Powerless: Finding Love, #2

By Paris Hansen

Love doesn't care about the demons of your past. 

 

With the memories of her past still haunting her, Finley Blake knew returning to L.A. was a terrible idea. In and out to watch her best friend get married, that was the plan. Drinking a bottle of Scotch with a stranger was not. Denying the attraction would be pointless, but she's not sure any man is worth playing the Hollywood game again.  

  

All Liam Crawford wants for his day off is peace and quiet. Instead, he meets a bold, sensual woman at his friend's wedding, and she turns his world upside down. She's everything he didn't know he was looking for, but his career is a trigger she's not willing to face. 

  

Winning Finley over is all Liam can think about. When they begin receiving creepy, threatening messages, he has to decide if he's willing to walk through fire for her or if the heat is too much for him to handle. 

 

The Finding Love Series: 

Restless (Savannah and Gabriel) 

Powerless (Finley and Liam) 

Speechless (Meghan and Oliver) 

Breathless (Brooklyn and Declan) 

Priceless (Andi and Braeden) 

Harmless (Sylvia and Logan) - A Finding Love Holiday Romance

  

The books in the Finding Love series can be read as standalones, however, for optimum enjoyment, they are best read in order.

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Paris Hansen
• Release date: Apr 1, 2017
• ISBN: 9798201071653

Paris Hansen

Paris Hansen currently writes both crime fiction and contemporary romance novels filled with strong heroines and sexy heroes. She has a moderately unhealthy obsession with Chris Evans, so if you happen to see him around be sure to send him her way. When she's not writing, Paris loves to curl up with a good book and a glass of wine or watch sports with her nephew.  

Book preview

Chapter 1

A re you okay dear? You look a little sick.

Reluctantly, Finley opened her eyes to find her seatmate staring at her intently. They’d been in the air for what felt like forever, but when Finley checked the time on her phone, she realized it had only been a little over an hour. There was still an hour and a half left of the flight and with every passing second, Finley felt like she was soaring to her doom.

I’m fine, thank you, she told the older woman before closing her eyes again, her head resting against the seat behind her.

Not a fan of flying?

Not a fan of L.A. actually.

What an understatement that was. Finley loathed Los Angeles and everything it represented to her more than anything else in the world. She hated that she was on a plane hurtling toward the setting of her worst nightmares. It had been more than a decade since she’d been back, yet now that she was on her way there it felt like it was just yesterday she’d ran away from the life she hated.

When she left, she vowed she’d never go back and for years she’d stuck to her word. There had been instances throughout the last sixteen years where most normal people would have returned to their hometown, but Finley had refused; neither she nor her childhood was normal. Nothing good could come from being in that city. Not with who she was or who her mother had been. There was only one person and one thing that would have ever gotten her to break her vow and that thing was finally happening.

Finley’s chest tightened the more she thought about what she was in for. She’d fought so hard to move on from her past, to forget everything that her mother and her lifestyle had imposed upon her. Not for the first time, she wished she’d taken the out that her childhood best friend had given her. He knew this trip would be difficult for her and he’d told her it was okay if she didn’t come. Instead of listening to him, she listened to her other best friend Savannah and now she was on the verge of yet another panic attack.

For the first time in over a decade she was going to face her past; at least part of it anyway. With any luck, she wouldn’t be recognized by the paparazzi or anyone who knew her mom. Every time she thought about going back, a knot formed in the pit of her stomach. It didn’t matter that she was an adult now and could defend herself, she immediately thought of the bad things that happened and assumed that those same things were going to happen again when she showed her face in L.A.

How can you not like L.A.? It’s one of my favorite cities. It’s not quite as decadent as Vegas, but I’m meeting some girlfriends there and we’re hoping to catch a glimpse of some of those deliciously hard-bodied actors.

Good luck with that, Finley muttered, wishing that the woman, who was probably in her late 60s, would get the hint that she wasn’t up for a chat. She didn’t want to be rude, but she also didn’t want to hear about her geriatric escapades. Nor did she want the woman to try to pry into her reason for hating L.A. She barely talked about her past with her best friends. She definitely wasn’t going to spill her guts to a stranger; especially not when the anxiety over the trip was still so raw.

We all meet up a couple times a year and try to get into as much trouble as possible. Last year we hit Vegas for the hundredth time and two of us got arrested for indecent exposure. It was a blast.

