I laughed. "You don't date because you're scared to talk to girls."

He tipped his beer toward me and smiled. "And that right there is the second reason."

Chapter 29

Chloe

It was incredibly hard to leave Finn the night before when all I wanted to do was curl up next to him. It took most of the night to calm my racing heart, but after a glass of wine and a movie with my brother, I was finally ready to crash. Having to respect him and Brian's relationship wouldn't have even been on my radar a few days back, but after seeing the hurt in my Dad's face over him and Clark, it was something to be concerned about now.

I woke on Saturday morning to my phone ringing on my night stand. I yawned loudly, and reached for it, too cozy to be in a bad mood.

"Hello?"

"Hey, baby. Where are you?" Finn sounded as if he'd been up for the last two hours.

I rolled over and looked at the clock, surprised to find it was ten already.

"I'm still in bed. I guess I stayed up later than I thought." I yawned again and sat up.

"Well, get your fine ass dressed, and get over here. Oh, and pack a bag. I want you in my arms tonight. I'm twenty-seven. I don't like guy's night. I want my woman with me." He growled.

"Mmm...I like the sound of that." I moaned into the phone playfully.

"If you plan on us doing anything today besides making love, you need to tread carefully. I've had you once, which was a teaser that's left me a grumpy ass bear."

"You shouldn't have thrown yourself down the side of that mountain, and we could have fucked twenty times already."

"I hate me right now."

I laughed at how cute he was. "Alright. I'm getting up and packing. Are we going out today?"

"Yes. I had Brian take me out last night for a little while, but I didn't find the jacket I want for my Dad. You mind helping me find it today? We can have dinner at this great restaurant downtown that overlooks a deep gorge and then back here. Sound good?" His voice sent goosebumps running down my arms and legs.

"Sounds great. I'll pick you up in an hour."

"Thirty-minutes."

"You're so bossy right now."

"You like it." He chuckled.

"Actually, I love it." I let him go, and got up, moving faster than I really wanted to, but the anticipation of seeing him drove me forward.

I moved through the kitchen and ruffled my brother's hair as he ate a donut and played on his phone.

"Where're you going?" He glanced around.

"To Finn's house. I'll be back tomorrow."

"You better. It's Christmas Eve. Dad would blow a gasket if you didn't." He extended another donut in the air. "Need food?"

"Yes. Thank you." I snagged it and held it in my teeth as I jogged to the door, pulling my bag over my shoulder as I went. "I'll be back tomorrow. Love you."

"Yep. All the girl's do."

I rolled my eyes, and walked into the garage to find my Dad's car already gone. He didn't work on Sunday's, so I had to assume he was out with a woman. Where we needed to get Clark to see Milly as a viable candidate for romance, I desperately needed to get my Dad to stop whoring around. He was a handsome guy with so much to offer. It made no sense that he would not only use women, like Finn did, but let them use him. There wasn't any good in living that kind of life.

* * * *

I used my key at Finn's, not wanting to have him get up seeing that he was crippled for the time being. He wasn't in the living room, so I called out, not wanting to scare him.

"Hey. I'm here."

"I'm in the bedroom. I can't figure out how to get my damn pants over this cast." He grunted, and I walked in to find him sitting on his bed in sexy black boxer briefs with one leg in his jeans and the other not.

I pressed my fingers to my lips, not wanting to laugh, but he was so far beyond cute.

His warm brown eyes moved across my face as his expression turned to anger. "Really?"

"I'm sorry. You're so cute." I moved toward him and slid my hands along his face, pulling it up toward me and bending down to kiss him soft and slow. By the time I was done with my greeting, his expression was relaxed and he looked a little dizzy.

"Hot." He licked at his lips, and tugged at his jeans again. "What am I going to wear?"

"What did you wear with Brian last night?" I pulled the jeans off and tossed them behind me.

"Sweats, but I'm not wearing those with you. You're my girlfriend, and we're going to a nice dinner." He ran his fingers through his hair and grumbled under his breath.

"So let's not go to dinner."

"No. I want to. It's the holidays, and besides, the restaurant is right by that festival of lights that I want to show you."

"Then I'll cut the seam of your jeans and expand the leg where your cast is." I moved to pick up the jeans, but waited until he gave me the okay.

"Yeah. I forgot you were a seamstress. Shit. Is there anything you can't do?" He smiled, and reached for me.

I jerked out of his way and walked to the living room. "Where would I find scissors?"

"The drawer next to the stove in the kitchen. Hurry back in here. I want more of your kisses."

"If I give you more kisses, we'll be staying here today."

"Then let's just do that. My Dad sits in the damn office all day anyway. He doesn't need a new jacket."

I laughed and worked on the jeans until I was satisfied that they would work. Walking back into the bedroom, I stopped to pick up a cookie from the plate I'd sent over.

"Did you like these?" I lifted it and took a bite.

Finn reached for it. "Hey! Those are mine."

I tossed his jeans at him and walked to the bathroom. "You can share, handsome boy."

"Anything for you, actually."

I looked out of the bathroom and smiled. "Anything?"

"Anything."

* * * *

It took far more time than Finn seemed okay with on finding his Dad's coat, which left us having to pick up a hot dog at one of the street vendors for the festival of lights, but I didn't mind so much. The show was beautiful, and after a few minutes of walking around, someone felt bad for us and offered us half price on a horse drawn carriage ride.

We got in and leaned back, snuggling up to each other and letting the various colors and styles of Christmas lights lull us into a great mood.

"Oh." I sat up and looked around at him. "My Dad told me what happened between him and your Dad."

"Yeah, mine did too. So sad." He reached for me and pulled me back down. "We need to get them to talk it out. It was thirty years ago."

I leaned in and kissed him, mumbling my agreement. The warmth of his fingers playing along the edge of my shirt caused my blood to burn, and looking at Christmas lights didn't seem so spectacular anymore.

"I'm ready to go," I mumbled against his mouth.

He licked at my lips and drew me down for another kiss before moving back. "Tell them to stop this thing, and let's go home. I want to hold you all night. You up for that?"

"Yes. More than you know."

I helped him out of the carriage, which he didn't seem to enjoy at all. He was used to being independent, and the last thing he wanted was my help to get him in and out of places. He grumbled at me as I got him out of the truck at home and I whipped around on him, tired of his pride.