Page 119 of By All Accounts
He made a derisive sound in the back of his throat. “If I can’t lie, neither can you.”
The couch sank as Sophie sat down beside me, hooking one arm over my back and resting her cheek against the outside of my shoulder.
“I thought we might have lost you,” I admitted, hating the way every syllable caught in my throat like it was barbed.
“Not that easy,” he whispered, shaking his head.
Finn nudged himself against me until he was cross-legged on the floor between my legs. I had to sit up to make room for him, but before I could straighten my back entirely, he grabbed my face and hauled me down toward him again.
“Not that easy,” he said again, tracing his thumbs across my cheeks. “I love you, okay?”
“I know. I love you too. We both love you.”
Sophie grabbed Finn’s forearm and squeezed.
“I’m sorry,” Finn said.
“For what?”
“All of this.”
I shook my head, and so did Sophie.
“Having feelings isn’t wrong,” she told him.
“Feels like it sometimes.”
He kissed me, then. It was a soft and fleeting press of his lips against the corner of my mouth and it was everything.
“Why don’t we go to the beach,” Finn suggested. “I can’t surf well, but Andrew dragged me out last time I was in my head and the salt definitely helped. We can just relax. See where the day takes us.”
I nodded, and he kissed me again.
Then Sophie turned my face toward her and she kissed me too.
She kissed Finn, and I ignored the heat that burned in my gut at the sight of the two of them together. How was it possible to love two people so much and not die from it? I wasn’t sure I would ever know.
“The beach sounds good,” I grumbled.
“Don’t make me twist your arm over it,” Finn teased, helping me to my feet. We both paused, a tentative and fraught silence in the very small space between us.
My mouth went dry, tongue stuck to the backs of my teeth.
“I’m fine,” he promised me. “Better than.”
“I’m better than too,” I whispered.
Sophie slapped both of our asses, kickstarting us toward the hallway. It took over an hour to get out of the house, a small detour to the bed after Sophie made too much of a show about taking off her bra. But by the time the three of us were sated and in the car, everything we’d said earlier had been made true.
CHAPTER 40
SOPHIE
Two weeks passed in the blink of an eye. Before I knew it, it was the night before Daniel’s and my wedding and my nerves were about to get the better of me. Not because of the ceremony Saturday afternoon, but the plans Daniel and I had for Finn later that night. Since it was Friday, he had dinner plans with his brothers and would be done sometime after eight, so Daniel and I made ourselves comfortable in Finn’s living room while we waited for him.
When he walked in his front door, Finn was a little more buzzed than normal, but offered no argument when I wrapped his tie around my fist and walked him toward his bedroom. Finn’s nostrils flared and he leaned in to chase after me, stealing a kiss before we reached the hallway.
“Patience,” I teased, leading him straight to Daniel.
