Contents
Book Series Title
Copyright
Introduction
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
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About the Author
The Harringtons
Finn & Willow
Book Two
MacKenzie Shaw
Copyright © 2018 by MacKenzie Shaw. All rights reserved.
This book is intended for readers 13+.
It is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, businesses, events or locales is purely coincidental. Reproduction in whole or part of this publication without express written consent is strictly prohibited.
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Willow Martin hadn’t seen her mom since she’d got an intern position in another city, six months previously. She had been looking forward to spending the week relaxing and catching up on what she’d missed since leaving home. Unfortunately, her mom ends up with a broken arm and Willow has to step in and help with the deliveries for her mom’s catering business and that’s where she literally bumps into a handsome customer of her mom’s who sets her life on a different, more exciting path.
Finn Harrington is a professional gamer with a lifestyle that is the envy of many of his YouTube followers. However it’s no longer as fulfilling as it used to be and he’s desperate for a new challenge, not knowing what that could be. He didn’t realize the gorgeous brunette who literally knocked him off his feet on their first meeting would be the one to help him figure out his new path. One that he is determined, includes her.
CHAPTER ONE
“‘Later, Finnigators. Thanks for watching.” Finn Harrington flicked off the live streaming button on his keyboard and flopped back on the high back leather gaming chair he’d been sitting on for the last ten hours, relieved to be finished. It was great that game developers offered him the latest games to review, well before general release, but for some reason it had lost it’s allure somewhere along the way. Sure, he knew he was lucky that he was earning a boat ton of cash doing something he loved, not like some of his friends who were tied to their office cubicle 14 hours a day, working their way up the corporate ladder, trying to pay off hefty student loans. He shuddered at the thought. He’d leave the corporate climbing in the family to his elder brothers, Marcus and Alex, who both loved it and were extremely good at it.
At twenty-four he’d been doing this for nearly eight years and no-one was as surprised as he was when in two short years he’d accumulated over four million subscribers on YouTube, as well as several big brand sponsorships. He’d been the first brother to break away from the family business, even if it wasn’t intentional … at first. If he was being honest, he hadn’t even thought it was a possibility, all five of the Harrington brother’s had been raised with the expectation that they’d join Harrington Enterprises after graduating college. College had also been another high expectation for all five of the brothers. He was grateful his parents hadn’t forced either on him when his hobby by-passed everyone’s expectations and he’d told them he wanted to pursue his gaming rather than follow in his brother’s footsteps.
His stomach rumbled, reminding him he hadn’t eaten since breakfast. Usually he had a couple of protein bars in his desk, but he’d polished those off the night before and hadn’t had a chance to replenish his stash. Pushing off the chair he grabbed his cell off the desk and made his way to the kitchen. Finn was glad he’d hired a chef to prepare meals for him which she left in his refrigerator a few times a week, ready for him just to heat up. If it wasn’t for Liz he’d either starve or survive on takeout, neither a particularly enticing thought.
His mouth was already watering as he opened the refrigerator door, but instead of a fridge filled with tasty meals as he expected, it was empty. Well, apart from a few eggs and some milk. That was strange, he was sure today was a ‘stock the fridge’ day. Checking the calendar on the wall to make sure he’d not got his dates wrong, he then checked his phone for any missed calls or messages. Liz was usually really good letting him know if she was running late or something had cropped up. Nothing.
Finn swiped through his contacts to call Liz. He was more concerned about her well-being than his missing meals. She’d become like a second mother to him since he’d moved into his apartment three years ago, hiring her during his second week of living there. After the first week, he’d hired a housekeeper, overcome with a sudden appreciation for everything his mom had done for him at home. Everything he’d taken for granted. The next logical hire had been a chef. Money well spent as far as he was concerned and it kept his mom happy knowing he was being well looked after and not starving and living in a disaster zone.
Voicemail. “Hey Liz, it’s Finn. I’m just checking to see that everything’s all right with you. Let me know if there’s anything I can do. Call me back when you can. Thanks.”
As his stomach rumbled to let him know it hadn’t forgotten about him, his next call was to the local pizza delivery place to order his favorite extra large pizza with extra toppings, that should stop the rumblings and leave enough left over to take care of breakfast.
While waiting for that to be delivered, he went back into his office to reply to as many fan comments left after the live stream as he could. He loved interacting with his subscribers, many had been with him since he first started his channel and some he’d even met in real life. The thing was, if he had so many people interested in his life, 12.5 million subscribers at last count, why did he feel so lonely?
CHAPTER TWO
Willow Martin rushed towards the hospital reception desk to ask which room her mother had been admitted to. “Which room is Elizabeth Martin in, please? She was brought in a couple of hours ago.”
