Page 18 of The Moment Promised

I run after him, chasing him along the shore. His footprints are bigger than mine, and it’s hard to reach him since he is faster than me.

I finally catch up when he trips and I crash into him. We roll around in the sand, laughing together.

“Am I your best friend?” He sits up, wiping the sand off his shorts.

“Yeah… Am I yours?” I’m a little afraid of his answer.

“Duh,” he says like it’s obvious.

I smile. I’ve never had a best friend before. The wind picks up, I wrap my arms around my legs.

“Do you think we will be best friends forever?” I ask, hopeful.

“No,” he says quickly.

I frown.

“Because I’m going to marry you,” he says matter-of-factly.

I laugh. “Gross. I would never marry you.”

He smiles, but it doesn’t touch his eyes like mine does.

5

NOW

The noisy restaurant goes quiet in my head. My body catches up before my brain does because I am parting my lips and letting my best friend’s tongue sweep over mine. His hands are everywhere, moving swiftly down my arms, up my back, into my hair.

I’m bursting and I’m souring.

I’m dying and I’m living.

Up is down and right is left and…

Everything changes… Everything.

A gentle sound escapes my throat and Finn catches it with his mouth.

I have no thoughts except for words flashing against the blackness of my mind like a neon sign. Passion. Bliss. Desire. Three words burn into my brain and suddenly my stomach because I’m burning from within.

He places one last kiss on my lips, resting his forehead against mine. With his amber eyes so close I can see worlds in them. My eyebrows pull together with so much emotion.

I’ve never felt anything more intense than this moment. It’s as if I’ve been brough to life.

“I told you I’d get you to marry me,” he whispers.

The world spins a billion miles per hour until suddenly it stops and everything around me can be heard again. What just happened?

“Atta boy!” Pete’s voice echoes in my head, reminding me of where we are.

Finn’s eyes leave mine to glance at my lips before breaking away, taking along the piece of my heart he captured with his kiss.

I focus on the checkered floor to avoid all the stares heating up my skin.

From the corner of my eye, I see Finn taking his seat again. I still don’t look at him when I sit back down and pull the scrunchie from my hair, the wild pieces shielding me from the watchful eyes of ex coworkers and customers.

When I glance up, Finn is laughing. He fake proposed as a joke to get back at me for embarrassing him, but it didn’tfeellike a joke.

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