Whoa boy, had she kissed him. It had unleashed unspoken dreams of happily ever afters, a family of his own, that he’d always thought would be in his future.
He’d just never thought it would be with his best friend’s little sister.
But she hadn’t responded to his good-morning text or said anything about it.
How did he address it? Had it been a fluke? Had it been a thanks-for-saving-my-life, getting-caught-in-the-moment kind of kiss? Like a knee-jerk reaction? Or were there?—
Finn whistled. “Michael?”
Michael shook himself. “Yeah?”
“What’s going on?” His eyes narrowed.
“Nothing. We should get back to?—”
“Oh, the interviews can wait. I want to know where you went just now. What were you thinking? I don’t ever think I’ve seen you turn that shade of red before.”
Before Michael could answer, Dani walked up to them. “So…how go the interrogations?” She stood next to Finn, nudged his arm, which Michael hated.
“I thought you’d focus more on the guys out in the shop area. I can almost guarantee you it’s not any of the guys on the floor. They love me because I share Lily’s cookies with them.” She gave Finn what he would call a cheeky grin.
Seriously, could his partner be any closer? Give the girl some space!
“That’s a good question, lass. What d’you say, Mike? Shall we go question the others and leave Dani’s fan club alone, not scar them for life, hmm?”
Finn’s smirk was getting rather annoying.
“Sure. But we’ll be back. They may not be the ones responsible, but they still might have valuable information.”
“Righto.” Finn clapped a hand on his shoulder. “We better get back to it. We’ll check in with you later, Dani.”
She waved goodbye and went back to her office while Michael and Finn left the building.
As soon as they were outside, Finn busted out laughing.
“What?” Michael asked him.
“Oh, Michael, you poor lad. I see now what the trouble is.”
“What trouble?”
“You’ve fallen for your best friend’s little sister. And I can’t tell you how glad I am.”
“Falling for her? What are you talking about?”
“It’s all over your face. The moment she walked up to us, you couldn’t hide it. I’m pretty sure you wanted to knock me out when she touched my arm. You, my friend, have fallen hard and fast.” He laughed with glee.
“Look, it’s just…weird. Last night she kissed me. And it took me by surprise.” And no, he would not be telling Finn it had been their second kiss. They had work to do.
“Kissed you? Wait a minute. You didn’t write that in your police report.”
“Will you get back to the case? We need to?—”
“Oh no. I need to enjoy this a bit more. You, who said, ‘You just don’t date your mate’s sister.’ ‘It’s an unspoken bro-code thing’ and all that dithery nonsense. And now you’ve gone and done it.”
Michael looked out over the mountains in the distance. Sunshine and shadows in stark relief against an azure sky, and all he could think about was pummeling his partner. “I don’t see why you think this is so amusing.”
Finn lost a little of his smirk and stopped to look Michael in the eye. “Maybe I’m also relieved a bit.”