Page 236 of Intense
That does it.
She grabs my hand, dragging me right into the center of the dance floor, under the chandeliers, and pulls me into her orbit.
The music slows, the swell of strings drifting through the air as I wrap an arm around her waist and pull her in. Her body fits against mine like it was always meant to be there, like the universe has been carving us into each other piece by piece.
I’ve danced in operating rooms. With death. With blood. With the silence of failing heart monitors. But I’ve never dancedlike this. Never with a woman pressed so close, her heartbeat tangled with mine, every breath she takes pulling me deeper into something I swore I’d never feel.
Stephanie tilts her head up, her eyes locking on mine. “You don’t even know how to waltz, do you?”
“No,” I rasp. My hand tightens at her lower back, and I lead her anyway. “But you’ll follow me. You always do.”
She gives me a coy smile. “Well, neither do I. Looks like we’re perfectly paired.”
Her laugh is soft, breaking me open. Her palm presses against my chest, right over the heart I’ve kept buried from the world. The heart I’ve told myself doesn’t exist. And fuck, it hurts. The pressure of it. The weight. Because I can feel it hammering under her touch, beating just for her.
“Finn…” she whispers, like she knows. Like she feels the storm tearing me apart inside.
I close my eyes for a second, pulling her in tighter, because the past is bleeding into the present. Just like it always does. I see Penelope’s face. I see every patient I’ve lost. Every kill I’ve made. Every grave I’ve filled. A life built on precision, violence, and walls I swore would never crack.
I can feel Conan’s blood on my hands again. See my father’s grave. Feeling the world fall apart when my mom died.
And yet here I am. Cracking. Splintering. Bleeding right into her hands, and she doesn’t falter.
She fucking grounds me.
When I open my eyes, she’s still watching me, her eyes shining, her lip caught between her teeth like she’s scared to breathe too loud and shatter this moment.
But this is it. Our fucking moment. The one my mom always promised me I’d have.
I never believed her. She always saw the good in me, too. Even when I screamed at her that she was wrong. She never gave up on me, not until the world ripped her away from me.
I can’t fight it anymore.
I open my mouth to speak, but she beats me to it.
“I love you,” she breathes out.
She truly is a fuckin’ menace.
“That’s great, love.” I keep my tone neutral.
She frowns, licking her lip.
“That’s all you have to say? Seriously?”
I can’t help but grin.
“You’re the one who stole my line, temptress. Now, are you gonna let me say my whole declaration properly?”
I tilt my head and she blushes.
“I get a whole speech?” she whispers.
“I’ll give you the whole damn world if you’ll let me. So, yes.”
I cup her cheeks and take a deep breath.
“Stephanie Quinn. I love you,” I tell her quietly so only she can hear.
