He wasn’t buying it and slid his hands into her hair and lifted her face. “Fight through that,” he said simply. “Fight for me.”

Of course he’d say that. It was his MO. Want something? Get it. Make it yours. Go for it, one hundred percent.

Which brought home one hard-hitting point—she needed to adopt that philosophy and do what he’d said, fight for what she wanted. Fight for him.

She’d left her cell on the kitchen counter the night before and from down the hall, it rang. She ignored it but once it stopped, it immediately started up again. Not a good sign so she slid out of bed. Realizing she was very, very naked, she bent to pick something from the pile of discarded clothes and heard a choked sound from the bed.

She turned and found Finn watching her every move, eyes heavy-lidded but not with sleepiness.

He crooked his finger at her.

“Oh no,” she said, pointing her finger back at him. “Don’t even think about waving your magic wand and—” Shit. “I didn’t mean wand as in . . .” Her gaze slid down past his chest and washboard abs to the part of him that never failed to be happy to see her. “You know.”

He burst out laughing. “Babe, if my ‘wand’ really was magic, then you’d be on it right now.”

She felt herself blush to the roots, which only seemed to amuse him all the more. She actually took a step toward him when her phone rang yet a third time. With a sigh, she slipped his shirt over her head and padded out of the room.

Three missed calls, all from Jake. She tapped on the voicemail he’d just left, hitting speaker so she could make some desperately needed coffee as she listened.

“You’re either still sleeping or hell, maybe you’re out playing fairy godmother before work,” he said, sounding disgruntled. “I heard from a little birdie that you got Tim a place to live.”

Damn. Not a little birdie at all. Nick had spilled the beans on her. Again.

“I don’t know how long you intend to go around fixing wrongs that aren’t yours to fix,” Jake said. “But at some point you’re going to have to let go. You know that, right? You can’t go on keeping track of everyone from the accident and righting their worlds. The seed money for what’s-her-name—”

“Shelby,” she said, as if Jake could hear her.

“Then there was the place to live for Tim. The job for Nick. And how about what you did for F—”

At the sound behind her, Pru hit delete at the speed of light.

Because she knew the rest of Jake’s sentence.

The beep of Jake’s message being deleted echoed in the room as she turned to face Finn, wearing only his jeans, unbuttoned.

“What was that about?” he asked.

“Oh . . .” She waved her hand. “You know Jake, sticking his nose into everything.”

“Sounds like he thinks you’re the one sticking your nose into everything.”

She took a deep breath. Be careful. Be very careful unless you’re ready to give up the fantasy right here, right now. It needed to be done. She knew that now more than ever. She’d do it tonight after work, when they had time to talk about it. And after you figure out how to make him realize you’d only meant to help.

Even if in her heart she knew that was no way to make him understand. He was smart and resourceful and sharp, and he was standing there steady as a rock.

Her rock.

Waiting for answers.

“I do tend to stick my nose into things,” she said as lightly as she could. “I’ve got to get to work . . .”

“Or you need to change the subject.”

Her smile faded. “Or that.”

“You know . . .” He stepped into her, slid his hands to her hips and ducked his head to meet her gaze. “You once told me I needed to let stuff go.”

She choked out a low laugh and stared at his Adam’s apple. “Haven’t you heard, swallowing your own medicine is the hardest thing to do?”

He wrapped her ponytail around his fist and gently tugged until she looked up at him. “What’s going on, Pru?”

“What’s going on is that I need to get ready for work—”

“In here.” He slid his free hand up and tapped a finger over her temple.

She managed another smile. “You’d be surprised by how little’s going on in there—”

“Don’t,” he said quietly. “If you don’t want to do this, you only have to say so.”

She hesitated and he took a step back. “Wow,” he said, looking like she’d sucker punched him.