Page 6 of Protecting Jess

He quickly scanned the dancers, picking Jess out easily. She was two dancers to the right of the center dancer in the front row.

After the way she’d performed, she should be front and center, as far as Finn was concerned.

The music started and they began to move. All in time, their movements synchronized to perfection. The choreography was upbeat, and soon they were encouraging the crowd to stand and clap.

Finn stood, and Oak and Sylvia were standing as well—although they weren’t clapping as enthusiastically as he was. He felt his buddy’s eyes on him, but he kept his attention on the stage and on Jess.

Her smile was infectious, reminding him of the first time they’d met, when he’d gone to stay with Aunt Poppy while his parents went away.

Jess had stayed with them while her dad worked. Aunt Poppy and Slick weren’t married at the time—they’d just started dating.

Finn and Jess had had fun, and when he’d left to go back home, she hugged him tightly. That was when he’d called her ‘popsicle’ for the first time, because she’d given him one for the ride home. Instead of saying thanks for it, he’d said ‘thanks popsicle’ and it had somehow stuck.

He was lost in thought. The stage and its occupants fell to the blurry wayside.

The auditorium lights raising jarred him, and Finn’s eyes landed on the closed curtains. He’d missed bowing and the dancers exiting.

Finn sat back down and stared at the heavy maroon screen.

Was Jess behind there, celebrating with her friends?

Was she dating one of her fellow performers?

Was there someone else waiting backstage with a huge bunch of red roses meant only for her?

His leg started bouncing again at the thought of another man putting his arms around her. Kissing her beautifully plump lips.

Finn shook his head. He had no right to be thinking or feeling this way. He’d believed he’d come to terms with his decision. But seeing her up on that stage, seeing the light in her eyes, walking away from her tonight wasn’t an option.

From the moment she’d come out on stage for her solo, he’d wanted to rush up there and see her. Hold her. Talk to her.

Fuck. These feelings were so out of character. Finn was always so in control of his emotions and actions. Yet, all it’d taken was one twirl, and everything he’d thought he knew about himself went out the window when it came to Jess.

“Do you want to go get a drink at the bar across the road?” Sylvia asked.

No, what Finn wanted to do was go backstage and see if he could find Jess. Would she even want to see him if he did venture there and ask for her?

“I’ll meet you there. I want to say hello to an old friend,” he said. He’d just given his buddy fodder to take back to the team, and for them to give him hell about it. He didn’t care.

In all the time he’d been on the team—which wasn’t long—the guys had given him shit about not hooking up with the many girls who’d thrown themselves at him.

Finn had always been particular about the women he spent time with. The girls that were just looking for a hookup weren’t his thing.

Prior to him going into BUD/S and becoming a SEAL, when he’d just been an enlisted sailor and combat soldier, he’d had a couple of relationships. The moment he’d completed his SEAL training, though, he’d focused on his career. He hadn’t wanted to put stress on a new relationship with him going off on missions at a moment’s notice.

There were plenty of SEALs he knew who were in committed marriages and relationships, but Finn had decided he’d wait, and when the time was right, he’d look at trying to find his person.

Was that time now?

Was Jess that person?

Again, he pushed the thought away. No matter how tempting it was. Nor how, when he’d been just a boy and Jess had been just a girl, he’d thought that one day they would get married.

Those had been the fantasies of a child. Now he was a hardened Navy SEAL, who’d seen atrocities and had done things that turned his stomach, but had needed to be done.

“Do you want us to come with you?” Oak said when Finn hadn’t made a move.

“No.” He shook his head. If there was a chance Jess would reject him, he didn’t want his friend to see it. “It’s fine. I shouldn’t be long. Why don’t you go ahead and go to the bar? Order me a beer.”

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