“Um, nothing.”
She glanced across the short space to find Finn’s handsome face illuminated in the candlelight. Why exactly had she insisted on the candles? Was she hoping there would be a bit of romance? Of course not. The soft light was comforting, was all.
His head lifted and his gaze met hers. “Do you need more cushions? Or a blanket?”
“Really, I’m fine.” There was another loud creak of the house. “I...I’m just wondering what’s going on outside. Should we go check?”
“No.” His answer was fast and short. “I mean there could be broken glass and it’s dark out there. We’ll deal with it in the morning.”
She swallowed hard. “You really think the windows have been blown out?”
“The shutters will protect them. Hopefully the house is holding its own.”
“Maybe you should turn on the radio.” Whatever the weather people said couldn’t be worse than what her imagination had conjured up.
“You know what I’d really like to do?” He didn’t wait for her to respond. “How about we get to know each other better?”
“And how do you propose we do that?”
“How about a game of twenty questions? You can ask me anything you want and I have to be absolutely honest. In return, I get to ask you twenty questions and you have to be honest.”
She wasn’t so sure honesty right now would be such a good idea, especially if he asked if she cared about him. “I...I don’t know.”
“Oh, come on. Surely you have questions.”
She did. She had lots of them, but she wasn’t so sure she wanted to answer his in return. She didn’t open up with many people. She told herself it was because she was introverted, but sometimes she wondered if it was more than that.
On this particular night everything felt surreal. Perhaps she could act outside her norm. “Okay, as long as I go first.”
“Go for it. But remember you only get twenty questions so make them good ones.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
HOLLY DIDN’T HAVE to think hard to come up with her first question. “Why did you look like you’d seen a ghost when you stepped in here?”
There was a pause as though Finn was figuring out how to answer her question. Was he thinking up a vague answer or would he really open up and give her a glimpse of the man beneath the business suits and intimidating reputation?
He glanced off into the shadows. “When I walked in here I was reminded of a time—long ago. My brother and I used to build blanket forts when we were kids. Especially in the winter when it was too cold or wet to go outside. My mother wasn’t fond of them because we’d strip our beds.”
Holly smiled, liking that he had a normal childhood with happy memories. She wondered why he kept them hidden. In all the time she’d been around him, she could count on one hand the number of times he spoke of his family. But she didn’t say a word because she didn’t want to interrupt him—she found herself wanting to learn everything she could about him.
“I remember there was this one Christmas where we’d built our biggest fort. But it was dark in there and my brother wanted to teach me to play cards. My mother would have been horrified that her proper young men were playing cards—it made it all the more fun. We tried a flashlight but it didn’t have enough light. So my brother got an idea of where to get some lights.”
Holly could tell by the gleam in Finn’s eyes that mischief had been afoot. He and his brother must have been a handful. Would her twins be just as ornery? Her hand moved to her stomach. She had a feeling they would be and that she’d love every minute of it. She might even join them in their fort.
“While my parents were out at the Mistletoe Ball and the sitter was watching a movie in the family room, we took a string of white lights off the Christmas tree.”
Holly gasped. “You didn’t.”
Finn nodded. “My brother assured me it was just one strand. There were plenty of other lights on the tree. After all, it was a big tree. So we strung the lights back and forth inside our fort. It gave it a nice glow, enough so that we could see the cards. There was just one problem.”