Читать книгу Fool's Gold Collection Part 2: Only Mine / Only Yours / Only His / Only Us: A Fool's Gold Holiday - Сьюзен Мэллери, Susan Mallery - Страница 22

DAKOTA AND FINN SAT on her sofa, watching that week’s installment of True Love or Fool’s Gold. The teaser right before the commercial break was of Aurelia and Stephen, standing somewhere in town, looking intense.

“I didn’t know they were going to be featured this week,” Dakota said. “They didn’t have a date, did they?”

“Not that I know of,” Finn said, passing her the bowl of popcorn.

He’d come over for dinner. She’d made steaks and salad. They’d sat at her table and laughed and talked, taking turns holding Hannah. A good evening, she thought, telling herself not to read too much into it. Sure, she enjoyed Finn’s company, but as a friend. What was that phrase? Friends with benefits?

Hannah had gone to sleep, and Dakota was hoping that after the show, she and Finn would also go to bed. Although the sleep part wasn’t what interested her.

The commercial ended, and the show resumed. A long shot of Aurelia and Stephen made her think the camera was some distance away. The sound seemed enhanced, too, as if the two of them hadn’t been miked.

It took Dakota a second to realize what Aurelia was saying. Something about not wanting to hurt Stephen, that she didn’t want him to have regrets. The look on his face when he said he could never regret their relationship stunned Dakota.

“I didn’t realize,” she began, then pressed her lips together. Oh, crap. So much for them being the quiet couple. When no one was looking, they’d gone ahead and gotten involved. If she didn’t know better, she would swear they’d fallen in love.

Finn wasn’t going to be happy about that.

She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye and saw him staring intently at the screen. Before she could figure out what to say, or even if she should say anything, the topic of the conversation shifted.

“I knew Finn expected me to go into the family business. I didn’t know how to tell him I didn’t want that.”

Finn handed her the popcorn bowl and stood. “Well, hell.”

Dakota set the bowl on the coffee table and rose. “Take a breath,” she said. “This can’t be news.”

Finn glared at her. “Of course it’s news. We’ve been talking about this for years. When Stephen finishes college he’s coming into the family business. That was always the way it was going to be.”

She didn’t actually believe that. From what she could tell, Stephen had never shown any interest in the family business. He was majoring in engineering in college. If he wanted to join forces with his brother, wouldn’t he have been studying business or something flying-related?

“You’re not upset because he doesn’t want to be in the family business,” she said gently. “It’s that he didn’t tell you himself. You had to find out this way.”