The nurse on duty took a quick look at Willow and returned her attention to the screen in front of her, tapping a few keys on the keyboard. “She’s in room 414. Go along this corridor on your left, take a right at the end of the corridor, through two sets of double doors and then take either the elevator or stairs to your right, up three floors and turn left.”
“Thank you,” she replied, as she rushed towards the corridor, hoping she’d remember the directions.
“Please check in with the nurses station before going in.” The nurse called out after her.
Willow had just arrived home to visit her mom for a few days only to be met with silence, instead of the loud eighties music she expected to hear blaring from the kitchen. Her mom’s neighbor had explained that an ambulance had taken her mom to the local hospital but didn’t know much more than that. Fearing the worst, she’d dumped her overnight bag where she stood and jumped into the same Uber that had dropped her off and headed straight to the hospital.
She was out of breath as she reached the top of the stairs, wishing she’d waited on the elevator. She really needed to work out more, well start really, but she wasn’t willing to go into that right now. Making her way towards the nurses station at the end of the hall, she looked around looking for room 414, hoping for even a peak at her mom. Her imagination was running riot and she needed to see her mom for it to stop, or at least lessen.
“Hi, I’m looking for Elizabeth Martin, room 414. I’m her daughter,” she informed t
he group of nurses at the nurses station. Breaking away from the group, a nurse smiled and motioned to follow her.
“Don’t look so worried,” she told Willow. “She was brought in earlier with a broken arm and slight concussion. We’re keeping her in for observation for the concussion but the arm has been set and should heal nicely. She’ll be in a cast for six to eight weeks.”
The news didn’t lessen her worry. Her mom needed her arm for her business as a chef to many of the city’s richest inhabitants. She knew her mom was working all the hours of the day to keep on top of the growing demand for her services. Annoyingly, she repeatedly refused to hire help, even although she could easily afford to hire someone or even two someones and reduce her workload.
Her mom was sitting up on the bed, looking cheerful, despite her injury. “Oh honey, don’t look so worried. You look worse than I do.”
Willow had always been one to worry, while her mom took things in her stride. It had been just the two of them since her dad had died ten years ago, when she was twelve. Her mom had never remarried, choosing to throw herself into her business instead, saying she didn’t have time to date and would rather spend her time with Willow or in the kitchen, often combining the two.
“I was so worried when I arrived home and you weren’t there, then Mrs Giordano told me you’d been taken away in an ambulance but didn’t know what had happened.”
She moved over to give her mom a hug, needing that closeness to reassure her that her mom was going to be fine. “What happened?”
Her mom looked down and her cheeks began to heat up as she explained, “I was getting some supplies down from the top cupboard and lost my footing on the chair and fell. I must have hit my head on the side and when I woke up my arm was at an awkward angle and my head was pounding, so I called an ambulance.”
Willow gasped at the news. What if it had been more serious? She was all alone, no-one to look after her.
“I’m getting out of here in a few hours,” her mom continued. “In the meantime I just want to enjoy some time with my only daughter. I’ve missed you so much. So, tell me what’s been happening in Boston?”
She knew she wouldn’t get anything more out of her mom so didn’t even try. At least she was here until Sunday, when she was supposed to fly back ‘home’. While she was here she could help her mom cook and make all the deliveries to her customers, pretty much what she’d planned on doing anyway.
Although she’d loved helping her mom in the kitchen growing up, when it was time to choose a career, she wanted a degree in something more practical. Not that you could really get anything more practical than cooking. She’d chosen marketing and business, and after graduating earlier this year, she’d got a paid intern position with an up and coming digital marketing agency in Boston. It didn’t pay much and she couldn’t say it was exactly what she wanted to be doing, but it covered all her bills and got her a start on the career ladder. This had been her first visit home since graduation.
Welcome home.
CHAPTER THREE
It had been nearly ten o’clock the previous night when Finn had received a call from Liz, apologizing that she’d been taken to hospital with a broken arm. She’d reassured him that she was fine and being well looked after. She’d also promised to send over his missing meals and snacks for him today. His mouth watered thinking about having a fully stocked fridge again.
He’d had a meeting with his sponsor that finished early and it wasn’t all great news. They wanted him to take part in a three month international tour promoting their latest game release which was being billed as ‘the hottest first-person shooter game this century.’ It was part of a successful franchise and he’d spent many, many hours playing the earlier games in the series and it was a franchise his followers loved.
Although he didn’t mind the traveling that would be involved, and playing against the top players in the industry was usually fun, he felt like there was something missing. He’d felt like this for a while. Since Marcus met Carly and his life stopped revolving around work. He was shocked at the realization but knew it was true. Marcus was his oldest brother who’d met his wife-to-be in a series of coincidental meetings and both of them couldn’t be happier.
Where he used to enjoy living out of a suitcase and traveling all over the world to compete in gaming competitions, it had recently lost it’s appeal. He was still under contract with the sponsor so pulling out wasn’t really an option.