Finley popped an eye open to take in her seatmate again. Yep, she was definitely at least 30 years older than her, although Finley would put her closer to 40 years older given the hunch in her shoulders and the massive number of wrinkles she could see. Although given the story the old lady just told her, there was a chance she’d partied hard her entire life and that had contributed to how old she looked. Finley had seen that phenomenon a lot growing up. Either way, you didn’t find many women, who looked as old as her seatmate did, bragging about getting arrested in Las Vegas.

When her neighbor didn’t say another word and instead pulled a trashy magazine out of the seat pocket in front of her, Finley figured the conversation was over. Closing her eye again, she tried to relax, but her brain wouldn’t turn off.  She didn’t want to spend the next hour and a half thinking about every worst-case scenario she could fathom. She didn’t want to think about how easy it would be for her to end up on the cover of one of those trashy magazines again.

As much as she didn’t want to deal with her neighbor, the old woman’s life story would be the perfect distraction to what waited for Finley on the other end of the nearly three-hour flight. Bracing herself with a deep breath, Finley plastered on the most genuine smile she could muster, then turned to face the woman sitting next to her.

Well, you can’t just leave it there. Tell me more about these crazy adventures you and your friends go on.

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING me?

Ma’am, if you could just calm down.

This is calm, but in a minute, you’re going to see me lose my shit if you don’t figure this out. How in the hell do you lose someone’s baggage when they carried it onto the plane? Finley asked behind clenched teeth.

She was trying to keep her anger in check, but it was getting more and more difficult with every passing minute. Dealing with customer service people was one of her least favorite things to do on a normal day. She hated the way they smiled while giving people bullshit answers that were never helpful. For once Finley wished that someone would just be real with her and admit they fucked up. Airlines were the worst which was one of the many reasons Finley hated to fly. It didn’t help matters that all of this was happening in the one place she tried to avoid at all costs.

Ma’am, if you could please stop swearing, you’re upsetting the other passengers.

No, I’m pretty sure the fact that their luggage is missing is what is upsetting the other passengers. Now please explain to me what happened and maybe I’ll give the cursing a break.

The lady behind the counter stared at Finley for a moment before furiously typing on the keyboard in front of her. Every couple of keystrokes, she looked up at Finley, then back down at the screen. If was pretty obvious she didn’t want to continue helping Finley because she was angry, but she didn’t care. She was in L.A. for two nights. She didn’t have a lot of stuff in her bag, but it was all things she needed. There was really no excuse for an airline to lose her carry-on luggage when it had already been on the plane.

Originally, Finley had planned on flying in and out of L.A. on the day of the wedding but had decided against it when she worried that something would delay her flight and she’d end up missing the wedding. Although there were plenty of flights from Seattle to Los Angeles daily, she didn’t want to take the risk. Flying out after the wedding had still been an option until she let Elijah talk her into staying one more night so they could hang out a little bit at the reception. Since she could never say no to him, she had a flight out of L.A. on Sunday instead of Saturday night.

According to the notes I’m seeing, it looks like when you boarded the plane the overhead compartment above your seat was already filled and the flight crew could not find another spot near you so they asked if you wouldn’t mind if they took care of it for you.

Yeah, I know that part. When they said take care of it, did they mean they were going to throw it away because it wasn’t at the gate and it wasn’t at baggage claim?

It looks like it was supposed to be checked and then brought to the gate when you got off the plane. Unfortunately, the ground crew got distracted and forgot about grabbing all of the gate checked items for this flight, which included a few bags and strollers. We are more than happy to rectify the situation by having those items put onto the next flight we have leaving Seattle. They could be here by later tonight for you to pick up.

Taking a deep breath, Finley tried again to keep her anger in check. I carried my bag on for a reason. I’m only in town for two nights for a wedding, then I’m headed back home. I have the rehearsal dinner tonight and the wedding tomorrow. I do not have time to come back here to pick up my luggage. And now I have no clothes, no toiletries, and no wedding present. This is completely unacceptable.

We would like to offer you...

Unless it’s someone to bring my bag to my hotel or cash so I can go buy everything I’m going to need for the next two days, I’m really not interested in your offer. I shoved all of my stuff into a tiny carry-on bag for a reason.

For a small fee, we can...

I’m sorry, what? You want me to pay for something after you’ve all but screwed up my entire trip? I call bullshit on that one. I don’t have time for this, Finley sighed.

There really wasn’t anything else she could say. It was obvious she wasn’t going to get her bag. Now she’d have to waste time picking up a bunch of stuff and she didn’t have a lot of time to kill before the rehearsal dinner.

Please make arrangements for my suitcase to be held at Sea-Tac until I get back on Sunday. I will pick it up then. In the meantime, I’m running out of time to go shopping. Once I’m done with this wedding I won’t let this go. Please just give me whatever I need to get out of here.

