“I don’t know.” He looked away and laughed darkly. “That’s a lie. I know exactly what I’m doing, but I have no idea why I’m doing it.”

“What are you doing?” I asked quietly.

“I…” Finn stared off for a moment, then turned back to me and stood up. “I don’t want you to marry him.”

“Finn, I-” I began, but he held up his hand, stopping me.

“No, I’m not asking you not to,” he said. “You need to do this.

We both know that. But I don’t want you to.” Al I’d ever wanted from him is for him to admit how he felt about me, and he’d waited until the day before my wedding. It was too late to change anything, to take anything back. Not that I could have, even if I wanted to.

“Why are you teling me this?” I asked with tears swimming in my eyes.

“Because.” Finn stepped toward me, stopping right in front of me.

He looked down at me, his eyes mesmerizing me the way they always did. He reached up, brushing back a tear from my cheek.

“Why?” I asked, my voice trembling.

“I needed you to know,” he said as if he didn’t truly understand it himself.

He set the box on the dresser beside me, and his hand went to my waist, puling me to him. I let go of the dresser and let him. My breath came out shalow as I stared up at him.

“Tomorrow you wil belong to someone else,” Finn said. “But tonight, you’re with me.”

His mouth pressed against mine, kissing me with that same rugged fierceness I had come to know and love. I wrapped my arms around him, gripping onto him as tightly as I could. He lifted me up, stil keeping his lips on mine as he carried me over to the bed.

Finn lowered me down on the bed, and he was on top of me within seconds. I loved the feel of his body on mine, the weight of it pushing on me. His stubble scraped my skin as he covered my face and neck with kisses.

His hands went to the straps of my dress, puling them down, and I realized with some surprise how far things might actualy go tonight. He’d always put the brakes on things before they got too heated, but his hands were cupping my breasts as he kissed me.

I reached up, unbuttoning his shirt so fast, one of the buttons snapped off. I ran my hands over his chest, delighting in the smooth contours of his muscles and the pounding of his heart. He leaned down, kissing me hungrily again, and his bare skin pressed to mine.

His skin smoldered against me, his mouth searched mine, and his arm was around me, holding me tighter stil.