Page 75 of Strictly Business
"Still pushing for a Villa-Hope collaboration. Apparently, Kai told him I'm the biggest ocean nerd out there."
"You hate the ocean," I say.
"That's the point."
"Hey Nin," Kai joins us, wrapping an arm around his sister's shoulder. The biggest shit-eating grin I've ever seen on his face. "How's Mr. Hope doing?"
Oh, I get it. She and Kai fuck with each other, it's how they keep themselves entertained during these things. That's brilliant.
"Oh, fuck off, Kai." Nina shoves him away earning a hearty laugh from her brother.
“Tossing her to the wolves again, Kai?” Finn asks placing a gentle hand on my lower back. Nina’s eyes flicker to the movement briefly then to me and then to Nick who wets his lips and smirks behind his beer. Butterflies erupt in my stomach, and I have to remind myself not to step away from his touch. Why am I so nervous? Everyone here knows about the divorce, they know about me and Finn, so why do I still feel like a teenager in a secret relationship?
“I just like to have a little fun,” Kai says. “Besides, she makes it too easy.”
Sasha’s assistant appears whispering something to Finn. He turns back to the group, “Showtime.”
“Go bring in the big bucks,” Nina instructs.
Finn laces our hands together bringing the back of mine to his lips. “When I’m done, we’ll get out of here. Sound okay?”
“I could go for a hamburger.”
“That’s my girl.” The blush rises in my cheeks at his words. My girl. Finn smiles and kisses me, hard, before following the assistant toward the stage.
When he’s gone, I turn to meet the smirk of Davina Villa and she motions to the hallway off the bar. Shit, we’re going to do this here? I sigh following her. When we reach the quiet space, I hold up a finger and say, “Hold on, let me down this before we start.” I down the remainder of the champagne in my glass. The smirk never leaves her lips even she takes a sip of her own. “Okay, go ahead.”
“So, Finn…”
“Nina, I swear, I didn’t mean to, I—”
“Michaela, I don’t care. I just hate that you felt like you couldn’t come to me, about any of it. Why didn’t you tell me about David?”
“I guess, I wasn’t ready to admit it out loud.” Glancing out of the hallway, I meet Finn’s stare, and he does one of those small waves when you’re trying not to be too obvious. This side of Finn is nice, it’s the person I wish I had known years ago, but I’m glad I’ve gotten to know now. A smile tugs on my lips and I wave back before turning to Nina. “Saying it out loud made it real and…I wasn’t ready for it to be real.”
“Well, it’s his loss.” Nina places a soft hand on my arm. “How exactly did this thing with Finn happen? I thought you couldn’t stand him. What was it you called him? Jabba the Hut? That’s an insult in your Star Wars lingo, right?”
I know she knows what happened. Nick is a gossip when it comes to telling her things — you can’t tell him anything you don’t want her to know — but she wants to hear it from me. I shouldn’t tell her that Finn and I slept together in the office. I mean, she is technically my boss, and it was technically her office, and this is technically a work event, so she’s partially in Davina boss-mode, not one hundred percent Nina friend-mode. I’ll just admit to the kiss…keep it PG. “After the bagels—”
“From Brooklyn.”
“Yes, from Brooklyn… Things took a weird turn. We were getting along and working well together, and then naturally turned back into normal Finn. One thing led to another, and we kissed.”
“That’s all?”
“Davina Bay, what kind of girl do you take me for?” I touch my heart in fake offense. “I would never do anything more than that in the office.”
She mumbles a faint acknowledgment behind her champagne glass.
“Then he ran into me and David fighting and…when he came to check on me a few days later, we slept—”
“All I need to know is, are you happy?”
“Yes,” it comes out before I can even think about it.
“Good. That’s all that matters.”
“You’re not mad?”