooling around would be a recipe for disaster.

   There. Fantasy effectively ended.

   It was never going to happen.

 

 

CHAPTER


   • • • • • •

 

 

two


   FINN SLUNG HIS hammer into his tool belt and stepped away from the building he was putting an addition on, removing his hat to wipe the sweat from his brow. He unscrewed the lid from his jug and swallowed several gulps of water.

   August in Oklahoma sucked. It was hot as fuck this morning, the sun beat down on him and there wasn’t a single cloud in the sky. And it wasn’t even eight a.m. yet. He’d deliberately started early so he could beat the heat. Hell of a lot of good that had done him. Today was going to be brutal.

   It was days like this that made him miss the small town in Ireland where he’d grown up. He missed the clouds and the chill and the salty air of the sea. At times it felt like it was only yesterday that he’d walked along the coast, looking out every day at the amazing power of all that water crashing against the shore or taking a boat out to do some fishing with his da.

   Other times it felt like a lifetime ago.

   Damnú aír. He raked his fingers through his hair. No point in thinking of what had been. He was damn lucky to be here, grateful to the Bellinis for a home of his own and a roof over his head. He’d had no one back then after Ma had died. Now he had a family.

   He went to the barn to grab some supplies for his project. He had to pass the main house, and while walking by he heard singing. Following the sound, he saw Brenna on her hands and knees, working in the dirt at the side of the house.

   He cocked his head to the side and smiled, admiring the view. She was dressed in shorts and a cropped top, her smooth skin glistening with sweat as she used a trowel to dig out vegetables from the garden she tended.

   Damn but she was beautiful, even sweaty and slinging dirt. Her hair was swirled up in a bun on top of her head, small curling red tendrils escaping and teasing her neck. All he could think about was how much he wanted to press his mouth to her nape.

   Among other parts of her.

   She shook the dirt off the potatoes and tossed them into a bin, then inched over to pull some peppers.

   “Garden looks good, eh?” he asked.

   She jumped back and straightened, shooting a pissed-off look in his direction. “Jesus, Finn. You could have made some noise to let me know you were there.”

   “Just did.” He moved in closer, then crouched down to her level. “What’re you harvesting this mornin’?”

   “Potatoes. Carrots. Peppers. Onions.”

   “Need some help?”

   She frowned. “Don’t you have a job to do?”

   “Yeah. Don’t you?”

   She lifted her chin. “I’ll get to it. You should go do your job.”

   “Was on my way to do that and I heard you singing. You have a beautiful voice, Brenna.”

   “Uh-huh.”

   She stared at him, giving him her classic Brenna glare as if that would somehow scare him off. He’d never once been scared of her, so that never worked. “Do you need some help or should I just watch you?”

   “What are you? Some kind of stalker?”

   He laughed and got down on his knees beside her, taking the trowel from her hands. “I can’t rightly be a stalker since I live here, can I?”

   “I . . .” She kept glowering at him while he harvested the vegetables. “Don’t do that.”

   “Do what?” he asked as he plopped the vegetables in the bin. “Help you? Kneel this close to you? Exist?”

   “All of those things.”

   He laughed. “Trying to be rid of me, álainn?”

   “Don’t do that, either.”

   “What? Talk to you?”

   “No. Talk to me in Gaelic. It’s . . . it’s . . .”

   He arched a brow, waiting for her answer.

   “Just . . . stop it.”

   She had a smudge of dirt on her face. He wiped his hand on his jeans, then swept his thumb over her cheek. “You had some dirt there.”

Hot Books
» House of Earth and Blood (Crescent City #1)
» A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire
» From Blood and Ash (Blood And Ash #1)
» A Million Kisses in Your Lifetime
» Deviant King (Royal Elite #1)
» Den of Vipers
» House of Sky and Breath (Crescent City #2)
» The Queen of Nothing (The Folk of the Air #
» Sweet Temptation
» The Sweetest Oblivion (Made #1)
» Chasing Cassandra (The Ravenels #6)
» Wreck & Ruin
» Steel Princess (Royal Elite #2)
» Twisted Hate (Twisted #3)
» The Play (Briar U Book 3)