I stepped into the open living room, where a wall of tall windows faced the city and a simple gray sectional with a plaid blanket thrown across it looked like heaven. It was a little messy: a couple mugs were out on coasters, and I pretended to not notice the boxers sitting over by the recliner. I chuckled. “This is really…” I drug my words out as I walked to the large windows.

“Dirty.”

“I was going to say nice.” I smiled and took in the view of the city lights. It was gorgeous from all the way up here, even more so with it being Christmas. The flashes of white, gold, red, and green lit up the streets, setting them sparkling.

“I never get tired of the view. That’s why I bought this.” I heard a thud and turned to see Finn was holding a telescope that pointed down at the streets.

I chuckled. “So you could people-watch?”

He smiled. “No, little perv, so I could see the lights better and the mountains behind it.” He pointed to the snowy peaks beyond the town. I sighed and leaned in. I had loathed this town for so long, but looking at it from here made all the bad memories go away.

When I pulled away from the telescope, my back bumped into Finn’s chest, and we both sucked in a breath. The last several days of hardly any touching had us both charged up and ready to go, and the simple act of my back touching him made me electric. His right hand lifted to my hip and gently caressed it. Goosebumps rose on my arms, the room suddenly suffocatingly warm. I turned my head, and he was looking down at me. His deep eyes bored into mine, and I forced myself to break the contact.

“Soo…” I turned from him to walk to his fireplace. Along the mantle were pictures of Finn skiing, some of him and Cooper out on the snow, an older couple that I assumed were his parents, and one of him kneeling down with a group of kids surrounding him, smiling. I couldn’t help but pick it up and brush my finger over the glass.

I walked around the house in small circles, looking at the nice light fixtures and the updated kitchen features. “Dang. Do they really pay you this much over at the resort?”

I wanted to laugh at his Keurig sitting on the counter. I could see him getting up each morning, groggily making his coffee and sitting on the sectional to watch the sunrise.

Finn laughed behind me. “Absolutely not. I received a pretty big settlement after the injury, and I used a portion to buy this.”

I turned back to him and found him leaning against the counter casually in those perfect jeans and a black Henley. I bit my lip to avoid jumping on him.