Tentative.
Like he’s asking permission.
Like he’s waiting for me to push him away.
But I don’t.
I kiss him back.
And inside that kiss, I feel everything we never said out loud. Every late-night conversation where we almost confessed something. Every glance we exchanged while pretending the other person didn’t notice. Every accidental touch in the narrow hallways of the guest cottage.
Everything.
When we finally pull apart, we’re both breathless.
“That was…” he starts.
“Dangerous.”
“Yeah.”
We stay there on the terrace while the cool Scottish night wind curls around us.
“So what do we do now?” I ask softly.
“I don’t know. But I know I can’t pretend anymore.”
“Neither can I.”
A long silence settles between us.
“If we do this… if we make this real… there’s no going back.”
He looks at me with an intensity that steals the breath from my lungs.
“I know.”
“Finn…”
“I don’t want to go back.”
My heart tightens.
Expands.
Explodes inside my chest all at once.
“Neither do I,” I whisper.
The fake couple is dead.
Long live the real one.
Even if the idea terrifies me completely.
CHAPTER 21
FINN
