“Okay,” I said. The word caught on a chuckle. When I touched the side of his jaw, his pulse was beating hummingbird-fast, a counterpoint to the calm certainty of his tone.
“Still, though,” he said. “I love you.”
Oh.
I turned my head and brushed a kiss against the corner of his mouth before I pulled back—not far, just enough to meet his gaze. A helicopter chopped the air somewhere above us, unimportant compared to the hint of his deodorant that I’d borrowed this morning, to the faint shadow of stubble under his chin.
“Good,” I echoed his earlier reaction.
His eyes creased with a grin. “Rude.”
“No—fair.” I grinned back, then let it fade into something softer. “I’m… Yeah. Thank you. For choosing…this.”
“Thank you for letting me.” He moved one hand to my hip, lightly steadying—me or himself, I wasn’t sure. “But we both heard Novak—we need to finish your rotation clean. No hallways, no elevators, no almosts. Even after, we’ll have to keep it quiet around here.”
I quirked a brow. “Boring.”
“I know.” Only his eyes were laughing. “But one of us has to keep a grip on the wheel. Never thought it’d be me, but here we are.”
“You’re hot when you’re in control.”
“Not helping.”
I spread my arms wide. “Sorry.”
“Once more, with feeling.”
“You met me in eyeliner and a silk shirt. You know exactly what you’re getting yourself into.” It hit me even as I said it—he did know. “Like…I kind of lied that first night, mostly because it seemed like a fun ride, and you still gave me another chance.”
That, and more. He knew how badly I wanted this career, how badly I needed to prove myself. He’d seen me sick and sweating, and he’d dragged me home instead of leaving me to fake it. Everyone else, I’d felt like I had to put on a show. With him, I didn’t have to be smaller or shinier than I was because he got me. No need to hold back because I knew he’d keep up.
And I knew him, too—his kindness and glimpses of mischief, how smart he was. That he wasn’t half as confident as he pretended to be, that he moved like he was born to this city but hadn’t actually made a home of it. The tiny streak of mischief he kept tucked away as if he’d convinced even himself that he’d outgrown it—but then he met me quip for quip, told me to keep the money as a relocation grant, crossed a room and some lines for me.
“Well, yeah,” he said, halfway to a crooked smile. “But I’m kind of gone for you. So.” And that—just.
“I love you,” I said. “I want this. Us.” And then, because I had to give him one more out, just this last one before I trusted him the way I hadn’t trusted any of the others, not really… “But if you wake up tomorrow and find that you’ve changed your mind?—”
He didn’t let me finish. “Finn,” he said—just my name, but it carried weight. “I’ve already done the math. In five years, it’s not my chance with Devon that I’d regret losing. It’s you.” His fingers curled into the material of my scrub top, voice dipping low even as his lips curved up. “So I won’t.”
He said it like it was simple. Not easy, maybe—but simple. And I…
I believed him.
EPILOGUE
Jesse
I. February
The wind hit differently—that’s what I noticed first. In New York, it whipped along glass-and-steel canyons and slapped you right in the face no matter which way you turned. Here, it felt river-adjacent, like thick wool socks in rubber boots.
I nudged the door of Shane’s car shut and took a deep, steadying breath.
Ashwick. The drive here had been choppy—nothing serious, but the distant threat of snow seemed to have launched rush hour early. At first glance, the town seemed slightly rough around the edges, near the river and only halfway discovered by commuters and artists priced out of the city. There was the odd brick warehouse turned into a coffee shop, yes, but also streets where paint was peeling and the train rattled half-closed blinds.
Not that I’d be living here. If I got the position—if—I’d pick something halfway to the city because, well. Finn.
But first, I had to land the job.
