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7/1/17
THE WARM SUMMER air brushes against my exposed skin and the ocean breeze forces the hem of my dress to flutter against my thighs.
My eyes flicker around as the party on the beach grows and people come flooding in for the Fourth of July weekend festivities.
It's the Saturday before the actual fourth but tonight is the night when the town of Easton celebrates, and damn do they ever do. We have been eating and drinking and dancing and laughing all day. It's been the perfect day with my best friends. A day filled with memories I know will last a lifetime and belly laughs that I'll be ever so sore from tomorrow.
"What do you want?" Grayson asks, coming up from beside me and motioning to the cooler full of drinks stuck in the sand.
"A beer is fine," I respond as the DJ in the back switches the song and earns a few excited shouts from a group of girls near us.
She hands it to me and I take a sip but it's far from what I really want at this moment. But I noticed there aren't too many hard seltzers left and those are Hayley's favorite so I don't want to dig into those.
"A beer?" A warm voice calls out from behind me. I twist to see kind eyes and handsome dimples. "That's my kind of girl."
Finn lays his arm around my shoulder and pulls me in close for a moment. The faint smell of his body wash hits me and I instantly relax. I've learned that he doesn't usually wear cologne but that he always smells fresh and clean and...safe. Hugging him feels like falling into freshly washed and dried sheets after a long day. It's comfortable and it's easy and it's not scary.
Nothing about Finn is scary. He's sturdy and reliable and secure. He's as bright as the sun I wish I could be like and his warmth makes my heart flutter lightly in my chest.
"You look beautiful," he compliments earnestly as his eyes takes in the white ankle length dress I'm wearing with an open back.
My teeth graze against my bottom lip. "Thanks," I squeak out still so unused to being called that by someone who isn't my friend or mom.
I won't bring up how you were the most beautiful woman my eyes had ever landed on.
The memory of me pushed up against Colt's fridge and him caging me in comes out of no where and makes guilt tinge my cheeks but I know it looks to Finn as if I'm blushing from his compliment.
That only makes me feel worse.
"Will you dance with me?" he asks, keeping me close. His words are gentle and never a command. Always soft and never intruding.
Not the way Colt would ask, because he wouldn't ask. He would tangle his fingers in mine roughly and tug me close until I wouldn't know where he ended and I began.
My breath catches at the intrusive thoughts and my stomach twists in a torturous mix of shame and desire.
I nod once, shoving the thoughts of Colt far, far away. "Yes. I'd love to dance with you."
