Chapter Fifteen

“Wake up, handsome.” I know the voice hovering over me, but it’s not my Birdie. April nudges my foot again and the scent of coffee drifts my way. “Come on. I’ve got an extra toothbrush you can have. You gotta get up and shower to meet Ivan.”

My body aches from the hard game last night coupled with sleeping on Finchley’s sofa. I groan and scrub a hand down my face.

“You’re a lovely thing to wake to, but where’s Birdie?” I ask, raising my arms in a deep stretch.

I sit and April hands me coffee. “She’s in the shower which gives me a chance to talk to you.” April is already dressed and ready to go. She sits on the sofa beside me with her own coffee and a whole list of questions I’m sure to fail this early in the morning.

“Do you love her?”

I sip the coffee and offer her a death stare over the mug. This is how my last interrogation went the day after I proposed to Finchley.

“Don’t look at me like that. I have every right to make sure the only family I care about is safe and protected with a man who actually loves her.” She tucks a stray curl behind her ear, but those eyes stay glued to mine.

I place the mug down and clear my throat. “April, I never stopped loving her. I was a bloody fool to leave like I did, but it won’t happen again. You have my word.”

She pats my arm and smiles. “Good because there’s no way Stephen will let her out of that contract easily. She needs something to hang on to that’ll keep her firm.”

“I can’t understand how he can sue her for not marrying him.” I fall back into the sofa with a groan.

“Breach of contract. Their marriage was tied into ownership of the company, and Stephen wants that company for his own.”

“How much can he get from this?”

April huffs and shakes her head, her hair a halo around it. “More than she can ever pay. We’re talking millions of dollars.”

“Why would she sign something like that?” I ask, so unsure of everything after last night. I want my girl back, but it seems like an impossible task.

April sighs and takes another sip of coffee. “You don’t understand what it’s like to be a woman in this family, Aiden. We’re a means to an end for the men, merely useful armpieces. Her father forced her, but it won’t matter. Friends in high places, you know.” She purses her lips and adds, “I really hope Ivan can come up with something to get her out of this mess.”

Finchley enters the room from the adjacent hallway dressed in a lightweight blouse and cream pants. My heart skips when her eyes meet mine and she smiles.

“Good morning,” she says, crossing the room.

April stands and makes eye contact with me before heading down the hall. I assume I’m meant to follow her to get ready for the day, but I need to grab a change of clothes from my bag. Fortunately, I’ve gotten used to keeping an extra set in the car since I never know what might come up. Interviews, Freya’s social media ideas, and other things find us changing several times a day like one of Indy’s favorite fashion dolls.

Once April is out of eyesight, Finchley leans forward and cups my cheeks in her palms before kissing me. I’m not expecting it but it’s more than welcome. She sighs into the kiss as I pull her onto my lap. Wrapping my arms around her waist, I hold her tight to me for fear she might float away if I don’t.

She giggles and pulls back. “Your beard is tickling me. How long you gonna have that thing?”

I grin. “I’ll shave it off once we win the cup.”

“Mmm, maybe not all of it. I like a scruffy look on you.”

I raise my eyebrows and my grin widens. “Do you? I didn’t know that but it does explain a lot of past behaviors.”

“You hush. Go get ready so we can meet Ivan.” She drags me to my feet against my will.

My heart is lighter than it has been in a decade. I shouldn’t feel so at home in her townhouse, but it’s decorated with a few things I remember. Things I gave her.

“Aiden?”

I pause and turn back to her. “Yes, love?”

“What does this mean?” She toys with the hem of her blouse but her gaze is steady on me.

“This? You mean what happened last night?”

She bites her lower lip and shrugs. “Is it too much to hope we have escaped long, drawn out, painful reconciliation and just fell back in love like nothing ever happened? It seems too easy.”

I take a few steps back to her and practically bend her backwards in a kiss. She gasps but her small hands tangle in my hair, tugging me closer and closer until she falls backward on the sofa. I ease our fall with one arm while holding her tight in the other. Once again, she giggles but I’m not letting her go, not yet, not until she knows she’s mine and I’m hers. I deepen the kiss until she sighs and relaxes, falling back into old rhythms.

A throat clears and I growl before releasing Finchley and standing. I ruffle my hair and stand, giving April a heated glare before heading to the door to retrieve my clothing from the car. At the entryway, I pause again and look back at my Birdie. She’s flustered and pink-cheeked sitting on the sofa trying her best to compose herself.

“It doesn’t matter how it happens, love. It only matters that it is.” I’m rewarded with a brilliant smile before I head to my car.

Ivan frowns and flips the pages of the contract once more. “It’s all hinged on her marrying the guy. If you ask me, any judge is a fool to sign off on this, but I know the type. They sit on their bench taking bribes rather than keeping the law.”

“There must be something she can do,” I say, praying the old man can figure a way out of this.

“He’ll make my life miserable if I don’t,” Finchley says. I tense, so she squeezes my hand. “I’m not going to, I’m just saying he can make it hard and he will.”

“If we can prove this was all done under duress, it gives us a chance,” Ivan says. “Her legal residency is in Denver now. I know a judge who might have some insight. Let me call him and see what can be done.” He lowers the contract and pulls his glasses from his face. Ivan is a good man. A little cheeky, and I’m almost positive he cheats when we play darts, but he and his friends have always been sounding boards for the guys and me. “Don’t give up hope. There is always a way to make things right. God will work it out.”

Finchley closes her eyes and nods. “Honestly, if not for God I wouldn’t have made it this far. Thank you for your help, Ivan.”

