He slid me a slow, long look. “No—that was before you.”
Wow, and just like that, I wasn’t laughing anymore. God, how had I ever thought I could resist him? “Hey, remember that first night?”
“In vivid detail.” While coated in innuendo, he kept it light and playful, giving me an easy out.
“Yeah,” I said, serious. “Me too.” Our gazes tangled, and it felt like being drunk on sunlight and how much I wanted him. I inhaled. “But what I meant is… I told you I could see it—why guys would pay for your company. I thought you were magnetic. I still think that.”
His eyes went soft. “Jesse…”
Too much. I’d said too much.
“Coffee?” I asked quickly, with a smile that possibly bordered on manic. For a second, it looked as though he might push the issue. Then he relaxed and nodded.
“Like I’d ever say no to that.”
“Excellent answer. You must be a doctor.”
“Got it in one.”
We ate—chewing like we had time for once, no emergencies just waiting to happen. Above us, swallows arrowed in a swooping flock, gathering to fly south.
“So,” he said into a small lull after I’d described my hometown in unabashed hyperbole—one stoplight, two diners, three churches, my mom running the checkout at the supermarket and my dad doing parts delivery for the co-opthat supplied the local farms. “What are the Jackson twins like? Beyond the medical challenge, I mean. I haven’t met them yet, so it’s still a little…abstract. But I don’t want to grow into the kind of surgeon who sees charts instead of patients.”
“Good. We’ve got plenty of those.” I dug through the bag for the best chips, the crumpled, twisty ones with more surface area for salt and grease. “The twins are…tiny. One has a grip like a clothespin. The other one kicks like she wants to go professional someday.”
Finn’s head tilted. “She just might. If”—the barest trace of hesitation—“things go right.”
“Yeah.” It came out less confident than I would have liked. The simulation had gone smoothly, but real life liked to throw curveballs. It was a knife’s edge, two small lives entirely in our hands. I tucked the thought away before it got heavy.
Finn was quiet for a beat. “Big day for you,” he said then.
I drew a breath. “Much bigger day for the twins and their parents.”
“Absolutely.” He kept his focus on the water. “Still. It would look very good on your CV.”
It would. But the words he didn’t say were what landed like a punch. Us, here, now? It could knock that very CV sideways. He’d be the wide-eyed intern who’d missed a step; I’d be the senior fellow who should and did know better.
Yet here we were.
I wiped my hands, glancing at the families closer to the shore, then at a couple in matching rain jackets who seemed to be arguing about the best route, voices raised but too far away to catch the details. Strangers, perfectly uninterested in our lives.
“You’re right,” I told Finn. “But just for today, let’s pretend that doesn’t matter.”
His smile caught specks of sunshine. “Deal.”
“Oh, and one more thing.” I reached for the bag I’d kept hidden in my pack. “Dessert.”
He peeked inside and laughed, bright enough to chase away any lingering thoughts. “My favorite.”
“Suspected as much,” I said, because I’d seen him sneak lemon bars from the vending machine a time or two, dry and plastic-wrapped. These were not that. “Bakery-fresh,” I added, aiming for casual. “From a café near me. Much better than the prepackaged stuff you seem to think is edible. I got a peanut bar, too, but that’s for me.”
Something in his expression cracked open—unguarded and surprised, like he was only just realizing how much attention I’d been paying. I tiptoed on the brink of an apology when he leaned in and kissed me.
Oh. Sweet and quick, barely-there touch and immediate retreat, the taste of apple and coffee and a smile shaped against my mouth. Hazy as a dream, my brain still playing catch-up when he pulled back to look at me. Light in his eyes, the tilt of his head handing me the decision.
I blinked, heart caught high in my throat. Wind whispered secrets to the maple leaves above us while down by the water, a dad yelled, “Just throw it, Danny!” A world that simply kept on spinning.
“Yeah?” I asked.
