Igniting the Wild Sparks (44 page)

My eyes automatically go to his mouth. I really want to kiss him, too…but I can’t. Finally dragging my gaze back up to his hopeful one, I say, “Maybe Sunday.”

“Then I’ll tell you how I feel Sunday. It’s only fair.”

I slowly shake my head with a contrite smile. “You don’t play fair.”

He leans closer and says, “Neither do you, but I know I’ve met my match.” His eyes speculatively drift over my face. “Or my ruin.”

“I think you’re doing that all by yourself.”

He regretfully smirks. “Yeah. You might be right.”

Finally, I blink and look down, and he steps back, giving me space to breathe again. We start walking back to the field close together, yet feeling so far apart.

Will I get over this? I can’t even hold his hand or kiss him. I suppose I’m making a bigger deal out of it than anyone else would, but I trusted him to not jump out of planes or off bridges anymore, and he gave me his word, or so I thought. Maybe I am being unreasonable, but if he can’t be rational about me helping Rod, then I get to be irrational about something, too.

Fair is fair even if love or Finn Wilder aren’t.

CHAPTER 20

We ended up winning 3-1. Not bad for our virgin game. Rod hit two home runs over the back fence. He definitely is our best hitter. I would know. Though, I don’t think the other team liked it much when he did some lewd dance moves over home plate. Everyone thought it was a bit much, but I thought it was typical Rod. Finn even mumbled, “Good job,” to him once, but that’s all he had said.

When I got home, I called Morgan. She said she couldn’t make dinner with me that night since she still wasn’t feeling well. I asked her if she should go to the hospital, but she said she just was tired and nauseous. Sunday, she
said she still wasn’t any better. I guess morning sickness is different for everyone, but she’s having a particularly hard time, it seems.

“Yo, Hadders! How was the rest of your weekend?” Rod asks, scampering over to my window.

I return to my paperwork. “It was okay.”

“Did you talk to Wilder last night?”

“Yeah. I called him and we talked for a few minutes.”

“Phone sex?”

I glance up at him, confused. “No. Why do you ask?” I don’t think I could ever do that. Finn has never asked anyway.

Rod
impishly grins. “Well, you did say a few minutes. So, I was right about him being a minute man?” I unwillingly laugh, shaking my head as I finish signing a report. He observes, “I see they’re putting in a new sign over at the boneyard.”

I organize my papers and giggle. “Oh? Did they run it by you first?”

“No they did not. Assholes.” He turns from the window. “How did things go last night?”

I open my drawer for a folder and answer, “It was fine.”

“Is he still mad?”

I nod. “At himself
, mostly.”

“
He
should
be mad at himself. He was an idiot.”

“Pretty much
, but I did ruin his surprise.”

“He’s a big boy now. He’ll get over it. By the way, where’d you go? I couldn’t get ahold of you yesterday on the phone. That fucker. Where’d you go during the game? We came in to bat, but you and Wilder weren’t there.”

“Well, I told him I was leaving and he followed me. We ended up having a huge blow out at the tennis court. I can’t believe you didn’t hear us from there.”

“Fuck. What did he say?”

“He did assume you and I were…you know.” I can’t even believe Sparks thought I was cheating on him with Rod, of all people.

“Did you set him straight?”

“Yeah, I guess. He did say things I never expected him to ever say, but I eventually got him calmed down and rational.”

“Do you still love him?”

I look back up at Rod.
With all my heart.
“I’ve never stopped. I’m just hurt and upset with him.”

“Do you think you’ll forgive him?”

“Yeah. I just need some time to deal with it. I know it’s not major to other people, but the point is that he said he wouldn’t do it anymore. He then decided to do it and kept it from me. He even lied about having to go away for work and camping with Ricky. That hurts. A lot.”

“You two will be okay. Then you’ll get to make up and fuck like jack rabbits again.” I glance at the door to see if anyone heard Rod’s mouth. He asks, “
So, Finnigan Wilder won’t be accompanying you to Morticia’s bloodletting. I suppose that means I’ll be sharing your suite then?”

“
If you sleep in the bathtub.”

“Amos called me a drain on society before, so okay.”

I search for my stapler and disjointedly grumble when I can’t find it. Reaching over my desk, Rod digs through a pile of papers and presents the stapler in front of my face. I huffily snatch it and he says, “Is he going to be okay with me as your date still? He seemed to be okay at the church when I mentioned it.”

I shrug
as I align papers. “I don’t care if he is or isn’t. He already knows you’re my backup. It’s not a secret like the ones he keeps.”

His voice falls a
s he grouses, “Gee, thanks, Hadders. I feel so fucking used.” I giggle and he says, “You just made me feel like scum. Are you going to
now
give me a happy ending? You know, since you’re such a shitty friend and are only using me for your own dirty deeds?”

Stapling papers
like I’m on crack, I indifferently reply, “Not a chance.”

“Damn it!”

I laugh at his pout. “Is Morgan here?”

Folding his arms petulantly, h
e still pretends to sulk. “Yeah. I saw her car, but her office door is closed.”

Pushing the stapler aside, I stand and walk around my desk. “I’m going to go see how she’s doing.”

Rod follows me annoyingly close down the hall to Morgan’s office, pulling my ponytail and telling me to “giddy-up.” I swat at him repeatedly, but nothing deters him.

