The Comeback Kiss (5 page)

“
The karma can
’
t be all bad,”
Finn said, a sly smile forming on his lips. “
I remember having some pretty good times in the Thing.”

“
Shut up,”
Tessa said, but could feel her cheeks starti
ng to warm at the memory. His eyes locked with hers in a playful game, and despite herself Tessa felt that same old spark, remnants of teenage lust gone horribly, horribly wrong.

This is definitely
not
how I imagined this moment.
“
Look, there
’
s no time to
argue,”
she said, pushing the keys at him again. “
Just take it and go.”

His smile faded and he shook his head. “
I
’
ll walk to the edge of town and hitch from there.”

“
You can
’
t,”
she said. “
Someone will see you, pick you up, and bring you back to town. Prob
ably throw you a damn parade.”

“
A parade?”
He chuckled. “
I think I might need more than the
Reader
’
s Digest
version of this story.”

She met his eyes and the panic subsided, replaced by... what
was
she feeling? Abject terror? Disgust? The strange and unnerv
ing desire to do things with Finn that would make the backseat of any decent car blush? Was she really that special brand of girl-dumb that threw all remnants of pride and reason out the window when first loves had the tactless nerve to come back?

Oh, holy
hell. He needed to leave, and he needed to leave now.

“
Wait here,”
she said through clenched teeth. “
I
’
ll bring the car around and I
’
ll drive you out to I-91 and drop you there, and whatever happens to you from there on out is your problem ”

She stepped o
ut to pass him, but he grabbed her wrist and she stopped dead in her tracks at his touch, which zoomed up her arm like an electric current.

Old wiring,
she thought.
Means nothing.

He stood there looking at her, an odd half smile on his face.

“
You look good
,”
he said finally.

He reached up and nudged a curl away from her forehead and suddenly she was eighteen again, crackling with energy and drowning in stupid.

“
Finn, I don
’
t have time to play ga
—”

“
Don
’
t sell it,”
he said softly, his eyes uncharacteristica
lly earnest.

“
What?”
she said, a strong sense of deja vu washing over her as the current moment vaguely reflected one she
’
d had with him ten years back, in which Finn had done a conversational dance-and-dodge rather than saying what he
’
d really meant.

Whic
h, as it turned out, had been good-bye.

She gently pulled her arm out of his grip. “
We can argue about that in a minute. I
’
ll be right back.”

He smiled, but his eyes didn
’
t, and the deja vu hit again, stronger this time. Everything in her calmed as realiza
tion fell over her like a heavy blanket.

“
You
’
re not going to be here when I come back for you, are you?”

He released her wrist but didn
’
t say anything.

“
Fine,”
she said. “
You know what? Fine. I
’
ll play this scene again. As long as you
’
re gone, and no one
else sees you or gets a chance to talk to you, I don
’
t care what happens to you.”

“
As long as I
’
m gone,”
he said.

“
Right.”

She didn
’
t move, though, just stood there staring up at him, their faces so close she could smell the scent of him, which was kinda m
aking her a little dizzy.

Old wiring,
she thought, but didn
’
t get to finish the thought, because suddenly, they were kissing. She didn
’
t know how, or why, or what had come over her, but she was kissing Dermot Finnegan on the street behind the drugstore.

An
d it felt
good.
Way too good to be good for her.

After the first moment of surprise passed, one of his arms tightened around her waist and pulled her closer to him, lifting her off her toes for a moment, sending her world rocking. There was something in hi
s response that was oddly fervent, unusual for Finn, who
’
d always been so cool, and the shock of it all emptied her mind of everything except the feel of his kisses that, she had to admit, were still toe-curling good.

Which was bad. Bad, bad, bad.

Tessa pu
shed her hand against his chest, and after a small struggle with both Finn and herself, managed to separate them enough that they could look at each other.

“
What
’
s going on here?”
she asked, her voice breathless as she stumbled back on her heels.

“
Don
’
t bl
ame me,”
he said, swinging her around in one deft motion and leaning her against the wall of the drugstore. “
You started it.”

“
I did not!”
she said, but barely got the words out before his lips were on hers again, him leaning over her as he pressed her aga
inst the wall. A whirlwind of sparks crackled all through her abdomen, moving lower, and this was stupid and dangerous and yet only about forty percent of her cared, and that just wasn
’
t enough to make her break the kiss. They gasped and pulled at each ot
h
er, his hand inside her coat, her fingers knocking off his knit cap as they wound through his hair, all the time her own voice lecturing in her head, like a broken record.

