Page 28 of The Dangers of Daydreaming (Love Connections #2)

Do g-trapped

Finn

It was Saturday, and a free day for the tour group, which meant a free day for me.

Gram was back at the hospital for the afternoon, and I was just out of the shower after a run with Wes.

He’d given me the harvester’s number, and I should call the guy, but something stopped me.

We didn’t use a harvester—the U-pick had always been a summer tradition, and I wasn’t mentally ready to give it up.

Putting it off a day wasn’t going to ruin anything.

The room was heavy with hot steam from the water, and the mirror had fogged despite my using the fan. My phone lit up, but its light was dimmed by all the moisture-tinged air around it. Wrapping a towel around my waist, I grabbed it.

Lucy: Help.

Finn: What happened?

Lucy: I’m dog-trapped on the beach.

Lucy: Ah! Quick! He looks hungry!

I didn’t even know what that meant, but I grabbed a pair of shorts and some sneakers and shot out the door, rounding the house into the orchard and toward the little path to the beach.

The laugh that came when I saw her was not my fault. Any innocent bystander would definitely side with me on that front.

“Lucy, that’s barely a dog.” I struggled to keep my expression neutral as her eyes turned to slits.

She didn’t look at me, though; her eyes were glued to the little schnauzer on the path between us.

It had taken a defensive stance and was definitely staring Lucy down, but it was also no higher than her calf.

“Stop laughing!” she demanded, glancing up. But the second her eyes moved, the dog jumped forward, yipping at her.

Yes, yipping. Its voice box couldn’t have been large enough to manage an actual bark.

“See!” she pointed, flinching when the dog jumped into the air again at her movement. “It won’t let me pass!”

“I feel like I should be making a Lord of the Rings joke right now, but I don’t know that you’d fully appreciate it.”

“I wouldn’t. Help me.”

I whistled, and the dog immediately turned on me, tail wagging. I could see Lucy wince, as if expecting my immediate demise. So glad to know she cared that deeply about me… and held me in such low esteem as to think this oversized rat could take me.

Really, this thing appeared to have taken several dips in the ocean, followed by a roll around the beach. It was looking a bit rodent-esque.

I slapped my thigh, and the dog trotted up to me as I bent to grab a stick.

Once it reached my side, I waved the stick a couple of times, then tossed it far to the left, in the direction of our nearest neighbors, since that was the most likely place he’d come from.

The dog crashed through the light undergrowth after it, and I tried to tamp down my proud smile, but was unsuccessful.

Lucy ambled up next to me, sighing deeply.

“I know what you’re thinking,” I said before she could speak. “Not all heroes wear capes.”

“Or shirts, apparently?”

Oh yeah, I’d overlooked that particular clothing item.

“Do you hulk out when headed off to hero duty?” she asked. She seemed to be making a great effort to keep her eyes on mine, but they kept slipping down my body. And the red in her cheeks was beginning to match her hair. She cleared her throat. “Tear the shirt in half?”

“You know books and pop culture?” I ask. “Wow—you’re a catch. Someone should really snatch you up before the other guys do. Take you to dinner at least.” My tone was leaning heavily to sarcasm, but hopefully my expression helped her see the joke.

Except she was, again, not looking at my face.

I was strangely proud of that. I’d worked hard for these abs. Sure, they were currently only a four-pack, but some might say that was just a discounted six-pack, and who doesn’t love a good deal?

“But really, where’d you lose half your clothes?”

“Bad game of Texas Hold ‘em,” I deadpanned.

“And they took all your shirts? You didn’t think to bet a couple pairs of pants instead to even it out?” She started walking back to the house as she talked. I could only assume it was too hard to keep her eyes off me, so she needed something physical to do for distraction—poor thing.

“What, you want me to be without pants too?”

“That is not at all what I meant.” She said it breezily enough, but how she crossed her arms and walked a little faster spoke louder than words.

I jogged to keep up with her. “So, how did you get trapped by the dog?”

“I was down at the beach when it ran up to me. I’ve never been much of a dog person, which I know probably makes me seem heartless, but in my defense, I did have a dog growing up, but neither parent wanted custody of it after the divorce.”

I stopped. “Your parents took away your dog when they got divorced?”

Her lips were flat and humorless when she smiled. “Yeah. Salt in the wound, right?”

“Seriou sly,” I muttered. “So, the dog came up to you…”

“And I tried to leave, and it ran ahead of me and wouldn’t let me pass. Every time I made a move, it barked or ran at me, and I swear I’d been stuck down there for twenty minutes before I texted you.”

Good thing too, or I would have been in the shower still and missed this delightful little tête-à-tête. “There’s another path, you know. Maybe ten yards to the left of that one.”

It was her turn to stop. “Seriously?”

I nodded. “Sorry.”

She opened her mouth to say something but paused, pulling her phone from her pocket. Her brow furrowed. “Oh,” she said. “Sorry, these guys are supposed to be on their way to Costa Rica.” She pressed a button, lifting the phone to her ear and turning away a bit. “Hey, Charlotte, is everything okay?”

Should I stay? How long would her call be, and would it seem weird to just hang around waiting for her?

Nah, not weird. After all, she called me.

Sure, she probably didn’t have the contact info for anyone in this country except me, but that was beside the point.

I walked the last few feet to the back porch of the house, settling into a chair there.

My leg bounced up and down with the sudden requirement of being left alone with just me and my thoughts.