He lets go of my hair when I knock on
Morgan’s door. When she answers, I pop my head in. “Hey.”

She looks up, but only
briefly. “Hey.”

“You okay?” I
walk in and Rod saunters over to her window. I roll my eyes and turn back to Morgan.

She flips through some papers and keeps her head down. “I’m better. Thanks.”

“Are you busy tonight? We can grab dinner.”

“Uh, I can’t. Ivan and I are baby
-furniture shopping.”

“Oh. We can do it sometime
this week before Friday. Just let me know when you’re free.”

She mumbles, “Okay.”
She’s definitely not acting like herself. She hasn’t even mentioned Finn’s on-Air antics since our phone conversation.

“Is there something wrong?”

Morgan looks up at me, but then quickly down at her papers. “Just tired. I have so much to do this week.”

“Well, I’m here to help for anything wedding-related. Do you need me to handle anything?”

She says to the desk, “No. Your dress?”

“I’m picking it up tomorrow at the tailor’s. Anything else?”

“Nope. Not that I can think of.”

I nod
, though she doesn’t see me. “Well, I’m always here.”

She inhales and fleetingly glances up. “Hadley, I… I just want you to know you’ve been such a big help. Thank you so much for being such an awesome friend. I hope I can return the favor someday.”
I brightly grin. “No problem. I’m happy to do it. It’s been fun.” Some parts, not so much.

She nods at my stomach. “How’s your bruise?”

My hand automatically goes there. “Better. There’s one area of nagging pain, but it seems to be going away. I already warned Rod I’ll be working his butt off when we dance at your reception.”

“Work it, girl!” Rod shouts and spanks the air. Morgan looks
to the window and I cover my mouth with my fist, snorting.

“Gross,” she mutters as she
turns back to her computer. She then shakes her head in perplexity and asks, “Wait. Finn
isn’t
going?”

I
peer out the window so my disappointment isn’t that obvious. “He said he’ll be out of town and he’ll probably miss it.” Catching Rod’s knowing gaze, I widen my eyes at him over Morgan’s head, silently begging him not to say anything about my argument with Finn in front of her. That’s all I need is for Morgan to shoot out of here like a bat out of hell and straight to Finn’s office. She has enough stress.

She scoffs, “He can’t take the day off?”

I look back to her with a shrug. “I guess not.”

“He’s seriously pushing his luck,” she huffs
, slamming down the pen she was holding.

“We talked, but I told him I can’t be around him this week. It still hurts.”

“I know he hurt you,
more
than you even realize.”

“I know.
We…talked.”

She quickly looks up at me. “What did he say?”

I glance over at Rod who is still people watching. “Um, a lot.”

Morgan
heatedly nods, waiting for me to elaborate. “Did he reveal anything else?”

“Some. We’re going to talk again Sunday when I get back.”

“You should. He needs to talk to you.”

“We will
talk.” I make my way to the door and say, “I’m going to let you get back to work.”

“Wait! Don’t leave this jackass here!”

I giggle as I leave her office. “There’s a no-return policy. Sorry!”

I hear her mutter, “Bitch,” making me laugh.

Monday at the gym, Shane accused me of losing two more pounds. He told me that he didn’t want me to continue working out until I see my doctor. Well, I see my doctor in two weeks; therefore, Shane will have to wait until then.

Tuesday, I picked up my dress. When I tried it on, it felt looser than what I thought it would.
Fucking Shane.

Wednesday evening after work, I c
all Finn and he answers on the first ring, “Hey.”

I smile at the sound of his
always-sexy voice. “Hi. What are you doing?”

“Arranging a dare. What about you?”

My smile grows wider. “Talking to you.”

“You want to have dinner?” He sounds tense asking me that.
Why?

“Um, I don’t know.” Morgan was busy tonight, so that date’s out.

He hastily adds, “Just dinner. I promise.” I did tell him I wouldn’t stay away from him again, so I can’t totally shut him out. No matter what.

“Okay. Where?”

“I can pick you up.”

“It’ll be faster if I meet you there.”

He agrees and after we hang up, I speedily get ready. I let down my hair and fluff it up some, but I hate it. Maybe I should just put it back up in a ponytail. I undo another button of my white blouse to loosen up a bit and my key peeks out from my shirt. Picking it up, I run my fingers over it. I miss my Sparks so much. I don’t want to be mad at him anymore. Have I moved past his lying
already
? Am I being naïve to think he won’t do it again? Nobody’s perfect. I know he’ll make more mistakes and so will I. I just want things back on track with him. I want to move forward, but I still don’t want him to think he can keep doing shit like that to me.

Sighing, I give up on my appearance and put on my shoes.

I meet Finn in the restaurant’s parking lot. He’s wearing a short-sleeved, brown V-neck shirt that shows off his key necklace, his muscular chest and barbed-wired biceps. Damn him. His hair is a light brown and is close to my hair’s shade in the early evening’s setting sun.

Finn
walks over to my car, but keeps a slight distance from me, and when he smiles, I melt. He says, “You look beautiful.”

I try a small smile in return. “So do you.” His grin amplifies and I glance away before I’m sucked right back in.

“Shall we?” he asks and I look at him, puzzled by what he means. When I continue to gape, he nods to the restaurant to clarify.