“I was. And then after you groveled, I was going to make you another omelet.”
“Oh my. How generous.” Her lips twitched.
“Well, I’m really good at it. I’d hate for you to miss out.” He folded his arms over his chest. “Go on then. Get your grovel on.”
His heart rattled in his chest as she shifted from foot to foot, wringing her hands. The silence stretched until he burst into laughter.
“You have no idea how to do this, do you? Have you never groveled in your life?”
“No!” She flung her arms into the air. “Okay, how about this? I’m sorry. Please give me another chance?”
He waved a hand for her to continue. “What are you sorry for? Please be specific. Pretend you’re reading a list from your journal.”
“God, where to start?” She took a deep breath, and he watched the tension leave her body as the words poured out of her. “I believe you. I’m sorry I made you think for even a second this morning that I didn’t. And I should’ve believed that it wasn’t you who posted those things about me from the very beginning. I’m sorry I didn’t strip you out of your clothes today so you could finish readingThe Color of Magicto me naked.”
As the blissfully unaware Finn spoke, Dr. Chadhoury appeared in the doorway, a stack of papers in her hand and a startled look on her face.
“I’m sorry for not telling Josie immediately that you were stuck in the apartment with me.” She took a step toward him. “I’m sorry that I made it sound like what we shared this weekend was anything but special and perfect and by far the best sex I’ve ever had. I’m sorry we wasted all this time by being apart.”
The thought of stopping Finn’s words physically pained him, but for the sake of his dignity, he might have to. Thankfully, Dr. Chadhoury’s face relaxed into a smile, and she gave him a thumbs-up as she backed out the office, easing the door shut behind her. He’d clearly made the correct choice in his replacement committee member.
Finn barreled on, her voice gaining strength. “I’m sorry I didn’t physically throw myself in front of my apartment door to keep you from leaving this morning. I’m sorry I ever spent even one minute as Dylan’s girlfriend when you were right in front of me the whole time with your good heart and your quick mind and your beautiful mouth. I’m sorry—”
Tom had heard enough. He crossed the rest of the distance between them and wrapped his arms around her. “Figures you’d be an overachiever even when groveling.” Then he pulled her close and kissed her, feeling like the luckiest man alive as those sweet lips opened for him and her hands slid around his waist and grabbed fistfuls of his shirt.
They were both breathing hard when he pulled back far enough to make his own confession. “When we were kids, I hoped without hope that someday I’d get lucky and you’d choose me. And after this weekend…”
A smile trembled on her lips. “After this weekend?”
He kissed her again. “Let’s just say I’m optimistic.”
Epilogue
Two months later
“It’s finished.”
Tom slumped in the doorway of the bedroom, dark circles under his eyes and curly hair mussed from distracted tousling during his epic dissertation editing session at the kitchen table. Finn flipped back the covers on his side of the bed and patted the empty space next to her. “Every last edit?”
“Every last edit.” He slid between the sheets and leaned back against the headboard with a sigh, rubbing his eyes. The sun had set hours ago, and the bedroom was dark but for the bedside lamp.
“How long before I’m calling you Dr. Castle?” She twined her fingers with his, and he cracked open one tawny eye to shoot her a cocky, if tired, grin.
“You can call me that right now if you want, Ms. Carey.”
She snapped her Bullet Journal shut and smacked it lightly against his thigh. “Not yet. You have to earn that privilege.”
“Then let’s hope my dissertation defense goes well next month.” The lines around his mouth had grown more pronounced as they’d entered March and the date for him to appear before the committee to answer their probing questions loomed ever closer. Wanting to ease the signs of weariness that dragged him down, Finn leaned forward to kiss first one corner of his mouth and then the other. In truth, what he needed was a straight twelve hours of sleep, but his restless brain rarely allowed that to happen.
“Of course it will.” She burrowed her head into the crook of his neck. “You’re brilliant, and you’ve been working nonstop for weeks. You’re going to walk in and use your Tom Castle charm to own that room.”
His arm snaked around her waist, and he pulled her tightly against him in a one-armed hug, but Finn wanted more than that. She’d been sound asleep when he’d called it quits the past three nights, which was three nights too many to go without kissing him all over. She sat up to put the Bullet Journal on her bedside table, but he laid his hand on the red Moleskine cover still resting on his thigh. “May I?”
She raised her brows but nodded, not sure why he’d be interested in her list of tasks for the upcoming week when they could instead be getting up to far more exciting things. But he surprised her by opening the book to an empty page, picking up her pen, and studying her with a glint in his eyes that ignited a hot spark in her stomach. Something was brewing in his brain, and her gut told her it was important.
“I have some survey questions for you, Ms. Carey.”
Although his businesslike tone was at odds with his threadbare Cubs T-shirt, she nodded gravely. “Survey questions? What are you researching?”
