Page 140
He hums in response, as his gaze makes a final pass over the entirety of me. His jaw flexes once before he leans in, his mouth brushing the shell of my ear, not touching, just letting the heat of his breath skate across my skin.
A shiver rolls through me, sharp and immediate.
“Have I ever pretended,” he murmurs, voice like a touch meant to linger, “not to love how headstrong you can be?”
Then—slowly—he pulls back.
Not far. Just enough to watch the change in my expression. To see how his words land.
As if guided by instinct, he releases my wrist and steps in closer. Slowly, deliberately, he takes my hand and places it against his chest—right over his heart.
The steady thrum beneath my palm is impossible to ignore.
Then his other hand slides to the small of my back, his touch warm through the thin fabric of my gown. The contact robs the air from my lungs, leaving me weightless and wanting.
His lips curl into a slow, appreciative smirk, his mouth lowering just enough to hover near the curve of my neck.
“Dance with me, Doe,” his voice a velvet command.
When Finn takes charge, I want to surrender—completely. It’s a dangerous contrast to the fierce woman I know myself to be, and yet it feels like coming home.
My lips part, and the words spill out—unbidden, but true. “I’d love nothing more than to dance in your arms, Finn.”
His hand tightens at the small of my back. Without a word, he leads me onto the floor. His movements are sure, effortless—as though he’s always known how to move me this way.
“You’re quiet,” I murmur, my voice low, my eyes searching his. “What’s going through your mind?”
“Just enjoyin’ the moment,” he replies, though his tone is too careful, too controlled.
His grip on my back tightens, drawing me imperceptibly nearer, as though closing even the smallest distance between us is a necessity. “I’m tryin’ to form coherent thoughts, and they all just keep leavin’ me.”
The tension between us hums like a drawn wire, ready to snap with the slightest movement. An eagerness I’ve never known coils tight in my chest—hope and frustration warring in equal measure. I’m wrestling with the unbearable thought that he might let this moment pass untouched.
“Why do they seem to leave you?”
Every beat of my heart is a lull, challenging him to cross the chasm between us. This all feels too meaningful to just be a fleeting dance. It feels… destined.
The last note of the song lingers in the air. He slows to a near stop, his thumb tracing slow, aching circles against my back. His lips part—but the words never come.
“May I have a dance?”
The voice cuts through the moment like cold water on an open flame.
Mannie.
His fair hair gleams under the chandeliers, and his tailored suit speaks volumes. He smiles at me, but his eyes flick to Finn, assessing the situation.
Finn’s hand stiffens on my back. For one breathless second, I think he might speak—might do something. His lips part, the shadow of resistance flickering in his eyes as he looks at Mannie, then back at me. The pause lingers, just long enough for hope to stir in my chest… only to tremble.
“Ah,” Mannie says, his smile shifting into something sly as he catches Finn’s hesitation. “Is she now spoken for? It seemed she was not when you arrived. Forgive me if I’ve trod where I should not.”
My heart pounds in the silence that follows. I look at Finn expectantly, my breath stills in my throat as I wait for him to say the words I’ve been longing to hear. Say the words—say I’m yours.
But he doesn’t.
Finn shakes his head, his expression unreadable as he steps back, releasing me. “No,” he whispers, the single word a jagged knife in my chest.
The sting of his refusal radiates through me. My face falls before I can stop it, the hope I’d carried extinguished in an instant. If he won’t fight for me, then I won’t stand here waiting for him to decide I’m worth it.
