Page 29 of A Hard Fit

“You look nice,” Finn choked out. He quickly looked back down at this sketch, knowing his eyes were much too wide. “Big date tonight?”

Rory chuckled. “Ha, no. Dinner out with my parents.” The answer reassured Finn more than it had any right to. “It’s their anniversary. I try to step it up a notch.”

“Well, you, uh—you did.” Finn cleared his throat. “Several notches. And happy anniversary to them.”

“Thanks, I’ll pass that on.” Rory fiddled with one of the straps on their thigh for a second, cheeks flushing a faint pink. Then they gave their belt a tug and straightened their shoulders. “Did you see that email from Markos? He confirmed our meeting for next week.”

“Terrific.” So far they had only exchanged a few emails with the owner of Thrill Island, but Markos seemed like a nice enough guy who was excited to work with them. “Do you want to meet one more time before that to make sure we’re ready?”

“That would be great.” Rory pulled out their phone and they made a plan to meet Friday at two o’clock. Finn spent the rest of the day with visions floating through his head of him walking into a restaurant with Rory on his arm dressed like that.

* * * *

You can do it, Finn. Just ask Rory to go for a drink. A simple drink.It was four o’clock on Friday and they’d been huddled together in Finn’s office putting the finishing touches on their presentation for Thrill Island for the last two hours.

“We still need a better name than ‘Undercover Romantic Boat Ride’ for the Haunted Lagoon,” Finn said, tapping his chin.

“I know, why is it so hard?” Rory replied.

“What about…” Finn frowned, trying to think of a suitable boat pun “…Taking theSea-nic Route?”

Rory half-laughed, half-groaned. “I don’t think that’s it.”

“Hmm… okay,” Finn continued, undeterred. “Ferry-tale Ending?”

“Finn. Stop,” Rory said with mock seriousness. Then they grinned. “Harbor-ing Strong Feelings?”

“A-boat Time?”

“Feeling Nauti!”

And so it went, until their shoulders shook with laughter, and their knees bumped together under the table.

“Okay, seriously,” Rory breathed, wiping a tear threatening to escape. “Maybe boats aren’t the angle here. Back to heists…” They flicked their bangs back, eyes alight. “And the romance angle. I don’t care what anyone says, drifting along together in a boat is romantic. How about…Stolen Kisses?”

Finn blinked. “I love that! It’s brilliant.”

Rory’s eyelashes fluttered as they looked down. “Thanks.”

Finn dug through the stack of mock-ups, found the one for the lagoon ride and got to work sketching out the new sign.

Rory leaned over to watch, arm brushing against Finn’s. “That looks great,” they murmured as it took shape under Finn’s pencil.

Their breath smelled like mint. Goosebumps swept over the back of Finn’s neck. His heart was a bird beating its wings madly against his ribcage, desperate to take flight. Then the bird busted right out. “Do you want to go grab a drink tonight?” Finn asked.

Rory looked up, eyebrows bunched. “A drink?”

Oh fuck. They look confused. Because obviously, why would he ask that?Fuck fuck fuck.“We should round everyone up, head over to the Exchange after work,” Finn covered quickly.

“Sure.” Rory relaxed. “Yeah, sounds good.”

Ass, Finn scolded himself as he got back to work on his drawing.Rory doesn’t want to go out with you.He had to let go of that stupid idea. But at least their time together today wasn’t ending just yet.

* * * *

Finn tracked down Tawney, who was stoked to go for drinks, and got to texting a few others. Then he ran into Thomas refilling his water bottle in the kitchen. Once again, Finn considered how appropriate Thomas’ nickname was, watching him move around in his gray suit, smooth and powerful, with a calm dignity.

“Hey, Wolf,” Finn said, then froze.Shit.It slipped out.

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