Ma’am, I just need you to fill out this form.

By the time, Finley found her way to the waiting area for cabs she was close to losing her mind. If she heard ma’am one more time she was liable to do something stupid. Of course, the lines were long, which didn’t help her mood much. It was another half hour before she was finally on the way to her hotel. For the hundredth time, she wished she had skipped the wedding altogether. But Elijah was the closest thing she had to family and she knew she would have regretted not being there for his big day.

With their moms being best friends since childhood, they had been destined to be friends from the womb. Elijah was her rock. He was there when she had issues with her mother or when she needed a shoulder to cry on. Until she met her other best friend Savannah in college, Elijah had been the only person she truly felt she could count on. Even now when they lived in different states and he was on the verge of getting married, he was still the one she called when she needed help or advice or just someone to listen to her vent.

It would have been easy for them to drift apart, especially given his career, but Elijah was one of the good guys. The best she’d ever known. His friendships meant the world to him. He called her at least once a week regardless of what was going on in his life. And he knew her well enough to know that she hated L.A. and would only go home for him, but he didn’t force it. Instead of making her come to town to meet his future wife, he’d brought Amy to Seattle so they could meet. When it came to his wedding, he tried to give Finley an out. He’d said he would understand if she couldn’t make it and that they’d come visit her when they had a chance. But there was no way she could ever let Elijah down, not after everything he’d done for her.

Now here she was, stuck in her least favorite place, in a bad mood, with nothing more than the few items she kept in her handbag and the clothes she had on. And the perfect gift that she’d spent weeks trying to find, was sitting at the airport in Seattle nestled somewhere between her wedding day outfit and her underwear. The last thing she wanted to do was spend her day shopping, especially in L.A. Since all of the wedding festivities were taking place at her hotel, Finley’s original plan had been to veg in her hotel room until she absolutely had to leave it. Now her afternoon would be spent dealing with the snooty staff and even snootier shoppers at the boutiques near her hotel. Many of them would look at her body art and assume she couldn’t afford their overpriced clothes. They’d be dead wrong, but of course, that wouldn’t matter.

Finley loved her tattoos and piercings; they represented her in ways that nothing else did. She wasn’t ashamed of who she was or what she looked like, but she hated nothing more than being judged for them. More often than not people thought she was poor or a bitch or both. They often thought she was trouble and when she was younger they would call security before giving her a chance, never realizing how much money she had. In truth, she could probably purchase every stitch of clothing in the store without making much of a dent in her savings.

As usual L.A. traffic was crappy and it took Finley nearly another hour to get to her hotel. She was thankful that her cab driver wasn’t one of the chatty ones, although he did check her out in his rearview mirror a few times. When he dropped her off at the swanky hotel near West Hollywood, he looked at her again like he wasn’t sure what to make of her. She knew she couldn’t be the weirdest looking person he’d ever had in his cab, but the fact that she asked to be dropped off at a hotel that was over a thousand dollars a night for one of the smaller rooms, probably confused him. She wouldn’t have been surprised if he thought she was an escort or something similar.

Finley thanked him for the ride and handed him the fare plus a decent tip. She thought about asking him to wait for her but then decided that she would just go to the shops that were within walking distance. She didn’t need much, and she was as likely to find the few things she needed closer to the hotel as she was on Rodeo Drive. Walking also meant less time spent in traffic. She could get her shopping done quicker, which meant she would have more time to hide in her hotel room until she had to face everyone at the rehearsal dinner. Taking a deep breath, she walked toward the hotel knowing that with each step she took, she was one step closer to getting the weekend over with.

I WISH I HADN’T LET you talk me into coming down here.

Savannah’s laugh filtered through the phone. You’re only saying that now. Once you see Elijah, you’ll be glad you’re there. I know flying’s a pain in the butt and being in L.A. isn’t ideal, but you would have hated yourself if you’d missed Elijah’s big day.

Finley hated that her friend knew her so well. Hated it and loved it because if Savannah hadn’t known her so well Finley would have probably weaseled her way out of the trip. She would have hated herself afterward for disappointing a man who was the sibling she never had, but she would have been able to justify it at first. Although she grumbled about it, being uncomfortable and out of her element was the least she could do for Elijah after everything he’d done for her growing up.

You’re right, but I wish I could have at least talked you into coming with me. This would be a lot easier if I had company. If you hadn’t gone and fallen in love, I bet you’d be by my side right now. We could have picked ourselves up a couple of Hollywood hotties and had an interesting weekend. But no. You had to go and abandon me, Finley said adding a fake sniffle for dramatic effect. How’s the moving going anyway? You know I’d rather be helping you guys with that, then down here dealing with my past.

