He let out a slow breath, every cell in his body telling him to go after her.
But this wasn’t the time. Not here. Not in a bar filled with people and his buddies watching.
He turned back toward the bar just as Dex sidled up, handing him a beer and grinning like the Cheshire Cat.
“Well,” Dex said. “That looked like progress.”
“Don’t.”
Dex raised his hands in mock surrender. “Just saying. You danced. You kissed. You didn’t get slapped. That’s a win in my book.”
Finn didn’t answer. Just took a long pull of his beer.
Dex leaned against the bar and continued. “That was a straight-up Hallmark moment out there.”
“Fuck off,” Finn muttered, rubbing a hand along the back of his neck. “It might have been a mistake.”
“No,” Dex said quietly. “That was real.”
Finn didn’t reply. Didn’t need to. He could still feel her kiss on his lips, her hand on his chest.
He wasn’t walking away.
Not this time.
A few songs later,the bar had thinned out. Finn glanced over at the women’s table. Isabelle and Felicia had left with Will and Colt. Most of the others were still there. But not Lainey.
Where was she?
His eyes scanned the room again. Booths. Hallway. Dance floor. She wasn’t in the bathroom line.
She was gone.
“Hey,” he said to Dex as he shifted off his stool, keeping his voice low. “You see Lainey?”
Dex glanced around. “Wasn’t she with Autumn and the girls?”
“She was, but she’s not now.”
Dex shrugged. “Maybe she went home.”
Finn didn’t reply, just walked toward the table.
Autumn looked up as he approached.
“She left,” she said gently.
“When?”
“Just a few minutes ago. Said she had an early morning.”
Finn nodded once. “Anything else?”
“Just that she had a good time.”
He stood there a moment longer, not knowing what to do with that.
A good time?Was that code for “big mistake”? or “shouldn’t have kissed you”?
