The Domville 6 (The Domville #6) (10 page)

Finian

I woke up with a start to find it was already eight o’clock.
I grinned as the evenings antics came back to me and quickly rolled over to
kiss Toni, hoping it would be the first of many mornings I’d be able to do that.
I bolted upright in surprise to find the bed empty. I reached out to feel the
sheets, only to find they were cold.

‘Freckles,’ I called, wondering if she was in the
bathroom, but there was no response. I threw back the duvet and went to check,
but the door was open and the room was empty. I got a nervous feeling in my
stomach as I strode to the walk in wardrobe. Feck! Her dress had gone. I went
to check the lounge and the bedside tables for a note, but there was nothing. I
ran a hand through my hair as I stood there confused. I thought we were good.
We’d had a heart to heart, we’d had incredible sex, twice, and she’d fallen
asleep in my arms. What had I done wrong to make her run this morning? I rang
housekeeping to check on my clothes and was told that they were ready, that
someone would bring them up immediately. I went and splashed some water on my
face to try and wake myself up properly, then brushed my teeth while I replayed
last night in my mind. I couldn’t think of anything I’d done to make her
disappear. I grabbed my phone and rang Alexis’s mobile number. ‘Is Toni with
you?’ I demanded.

‘Well, top of the morning to you, too, Finian Delany,’
she mumbled. ‘Crap, I feel like hell. What time is it?’

‘Eight. Alexis, is Toni with you?’ I repeated, beyond
impatient.

‘No, she’s supposed to be with you. Don’t say you fucked
this up, Fin? I went out on a limb for you.’

‘I didn’t do anything,’ I objected. ‘She spent the night,
we talked it out, I thought we were good. I woke up this morning and she was
gone.’

‘She spent the night? Holy shit, did you two finally do
it?’ she exclaimed, the sleepy tone in her voice suddenly vanishing.

‘I think that’s a question for your best friend to
answer, not me. What room is she in?’

‘If she ran, I don’t think I should tell you.’

‘You already gave me her home address, Alexis. It’s not
like I can’t find her, but I’d like to do it now, before she has a chance to
talk herself out of this.’

‘O right, I’d forgotten that,’ she yawned. ‘Fine, suite
444, but if she kills me, I’ll be back from the grave to haunt you. Anyway,
she’s probably only run because she wants to get back for Charlie.’

‘Charlie? Who the hell is Charlie?’ I bristled. I thought
Freckles was single.

‘Her baby, she misses him so much when they’re apart. I
told her she needs to let go a bit, but does she listen to me? Mollycoddles him
to death.’

‘Her baby! Shite,’ I cursed as the door knocked. ‘I’ve
got to go, someone’s at the door.’

‘Sort this out, Fin. I don’t want another lengthy spell
of miserable
Fin broke my heart
Toni, thank you very much. She deserves
some happiness.’

‘I know that. Thanks, Alexis, I owe you.’ I cut her off
quickly and marched to the door, hoping it was Toni, that she’d maybe just gone
to get changed. I sighed as I found housekeeping with my washed and pressed
shirt and waistcoat. The woman looked up at the ceiling as she held the items
out and I chuckled when I realised that I was stark bollock naked, my totally
waxed tackle on display for her. I asked her to wait and went to find my
boxers, then grabbed her a tip, before returning to take my clothes from her
with an apology for my former naked status. She just blushed and thanked me,
then raced off. I didn’t have time for a shower and a shave, not if Freckles
was packing up to head home. A baby? She’d not said a bloody word about a baby
during our conversation last night.

I stood outside her suite and took a deep breath, praying
she hadn’t already left, then knocked firmly on the door. I heard the sound of
footsteps approaching and let out a sigh of relief, but nothing happened. I
looked up at the door to see the peephole and shook my head. She’d obviously
seen it was me and was trying to avoid me.

‘I know you’re there, Freckles. Open the door.’

‘Go away, Finian,’ she called back.

‘No. Open the door. We need to talk. I don’t understand
what I did wrong.’

‘I don’t want to talk. It was what it was, it was great,
but let’s not make it into something it wasn’t. You chew women up and spit them
out when you’re done, so I’m saving you the trouble. You go back to your life,
I’ll go back to mine.’

‘Freckles, don’t be so bloody stubborn. It’s not like
that with you. Open the feckin’ door.’ I balled my fist and thumped it on the
door above my head, leaning on it as my blood began to boil.

‘No, go away, please go away, Finian.’

I frowned to hear the tone of her voice, my frown
deepening when I heard her sniff. Was she crying? Why would she think I wasn’t
serious about giving this a shot? I’d told her last night, I’d told her how I
felt. Or had I? I rested my forehead on my still clenched fist and closed my
eyes as I let out a groan. I’d done everything
but
tell her how I felt.
I’d told her I’d missed her, I’d told her that I wanted her, that she was the
reason I was back in London. I’d done everything but the one thing she probably
needed to hear. The one thing I’d never done. I took a deep breath as I
questioned whether I was ready for this, let alone with a woman who hadn’t even
been honest with me about having a bloody child.

‘Freckles, I don’t want to do this with a door between
us. Please open it,’ I repeated, softly this time.

