The Player's Club: Finn (25 page)
“I’ll be more careful,” he said. “But…I still need to…”
She stopped him with another kiss. “I love you for who you are,” she repeated. “Not for what you do.”
A DAY LATER, FINN brought Diana with him to see his parents. They’d invited him to the big house in Marin, rather than the cold, confrontational environment of Macalister Enterprises.
He wanted Diana to accompany him, because he felt they owed her an apology. Not that he was expecting one.
He could feel Diana’s discomfort as they walked through the grand foyer of the mansion and the butler took their coats. “It’s all right, Di,” he whispered, hugging her. “We’ll tell them what we know. We’ll get this all sorted out.”
She seemed ready to burst. “Are you going to tell them I’m your girlfriend?” she blurted.
Of all the things… He grinned, feeling relief sweep away the tension. “Hell, yes,” he said, kissing her neck and holding her despite her squirming attempts to get away. “In fact, I’m going to call you Honeybuns. I think you should call me Schmoopy-pants.”
She laughed, which he’d hoped. “That’s Ms. Honeybuns to you, pal,” she said, even though her eyes were shining. And she let him take her hand and lead her to the stately living room.
His mother was wearing one of her more casual outfits; his father was wearing a Macalister Enterprises polo and a pair of khakis. So it was supposed to be low-key. Too bad you could cut the new tension in the air with a chain saw.
“Son,” his mother said, her voice tremulous.
He sat down on the couch next to her, giving her a hug. “Mom,” he said. “It’s okay.”
She looked like she was ready to weep; instead, she smiled and cast a glance at Diana. “And Ms. Song. I’m so sorry for all of this trouble. George has been here, and he explained everything.”
Finn growled. “Oh, has he?”
“Yes, he has.” His father, clearly pensive, sounded somber. “Just before the police took him away.”
Diana’s eyes seemed to practically pop out of her head. Finn quickly got up and stood by her, holding her hand. She gripped his hand tightly. “He was arrested?” she asked softly.
“Yes. He turned in the others—Victor, and a shady man named Jonesy. At least, that was the name he was using.” His father stared intensely at Diana. “If I get my hands on that man…”
“The police have,” Finn reminded him. “So that’s what’s important.”
“He was going to kill you,” his mother breathed. The tears welled up. “Kill you both.”
“Yes, we know,” Diana said, and in comparison, her voice was cool, calm. “But he didn’t, Mrs. Macalister. So am I to understand that my name is cleared?”
His father all but choked. “I guess I owe you an apology, Diana.”
“You think?” Finn sniped, but Diana stilled him by squeezing his hand hard.
Thorn made a face at him, but then kept his attention on Diana. “I don’t apologize very often. You know that, Diana.” He crossed his arms, in that moment looking more like a bouncer than the CEO of a multibillion-dollar company. “So let’s let bygones be bygones. It was a mistake, an easy one to make. You can’t honestly blame me.”
“Actually, I can.” Diana’s voice was still mild as milk. But her expression was hard as steel. Finn was impressed.
My girl’s got guts,
he thought, as his father frowned.
“Listen, I made a mistake,” Thorn repeated. “But I’m not going to beg you to come back. If you want to be pissy about me protecting my company, then I guess your loyalty’s not what I thought it was. Maybe you shouldn’t come back.”
There it was. The hot button—the most sensitive chink in Diana’s armor. Finn couldn’t stay quiet at that.
“Diana is one of the most loyal people I know,” Finn said defiantly. “And I don’t see any reason why she should be loyal to someone who would throw her under the bus at the first sign of trouble, without even trying to let her defend herself.”
“It’s all right, Finn,” she said, and to his surprise, she really did seem all right. “It’s easier this way, anyway.”
Thorn’s scowl was like a thunderstorm. “I’m not playing a game here, Diana.”
“Neither am I.” She smiled congenially and extended her hand to shake Thorn’s. He was shocked enough to take it. “I can’t thank you enough for all the experience you’ve given me, and for paying for my education. I’m sorry that we couldn’t go further, but in fact, right now is probably the perfect time for you to bring up some new blood and make some changes. I’ll always think of you fondly.”
Thorn’s mouth fell open. Finn felt like applauding…but didn’t.
“So that’s it, then,” Thorn said, as Diana started to turn to walk away. Then he addressed Finn. “What about you? Do you have some flowery ‘screw you’ speech for us, as well? Going to go live the life of a happy pauper and cliff dive or something?”