He sighed, knowing it was the payoff for the privileged lifestyle he was living and it wasn’t as if he’d ever thought of doing anything else. He had a long list of things he didn’t want to do or wouldn’t do, ‘not work at Harrington Enterprises’ had been at the top for as long as he could remember. Being a gamer and YouTuber had allowed him to achieve that but it wasn’t exactly a long term strategy, at least not for him.
As he let himself back into his apartment he paused, hearing a curse come from the kitchen. It was a female voice and it didn’t sound like Liz, who was the only female who had seen the inside of his apartment, apart from his mom and housekeeper. Surely someone hadn’t broken in?
He made his way towards the kitchen, making as little noise as possible. He didn’t want to make his presence known. If it was a burglar he wanted to have the element of surprise on his side. Instead, the would-be burglar came crashing into him, sending them both flying to the floor.
“Fudge cakes,” the woman lying on top of him cursed, looking down and squinting at him, “Finn?” She asked while quickly scrambling to her feet.
He burst out laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation now that he was sure she wasn’t a burglar, and even if she was, he reckoned he could easily take her as she would be lucky to reach his shoulder when he finally stood up. He still had no idea who she was or what she was doing here and there was guilt written all over her face.
Finally on his feet he held his hand out towards her. “Yes, Finn Harrington, and you are …?” he prompted.
She stared at his hand as if it would bite her, ignoring the gesture and looking up his six foot three frame, obviously deciding eye contact was the safer option. If she was feeling anything like what he was feeling at this moment in time, it wasn’t. A fight with a starving lion would have been safer.
“I’m Willow, Liz’s daughter. I came to deliver the meals you missed yesterday, my mom didn’t think anyone would be here so I just let myself in … with the key you gave her, of course.”
She was cute and not one of those waver thin model types he’d just met at the sponsorship meeting. Her warm brown hair was cut straight, landing just below her chin and her bangs were falling over her eyes as if she was trying to hide from him. It was funny, when Liz had mentioned her daughter he thought she’d be much younger. High school younger, not this young woman who took his breath away … literally.
Willow looked towards the kitchen then back at him, nibbling her bottom lip. “I had a little accident,” she said, looking back towards the kitchen.
“So you weren’t just trying to skip out on me?” he asked, trying to keep a grin from slipping.
“What? No!” she replied looking indignant. “I was going to pick up a few things so you wouldn’t even have known I’d been here if you hadn’t decided to come back when you did … well apart from the food in your refrigerator.” She grinned as she relaxed her shoulders, she obviously didn’t see him as a threat anymore.
“Uh-huh” he replied, wondering what damage was waiting for him in his kitchen after experiencing the speed she shot out of there with. Curiosity getting the better of him, he moved around her to go inspect his kitchen but when he saw what was around the corner he turned to Willow, confused. “Are you sure you had an accident? You didn’t just hit your head and imagine it?” he asked.
The place was spotless, tidier than how he’d left it that morning.
CHAPTER FOUR
Willow cringed. Why hadn’t he come back 30 minutes later when she would have been out of ther
e?
“The eggs got loose when I was re-stocking your refrigerator. I found your mop and managed to clean everything up before you got here. I’d hoped to replace the eggs before you got back.”
“You were rushing out of my kitchen like a bat out of hell … to buy me eggs?” he asked, the left side of his mouth twitching as if he was trying not to laugh at her.
When he put it like that, her rushing out of the kitchen like she did, did sound a bit over-dramatic. “Yes,” she admitted, looking down at her feet. “Well to replace them really,” she added, not that it made it any better.
She’d been up since 5.30am helping her mom catch up on preparing all the meals from yesterday, as well as today’s orders. Unfortunately with her mom’s broken arm, Willow ended up doing most of the work while I her mom ‘supervised’. Well she had said her mom needed an assistant, she just never thought she’d be the assistant. She’d taken a week’s vacation to spend time with her mom and couldn’t think about what would happen after that. She couldn’t afford unpaid time off, not that she’d particularly miss her job, but she needed the money to pay her bills.
Her mom had laughed at her when Willow grumbled about people not caring about the precise way she wanted each and every meal presented. After dropping off all the meal packages today, with a few she had to prepare at the customers home, she had to admit her mom was right. People could be fickle. Her mom had offered to go with her, but she needed to rest during the day because she was adamant she was still going to her Spanish night class, informing Willow, with a wink, she shouldn’t wait up.
Monday had been her mom’s busiest day, so today had been one revolving cycle of preparation, cooking then delivering the meals. She’d had more exercise today than she’d had in the last five months since moving to Boston and was more than ready for a well overdue soak in the tub and a date with her Kindle.
Love By Delivery (The Harringtons Book 2) Page 1
