2
I huffed. “You’re just pulling my leg now, aren’t you?”
A loud, deep laugh on the other side of the room caught my attention. I already knew whose it was, and my eyes automatically flicked over to see Finn laughing at something that paralegal girl said. They’d been chatting for pretty much the entire time I’d been lurking in this corner, which had been an eternity.
What were they talking about for this long?
My collar all of a sudden felt tight as I saw the face that had haunted my dreams one too many times beam with such ethereal sexiness.
Tracy made a noise in her throat. With some effort, I tore my gaze away from Finn. When I brought my gaze back to Tracy, she had a rather smug expression on her face, like she’d caught on to something. She nodded at the glass in my hand.
“You know, I couldn’t help but notice that’s your third glass...” Her words trailed off for a moment as she glanced at Finn and then back at me.
Okay.
She clearly had been paying attention to me, and yes, I was on my third glass because I needed all the liquid courage I could gather to get through this event.
Sometimes I couldn’t shake the feeling this woman knew more than she let on. Often, when Finn and I had our usual spat, she would be somewhere on the periphery, watching us with a smile that made me feel like she knew my dirty little secret. She had an uncanny way of putting two and two together, and I didn’t want to fall into her trap.
I cleared my throat, taking a slow sip of the wine to compose myself.
“Your point?”
“Well, the girls and I didn’t expect you to stay this long... I mean, everyone’s slowly leaving because it’s...” She paused and glanced down at the golden wristwatch that she wore. “Goodness, it’s already nine thirty? We should probably get going now.”
“Yeah, Tracy,” I said. “ You probably should.”
Leave me alone to do some more staring while I still have the chance, damn it!
She gave me another smile followed by a wink before she quickly left to find her friends.
The four of them retrieved their jackets, giving me cheerful, drunken waves as they passed by. From the smile on Tracy’s face, I bet she and her gossip group would continue to pester me about why I’d stayed “that long.”
By the time it was five minutes after ten, Finn had said his goodbye to the last co-worker for the night.
It was just him and me now.
“What are you doing here, Spencer?” Finn’s deep voice echoed through the now empty office as his eyes settled on me.
I rolled my eyes at his words while trying to keep my composure in check. I swallowed the lump that had suddenly lodged in my throat.
“Well, I figured I should try to say my goodbye properly after you brushed me off earlier, and I thought I might as well be last given how... preoccupied you were. The office is thankfully going to be a whole lot quieter without you here,” I said, and just like that, I was ready to hang myself. It seemed that when it came to this guy, my tongue didn’t know how to act aside from blurting snarky remarks.
Finn shrugged. He leaned against one of the desks, folding his arms. I couldn’t help but notice the bulge of his biceps fighting against the fabric of his shirt.
I forced my eyes up to see him with his head cocked to the side, staring at me with a curious gaze.
“You could’ve left after you said goodbye hours ago, Spencer. You could’ve been at home doing whatever it is you do at this hour.”
That was true.
I quickly racked my brain for an excuse as to why I was still here. I couldn’t come up with anything, and all that wine I’d consumed earlier was not helping me in the slightest. Liquid courage, my ass.
“I could have. I probably should have, but I decided to be nice for once and...” I gestured around the office awkwardly. “Help you clean this mess up,” I said, grasping onto the first thing that came to mind. Though most of my colleagues were decent enough to clean up after themselves, there was still some tidying left to do. Well, it was a good excuse to buy me more time with him.
He gave me one of his trademark sinister smirks. “Wow, how thoughtful of you. My saving grace.”
“Man, would it kill you to be nice for once?” I said, turning my back to him as I began to collect the remaining plastic plates, putting them all in one pile. “Consider this my goodbye gift. Don’t say I never did anything for you.”
“Don’t tell me you’re already missing me now, Spencer.”
I didn’t dare turn around to face him. I didn’t want him to see me blush. I knew I was, given the way my cheeks were burning.
My mind reeled once more. Should I be the first to say it? Should I let him know? The thought of telling him how I truly felt had been nagging at the back of my mind relentlessly. I’d been debating it the entire evening. It wasn’t like I was expecting anything in return. I just wanted him to leave knowing I didn’t hate him.
“Not to sound cheesy or anything—”
“But you’re definitely going to say something cheesy,” he interrupted right away. When I stalled in my movements, not saying anything, he gave an exaggerated sigh. “All right, spill it all out.”
“Why do you have to make everything so unnecessarily difficult? Can’t you just be quiet for once and listen?” I huffed, turning to face him, now visibly frustrated.
