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“You know what I think you should do?”
Without taking my eyes off Rory, I asked, “What?”
“Go cut in.”
“He just cut in on me,” I responded with a gruff laugh.
“Here, take another shot and then go take what you and her both clearly want.”
Spinning back around, I gazed at the bartender with a stunned expression. If a complete stranger could see what I felt for Rory, clearly so could her father. I reached for the shot glass and swallowed the whiskey she had set down a second before. “Fuck it. What do I have to lose?”
“That’s right!” she cheered. “Go get her, because I can guarantee a woman that beautiful won’t be left alone for too long.”
Gathering up my nerve, I got up and headed back over to Rory and Captain Adams. Someone grabbed my arm, bringing me to a halt.
“Dude, don’t do it.”
Looking down at the hand on my arm, I lifted my eyes to Colton’s. “I’m tired of hiding it.”
Colton shook his head. “Finn, I think this is a mistake. Don’t do this here.”
I jerked my head back and laughed. “What better place to do it. Cap won’t want to make a scene. Not here.”
With a quick yank of my arm, I loosened Colton’s hold on me. “Finn!” he said in warning before I headed back to Rory and her father where they stood off to the side talking to a few people.
My heart hammered in my chest when her eyes met mine. Rascal Flatts’s “I Melt” started playing right as I stopped in front of her. I reached my hand out for hers, which she placed gently in mine as I led her to the dance floor. Drawing her in to me, I quickly got lost in her eyes.
“Do you know what you do to me when you look at me like that?” I asked.
Rory smiled, and my knees went weak. “Like what?”
I lifted my hand and ran the back of it down the side of her soft face. “Like you can’t get close enough to me.”
Her eyes closed as she leaned into my touch. Gazing back up at me, she replied, “Hmm…That’s funny, because you were looking at me the same way.”
“I can’t.”
She stopped dancing. “You can’t what?”
With a smile, I leaned down and pressed my lips to her ear. “Get close enough to you…deep enough inside of you….I can’t tell the world I love you.”
Rory gasped and grabbed onto my jacket. “Finn,” she whispered as I gazed into her tear-filled eyes. “I’ll tell him, I swear to you. If you want me to do it right now, I will.”
When I looked over her shoulder, I caught Captain Adams glaring our way. “I’m pretty sure he already knows, Éan.”
Glancing to look behind her, Rory sighed. Mrs. Adams was standing next to her husband and gave me a soft smile. I was praying like hell Rory couldn’t hear the pounding of my heart. The way Cap was looking at me had me just about fearing for my life.
“I should go talk to him.”
My hand wrapped around her waist tighter, drawing her attention back to me. “After our dance. Besides, I’m pretty sure once you speak to him I’ll be running for my life.”
Rory laughed and nuzzled her face against me. “Finn?”
“Yeah?”
“I love you too.”
—
The air in the ballroom felt so heavy it was an effort to breathe. I glanced around and watched as everyone went about their business. Not one of them knowing that any minute a deranged man was going to come after me.
I lifted the beer to my lips and took a long drink.
“Looks like your evening is going well.”
Colton stood next to me, but I didn’t bother to look at him. He had seen the way Captain Adams was watching Rory and me dance. I was taking a risk by holding her so close…touching her the way I was, but damn it if I didn’t care. I was in love with her, and I’d never felt this way about a woman before. I didn’t give a shit who her father was.
I drew in a deep breath and pushed it out. “It’s going fine. Where’s Melissa?”
“Said she needed to use the ladies’ room.”
My eyes scanned the room for Rory. She and her parents had walked off together and I’d lost sight of them when a few fellow firefighters walked up to me to shoot the shit. I hated how controlling Rory’s parents were, and I fought to keep my mouth shut on it all.
“Are you two official now?” I asked.
Colton laughed. “By ‘official.’ what do you mean?”
Turning my head to look at him, I watched for a few seconds as he glanced around the room. “I mean is she your girlfriend? Are you exclusive? That kind of official.”
He shrugged. “Maybe. I don’t really know. Melissa thinks we are.”