Never make the same mistake twice. Never make the same mistake twice. Never
—

She put
her hands on his shoulders, pushing him away. He looked as surprised as she felt, probably not so much by the kissing itself
—
they
’
d had more than their share of strange and inappropriate kissing back in the day
—
but by the power of it, the way it had take
n
them both over, a force unto itself.

“
That,”
she gasped, gesturing vaguely back and forth between them, “
is not going to happen again.”

He took in a breath, then nodded. “
Yeah. Okay.”
He watched her for a moment, and she saw his Adam
’
s apple bob up and do
wn as he swallowed before he could speak again. “
Better go get that car, then.”

“
Yeah,”
she said. She pushed herself away from the wall and took a few wobbly steps toward Main, stopping when she saw Joe Finnegan standing there in his firefighter uniform, h
and gripping his ax.

Oh, God,
she thought.
This is definitely not how I imagined this moment.

“
Well,”
he said, his eyes on Finn. “
Looks like at least one person is happy to see you, little brother.”

Chapter Three

Finn blinked. Between the strangeness of
being in Lucy
’
s Lake, the all-night drive, the missing rental car, the fire, and kissing Tessa
—
mostly kissing Tessa
—
his Surreal-O-Meter was peaking out, and it took him a moment to fully process the fact that the older brother he hadn
’
t seen in more than
a decade was standing not ten feet away. But it was definitely Joe. Same dark eyes, dark hair. Same total lack of humor. And by all appearances he was still toting around that Curse-of-the-Good-Brother chip on his shoulder. All responsibility. No fun.

The
firefighter getup was new, though.

“
Hey, Joe,”
Finn said, giving Tessa a little squeeze on the elbow as he stepped away from her. It was their code from a lifetime ago, the classic let-me-know-when-you- need-me-to-cover-for-you signal, but he knew she
’
d re
member it. After all, she remembered what it did to him when she ran her fingertips over the hair at the back of his neck. He could only hope that his shirt and coat were hanging low enough to mask the rather obvious aftereffects of that little trick.

“
Fin
n,”
Joe said, his face hard and unreadable. As always. Joe, the strong, silent Finnegan. The Big Protector. God, the way he was looking at Tessa right now...

Finn stopped, glanced at Tessa, then back at Joe. A thought ran through the back of his mind, but
he squelched it. Instead, he widened his stance a touch and locked his eyes on Joe. “
Love the getup, bro. But last I heard, you were going to be an electrician.”

“
I am.”
Joe lowered his ax slowly. “
I volunteer with the fire department.”

“
Did Tarpey tell yo
u I was here? You don
’
t seem surprised to see me.”

Joe gave a quick shrug. “
Got called in on the fire. Passed by Tessa
’
s and saw the Thing there on my way in. Kinda put two and two together.”

Finn broke eye contact to shoot a look at Tessa. “
Why does every
body think I set the place on fire?”

“
Can
’
t imagine,”
she said flatly, her left eyebrow quirking at him.

Okay. Maybe appealing to Tessa wasn
’
t the wisest move. Finn turned his attention back to his brother.

“
I
saved
those animals,”
he said, playing up the
indignation. Granted, he also planned on stealing one, but they didn
’
t know that. Apparently, the big hero mold Tessa had poured him into only fooled strangers who didn
’
t know better.

“
Tessa,”
Joe said, turning his focus to where Tessa stood. “
You can go t
o the diner.”

“
She can also make her own decisions,”
Finn said, taking a step forward. Who the hell did Joe think he was, anyway, telling Tessa what to do?

Joe
’
s jaw muscles worked in that I
’
m-so-manly-I-can
’
t-express-my-anger-in-words kind of way. Finn cl
enched his fist at his side. Man, he
’
d been back in his brother
’
s presence for less than two minutes, and already he wanted to hit him.

Had to be some kind of record.

Joe looked Finn up and down. “
So, I guess dressing like a bum is the big new thing in Las
Vegas, huh?”
Before Finn could react, he heard Tessa clear her throat.
The signal.

“
This is my vacation gear,”
Finn said. “
Some people, they go for the Hawaiian shirt/Bermuda shorts thing
—”

“
I see you haven
’
t changed that much,”
Joe interrupted. “
Still in
capable of a straight answer.”

Finn met his brother
’
s eye. “
Yeah, but my left hook
’
s doing fine.”

Tessa groaned and put her hand to her forehead, and Finn heard her mumble, “
Oh, Christ, here we go.”

Joe took a few steps forward. “
So, what brings you to tow
n, Finn? Is it business ... or personal?”

Joe
’
s eyes drifted over to indicate Tessa. Tessa
’
s eyes went down to the ground.