“Not a problem, dear. We bust their chops, but we’re fond of the Dragons.” Ivan winks and folds the contract. “I have a few ideas and strings in higher places than your former fiancé. I also have nothing better to do with my time than knock him down a notch or two.”

Finchley smiles but it’s tense and forced.

“I’ll stay and help Ivan,” April says. “Why don’t you two head home and relax a little. It’s been a rough couple of days and you both need rest with the final playoff game coming up.”

We don’t bother arguing. It wouldn’t do us any good anyway. From what I remember, once April is decided on something, she almost always gets her way.

In the relative comfort of my car, we both stare out the windshield as if somewhere out there, the answer might fall in our laps. Finchley is stuck between a rock and a hard place, but at least I know where her heart is. This is new territory for her, defying her father to the bitter end while also going up against a man who is willing to ruin her life if she doesn’t marry him.

Eventually, she breaks the silence with a soft sigh. “I wish I knew what to do.”

“He can’t make you marry him. I won’t let him force you into it. I’ll sell everything I own before I let that happen.” I grip the steering wheel, imagining it’s Stephen’s neck for a moment before releasing it.

“I’m afraid neither of us has enough money. It’s millions, Aiden.”

“How can he sue you for something you don’t even have the means to pay?”

“That’s kind of the point.” She lets her head fall back against the seat and releases a frustrated moan. I can’t stop my eyes from raking over her slender neck, exposed and begging to be kissed again and again. It’s not the first time I’ve been tempted by this woman, and I pray it will not be the last.

I shift in my seat and run my hand up her neck to settle behind her head. Pulling her to me, I kiss her forehead. “I love you, Birdie. We’ll figure something out. Ivan said if you could prove you had to sign it under duress, then you’d be free from it, right?”

“Yeah, but how?” she asks.

“Let’s think about it. Tell me the details. Did you actually sign it or did your father forge it?”

She frowns. “I didn’t have a lot of choice. I had to sign it. I don’t think you’ll want to hear all of the details. I don’t even want to talk about it.”

It’s likely I don’t want to hear a bloody word about what that man did to her, but if it will get her out of the trouble she’s in, then we need to pick it apart until we can make a decent case. “I’m sure it’ll grate my nerves but we should—”

“Aiden,” she whispers, her eyes connecting with mine. I think she’s ready to end this conversation, to tell me she’ll figure it out on her own, but there’s a different sort of fear in her eyes now. I search her face, seeking a cause for her sudden shift in demeanor. She’s licking her lips, studying me, preparing for something I’m not sure I want to hear. If she tells me she’s going to marry that man I’ll lose my mind.

“What?” I ask, barely hanging on.

“I’m afraid. If my father was willing to hurt me just to keep me away from you, there’s no telling what he might do to you if he doesn’t get his way.”

“Don’t you dare. Don’t you think for a second that I will let you sacrifice anything more for me. We’ve been down that road, and we’re not doing it again. I’m not letting anyone take you away from me.”

She inhales deeply and lets it out slowly, measuring her next words. “I have an idea. Stephen had a clause put in the contract that if we were to divorce, he would keep the company and I would walk away with nothing.”

“If you finish that thought, I might be sick,” I admit. “No, I’m not watching you marry another man, even if you intend to divorce him immediately. Marriage isn’t a game, Birdie. You know that.”

Silence fills the car again for far too long. I know she’s actually considering throwing herself under the bus to end this disaster, but I’m not about to watch it happen. I groan. “Sure, look, there’s nothing we can do about this right now. We can wait for Ivan to comb over it and see what he can find with that judge friend of his. Until then, you can absolutely forget anything that involves you alone with Stefan.”

“Stephen,” she reminds.

“Stefan, Stephen, I don’t really care what his name is, darling. If he ever touches you again, there won’t even be a headstone to carve a name on.”

She swallows so hard it seems to stick in her throat.

“I don’t know what else to do,” she admits, throwing her hands in the air. Her tone is high pitched and desperate.

I sit stiff. “It’s a right proper mess to be sure, but I ain’t watchin’ the love of my life walk into a slaughterhouse. And that’s what it is, love. They’ll kill you before they let you go.” I fall back into my seat, putting space between us so she doesn’t think I’m angry with her.

“Aiden, I—”

I raise my hand. “I’m not going to let you do it, and you know April won’t either. We’ll find another way.” I shift my heated gaze to her to prove a point. “You said you wanted to be mine, and make no mistake Finchley Bennett, you’re wearing my jersey from now on. You are mine, and I’m yours, and I’ll not make a fool of you again.”

Tears slide over the apples of her cheeks and I can’t stop myself from wiping them away. I don’t have a solution for everything, but I do have the answer for one of her problems. If ever there was a man foolish enough to set himself up for failure, without question, it’s me. There is little doubt that I am about to bulldoze right through slow and steady, grace and patience, and wait and see, but as I see it, I don’t have a choice.

“He can’t marry a woman who’s already married,” I whisper and run my thumb over her lower lip. She gasps, pretty eyes watery and full of anticipation. “Marry me, Birdie. Marry me so I can protect you with everything I have.”

“What?” she asks, a throaty, breathy whisper.

“If I had been man enough to stand up to your father, you wouldn’t be in this mess now. Let me keep the promise I made to you back then. Marry me.”

I expect her to tell me I’m crazy, maybe tell me no or wait and see like she did before. What I don’t see coming is her launching herself from the seat, shoving the passenger door open, and running.