Falling for Finn Read Free

you talking about?”
    Anna’s face had gone pale, green eyes like fresh spring leaves, vivid against her white skin. “I mean someone put something in my drink. One minute I was sitting there alone, the next I was in an alley.”
    He almost couldn’t bring himself to ask the next question, but he did because he had to know. “Were you raped?”
    The expression on her face closed down. “Jesus, is that all that matters to you? Whether I was raped or not?”
    “Shit, no, of course not.” He pushed himself out of the chair, going over to her, kneeling down on the floor in front of her, putting his hands over hers where they clasped her knees in a white-knuckled grip. Her fingers felt cold. Everything inside him wanted to gather her close, hold her. He’d always been tactile, and the urge to touch to bring comfort came naturally to him. But Anna shied away as if he were diseased.
    “Don’t!” she gasped out, pulling her hands violently from his.
    Shocked, he stared at her. “Anna?”
    “Please, don’t touch me.” She sounded shaken, as if struggling to keep it together. “I…I don’t like it.”
    Finn fought a sudden, vicious rage. She’d never pushed him away before. Never avoided his hugs. God, he wanted to hurt the bastard who’d done this to her. Hurt him so badly.
    Abruptly he pushed himself to his feet, taking a few steps back to give her some space. “The whole story, Anna, tell me.”
    She smoothed her hair with shaking hands, her chest rising and falling fast and hard beneath her T-shirt. “That’s all I know, okay? That’s all I can tell you.”
    “So, you were attacked?”
    “Yes. There were bruises on my legs. My arms. And my clothes were torn.”
    “And you remember none of it?”
    Something in his voice must have caught a nerve because her chin came up, a spark of green flame in her gaze. “No. I don’t remember anything.”
    He could see the distress in her eyes, hear it in her voice. “Anna, I didn’t mean—”
    She held up a stop hand and he fell silent. “That’s the worst thing, you know? Not knowing. Having to go to the doctor to get them to examine you because you have no idea whether you’d been r-raped or not. Going to the police with no description of the attacker because you didn’t see him. Because you couldn’t remember.”
    His hands closed into fists at his sides. He’d never wanted to smash anything as badly as he did now. Someone had hurt her. Someone had drugged her, assaulted her, left her in an alleyway, bruised and bleeding. Someone hadn’t protected her.
    He hadn’t protected her.
    Abruptly he turned away, needing to move. To do something with the feeling inside him.
    Ever since she’d been five years old, the shy, silent little girl from next door, he’d felt the need to keep her safe. Especially hearing the violent arguments coming from inside her house as her parents had yet another disagreement.
    Anna, so quiet and watchful. Small and delicate. No one to look out for her. No one who cared.
    “It’s not your fault, Finn.”
    Christ. She knew him too well.
    “You think I don’t know that?” Going over to the kitchen, he pulled open the fridge again, staring blindly into it, not knowing what he was looking for.
    “Well, stop it with the thwarted-knight look, okay?” Her voice, closer this time.
    He turned to see her standing on the other side of the breakfast bar.
    “I’m fine.” She pushed her hair back from her face again. “Really.”
    “So fine you cut your hair?”
    Color stained her cheekbones. “I wanted to make a stand. The therapist suggested I do something to regain some control. That was part of it.”
    “And not telling me was part of it too?”
    Her color deepened. “I’m sorry. I didn’t tell anyone. It was too…hard.”
    The hurt inside him wouldn’t go away. “Why? I’m your friend, Anna. We’ve been looking out for each other for twenty years. You were there for me when I couldn’t find a job and Mum and Dad were