Finn (Casella Cousins #3) - Kathryn Shay Page 0,9
ten minutes, the seats were occupied. Millie should be here by now, so he texted her to bring Sabrina out, and as the bestselling author came to the front, the group clapped. Finn waited till she reached the table.
“Good evening, everyone. Thank you for coming. I present to you the First Lady of Mystery, Sabrina Knight. She’ll be signing all her books, which are displayed on the wall facing us. Her current release, The Man on the Porch, the third book in her Harvard House series, is stacked right here.”
Sabrina said, “Hello everyone. I’m happy to see so many people here. Let’s get to it.” She sat and people approached her.
He heard behind him, “I like that she talks to each patron. It takes longer, but they won’t forget what she did.”
He turned. “I—what on earth did you do to your hair?”
She fluffed out the strands that now fell in waves past her shoulders. “Grandma cut it this morning.”
He’d stutter if he said more. The auburn curls were gone, the mane of hair almost to her waist had been chopped off.
“It was time for a change.” She shifted from one foot to the other. “I like it.”
“The style’s flattering,” he finally said, recovering a bit of his poise.
“Thanks.”
He noticed she wore a dress he’d never seen, but he couldn’t ask her about it. He shouldn’t have commented on her hair because he was her boss. But, damn, her appearance stunned him.
Turning back to Sabrina’s event, Finn controlled his reaction to her by watching the people buy books. A few minutes later, the door opened. Millie brushed past him and made a bee line for the guy who entered. Emerson’s grin was wide when he saw her. He leaned in, murmured something then brushed his hand down her hair.
And Millie smiled broadly.
Well, good. She’d had boyfriends over the years but none of them stuck. Finn wondered if this one would.
Taking the guy by the hand, she led Emerson over to him. “You remember Emerson, don’t you, Finn?”
“Yes.” They shook. “Thanks for coming.”
He glanced down at his jeans with perfectly placed slits in them and a T-shirt that advertised, Feed the hungry. “I apologize for not dressing up for this occasion. I didn’t know it would be formal and came from the kitchen.”
“No worries,” Millie told him. “Some of the customers are wearing jeans.”
Finn, of course, wore a suit.
“Can you keep an eye on Sabrina?” he asked. “Judy’s getting what she needs, and restocking the table, but stay close?”
“Yeah, sure. I always do that.”
“I’ll be out in a half hour then you can take a break.”
Finn headed to the office, walked inside and sat. And sniffed. The small space smelled of perfume. Not the flowery scent she’d had on the boat, though. Something more…suggestive. For her date?
Hell of a thing to be thinking about! He called up the spread sheet on today’s sales and stared at it blindly. What was wrong with him? His mind wasn’t on this.
He kept seeing Millie, with that sexy hair that made her seem older. He missed the curls and the length. In their place were waves that looked silky. Too silky.
He went to the file cabinet, unlocked it and removed his laptop. In the breakroom, he sat at the table and opened the machine. Called up his unnamed book to Chapter Six.
But nothing came. In truth, he didn’t like Mick Gallagher much tonight. Or ever, really.
Something made him start a new file and he decided to free write.
* * *
Molly McGuire walked down the street, unaware that she was turning the heads of the men she passed. She had a place to get to and that was all that mattered.
The building came into view and she walked faster. And faster. She had to get there…
* * *
“Finn!”
He startled out of the story. Millie stood before him. “Yeah?”
“The book signing is almost over.”
“What?”
“You’ve been back here an hour and a half.”
“I have?”
Her mouth quirked up. “What were you doing on that?” She gestured to the laptop.
“Nothing that concerns you.” He closed the top abruptly, stood, went to the office, locked the machine up. And said, “Let’s go.”
He didn’t watch the sway of her hips in the silky material of her dress. He kept his gaze over her shoulders.
Sabrina signed the last of her books, then caught sight of him. She arched a perfectly shaped brow. “Finn, glad you could join us.”
“I’m sorry. I got caught up with something on the computer. I had no idea how much