“I had fun,” she admitted.
“You sound surprised.”
“I guess I am. I think I was determined to hate all these events on principle. But it was fun. Even if you wouldn’t dance.”
“We can’t have the public learning I have two left feet,” he said, wincing.
“We can work on that.”
“You know how to dance?”
“Not really. But we can figure it out together. But first, we have a lot to do around the apartment.”
“Like what?”
“Like get rid of all those disgusting creepy-crawlers lining the hallway.”
“Wait … what? You collected those.”
“To try to gross you out so you would send me away,” Iris admitted, smiling at the shock on his face.
“And the teeth?”
“Another attempt to be unappealing. The vintage medical equipment too.”
“For the record, you could never be unappealing. But also, I’m kind of relieved. And impressed. I had resigned myself to a future of dead bugs and old teeth because you seemed so passionate about them.”
“Nope. Those ideas were all Selene. She was working with me on my plans to sabotage this engagement.”
Finn was silent for a moment, his eyes far away. “I didn’t realize that you weren’t a willing participant from the beginning. I’d like to believe I would have handled this whole situation differently had I known how much you didn’t want to be here.”
“I guess I’m kind of glad you didn’t know. Because if you’d broken the engagement right at the beginning, I might never have learned how much I really love about the surface.”
“Like hot pretzels?”
“And all the books. Taco Tuesdays. TV shows. Memory foam beds.”
“And me?” Finn asked, eyes warm.
“I was getting to you. You fall somewhere below fuzzy socks but above next-day delivery.”
“An honored position,” he teased as they pulled up outside the apartment building. “Here, you hold your shoes. I’ll carry you up.”
Before she could object, he was sweeping her into his arms. Her belly flipped, dragging a laugh out of her as he spun her in a circle.
Neither had any idea someone had caught the moment on their phones.
But they were all over social media within an hour, and the news cycle by the following morning.
The Tides of Love: Political Golden Boy Meets Actual Feelings—Finally!
They’d been too busy wrapped up in each other to notice.
But somewhere in the city, Henry was over the moon.
25
Finn