The moving is the easy part. Keeping Brooklyn and Declan from killing each other is the challenge. It seems like every five minutes Gabriel or I have to separate them because they are arguing about the most ridiculous crap, Savannah sighed. I know it’s not really either of their styles, but I kind of wish they would just have sex and get it over with. I don’t know how they’re going to be able to work together for the wedding stuff, but they need to figure it out. We can’t have the maid of honor and best man constantly at each other’s throats. I will not let them ruin my wedding with their shenanigans.

Finley couldn’t help but laugh as she remembered a time at the club when she’d seen Brooklyn and Declan’s antics in person. It was quite obvious to everyone that Savannah’s sister and Gabriel’s best friend needed to get a room and have at it. They thought nobody would notice the way they looked at each other or how they immediately got jealous when someone else was talking to the object of their affection or lust or whatever it was.

When I get back, I’ll do what I can to keep them in line...or I might just lock them in a room together and throw away the key. Either way, your wedding will be perfect as will every event leading up to it, even if I have to tie them up and do everything myself, Finley promised.

Thanks, Fin. I knew I could count on you. Now stop hiding in your room. There are people there that I know want to see you, so let them. You’re going to have a good time despite all of the reasons why you think you won’t. Don’t dwell on the past, just keep your mind on Elijah and glue yourself to his side if you can. That’ll help for sure. And if you need me, call me. I’ll give you as many pep talks as I need to until you come home on Sunday.

You’re going to be christening every room in your new house with your fiancé this weekend, so I definitely won’t be calling you for a pep talk. But thank you for offering. I don’t know what I’d do without you Savannah, Finley admitted. I’ll see you on Sunday. Thanks again for picking me up. I really wasn’t looking forward to leaving my car at the airport, so I owe you.

No, you don’t. Rides to and from the airport are what friends are for. That and drinks on the house at their nightclub, Savannah pointed out with a laugh before ending the call.

Talking to Savannah had been exactly what Finley needed to get herself motivated to head downstairs. She still didn’t know why she was being forced to go to the rehearsal since she wasn’t actually in the wedding, but Elijah had insisted. He said it was some etiquette BS that dictated all out of town guests be invited to the rehearsal and since Amy was a big stickler for etiquette and tradition, he had to invite Finley. She could have declined the invitation, but she knew that Amy wasn’t the only reason she’d been invited. Elijah and his parents were excited to see her, and declining would have disappointed them, which wasn’t something she wanted to do again.

A few minutes after downing one of the bottles from her fully stocked mini-bar, Finley found herself staring at her reflection in the mirrored wall of the elevator. The minuscule amount of courage she’d gotten from the harsh sting of the liquor and her quick phone call with Savannah was gone. Once again, she worried about her decision to come to Elijah’s wedding.

Being in L.A. was bringing back memories she’d long forgotten or thought she had. In a few minutes, when she walked into the rehearsal dinner, she would come face to face with people from her past that she thought she’d never see again. The wedding would be even worse. According to the guest list Elijah shared with her, the wedding was a who’s who of Hollywood and her high school life. In the morning, she was going to be faced with mistakes and regrets both hers and her mothers.

Sounds like fun, she muttered to herself, thankful that she was the only one in the elevator.

Part of her hoped the elevator would get stuck and it would take hours to get her free. A malfunction like that would save her from at least one uncomfortable situation which was better than nothing. Finley hated feeling the way she did, especially since she was excited to see Elijah marry the love of his life. She adored Amy and was happy that her best friend had found the person he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. She knew it hadn’t been easy for him to find the one. It never was for those in the spotlight like Elijah. In the last decade, he’d made millions, staring in record-breaking movie after record-breaking movie. Even though she hated Hollywood and all that it represented, she couldn’t have been prouder of his success. He more than deserved it.

The elevator dinged breaking her from her thoughts. Before the doors could open she took a deep breath and tried to steady her nerves. She forced a small smile onto her face; the best she could manage which she figured was better than the alternative. Voices filtered through as the doors opened up to the lobby. Reluctantly, she stepped out knowing that it was only a matter of time before she was noticed.

Finley, darling, it’s so good to see you! I’m so glad you were able to make it.

Before she could react, Finley was enveloped in the arms of Elijah’s mom. The smell of Mrs. Williams’ perfume nearly brought tears to Finley’s eyes, but she held them back. She knew