Page 29 of Fluttering Heart

A man who showed me off proudly to his family without even a millisecond of hesitation.

And what did I do?

Ran away, like a coward.

Before I can even begin thinking about traffic or second-guessing how much Finn wants me, I start packing a bag. I know I’m acting like a maniac, hot and cold and all over the place, but well... if he’s as amazing as he seems he’s gonna understand, right?

He has to.

I’ll explain and?—

Pounding on my door stops all of my thoughts and movements.

“Lou,” he shouts, and the sound of his deep voice makes my heart beat like crazy.

“Finn,” I shout back, and rush to open the door for him. We stare at each other for a beat, and then I jump on him. His lips are like magic for my frayed nerves.

“I hated sleeping alone,” he groans and pulls back. “I hated every second. I know it’s crazy and insane but I missed you, and I don’t want to miss you anymore. Even talking every day, it’s not enough. I know it’s fast but please let me be here with you. If you don’t like my house or Crushville—” He stops to swallow hard and my heart breaks for making him feel this way. “I can figure something out with my clients and?—”

I’ve heard enough now.

“No.” I tell him resolutely. “No, no, no,” I keep protesting. “I didn’t leave because I didn’t like it. I left because I liked it so much. Too much. I got scared that you’d get sick of me and I’d lose it all, and I just thought maybe some distance would be good for a few days but I was miserable too. I’m sorry.”

Finn lets out a manic laugh then covers me with his arms and crushes me to his chest.

“You don’t have to be sorry about anything, cutie. About nothing at all. It’s okay, just... please talk to me next time, yeah?”

“Okay,” I say, my voice muffled by his chest.

“So you wanna come spend the weekend in Crushville? We’re having a snowman building contest by the main square.”

“That... sounds perfect.” I lean back and smile at him. The world is back to rights now. “Just perfect.”

EPILOGUE

Mid-March

“This is so cool,”I tell Finn as soon as we’re standing in front of our seats in the Deep Arena. Chicago’s hockey team has never had a fan in me, and considering Finn’s brother never played for their hometown, they don’t have one in my date either, but it’s still awesome how welcoming they’ve been to us.

“I think so too, cutie. We’re gonna have to make it up to Charlie for setting it up.”

“He’s not a fan of soup by any chance, is he?” I ask cheekily.

Finn just shakes his head with a chuckle and throws an arm over my shoulder.

“The best way to pay him back is by making sure he gets some of Mom’s lasagna tonight.”

“We can do that,” I say absentmindedly. The buzz of excitement in the arena is electrifying and I can’t help but look at everything.

“I’m going to go get us some drinks and snacks, okay cutie?”

“Yeah,” I say and turn around with a smile for him. He leans in to brush his lips to mine then turns to walk up the stairs to where the food is.

I go back to soaking up everything with a happy sigh.

It’s been a great month since we got back from Vegas. Finn is now officially my boyfriend, and it seems like nothing in the world could bring me down from my happiness high right now.

Work is going great, and since I already had four days working from home, I’ve been able to go stay with Finn at his home in Crushville for more than a few days.

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