Page 67 of The Moment Promised

“What...” Chloe dramatically gasps, “are you scared, Finnegan?” She closes the lid of her to go cup. I hadn’t even noticed her brewing the coffee, I was too focused on the way my heart changes when I’m with Finn. It’s slower, calmer.

My body knows I’m safe.

Finn snickers at her. “Why would I be scared,Chad?”

I pinch Finn’s tricep, but he doesn’t even flinch.

“Oh, my apologies. You can go first,” she chimes.

I frown. “I kind of wanted to go first.”

“Hell no,” Finn protests, peering down at me while his thumb rubs my lower back. “Chloe can go first, and make sure the line is reliable,” he says, completely serious.

Chloe and I exchange a look and break out into laughter.

“A daredevil and a scaredy cat, what an interesting love match,” Charlie jokes, giving Chloe a hug.

I try not to look at Finn’s reaction to Charlie’s choice of words while I put on my sneakers.

“Listen man, you’re not the one going ziplining off a mountain,” Finn says, ignoring the part about ourlovematch.

“Touché.” Charlie nods.

“Fuck me,” Finn mutters.

“She’s tried.” Chloe pats Finn on the shoulder as he peeks over the ledge of the cliff, we are about to zipline over.

I give Chloe a wide-eyed look, but if Finn heard, he’s way too absorbed in his fear of heights to say anything.

“Who’s going first?” a peppy ziplining instructor asks us.

“Me!” I step up, and feel big hands pull me back into our three-person crowd.

“She is,” Finn says, pushing Chloe toward the instructor.

I roll my eyes and pull on my harness, uncomfortable with the way it digs into my skin.

“Hey, hey, hey!” Finn says, stilling my hand. “Excuse me, Miss. Can you double check my girlfriend’s harness? She’s messing with it.”

Ohmygod.I swallow down the storm of butterflies and act nonchalant. Maybe he said it as a joke, like when he pretended I was his fiancé carrying Tim and Timmy. “It’s fine, Finn,” I whisper, but the instructor checks anyway.

“Yup, she’s all set!”

“Check again.”

I slap his side, but his harness acts as a barrier.

“Please,” he adds quietly.

She does as she is asked, or ordered, and Finn doesn’t seem any less tense next to me.

Chloe is getting strapped in, while the instructor goes over the safety rules. I watch her nod her head and she gives me a peace sign before flying off the wooden platform.

She gives Finn a startled look, and when he leaps forward with panic, she lets out a high-pitched scream-laugh. A scraugh?

Her long blonde hair gets lost in the wind, and she becomes smaller and smaller, zipping through the forest onto the next platform.

“Did you want to go next, honey?” The guide has an outstretched hand toward me.

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