My voice sounded wrong, smaller and less confident. The version of me that had just taken control and reduced Finn to a puddle of sticky goo was gone, replaced by someone uncertain and needy. “I know it’s crazy and I shouldn’t be asking or . . . hell . . . this is so stupid. I know it’s too soon. We barely know each other. But I—”
I stopped and drew in a breath.
“Finn, I don’t dothis,” I said, motioning up and down his naked body like he was some prize onThe Price is Right. “I don’t hook up, and I never bring people home. I work and I sleep. Then I work some more. That’s my life. That’s all my life has been for, well, forever.” I laughed, sounding slightly manic. “And then you walked into my bar—shit, no, I walked intoyourbar. I crashed into you ona sidewalk, and then I kept coming back because I couldn’t stop thinking about you and your eyes and your goddamn accent. I squeezed my eyes shut and could still see the way you looked at me like . . . like I was interesting instead of just another overworked associate.”
Finn was staring. I couldn’t read his expression.
“And tonight was—it was fun. No, it was incredible. You’re incredible. But . . . I . . . I don’t want it to end here. I don’t want you to leave and have this just be a thing that happened.” My free hand found his other wrist. I was holding both now. “I want you to stay. I want to sleep next to you and wake up with you in the morning. I want to hold you all night and know that this is real and not just—”
“Chase.” Finn’s voice was soft.
“I know I sound insane—”
“Chase.”
“—and I’m probably scaring you off and ruining whatever might—”
“Chase, stop.” Finn stepped closer, closing the space between us. “Breathe.”
I tried.
“You want me to stay?” Finn asked slowly.
“Yes.”
“You want to hold me all night.”
“Yes.”
“You want this to be real, maybe the start ofsomething, whether that ends up as friendship or whatever?”
“Yes. God, yes.” My voice cracked. “Is that—is that too much? Too fast? Too—”
“It’s perfect.”
A smile bloomed across Finn’s lips. It was that soft, genuine smile that made my chest tighten each time I’d seen it from across the bar.
He freed a hand and raised it to my cheek. “You’re kind of a mess right now, you know that?”
“I’m aware.”
“It’s cute.”
“It’s pathetic.”
“It’s honest.” He stroked my cheek with his thumb, and I was suddenly aware my other hand was still gripping him like he might disappear. “I’ll stay. Of course I’ll stay.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” He leaned in and kissed me, soft and sweet, nothing like the desperate, heated kisses from earlier. “But I need to text Priya so she doesn’t think I’ve been murdered.”
“Okay.”
“And you need to stop looking at me like I’m about to change my mind and bolt.”
“I’m not—”
“You are.” He stepped back, hiseyes glittering with amusement. “You’re doing that thing with your face.”