My dad was coming in a week.

I pressed my eyes closed at that. I hadn’t ever answered his text, Gram had told me the details of his plans.

When was the last time I’d seen him—honestly?

He had called to tell me he wasn’t coming to graduation three years back— that I would never forget.

After all, it had set in motion several dominoes that I preferred not to think about.

We texted every now and again, but I hadn’t seen him since… Christmas. Three and a half years ago.

That’s right. Gram flew him up because I was coming back to spend the holiday.

It had been a surprise. Not one of her finest.

I didn’t want him to come, but his dad was in the hospital—he would be stupid not to. More stupid, that was. I just wished I didn’t have to see him, too. His presence reminded me of the past. And of my mistakes as well as his.

Lucy signed off on her call, and I looked up to meet her gaze.

Her eyes were big and tired, and she sighed.

“They missed their flight. I need to rebook them and call the airline to see if I can get them some sort of refund. But I wouldn’t be surprised if they end up having to spend the night in the airport—there’s enough of them that getting them a same-day flight is going to be impossible. ”

She was still holding her phone, but it was hanging down by her side.

I stood and walked to her. “Remember,” I said, grasping her upper arms and bending to look her in the eyes. “You stared down death just a moment ago—you can do this.”

Her eyes became determined slits and she nodded, a little quirk to her lips. “You’re right. After the dog, I can do anything.”

I let my smile free at the same time she did, and for too long—or not long enough—we just stood there, me holding her not quite the way I’d like to, and her smiling up at me as if she wouldn’t be upset if I leaned down and pressed my lips to hers.

My eyes dipped to her mouth, and my hands began to slide down to her arms.

She stopped me with her voice. “I have an overactive imagination, Finn Harrison. Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing.” But there was a hitch to her words. A tremor.

“Yeah?” I asked, eyes catching hers again. “And what is that?”

Her eyes narrowed, and red bloomed faintly in her cheeks. “You know.”

“Someth ing about being with a beautiful woman makes me strangely forgetful. I’d be most appreciative if you could tell me what I was about to do.”

She took a step closer. Just a small one.

It ratcheted my heart up as if a real dog had been about to attack her, though.

With lips bit adorably together, her hands lifted to my chest. My bare chest. And her eyebrow quirked when her palm discovered how fast my heart was beating.

Was hers going as quickly? Did I affect her the same way she was affecting me?

I stood frozen, afraid to scare her off.

“You,” she said, leaning in even more and bringing her lips tantalizingly close, “were about to cross a line.”

She started to pull away, but I palmed the small of her back. Not forcefully; she could have broken the contact if she wanted to.

But she didn’t.

“What are lines but arbitrary boundaries we didn’t need to put in place?” I murmured.

The wind picked up a few strands of her hair, and they blew between us, fluttering against her mouth and making me unbelievably jealous.

“Arbitrary boundaries?” she asked quietly. “Who’s the one with the big vocabulary now?”

“I thought it might tip the scales in my favor.”

“Underhanded tactics.”

I tucked back another errant strand of her hair, enjoying the silky feel against the back of my fingers. “Go on a date with me, Lucy. Just one date.”

She bit her lip. Then nodded.

“Yes?” I asked. I needed to hear it before I got my hopes up.

“Yes,” she said. Then her expression scrunched up teasingly. “You’re pretty impossible to say no to. I hate to think how much practice you’ve had.”

I heard t he bit of worry laced between her flippant words. “Just you, Luce.”

Her mouth tipped into a lopsided smile. It was freaking adorable. My hand constricted on her shirt, but then I forced it to loosen and let go. I still wanted to kiss her, but I didn’t want to screw up the possibility of more.

More. What did that even mean? I knew I didn’t just want one date with Lucy, but I had never been one to plan ahead.

The future was uncertain, and I didn’t like the disappointment that came when plans didn’t pan out.

I didn’t like planning to go to Disneyland with my dad and ending up hanging with a social worker.

I didn’t like it when I planned to move back in with him after he got his life figured out, and he’d made Gram tell me I was staying.

Even the small times I made plans with a friend, and they bailed last second.

It just didn’t usually go well to live in the future rather than the present.

And I knew that if this thing with Lucy didn’t work out, the pain would be a lot.

I didn’t even want to think about it right then. Or ever. One day at a time, that’s what I was going to do. One day… with the hope for more.

“Tonight?” I asked.

A breathy laugh escaped her that had me wanting to grab her back in my arms. But I didn’t—this time. “You don’t waste any time.”

“Making up for lost time, in fact,” I replied, pushing my hands into my pockets to secure them against acting on their own.

She shook her head, still laughing. “Yes. Tonight.”

“I’ll pick you up at five.”

She nodded, and we stood there a moment longer before her eyes shifted to the house.

“Okay, so this is usually where a chapter would end,” she said, gesturing between the two of us. “But do I just walk away now? Are you walking me back up to the house?”

I grabbed one of her hands mid-gesture, securing it in mine. I couldn’t help the laugh that rumbled through me. “Yes. I’ll walk you to the house.”

Her shoulders were stiff as she glanced down at our hands, but then, with apparent effort, she lowered them, giving a little nod that seemed almost to herself.

“Okay. To the house then.” Her eyes suddenly grew. “Rats, I forgot about Costa Rica! I need to go take care of this!” She pulled her hand from mine and started jogging toward the inn, but turned just before she rounded the house and called back, “See you at five!”