It seemed pretty clear now that Cooper and I were going to be the winners.
We’d just received a standing ovation. Sort of.
Before I had time to think any of that through, though, Ashley announced the winners. And the names weren’t JoJo and Cooper. They were JoJo and Finn.
“Yes!” Finn shouted, throwing his arms up in a victoryV—as if he’d gotten exactly what he deserved.
Cooper and I just frowned at each other, likeWhat the hell?
But only for a second.
Because the next thing I knew, Finn had grabbed my hand and dragged me off the stage—presumably to kiss me. Again. For the second time in my life.
Twenty-Two
ON THE UPPERdeck—not far from the noted historical site of Cooper and JoJo’s Epic Hickey—Finn pulled us to a stop beside a section of railing. The ship’s wake stretched out beyond us, lit by the moon. The wind flapped all around. It should have been romantic.
But it wasn’t.
“What the hell was that back there?” I demanded. “You left me all alone on the dance floor!”
Finn frowned like he couldn’t understand the question. “I got a work message.”
“Anurgentwork message?” I asked, trying to help him answer the question better.
“No,” he said. “Just a regular one.”
“You walked out ten seconds into the song. I had to stand there by myself like a lost puppy!”
Finn couldn’t fathom the melodrama. “Why are you complaining? We won.”
“That’s not a surprise. It wasriggedso we’d win.”
“Who cares? Winning is winning.”
“I’m not sure that’s right.”
But now Finn was thinking about it. “Why would it be rigged so we’d win?”
He wanted to know? Fine. He could know. “Because Ashley wants you to kiss me.”
Finn didn’t understand that, but he liked it. “Okay,” he said, stepping closer.
“Aren’t you curious about why?”
Finn frowned, like it hadn’t occurred to him to be curious. Then he said, “Why?”
“Because I had a crush on you for six long years when we were kids. And now you’re single, and so am I. And we’re both on this ship. And apparently I have some unresolved issues about men, and love, and abandonment. And Ashley thinks I might have imprinted on you, so you might be my destiny. Or not. But either way, she thinks I need to find out.”
“Okay,” Finn said, shrugging like none of that made any sense to him but he didn’t care.
“Okay?”
“Okay, sure. Twist my arm. I’ll kiss you. We can do more than kiss, if you want.” He shrugged again.
I’d never noticed how unromantic shrugging was until just this moment.
Or maybe it depended on who was doing the shrugging. A montage suddenly flashed through my head of Cooper shrugging. Shrugging a jacket over his shoulders, shrugging into a vest, shrugging his answer to my question of why the hell he was crashing my wedding. Why was it sexy when Cooper did it?