Finn went over to his father and hugged him. Thorn could not have been more shocked if he’d punched him in the gut.
“I’m sorry, Dad,” he said. “I mean that. I recently… I finally felt what it is you feel like when I do the stuff I do. I never really understood it. Not until Diana almost died.”
His father went rigid. Then he crushed Finn in a bear hug.
“If anything happened to you…” his dad said, his voice rough with pure emotion. “Finn, I don’t want to be stupid about this, but if you’d just do things my way.”
“Even if I did things your way, I wouldn’t necessarily be safe,” Finn said, prying himself from his father’s protective arms. He hugged his mother gently. “I’ll be more aware of what I’m doing, but I’m not going to live in some prison so you’ll feel better. But I will be more careful, and I will let you know what I’m doing.”
Thorn looked like he was about to bellow. “Damn it, Finn—”
“Thorn! That’s enough.”
Finn and Thorn both stared at the woman seated on the French Provincial sofa, drying her eyes. Finn’s mother sat ramrod straight, looking every bit a queen.
“How long have you been trying to run Finn’s life, Thorn? And how’s that been working out for you?” Her voice was firm. “I don’t want Finn to risk his life foolishly, but I’m not stupid enough to cut him out simply because he won’t do what we want. He’s making a fair compromise here, Thorn. Stop being such a hard-ass.”
Thorn goggled.
“Mom?” Finn was torn between laughing and gaping openmouthed.
“I don’t stand up to him all that often, but this is important.” She got up, kissed Thorn on the cheek…and leveled a steely gaze at him. “I’m tired of being upset. I’m tired of
all
of this. And if you really want to press this, then you and I are going to have an issue, Thorn.” She let that statement sink in. “You don’t want that to happen, do you?”
“Uh, no,” Thorn said, obviously appalled.
Diana giggled. Finn started laughing.
“So, would you two kids like to join us for dinner?” his mother asked, as if the previous five minutes had never happened.
“Um…” Finn looked at Diana. “What do you think?”
“Some other time,” Diana said graciously, looping her arm with Finn’s. “We’ve got to go.”
“Really?” Finn said, as they headed from the room. “Where to?”
“On a vacation,” she said. “I don’t know about you, but I really, really need one.”
18
Two weeks later
DIANA STRETCHED OUT on a lounge chair. The sun beat down, warming her skin. She could smell guava and tropical flowers surrounding her, and hear the soft lapping sound of the waves on the private beach below. The breeze caressed her skin.
“Okay, let’s go over this again,” Finn said in the background, and she saw his shadow as he paced across the deck with his cell phone in hand. “We’ll need to figure out how big we want this to be, and private membership, and nonprofit status…did somebody get the nonprofit thing?”
“Finn…” she said with warning, closing her eyes behind her sunglasses. “You promised you’d only be on for five minutes.”
“Just a sec…” he said to her, and she laughed. “All right, we’re going to have to wrap this up, guys, but I do want to make sure that if we’re starting a Player’s Club that’s open to the public, that it absolutely kicks ass and…yes, I know, I’ve got that file here somewhere.”
Diana sat up, sighing. She never should’ve suggested that he take the Player’s Club public. Still, he was more motivated than she’d ever seen him. He and Lincoln were like two kids. Two kids that fought a lot, admittedly, but they were also terribly excited.
Good grief. If she wasn’t careful, he’d turn into a workaholic.
She snickered at the thought. Then she waited to catch his eye. He held up a finger in the universal “just one minute” gesture. “So finally, let’s look over the revenue projections…”
She sighed again. Then, smiling, she reached behind her back and untied the bikini top, letting the triangles of fabric fall to the deck.
Finn eyed her move, and he smiled. “Um, guys? Gotta go. Bye.”
He tossed the phone onto a table and strode over to her with purpose, leaning down and stretching out next to her on the large lounge chair. “Well,
this
is more like it.”
“I thought you were going to work the whole time,” she said, with mock complaint, as she giggled when he took one nipple into his mouth.
“Nonsense. Just wanted to take care of a few details.” He smiled against her skin. “You know I’m a details kind of guy.”
“Oh?” She shuddered when his fingers slipped inside her bikini bottoms. “I’ve got some details for you to look over....”
“My favorite kind,” he said, and kissed her.
* * * * *
ISBN: 9781459223028
Copyright © 2012 by Cathy Yardley
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