Page 47 of Wicked Intention

Ski sat up straighter, his fingers tightening around the steering wheel, and shot him a quick glare. “I maybe told you a few things, but I never asked for any input from you about the situation.”

“Maybe not directly, but—”

His buddy cut him off. “Wait a second. I see what you did.You’re not getting me off topic this easily. You’ve been living together for two years. Why haven’t you proposed?”

“We don’t need a marriage license to be committed to each other.”

With a scowl, Ski asked, “Is Zo your person, or are you killing time with her?”

Finn clenched his jaw so hard that a muscle began to jump in his cheek. It took more than one deep breath to loosen up. “Zo’s forever.”

“If you know that, then it must be her you’re unsure of. What did she say when the two of you talked about living together?”

He remained silent.

“Well?” Ski prompted.

Grudgingly, he admitted, “We never talked about it.”

“Bullshit. You couldn’t move in without some kind of discussion.”

Finn ran his hands over his thighs to keep from tensing up again. “I did. I put my things in her bedroom, and it was a done deal.”

Ski looked incredulous. “What the fuck did she say when she noticed? And knowing Zo, she probably spotted this quickly.”

“She did.” Finn released a deep sigh.

“Do I have to drag it out of you? I want to hear this story. Did she roast you alive?”

As much as he didn’t like sharing his personal business, Finn wouldn’t mind getting a second opinion on this. Slowly, keeping his eyes on the horizon outside the windshield, he said, “The morning after I put my things in the bedroom, I came out of the bath and found her standing in front of the closet. The door was open, and she had a hand on her hip.”

He could see Zo plain as day. She’d been dressed in a pair of shorts and a tank top for their run. For an instant, he’d been mesmerized by her long, bare legs, but a few secondslater, his brain had flasheddanger, danger,and he’d focused on her face. Her carefully neutral expression had pushed the alert level from yellow to red.

Ski’s impatience filled the Jeep.

“I waited a few seconds, but Zo didn’t speak,” Finn continued at last. “I was trying to figure out what I wanted to say when she finally pointed to my things hanging in the closet and asked, ‘Does this mean you’re living with me now?’”

“How’d she say that? Calmly, or like hell was about to be unleashed?” Pienkowski asked.

“Calmly.”

“That would have scared the shit out of me.”

He nodded. He’d gone still and braced himself. “Yeah,” Finn admitted to his buddy.

“You would have deserved it if she’d ripped you a new one. Who the hell moves into a woman’s condo without so much as a word of warning?” Ski shook his head.

“If you don’t ask, she can’t say no.”

Ski shook his head again, but his expression suggested he was trying not to laugh. “What did you say when she asked you point-blank what the fuck you were doing?”

“I said, ‘Yeah, problem?’”

“Dude. I’m amazed you’re breathing.”

Finn ran his hands over his thighs again. “Sometimes I am, too, but Zo shook her head and said, ‘No, I just wondered.’ Then she turned and left the bedroom. I’d been expecting an argument. I stood there staring after her and then caught up to her near the kitchen. I asked her, ‘That easy?’”

“And she said?”