Chapter Sixteen

T o be fair, Burgess tried to be inconspicuous. He really did.

Tallulah was sitting across from Finn in the coffee shop, their notes spread out between them on the table, when her legendary boss walked in—and the air was promptly sucked out of the establishment.

“Holy fucking shit, that’s Sir Savage,” someone blurted at the table beside her.

Phones came out immediately and started snapping pictures of Burgess where he’d hunkered down in a booth, baseball cap pulled down low over his eyes. He’d chosen a spot in her line of vision, but not so close that he was hovering.

Gratitude pooled in her belly immediately, the glands in her throat starting to ache from the force of her gladness to see him. To have an ally. One who believed in her, even though she didn’t quite believe in herself yet or her ability to simply live normally again. But she’d had the day to think about what he’d said while kneeling in front of her in the bedroom with an erection the size of a tree trunk... and he was right. She needed to stop hiding and empower herself. If she was going to start being present in her own life again, she would encounter ugliness along the way, because ugly happened.

But how she handled it this time would determine how she handled it in the future.

Maybe she wouldn’t even have to put Finn in his place. Maybe he’d gotten the message when he’d seen her kissing Burgess outside of Down.

No matter what happened, though, Burgess would be there.

And you won’t always need me.

That was the part of his speech this morning that hit her the hardest. Burgess liked playing protector. Yet he still wanted to help Tallulah stand on her own two feet again. That said a lot about his character.

Dammit. Dammit, she liked him. On top of wanting to roll around beneath him naked.

Not enough to be his girlfriend, though. Or anyone’s girlfriend.

Right?

Tallulah absorbed some reassuring eye contact from Burgess and took a deep breath, focusing on the outline they were making. The Bostonians in the coffee shop were trying to play it cool about Sir Savage being in their midst, but the buzz around the room was growing and a couple of kids had run over for autographs, the hubbub finally drawing Finn’s attention, his shaggy brown head popping up from its tilt over the notebook.

“Did I miss something?” He started to twist in his seat. “What’s going on—”

“We should keep going,” Tallulah said quickly. “The role acoustic signals play in the courtship of fish. Riveting stuff, right?”

“Yes, but do acoustic signals increase the likelihood of reproductive success...” he muttered. “I think we should split this up. You analyze the acoustic playback experiments linked in the article. I’ll...”

Someone stopped right in front of their table, holding up their phone and filming, a dazed smile frozen on their face.

“Seriously,” Finn said, casting a look over his shoulder. Thank fully, a crowd was forming and no matter how he craned his neck, he couldn’t see through them to Burgess. “What is the fuss about?”

“For me? The fuss is about sound variability,” Tallulah laughed, unearthing a paper from the stack and flapping it in the air. “I’ll take it. Should be an easy enough collaboration.”

“Uh, yes.” Still distracted, he faced her again regardless, seeming to realize their meeting was coming to an end. “Although, I would have loved to meet one more time, at least.” He settled a hand on the back of her chair while flipping the pages of his notebook with the opposite hand, as if the move was absentminded and she wouldn’t notice. “Maybe when I get back from my trip, we can meet up again.”

Her stomach filled with weight. “If it’s necessary to the assignment.”

Finn looked up, shrugged, that impish smile playing around his mouth. “Or just for fun.”

Tallulah opened her mouth to remind Finn she had a boyfriend. But... she didn’t want to lie. She shouldn’t have to lie or make an excuse not to be interested. She was allowed to simply not be interested and didn’t owe him an explanation about it. Her fear stemmed from how he would react if she turned him down. Would he cease to be this mild-mannered guy? Would his features become unrecognizable, all pretenses out the window?

Her chest started to tighten.

“Although, I guess I should be afraid of your big jock boyfriend coming to beat me up, shouldn’t I?” Finn snickered. “Tisha mentioned you’re working as an au pair for one of the Bearcats. Is that who I saw you kissing outside of Down?”

Heat scaled the back of her neck... and with it, a dose of irritation. Something about his condescension when speaking about Burgess was weakening her fear. “I’m not sure this conversation is appropriate. We’re here to talk about the assignment.”

“Right.” He flipped the notebook page more forcefully than necessary. “You need to run home to your Neanderthal.”

Indignation turned her spine to steel.

It clogged into her throat and made her eyes sting.

Curious that it should be an insult leveled at someone she cared about that would finally bring back her bravery, but she wasn’t going to question it. Not when it felt so good.

“Listen, motherfucker,” she growled, turning and slapping his hand off the back of her chair. “If you say another negative word about Burgess I will snap your designer glasses in half. Maybe I do want to go home to him. Mainly to get away from you. I’ve made it clear I’m not interested—if you’re too dense to notice, I think that makes you the Neanderthal. If you did notice, you’re something way worse.” This worm had the nerve to insult Burgess? When he made her so uncomfortable, she was sitting there in a cold sweat? “Say one more thing about him, I dare you. Or ask me out again when I already said no. Those glasses are DOA.”

Finn stared at her in openmouthed shock for several seconds, before beginning to gather his things. And she was pleased to see he was the one sweating now.

“I’ll take an apology, too, before you go.”

“Sorry.”

“One for Burgess, too.”

“Sorry.”

“Uh-huh.”

Tallulah had to cross her arms to prevent herself from snatching the glasses off his face. If only to celebrate the fact that she could. She wasn’t arrogant enough to believe she’d fully cured herself of the trauma and fear. She’d made a big stride today, though. If Lara could see her, would she be proud? Tallulah desperately hoped so. In that moment, however, there was one person she wanted to share her triumph with, and he was sit ting in the rear booth of the coffee shop, probably restraining himself from intervening.

Tallulah kept a cautious eye on Finn as he got up and scrambled out of the coffee shop, just in case, but once he’d vanished out the front door, Tallulah stood up on shaky legs. She left all her things on the table and wove through customers toward the back booth, only to find that Burgess was already standing, too, watching her with tension bracketing his features. She wasn’t sure what compelled her to break into a jog, only that she wanted to be in those strong arms as quickly as possible—and he was already opening them for her.

She ran, jumped, and was enfolded in the warmest, safest hug of all time.

All she had to do was dangle there, surrounded in strength.

People were taking pictures and she didn’t care. Let them.

“Are you okay, Tallulah?” He clutched her to his body like a giant holding a stuffed bear, his rib cage dipping and expanding on heavy breaths. “Did he—”

“Yes. He did. So I called him a motherfucker and threatened to break his glasses.”

Slowly, a rumble started to spread in Burgess’s chest, his arms squeezing her even closer, his lips pressing to her hairline. “That’s my girl.”