I Never Let You Go (I Never 3)

She nods. “Yeah, that’s Dani and Kyler’s niece. Emme is the daughter of Dani’s brother, Zach, and his wife, Haylee.”

I set my napkin back down on the desk after wiping the sides of my mouth. “Ahh, yes, the best man and matron of honor.”

“Wow, you really were paying attention at the wedding, huh?”

Please let my honesty not bite me in the ass. “Well, I had to do something to keep myself busy so that I didn’t just storm over to you and make a fool of myself.”

She laughs again, and I join in because that’s precisely what I did.

“Emme is like my pseudo niece. Typically, Dani and Kyler will watch her if Zach and Haylee want to have a date night or something, but just before the wedding, Kate and I had her overnight for the first time, and it was just…” She trails off in thought.

Is she thinking about her being a mom because I sure am—picturing her belly swollen with child; her smiling down at the child in her arms swaddled in a blanket and reading a book; a toddler with hair just like Lauren’s balanced on her hip dancing around? In all those years apart, I’ve only ever wanted all of this with her.

Her voice pulls me out of my thoughts. “I still can’t believe Dani and Kyler are expecting twins.”

“Wait. What? Did you say Kyler is going to be a dad? And with twins?”

“Fuck!” She covers her face. “I shouldn’t have said anything. Please don’t say anything.”

“Don’t worry. It will be our secret. And when Ky does tell me, I’ll act surprised.” I wink, and she smiles.

“How long have they known?”

“Not long. Well, a few weeks, I guess. They just told Kate and me the other night. Actually, the night you showed up on my porch.” I guess she could say that she had quite a memorable night, then. “How is it that our younger siblings are old enough to be parents?” She plays with the food in one of her containers before stabbing a piece with her fork, bringing it to her lips.

“Yeah, it seems like just yesterday they were kissing in the treehouse in your backyard, and now they’re both parents.” I chuckle.

Lauren chokes on her bite and coughs. I jump up, leaning over to assist her, but she waves me off and takes a sip of her water. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”

I retake my seat once she has composed herself. I wrap my lips around my teeth. Oops. I guess we’re sharing all sorts of secrets today. “Our siblings were each other’s first kiss.”

She seems rather amused. “Wow, and how do you know this?”

I give her a cocky smirk. Something catches my attention just under her eye. “That’s because I know all. Lo, you have a—”

She frantically wipes her mouth, thinking she has food on her face. “Did I get it?”

“No, here let me.” I lean forward, flexing my thumb. I hear her suck in a breath at my closeness. Instead of wiping her mouth though, I drag my thumb across her cheek, swiping an eyelash. The touch is again electrifying; I linger just a moment longer. I carefully bring my thumb with the eyelash still on it to rest against her soft lips. The feel of her breath on my skin leaves a trail of goosebumps on my arm that only she can cause.

“Make a wish.”

My eyes shoot open, meeting his gaze. I swallow thickly, recalling every time that he would wipe my fallen lashes and tell me to make a wish. I would close my eyes and make a wish, and before I could reopen them, he would kiss me. When we would break apart, he would joke, saying, “I knew you wished for me.”

Closing my eyes again, I make a wish. I wish… I wish—my breathing escalates—I wish things were different for us.

When I open my eyes, Finn is still so close. I don’t miss his eyes dropping down to my lips before coming back to meet mine. My tongue darts off to lick my bottom lip with my mouth as dry as the Sahara, although I definitely can’t say the same for my panties.

How long we stay there, I’m not sure—one second, one minute, forever? He clears his throat, breaking the staring contest, and he scoots his chair farther away. When our eyes meet again, they’re filled with sympathy. He nervously adjusts himself on the seat. “Sorry, old habits die hard.”

I shake off the disappointment. Why am I disappointed? Did I seriously want Finn to kiss me just then? I mean, we’re in my classroom.

Am I seriously arguing with myself more over the location versus him actually kissing me?

My phone buzzes with the alarm I set, letting me know my lunch break would be over soon and the kids would be back.

“Thank you for all of this, Finn.” I stand and begin to clean up. We both reach for the containers at the same time. When our hands touch, I quickly pull back and laugh awkwardly. The air between us is suffocating, full of sexual tension and spark. I feel like I should open a window to air it out before my students arrive.

“Here, I’ve got these. Why don’t you gather up the trash?” He smiles, easing the tension that has been building all lunch.