Page 148 of Camera Shy

He pulls me against his chest and I breathe in his salty, musky skin. I feel Finn’s lips on the top of my head. He lets me sob against him, my tears running down his chest and abs. Stroking my back, he shushes me sweetly and tells me it’s okay. When I’ve settled and we can hear ourselves over my open weeping, Finn says, “How about we don’t go back? Either of us. How about we try forward? Together.”

“Forward is good, but…” I kiss his pec and then step out of his embrace. Taking a deep, calming breath, I continue, “I have to do this differently this time. So, Finn, I think you’re way out of my league—”

“Avery,” he interrupts, rolling his eyes.

“Let me finish. But just because you might be the sexiest man on the planet, doesn’t mean you don’t have to earn me.”

He grins wide. “Okay. How do I earn you, Queen?”

“I want a date night more than once a year. In fact, I’d like an official date night once a week, and at least once a month we put on nice clothes and leave the house and flirt, in public.”

“Done.”

“Wait, I’m not finished.”

He smiles again. “Needy girl.”

“I want you to teach me how to cook.”

“You can finish your demands in my arms, baby.” He reaches back out and grabs me by the hips. “I will happily teach you how to cook, if we can have a dip buffet for dinner every now and then, too.”

“Fair enough.”

“What else?”

“I want to walk with you. And I do mean walk, not run. But I want a relationship where we do outside stuff sometimes. I don’t want to stay behind a computer screen for twelve hours a day. I want to be healthier all around.”

He squeezes my hips. “Okay, we can do outside stuff together.”

“And I don’t ever want another woman in bed with us. I don’t like it.”

He nods solemnly. “Me neither. Never again.”

“And the big one…”

Finn widens his beautiful baby blue eyes. “Go for it.”

I inhale and hold it for a moment before I exhale. “I’m not waiting four years to get married. We don’t have to rush, but I’m not going to ignore my needs for yours. We can always compromise, but if it is going to take you half a decade to decide whether you want to spend your life with me, I will walk away. I want a family. I want a home.”

“Okay,” Finn says. “I hear you loud and clear, Queen.”

“And I don’t ever want you to stop calling me Queen.”

“Fine with me.” He tries to kiss me again, but I lean back. He raises his brows, his patience running a little thin. I think he’s ready to start our happily ever after. “Anything else?”

“No, that’s everything from my end… But what about you? What do you need?”

Finn touches his smooth lips against mine. It’s not a kiss, just a touch. He rubs his nose against the tip of mine. “Just this. I need you to never stop telling me what you need. I want you to cry in front of me, so I know how you’re feeling and I can try and fix it. No more running out on me when you’re upset and making me worry.”

“I can do that.”

“Good.”

“All right, Finn Harvey. Well, now that that’s all settled, I think I’m ready to fall in love with you.”

39

Avery

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