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I crawl on top of him, straddling his hips. "I would have waited for you my entire life and not regretted a single second of it, Finn," I whisper fiercely. "You were worth every damn moment."
"Jesus," he rumbles, pulling me down for a kiss.
"I wasn't in a hurry to lose my virginity. It never really mattered to me. But then I met you and you were all these amazing things and I just felt…like a mess," I admit. "You mattered. I knew if I got close to you, I'd fall for you. It would have crushed me to watch you walk away."
"That won't ever happen," he growls.
"I thought it would," I say quietly. "Um, growing up, I was really awkward. I stuttered and was painfully shy and didn't have many friends. I got bullied a lot."
"Me too," he says.
"Really?"
"Kids can be assholes."
"Yeah, they can."
"I thought college would be different, but then my parents died, and I never got around to making it different, you know? I'd just started making friends at the school where I worked when Aunt Ophelia got sick." I snuggle up against his chest again with a sigh. "Now, I'm starting over again. I guess I never felt like I found my place or my people so I never dated."
"Good," he grunts. "You didn't need to date. And you've found your place. It's right here with me."
"I love it here," I whisper. "I wish I'd visited more when I was younger, but Aunt Ophelia usually came to us for holidays." I snort. "Probably to keep my parents from finding out that she's been terrorizing the town her whole life."
Finn laughs quietly. "Everyone here loves her."
"Why do you think Silas is following me around?" I ask after a moment.
"I don't know, but I intend to find out," Finn growls, his body immediately going rigid beneath mine. "He won't be following you anymore, pretty baby. We're dealing with that shit as soon as I find him."
"He said it was personal."
"I don't care what he said. He scared you and made you cry. Once we get you settled in at work tomorrow, I'm hunting his sorry ass down. And then we're going to have a long chat about exactly how far outside of town he should stay from now on."
"Finn, you can't run him out of town."
"I'm not," he says, his tone grim. "I'm running him out of the state."
"You should leave him and run away with me," Giant says, winking at me early the next morning. He was waiting by the front door when we got here an hour ago. He's been giving Finn grief ever since.
I cover my mouth with my hand, hiding a smile.
"There's a reason you're my least favorite brother," Finn growls, glaring daggers at his brother. "This is why."
"Uh, rude," Giant says, grinning ear to ear. "I'm your favorite fucking brother and you know it."
Finn grunts and turns his back on Giant. "Playboy and Rafe are going to watch the store today. I'm taking this asshole with me."
"I don't want to go with you," Giant complains. "I want to stay with your girl."
Finn's left eye twitches.
I faceplant into his chest, laughing uncontrollably. I can't help it. He's so grumpy! He's been a snarling beast all morning. He really doesn't like Giant flirting with me, which is exactly why Giant's doing it. I think he pushes buttons just because he can. He's exactly like Aunt Ophelia. Only about fifty times bigger and a million times hotter.
"Are we having a hot guy convention someone forgot to tell me about?"
I pull away from Finn to see Maddie standing in the doorway to the shop, dressed in a black romper and high pony.
"Maddie," her husband growls.
