“Right,” Finn muttered.
“I arrived a little early,” Marshall explained. “Sara wasn’t up front so I let myself back to see if you were here, I knocked and?—”
“I remember,” I told him, not wanting to relive the intrusion for a second time.
“I have to get back to work,” Daniel said apologetically, kissing the side of my head. “So does Finn.”
The paper bag crinkled under Finn’s punishing grip.
I gathered up the stack of designs and paperwork on my desk that belonged to Marshall’s project and gestured toward the door behind him.
“Maybe we can go chat in a conference room,” I suggested.
Thankfully, he stepped back into the main part of the office and I headed after him. I smiled at Daniel, but wasn’t sure how to say goodbye to Finn. I didn’t want to ignore him, but I also didn’t want to make things worse. Sensing the tension, Marshall cleared his throat.
“Same room as the first time?” he asked, holding his hand out for the stack of material we were meant to review. I handed it off to him, relieved I didn’t drop it.
“Yeah, yes.”
“I’ll meet you there.” He gave Finn one more look, then another to Daniel. “Your fiancé is brilliant. It was lovely to meet you.”
“Lovely isn’t the word I would use,” Daniel countered with a self-deprecating laugh. “But you’re not wrong about Sophie.”
Marshall headed toward the conference room tucked into a corner behind Sara’s desk. As soon as he was gone, Finn’s shoulders sank and he dropped his chin against his chest.
“I’ll talk to him,” he said quickly, tone thick with apology. “I’ll make sure he doesn’t fire you over me or anything.”
“He won’t fire me.” I took the trash out of Finn’s death grip and set it down on my desk, taking his hands into mine. “And if he does, I don’t want to work with him anyway.”
Finn leveled an unimpressed look at me. “I know who my brother is.”
“And I know who you are.”
Daniel picked up the trash from the table in one hand, brushed his knuckles against the top of Finn’s hand with the other.
“I’m so sorry, Sophie.”
“I’m not.” I closed the space between us, raised onto my toes and pressed a kiss against the corner of his mouth. “I meant what I told you this morning, I love you, and that’s more important than anything else.”
He looked like he didn’t believe me, but he also looked like he wanted to.
“I love you too,” he muttered.
“Everything is fine,” I promised him. “Daniel and I will see you tonight? Your place?”
Finn nodded mechanically, and Daniel gave him a gentle push out of my office. We exchanged a nervous look and Daniel nodded subtly, understanding. He wasn’t going to send Finn back to work unless he was sure Finn could make it through the rest of the day without spiraling.
When we reached the front of the office, Marshall was there, not in the conference room, but pacing back and forth behindSara’s desk with his hand curled around the back of his neck. At our arrival, he looked up, bottom lip pulled between his teeth.
“Can I walk you out?” he asked. “Finn.”
Finn looked at Daniel helplessly, and Daniel dumped the trash, grabbing Finn’s hand and kissing his knuckle in the place a wedding band would sit. The familiar gesture tightened a knot in the center of my chest, and I pressed my shaking hand against my sternum.
“I’ll wait for you downstairs,” Daniel said. “I’ll take a separate elevator.”
“We’ll take the stairs,” Marshall said, and with a grimace, Finn followed after him.
CHAPTER 33