Аманда Хокинг - Switched

Finn pulled up a stool next to mine, and he spoke very little while we ate. Rhys tended to dominate the conversation, with Rhiannon interjecting when he said things that were categorically untrue or apologizing when she thought he was being rude. He never really was, though. For the most part, he was funny and lively and kept things from ever feeling awkward.

Occasionally, Finn would look over at me and make quiet comments when Rhys and Rhiannon were otherwise engaged in some kind of debate.

Hidden underneath the lip of the island, I felt his knee brush against mine. At first, I assumed it was a simple accident because of our close proximity, but as I finished my meal, I noticed that he had actually tilted himself towards me, leaning in closer. It was a subtle move, one that Rhys and Rhiannon probably wouldn’t catch, but I definitely had.

“You are such a pest!” Rhiannon grumbled playfully after Rhys had flicked an unwanted tomato on to her plate. She tried to put it back on his plate, but he lightly slapped at her hand and pushed her away. “Rhys! You’re like a five-year-old sometimes!”

“Dinner’s not always this exciting,” Finn assured me, his voice low. I leaned towards him so I could hear him better, and his dark eyes met mine.

“Sometimes Rhys is gone.” A small smile played on his lips. “Although, with you around, things are bound to get more exciting.”

“You think so?” I asked, trying to make my voice sound sexier somehow, but I completely failed. Finn smiled wider, and my heart nearly hammered out of my chest.

“Sorry for interrupting your play time,” Elora spoke from behind us.

Her voice wasn’t that loud, but somehow it seemed to echo through everything.

Rhys and Rhiannon immediately stopped their fighting, both of them sitting rigidly and staring down at their plates. Finn moved away from me, but he turned around to face Elora, making that look like it had been his intention all along. I glanced back over my shoulder at her, and the way she looked at me made me feel guilty, even though I was pretty sure I hadn’t done anything wrong.

“You weren’t interrupting anything,” Finn assured her, but I sensed a nervousness below his calm words. “Were you planning to join us?”

“No, that’ll be quite all right.” Elora surveyed the kitchen and the small mess we had created on the island with heavy distaste. “I needed to speak with you.”

“Would you like us to be excused?” Rhys offered, and Rhiannon already started sliding off her seat.

“That won’t be necessary.” Elora held up her hand, and Rhiannon blushed as she climbed back on the stool. “The Strom’s will be coming for dinner tomorrow.” Her eyes went back to Rhys and Rhiannon, and she seemed to cower under Elora’s gaze. “I trust that you two will find a way to make yourselves useful.”

“When they come over here, I’ll go over there,” Rhys suggested cheerily. She nodded at him, showing that his response was sufficient enough.

“As for you, you will be joining us.” Elora smiled at me, but there was something uneasy masked behind it. “The Strom’s are very good friends of our family, and I expect you to make a good impression with them.” She gave Finn that intense look, meaning she was saying things I wasn’t meant to hear, and he nodded understanding. “Finn will be in charge of preparing you for the dinner, making sure you are on your best behavior and know everything you need for tomorrow evening.”

“Okay,” I nodded, figuring that I had better say something.

“That is all. Carry on.” Elora turned and walked out of the room, her skirt flowing behind her, but nobody said anything until she was long gone.

Finn stood up and started clearing away his dishes, and Rhiannon almost shivered with relief. She was more terrified of Elora than even I was, and I wondered what Elora had done to make her so deserving of that fear.

Only Rhys seemed to shake it off as soon as she had gone.

“I don’t know how you can stand that creepy mind speak thing she does with you, Finn.” Rhys shook his head and took another bite of his food. “I would freak out if she were in my head.”

“Why? There’s nothing in your head for her to get to,” Finn commented dryly, and Rhiannon giggled nervously.

“What did she say to you, anyway?” Rhys pressed, looking up at him.

Finn continued cleaning up the island but didn’t respond. “Finn? What’d she say?”

“It’s nothing to concern yourself with,” Finn admonished him quietly.

He finished wiping down the counter, then turned to me. “Are you ready?”

“For what?” I asked dumbly.

“We have a lot to go over before tomorrow night.” He glanced warily at the clock, then back at me. “Come on. We better get started.”

As it turned out, I wasn’t completely stunted socially and had a basic understanding of manners, so there wasn’t all that much that Finn needed to tutor me on. What he had said had been common sense things, like always say please and thank you, but in the end, he encouraged me to keep my mouth shut whenever possible. I think his task had been less about preparing me for the dinner and more about keeping me in line. I suspected that the secret things Elora had been telling him had just been warning him to baby-sit me, or else.

Dinner was at eight, and company was arriving at seven. Rhys had popped in to wish me good luck and let me know he was heading over to Rhiannon’s, in case anybody cared. Finn came in shortly after I had gotten over the shower, looking even sharper than usual. He was clean shaven for the first time since he’d stopped going to school, and he wore a black button-up shirt with a narrow white tie and black pants with a black blazer over it. It should’ve been little much with so much black, but he managed to pull it off, all the while looking incredibly sexy.

“Well don’t you look dapper?” I commented.

Once again, I was wearing only my bathrobe, and I wondered why nobody thought it was inappropriate for boys to barge in when I wasn’t dressed. At least this time I was doing something semi-sexy; sitting on the edge of my bed putting lotion on my legs. It was my usual routine that I did every time I showered, but since Finn was in the room, I tried to play it off as being sensual when it really wasn’t.

Not that Finn had even noticed. He knocked once, opened my bedroom door, and only gave me a fleeting glance as he headed straight to my closet. I sighed in frustration and hurriedly rubbed the lotion in while Finn busied himself. He had flicked on the light and was apparently rummaging through my clothes.

“I don’t think I have anything in your size!” I said and leaned farther on my bed, trying see what he was doing in there.

“Funny,” he muttered absently.

“What’s so hard about dressing me? And what’s wrong with how I dress myself?” I countered, watching him, but he didn’t even look at me. He was far too focused on the task at hand.

“You are a Princess, and you need to dress like one.” He gave a resigned sigh, and he started leafing through my dresses and pulled out a long, white sleeveless dress. It was actually a very pretty, looking much too fancy for me, and when he came out of the closet, he handed it to me. “I think this might work. Try it on.”

“Isn’t everything in my closet suitable?” I tossed the dress on the bed next to me and turned to look at him. “Wasn’t everything picked out for these occasions?”

“Yes, but different things are better for different occasions.” Finn came over to the bed to smooth out the dress, making sure it didn’t have any wrinkles or creases. “This is a very important dinner, Wendy.”