taste. In clothes, in music and obviously in men. Brock, you are one lucky man. To Esther and Brock.”
They toasted and the couple kissed again.
As toasts went, it hadn’t sucked. Score one for Allison.
“One more toast,” Allison said.
Brenna thought she might groan.
“As we’ve discovered tonight, another of our friends is recently engaged.”
Oh, shit.
Allison looked right at her as she lifted her glass. “I’m so happy that you’ve finally found someone, Brenna. I hated to think of you wasting away out here, all alone.”
“Bitch,” Erin whispered to her lap.
“I swear I’m going to poison her food,” Honor said.
Brenna just plastered on a smile. Finn grasped her hand, which was now sweaty.
“To Brenna and Finn.”
Brenna raised her glass and shot visual daggers at her nemesis while everyone cheered.
“Kiss, kiss, kiss,” everyone yelled.
This night could not get worse. The last thing she wanted to do was kiss Finn in front of everyone. She’d never kissed him before. They’d all know their engagement was fake.
Plus, you want to be alone when you kiss him.
She pushed that thought aside and looked over at Finn, who gave her an easy smile, which meant it was up to her to decide how she was going to continue this charade.
The charade she’d invented. She was going to have to go for it. In front of all of these people.
I’ll get you for this, Allison.
She gave Finn a slight nod.
He slid his hand along the side of her neck. That mere touch made her nerve endings go haywire as their lips met.
And then fireworks went off as he moved his mouth over hers. Soft, gentle, exploratory, but with intent.
Damn.
It was a brief kiss, but oh, that kiss held promise. When he pulled back, she saw the barely banked heat in his eyes.
She wanted more.
CHAPTER
• • • • • •
nine
FINN WENT TO work on Friday, same as always. Except that kiss with Brenna lingered in his mind all day.
It had been just like he’d expected. Soft, her lips sweet and plush, making him want more. Only they’d been surrounded by a crowd of people, so he could just have a taste of her. And when he’d pulled back he’d seen the surprise in her eyes, the look that told him she’d wanted him to continue.
Which he hadn’t been able to do because, again, people.
All those people. And he’d have no alone time with her for the next few days, either, because of the wedding.
He’d figure it out.
Damn. He dusted his hands off and pulled up his water jug, taking several swallows, then swiped the sweat from his brow. He pulled his phone out of his back pocket to check the time.
He needed to get ready for the rehearsal thing.
He cleaned up his workspace, put his tools away in the shed and whistled for Murphy, who hadn’t wandered far. The dog had been hanging out in the shade chewing on a bone and came running with it in his mouth. They walked back toward his house, Finn breathing a sigh of relief as the trees thickened along his path. He liked living where he did, in the thick of the woods, where the trees gave him some shelter from the harsh summer sun. He liked the pond where he could fish and the soft grass surrounding his house.
It wasn’t a big place, just a one-bedroom, but it was plenty for what he needed. And it gave him privacy. He was grateful that the Bellinis had offered up this parcel of land for him to build on. It had given him the independence he’d wanted.
Not that he’d been ungrateful to live in the house with them when he’d first traveled over from Ireland. Being an orphan and lonely as hell, he’d been happy to have a roof over his head and an opportunity to use his hands and earn some money. He’d learned a lot from Johnny Bellini and the other people who worked at the vineyard.
Two years after he’d moved in he’d asked if he could build his own place. Johnny and Maureen hadn’t hesitated before they said yes.
It wasn’t his property. He didn’t own it. But for now, it was his. And since he worked there and took care of everything, they didn’t ask him to pay rent, just to take care of the house and the property and to keep watch over that part of the land, which he would have anyway.
Eventually he’d buy his own land. He banked everything he earned so he could someday make that dream