Finn made a zipping motion over his lips. Ugh. He was such an annoying ass.
Fuck. I was really going to miss him.
“Not that you deserve any kind words right now, but since you’re leaving, I’m just going to say it...” I grumbled, trailing off for a moment. My throat suddenly felt so uncomfortably dry, but the words had to be forced past it. I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life thinking about Finn Parker and regretting not taking the chance when I had it.
“We’ve had a good run, haven’t we? I mean... aside from all the bickering... all the times you’ve been so incredibly annoying... all the times you tried to sabotage me... all the times you made me miserable...”
Okay. This wasn’t what I had planned to come out of my mouth, but it seemed my nerves were getting the better of me.
“I get it,” Finn cut in. “The list goes on. I have yet to hear those kind words of yours that you mentioned.”
“Uh, I guess what I’m trying to say is that working with you hasn’t been a complete disaster. Even though you make it incredibly hard to say that out loud,” I stated. For a moment there, I could swear his expression softened. It was an odd sight, one I didn’t think I’d seen before. The stiffness in his shoulders loosened just a tad.
“I agree,” Finn responded.
I blinked. “Did you just agree?”
Is he saying he liked working with me too?
Finn fell silent for a moment, his dark eyes examining me. For some reason, his scrutiny made me feel oddly bare, like he could see right through me—see all the parts I tried so desperately to keep hidden from him.
The corner of his lips twitched slightly upward. “Yes, Spencer. I agreed. I mean, we’re never going to see each other again, so why lie? It hasn’t been all that bad. In fact, you made the office kind of fun. A challenge...”
A challenge.
Except I have no idea why making me miserable was a challenge, but that wasn’t the point.
I reached for the plastic plates again, eager to escape his pointed gaze. “You don’t want to flatter me too much, do you?”
His laughter rumbled behind me, and I had to hold back a smile of my own.
“Probably not. Wouldn’t want to stroke that massive ego of yours.”
A part of me wanted to tell him he could stroke something else of mine, but I bit back the words, not daring to take it there yet. When the silence between us stretched and became more noticeable, Finn interrupted it. “What, cat caught your tongue?”
I sighed, shaking my head. I turned to face him again. “Still just as annoying. Even on your last day.”
He smiled, showing me a fine set of whites.
He was loving this. Every single second of it.
I hated that it sent a chill down my spine, because I loved it too.
“Why do I have this feeling that you’re going to miss me?” he asked, arching his brow. He straightened up from the desk he was leaning on, then took a step toward me.
A shudder ran up my spine, every nerve in my body activated as he began closing some of the distance between us.
I wanted to come up with something witty in response, but my mind went completely blank. Again. The lump in my throat returned, and I could feel my stomach tighten.
Just say it .
The voice in the back of my mind nudged me. Like Finn said, we would never see each other again. Boston was miles away from Dallas. Plus, the thought of him leaving without knowing the truth was becoming physically painful.
I swallowed. Hard. Then the words just ripped from my mouth. “You caught my eye from the first moment you walked into the office.”
Finn froze in place, his eyes wide with shock.
“Too bad you’ve always been so irritating, so I never dared to say anything about how I felt about you, how attracted I was to you, let alone make any move. But you’re leaving now, so to hell with it all. And I know you’re going to make fun of me.” I rolled my eyes. “I know this sounds ridiculous. Trust me, I know. The first time I even thought of it, I wanted to bleach my own mind but... here we are.” My mouth just wouldn’t shut up. “To be honest, I think I did look forward to our interactions every day, Finn. I only convinced myself otherwise because you were.. . you were such a pain, and a part of me—a very tiny one—is sad that you’re leaving.”
There. Done.
I drew in a shaky breath. The words were out now; there was no taking them back.
My face felt hot. Hell, my whole body was burning. It was getting more difficult to breathe by the second. I fidgeted with my collar, loosening the top two buttons as I braced myself for the laughter I knew was coming. Any moment now and he’d just spit it in my face. But it didn’t matter if he laughed. I was ready for anything.
Except Finn didn’t laugh. He said nothing. He didn’t tease me.
He didn’t even come up with a sarcastic remark.
Instead, he was right in front of me in a few quick steps. His palms clutched either side of my face, emerald eyes locking onto mine.
“What are you—”
I couldn’t finish the sentence before he leaned in, colliding his lips against mine.
The breath seized out of my lungs. My whole body trembled and froze in place, trapped in sheer disbelief.
Finn Parker was kissing me.