Evie's Bombshell - By Amy Andrews Page 0,32

the on-call room but he knew in his bones they were the right words.

His child was growing inside her and, no matter what, he was going to be present. He was going to be a father. Conviction and purpose rose in him like an avenging angel.

‘You can move in with me. No, wait, I’ll buy a house. Somewhere by the harbour, or the northern beaches. Bondi or Coogee. He can join the Nippers or learn to surf.’

Evie’s head spun, trying to keep up with Finn’s rapid-fire thinking. ‘A house?’

‘I think kids should grow up near a beach.’

Having been dragged from one hot suburban shoebox to the next, he wanted his son to have the freedom of space and a sea breeze and the rhythm of the ocean in his head when he went to sleep instead of rock music from the bikie neighbours or the blare of the television in the next room.

Finn’s thoughts raced in time with his pulse. He was going to be a father.

‘I’ll look into celebrants when I get home.’

Evie stared at him incredulously. He had them married and living at the beach with their surfing son all without a single mention of love.

‘We’ll do it just after the baby’s born. No need to inconvenience ourselves until necessary.’

Evie felt as if she’d entered the twilight zone and waited for eerie music to begin. He didn’t even want to get married until the baby had arrived—to inconvenience himself. Could he make it any clearer that this sudden crazy scheme had no basis in human emotion? That it wasn’t a love match?

Evie had grown up in a house where her parents had been strangers and she was never, ever going to subject herself or her child to a cold marriage of convenience.

‘No,’ she said quietly.

Finn shrugged. ‘Well, maybe just before then?’

Evie blinked. Oh, when she was as big as a house and needed to get married in a tent? Was he for real? Did he not know how important a wedding was to a woman? Even one who wasn’t into sappy ceremonies or big flouncy affairs? Didn’t he know that most women wanted declarations of love and commitment when they were proposed to?

If that’s what this was …

No, of course he didn’t. Because, as with everything in his life, Finn just assumed that she’d jump to do his bidding when he asked.

Wrong.

‘I’m not marrying you, Finn.’

Finn dragged his attention back to Evie and her softly spoken rebuttal. He snorted. ‘Don’t be ridiculous, Evie. This is what you wanted, isn’t it?’

More than anything. But not like this. ‘No. I told you, I can raise this baby without your help.’

Finn shoved a hand on his hip. ‘Evie … come on … I know how you feel about me …’

She gave a half-laugh at his gall. ‘I always forget how capable you are of breathtaking arrogance. Silly of me, really.’

‘Evie,’ he sighed, desperate to get on with plans now he’d made up his mind, ‘let’s not play games.’

Evie felt his impatience rolling off him in waves. ‘Okay, fine, let’s lay our cards on the table. How do you feel about me?’

Finn felt the question slug him right between the eyes, which were only just recovering from their brush with the whisky. How he felt about Evie was complicated. But he knew it wasn’t what she wanted to hear.

‘You want me to tell you that I’m in love with you and we’re going to ride off into the sunset and it’s all going to be hunky-dory? Because I don’t and it isn’t. Not in a white-picket-fence way anyway.’

Evie moved to the nearby table and sank into a chair. She’d known he didn’t love her but it was still hard to hear.

Finn shut his eyes briefly then opened them and joined her, taking the seat opposite. ‘I’m sorry, Evie. It’s not you. It’s me. There’s a lot of … stuff in my life … that’s happened. I’m just not capable of loving someone.’

Evie nodded even as the admission tore through all the soft tissue around her heart. Had Isaac’s death and the other stuff that Ethan had hinted at really destroyed Finn’s ability to love?

‘Well, that’s what I want,’ she said quietly. ‘What I need. Love and sunsets and white picket fences. And I won’t marry for anything less.’

Finn’s lips tightened. This had seemed so easy in theory when the marriage suggestion had slipped from his mouth. She’d say yes and the rest would fall into place. It hadn’t occurred to him that