“Life. Work. The practical stuff took over,” I shrugged, then added more honestly. “And Graham hated the mess. Said the art supplies cluttered up my apartment.”
“Graham can jump off a cliff,” the certainty in his voice made me turn toward him. “You should start again.”
“Maybe.”
“Not maybe. You should.” His expression held protective edge I’d noticed whenever Graham or my own noncommittal self-doubt came up in conversation. “When’s the last time you did something just because you enjoyed it?”
His question hit deeper than I wanted to admit. I couldn’t remember. Everything in my life served a purpose, solved a problem, moved something forward. Even my hobbies had practical applications. If I couldn’t capitalize on it in some secondary way, I didn’t make time for it.
“See?” Finn whispered. “That’s not okay.”
My throat tightened and I raised my phone again, needing the barrier of the camera between us.
“We should probably…”
“Alex,” his hand covered mine, gently taking the phone from my fingers. “Look at me.”
I forced myself to meet his eyes, and the careful distance we’dbeen maintaining suddenly felt absurd. This close, I could see the faint lines that bracketed his mouth and flecks of gold in the amber brown of his eyes, catch the bergamot scent of his soap, feel the steady warmth of his palm against my hand.
“Better,” his gaze softened, and somehow I knew he wasn’t talking about the photos anymore.
I barely noticed as he found the shutter release. I pulled back, breathless, the soft click breaking the spell between us.
“Did we get it?” Finn’s voice was carefully neutral.
I looked at the phone screen. The image showed us in profile, heads close together, my hand I didn’t remember moving resting against his chest. My expression looked soft in a way I rarely saw in photos of myself, and Finn’s smile held a warmth that had nothing to do with performance.
“Yeah,” I nodded, voice slightly rough. “We got it.”
We took more photos as the afternoon progressed, the initial awkwardness fading as we found our rhythm. Finn’s hands on my shoulders as I pointed out landmarks. My fingers laced through his as we navigated a steeper section of trail. Both of us laughing at some absurd reference I’d made, the camera catching genuine moments before we remembered we were supposed to be documenting our fake romance.
By the time we hiked back to the car, my phone contained over a dozen images that told the story of two people completely at ease together. Comfortable. Happy. Real.
“These are nice,” Finn commented as we scrolled through them in the parking lot. “Very convincing.”
“Very,” I agreed, trying to ignore how his use of the word “convincing” felt like a small disappointment.
The drive home was quieter, both of us processing our time on the mountainside. As I pulled into my driveway, Finn’s hand settled briefly over mine on the gear shift.
“Alex,” he started, then seemed to reconsider whatever he’d been about to say. “Thanks. For today. It was a lot of fun.”
The weight in his voice suggested he meant more than just the photo session, but I wasn’t ready to examine what that might include.
“Thank you too,” I offered. “For being so... easy about it.”
He smiled, but something in his expression looked almost sad. “Easy. Right.” A beat later he added, “you know me. Totally easy. Part of my plan to compromise you.”
I huffed a small smile at his wink, realizing he’d finally revealed his armor.
He gathered his things and headed inside. I sat in the car for an extra moment, swiping through the photos. In every single one, we looked like a couple completely gone for each other. Either we were better at pretending than I’d given us credit for, or we’d forgotten we were acting somewhere between the trailhead and the overlook.
Chapter 16
Emergency protocols for when your heart rate exceeds flight parameters
Finn
I woke to my phone buzzing with a text, the sound cutting through the early morning quiet of Alex’s guest room. I squinted at the screen. Six-fifteen—earlier than my usual wake-up time, but apparently my older sister had opinions about yesterday’s photo.