‘I
need
a door between us because all rational
thought goes out of the window when I’m close to you, Fin. I’m thirty-one years
old, I’m not looking for a great hook up. I’m looking for someone to spend the
rest of my life with, to have a family with, to grow old with and you’re not
that man. You’ll never be ready to offer that. I need to protect my heart and
move on to find someone who can give me what I want.’

‘I
am
that feckin’ man, Toni Bradbury,’ I almost
yelled, as I thumped my fist on the door. ‘Jaysis, I told you I came back for
you. I bloody love you, woman. It may have taken me fifteen years to realise
it, but I’ve never been more sure of anything. I
love
you. I want to get
married one day, to have a houseful of baby Delany’s, to grow old with my best bloody
friend in the whole wide world, but she won’t even open the bloody door so I
can look in her eyes when I tell her that I’ve never wanted anything or anyone
more.’ I slumped against the door, full of frustration. Nothing had gone the
way I’d planned it in my mind. Shouting my feelings for her through a bloody
locked door, for Christ’s sake? I suddenly yelled out in surprise as I felt
myself falling and landed face first in the plush carpet. ‘Feck,’ I uttered,
shaking my head to rid myself of the dizziness from the fall. I rolled over,
rubbing my forehead to see Freckles bent over double, laughing her head off.
‘You just nearly killed me,’ I moaned.

‘I didn’t know you were leaning on the door when I opened
it,
ye eejit
,’ she giggled. I chuckled and lifted a hand up, which she
took. Instead of allowing her to pull me up, she screamed as I pulled her down
on top of me.

‘I was an eejit,’ I breathed, reaching up with both hands
to clasp her face. ‘But I’m here now, Freckles, telling you that I love you.
There’s no one else for me, no one I’d rather spend the rest of my life with.
Tell me you’ll take me?’

‘You really mean it? You and me for real?’ she whispered,
her beautiful eyes searching mine.

‘For real, from this moment to the grave, Freckles,’ I
stated sincerely, running my thumb over her sensuous lower lip. ‘I want you to
be my wife one day soon, to be Mrs. Finian Delany. And if you really know me as
well as you say you do, you know that I’d never make a statement like that
without meaning it.’

‘I do,’ she nodded, her eyes filling with tears. ‘I love
you, too, Finian. I’ve always loved you. From the moment I saw your stormy blue
eyes in the library, I’ve known you were the man for me. I just never imagined
I was the woman for you.’

‘Well you’re an eejit, too,’ I grinned. ‘So, we’re doing
this?’

‘We’re doing this,’ she grinned in response. My heart
damn near exploded with happiness. I grabbed the back of her head and pulled
her down to my lips, not caring that the door was still wide open, hampered by
my legs sticking out into the corridor. I kissed her with everything that I
had, pouring all of my pent up feelings for her from the last however many
years into it, groaning to feel her doing the same in return. We broke away
panting and she giggled again, her nose scrunching up in the way I’d always
loved.

‘I’m even going to look after your baby as if he were my
own, you don’t need to worry about that.’

‘What?’ She looked down at me puzzled.

‘Your baby, Charlie. I don’t know where his dad is, but
I’ll step up.’

‘My baby?’ She started giggling again.

‘What’s so funny?’ I frowned. I was trying to be
heartfelt and sincere, show her what she meant to me and she was laughing?

‘I don’t have a baby, Fin, he’s ten years old. But
Charlie does have a dad and I’m looking right at him.’

‘I’m his dad? I got you pregnant? I thought we never had
sex until last night? Was I that pissed I forgot that as well as the kiss?’ I
uttered, beyond confused.

‘No,’ she laughed. ‘The morning you sneaked off to Dubai
without saying goodbye, I was woken up to a load of whimpering and sloppy wet
licks all over my face from your leaving present.’

‘Charlie’s
Finian
? The chocolate Labrador puppy I
left for you?’ I exclaimed. I’d wanted something for her to remember me by, so
I’d left him in her bedroom with a tag saying Finian Bradbury around his neck.

‘He is,’ she confirmed with a grin. ‘I changed his name
after you never called me back. I couldn’t bear having another Finian in my
life, reminding me all the time of what I’d lost. So, he became Charlie, the
most pampered pooch in the history of the world. He was the only thing I kept
to remind me of you, Finian.’

‘Shite, I bet he’s going to bite me in the balls when I
meet him, after ten years of listening to you rant about me.’

‘I might just let him,’ she winked. ‘But he’s also had
ten years of listening to me telling him how much I missed you, so I think
he’ll love you just as much as I do.’

‘Tell me that again,’ I whispered as I looked up at her,
aching to hear those words from her sweet lips. ‘Tell me how you feel about
me.’

‘You know how I feel about you, Finian Delany. I love
you. You’ve always known that. So, how about you tell me again.’

‘I love you, Freckles. I’m so in love with you, you’re
driving me crazy.’

‘Hmmm, I’m not sure I’m totally convinced yet,’ she
teased, letting her fingers tangle in my wild, unbrushed hair. ‘How about you
take me to bed and show me?’

‘I’m going to show you over and over, Freckles. For the
rest of your life,’ I grinned, pulling her back onto my lips.

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The Domville 6?

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