“Hello, sweetheart.” The voice comes from behind me.
I whirl and find Finn standing there. He looks impossibly handsome standing in the doorway in black slacks and a light blue shirt, the sleeves rolled up. His hair is just the slightest bit wrinkled. It’s a different Finn than I saw at the underground fighting ring. And the handful of other dates we’ve been on: a Sunday morning farmer’s market, Daphne’s art show, and the Parkers’ fiftieth anniversary ball. Different from the quiet, frustrated Finn I saw the night I met his father.
This is a domestic Finn, I realize. The one that comes home from work every day, a little tired but still with that irrepressible charm. His hazel eyes sparkle at me. It always feels like we share some secret, even though clearly I’m the one who’s been left in the dark.
When I look back, my mother has stood to join us. “Darling, I knew you’d be pleased to have your boyfriend visit us. So I called him, and can you imagine? He was free.”
He was probably not free.
No, he was probably coerced by my marriage-minded mother.
I’m sorry, I try to communicate with my eyes.
His gaze just reflects amusement at the situation. Of course he wouldn’t show it if he had to leave work early for this. Actually, he’s probably leaving his father’s side. Guilt rises like bile in my throat. Or maybe he would have been with a woman. Or a man. Finn has liked both men and women forever.
I don’t believe he’d lie to a woman, but he could have sex with her.
After all, we’re only fake dating.
“Mom, he doesn’t need to spend time with the family.”
“Nonsense,” she says. “He needs to eat anyway. And besides, your father and I want to spend time with your boyfriend. It’s been so long since you were serious about anyone.”
A flush burns my cheeks. Please kill me.
“Happy to be here,” Finn says, smoothing everything over.
Usually that’s my job.
I turn, almost blindly, and find the empty seat I’m supposed to use. That puts me next to Finn Hughes. In the center of the table, it feels like we’re standing together in a spotlight. Sophia gives me a look that says she tried to warn me, but I didn’t listen.
That’s what I get for letting my defenses down in the gladiator ring.
“We don’t have to wait for Leo,” I say, because dinner won’t start otherwise. There are two chairs on my mom’s side waiting for him and Haley. “He had a meeting come up that he couldn’t put off. He’s going to be at the office until midnight, he said.”
Concern crosses my sister Daphne’s expression. She recognizes a lie.
My mother does not. She snaps her fingers to indicate that the servers can begin.
Several people in black slacks and white shirts come to pour wine and serve the appetizers, a high-end surf-and-turf offering with fresh lobster and Kobe beef seared in truffle oil. Clearly my mother spared no expense for this meal. The last time I saw her serve this particular dish, we had the Ambassador from Argentina at our table.
Apparently Finn Hughes ranks as high as foreign royalty.
“Sorry about this,” I murmur once people start eating.
He pops a seared duck crostini in his mouth. “This is delicious. Invite me over anytime. Besides,” he says, lowering his voice. “This is part of the show, right?”
Yes, it’s part of the show.
The show where I’m fun and young and sexy enough to be Finn Hughes’s girlfriend.
Not reality. Which would be funny if it weren’t so sad.
“Part of the show,” I murmur in agreement.
He leans close enough that I can see the deep green in his hazel eyes. “Besides, I wanted to come. I’m looking forward to seeing you in your natural element.”
“It’s not that interesting,” I assure him.
“I doubt that.”
I’m distracted from that cryptic comment when I hear Sophia’s voice rising at the end of the table. Her expression tells me that Mom has been criticizing her again. My sister loves avant-garde art and nightclubs that serve fifty-dollar cocktails. It’s harmless, really. But my mother acts like my sister is about to become a stripper for five-dollar tips.
“Mom,” I say to distract her. “When did you invite Finn? You could have told me.”
She waves her hand, and out of the corner of my eye, I see Sophia’s expression of relief. “It was a last-minute thing,” she says, lying through her teeth, because the next course is fatty tuna and caviar, which is probably two hundred dollars a plate. “You know I love seeing my children, but it’s sad with Carter gone. I thought Finn could fill the empty place.”
“Does anyone actually know where he’s gone?” Daphne asks.
“The Republic of the Congo,” Tiernan says in his low rumble.
“He mentioned something about Thailand,” Elaine says, glancing at her husband, my brother Lucian. He shrugs, clearly more interested in gazing at his wife than speculating about his brother’s whereabouts. He was possibly the meanest of all the Morellis, even including my father, before Elaine tamed him.