Page 77 of Hard to Love

“He sounds like he has a chip on his shoulder.”

He snorts and nods. “I recruited him out of high school. I promised his mom and dad that I was going to do everything I could to help him reach the top. I even thought up a stupid little thing he used to do before every game when the cameras were on him.” Finn lifts his hand and pats it three times over his heart. “It was his way of saying he loved them and that he missed them.” His smile is reticent. “I told them I would take care of their son, but I lied. I can’t do anything more and that broken promise weighs heavily on me.”

“Shh. Your secret is safe with me.”

He looks over at me and for the first time, I see the bags under his eyes and notice how tired he is. “What secret?”

“That Finn Sanderson has a huge heart.” I press a kiss to his shoulder. “You found a way to keep hope within the hearts of a boy’s parents. You could have told him to forget about them and focus all his attention on what you tell him. But you showed him that hearts matter. That his parents’ love mattered. That knowing someone loves you matters.” That’s rare and precious. Finn understands what love is.

He emits a half-hearted laugh but it’s his expression that has me staring longer. “I think you have me mixed up with another guy.”

“Nope. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. From how you treated me—”

“You know that first meeting with Carson I was ready to throw you over the balcony, right?”

“To how dedicated you are with your clients.”

“Most of them drive me crazy at some point,” he mutters.

“To how you’re working more, not traveling like you usually do because of me.”

“That’s minor.”

“No, it’s not. It’s huge . . . to me.”

Finn angles his head to the side and stares at me in the same way he did in the kitchen the other day. It’s unnerving in the best of ways, and I give in to the urge to step up and press a tender kiss on his lips.

“Like I said,” I murmur. “Your secret is safe with me.”

A cheer goes up on the beach down below that startles the two of us apart. There is a camera flash that lights up the night sky and Finn immediately pushes me behind him.

The paparazzi have found me.

My heart falls, thinking my time of anonymity is up. That the freedom I’ve had here is now gone.

“Christ,” he mutters as he leans to look over the railing just as another flash goes off followed by a round of oohs and aahs.

Finn stills at the sound at the same time I look around him and see it.

“Look!” he shouts to the waves down below. As they hit the shore, the white froth turns an iridescent, bright neon blue.

“Oh my God.” I step out from behind him, realizing that each wave makes the water glow even more. It’s beautiful. It’s crazy. It’s incredible. “What is that?”

“I’ve heard of it,” he says, holding his hand out to me as he starts to move down the stairs to the beach, “but have never been here when it happens. It’s called . . .” He quiets while he tries to remember the word. “Bioluminescence.”

My laugh cuts through the night. “You say that like I’m supposed to know what it means.”

“It’s the plankton blooming or something like that. It lights up the water.”

We have sand beneath our toes in seconds and move away from the pockets of people watching the spectacle on the beach. The dark night sky allows me to keep my anonymity.

But I don’t think anyone is looking at me as Mother Nature continues to display her brilliance with each crash of the waves.

“Look,” Finn says as he drags his toes through the wet sand and it streaks with the blue light.

Like a little kid, I follow suit and begin dragging my feet every few steps so I can do the same. Then the digging of our toes leads to kicking water on each other so that our shirts start glowing with the splashed water.

Finn’s laughter rumbles through the night air as we chase each other like little kids on the beach. I shriek when he hits me with a huge kick of water that soaks my whole back. Chills chase over my skin from the cold water. He taunts me and then takes off. I follow suit, knowing damn well I can outrun him.