‘Yes,’ he said, his eyes meeting mine. ‘Yes, I do.’
I felt a tidal wave of relief rush over me, but I couldn’t submit to it yet. There was still more I wanted to tell him.
‘Eloise was the person who helped me reconnect and find my way back to what it was that I had started out loving. She was the one who encouraged me to get my hands in the earth again and I haven’t looked back since.’
‘I think I would have rather liked your friend, Eloise,’ Finn smiled. ‘I thought that when you talked about her before.’
She would have liked him too. His clever sculptures would have been the perfect fit for Broad-Meadows.
‘And what about your ex?’ he asked. ‘What’s he doing now?’
‘Oh, Peter’s living the dream.’ I smiled. ‘Working in New Zealand.’
‘New Zealand, wow,’ Finn sighed. ‘Hang on, did you say, Peter?’
‘Yes.’
‘The guy you were engaged to is called Peter?’
‘Yes,’ I said again. ‘It was him who interrupted us… before…’
‘In the studio,’ Finn carried on, ‘when we were… kissing.’
‘Yes.’
‘The one who you described me to as no one.’
‘I only said that because I didn’t want him to start teasing me,’ I hastily explained. ‘Peter and I have stayed good friends and I’d already mentioned you to him by then and he annoyingly thought I had a bit of a thing for you.’
Finn raised his eyebrows.
‘Which was right.’ I swallowed, my cheeks starting to glow.
Finn grinned.
‘I take it that you are still happy about that, then?’
‘Which bit?’
‘Me having a bit of a thing for you.’
‘Of course, I bloody am,’ he laughed, clearly delighted to have made me say it again. ‘And it’s a relief to find out your ex is called Peter. You’ve mentioned his name more than once and I was beginning to think he might be someone… current.’
‘Oh,’ I said, feeling hurt.
‘Not that I had you down as someone who would just kiss another person when they were already in a relationship,’ he quickly went on, a rush of colour suddenly flooding his face and matching it to mine. ‘But I was the one who instigated that kiss and when Peter’s call came through, I felt as guilty as hell.’
I wondered whether he was the one who had instigated it, but perhaps that was a conversation for another time.
‘Is that why you’ve been pretending it never happened?’ I asked him, ‘Because you thought that not only had I left a groom crying at the altar but I was also in some sort of long-distance relationship?’
‘I wasn’t sure what I thought, to be honest,’ he admitted, raking a hand through his hair. ‘I couldn’t really see you as being that sort of girl, but I got it all messed up in my head. That said, there was never any doubt that I was severely smitten with you, Freya, but I’ve had a rough time relationship-wise, and after our kiss and Peter’s call, I just thought it would be best all round if I tried to keep things between us on a purely professional level.’
‘And now?’ I asked, standing up again, ‘Now you know that I’ve never been a Bridezilla, I’m completely single and that Peter’s a friend, are you still going to try and keep things professional?’
‘How can I?’ he said, leaning forward and pulling me down on to his lap. ‘You’re utterly irresistible.’
Before I could say another word, his mouth had covered mine and more of those passionate, forceful, hard and exciting kisses rained down. I kissed him back, every bit as forcefully. His hands were in my hair, my fingers were under his shirt and I lost all sense of propriety.
The dam that had been bricked up between us after our first embrace had well and truly burst and I had no intention of plugging it. It was time to set aside the cocktail of misunderstandings and conclusions we had jumped to and embrace a completely fresh start. After all, that had been the purpose of my intervention and Finn’s kisses felt very much like mission accomplished.
‘Oh, and about Zak,’ I gasped, my nerve endings tingling.
‘Do you have to mention him now?’ Finn groaned.
‘Yes,’ I said, my back arching as his fingers grazed my skin with the lightest touch. ‘It’s important.’
‘Go on then.’
‘He was just changing a washer,’ I whispered. ‘That was all.’
‘Actually, I know,’ he said, and I could tell he was smiling. ‘He told me.’
‘He told you?’
‘Yes,’ he said, pulling away slightly, ‘and if you hadn’t come and found me today, then