Page 9 of A Hard Fit (Falling Hard #2)

Maverick and Goose

Finn threw himself into the chair in Luka’s office. “I’m gonna do it.” He was. For sure. He had spent the weekend pep-talking himself while drinking scotch and carving inappropriate jack-o-lanterns for the party.

Luka tore his gaze from his computer screen. “Do what?”

“Ask Rory to wear a couples costume with me.” Finn’s heart pounded at the words.

Luka pressed his lips together for a moment. “That’s a great idea. Or you could just ask them out.”

Finn shook his head, drumming on his thighs. “No, this is okay. This is good. This is a step.”

“If you say so,” Luka said, smirking. “What costumes were you thinking?”

Finn rubbed his face. “I have no idea.” In between jack-o-lanterns, he had searched ‘couples costumes’ and checked out delivery times. It was slim pickings. “Maybe crayons?”

“Good God, please, no.” Luka frowned for a minute. “Daenerys and Jon Snow? You’d rock the blond wig, and Rory would look sexy in that cloak.”

“Fuck, no! Too coupley!” Finn waved the idea away. “And I can’t support that show after what they did to Dany… The Mandalorian and Grogu?”

Luka wrinkled his nose. “I’m thinking maybe no to the parent-child vibe? Plus those costumes would be crazy expensive if you’re going to get good ones. How about a classic—Batman and Robin?”

Finn shook his head firmly. “No tights.”

“Fine. What about Dirty Dancing ? Baby and Johnny?”

Finn raised an eyebrow. “And who’s going to want to wear those tiny shorts, me or Rory?”

“Good point.” Luka sighed and scrunched his face. “Goose and Maverick?”

Finn blinked at him, then a slow smile spread over his face. “You are a fucking genius! Flight suits are sexy, the inherent homoeroticism of Top Gun … I love it!”

Luka offered a head tilt. “At your service.”

“Okay.” Finn stood and took a deep breath. “Now I gotta go ask them.”

“You can do it, Finn. You’re just suggesting costumes, not proposing.” Then Luka’s face clouded over. “Oh, and hey, if something does happen, make sure you go to HR right away.”

“Well, of course.” Finn rolled his eyes. “I’m not an idiot.” He didn’t need Luka to get uptight about Breakpoint’s strict employee dating policy. Besides, that was the least of his worries right now—first, he had to jump off a cliff. Finn took another breath, feeling it curl into the depths of his lungs. “You’re right, I can do it. Okay, here I go.” Oh God oh God oh God. What if Rory said no? What if Rory laughed at him and such a ridiculous idea?

“Finn?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re still here.”

“Fuck.” Finn shook himself and plunged out of Luka’s office while he had the momentum. He didn’t remember a thing about his journey through the halls until he was barging into Rory’s office.

Rory looked up and smiled.

Of course they did.

Finn’s mouth dried out and his foot twitched like it wanted to turn around, but Luka’s words came back to him. It’s just costumes. “Do you have a Halloween costume yet?” he blurted, with zero preamble.

Surprise flashed over Rory’s face for a split second, and who could blame them, the way Finn burst in, hair surely as wild as his eyes, then they shrugged. “I was thinking of going as maybe a spreadsheet or something, like columns and rows of numbers on me…” Rory faded off, studying Finn’s face with concern. “Are you okay?”

“Me?” Finn gasped, aware of the sweat forming on his hairline. “I’m fine. Great. Sorry, I was just… I was wondering—do you want to do a costume with me? Like, we dress up together? In costumes that match?”

“Oh.”

In that ‘oh’ Finn died a thousand deaths—suffocated, bled, choked, crawled across the desert sand until the winds carried away his desiccated skeleton.

Then Rory relaxed, a smile curling the edges of their mouth like daisy petals in the sun. “Sure. That sounds fun.”

Finn fell against the doorframe before his legs could fail him. “Great. Um. I was thinking Top Gun ? Maverick and Goose? You know, flight suits, aviators…”

Now Rory’s face was a sunflower, bright and wide. “Love it. As long as I’m Goose.”

Finn forced a swallow down his parched throat as his heart soared higher than Maverick’s F-14. “Of course.”

* * * *

The morning of his Halloween party, Finn was wide awake at six, followed by a workout, beard trim, shower and protein shake. Eight hours later—furniture pushed back, karaoke machine hooked up, bowls heaped with candy, drinks buried in ice—Rory’s arrival was looming.

The two flight suits he had ordered arrived just in time. Finn laid them both out on his bed, smoothing the wrinkles while his stomach danced. The way Rory had smiled at him when Finn appeared in their office, the way they stood close, tilted their head up to him, touched his arm when they spoke… Yesterday in the busy staff kitchen, Rory had brushed behind him, long, elegant body against his for one blissful second. There was something there. Maybe. If he allowed himself to dream.

“Don’t fuck this up, Finn,” he muttered, studying himself in the mirror as he zipped up his suit. “Don’t say anything stupid. Just…be normal. You can do this.”

A knock.

Rory’s knock.

He hurried down the hall, tugging the zipper down a little. Too much. Back up a hair. He took one last look around. His house could not be more perfect.

Finn emptied his lungs in a whoosh and opened the door.

The setting autumn sun haloed around Rory in a thick amber light. They wore brutally sexy aviators and a leather jacket over a white tank top. Amazing.

“Hey, Goose,” Finn greeted them, resisting the urge to pull Rory in for a hug.

Rory tipped down the sunglasses and gave him an adorable grin. “Maverick.”

“Come on in.”

“You look fantastic,” Rory said, taking in Finn from head to toe. “A flight suit agrees with you.”

Finn flushed like a teenager. “Thanks. Oh, leave your shoes on.”

Rory nodded, following Finn past the wide doorway that led into the living room. “Wow, your place is so cool.” They stopped at the large painting at the end of the hall, eyes wide. “Finn…”

The fire banked in Finn’s cheeks. He hung his art so the people he invited into his home could see it, but having Rory study it so intently made him feel naked. “It’s called Home . It was the first thing I painted when I moved in.”

Rory’s head tilted. “I love it. It’s very warm. It reminds me of…” They lifted a hand, traced the shape of the curve in the air “…a really good hug.”

“Yeah.” Finn rubbed the back of his neck. “Thanks, I—Thanks.”

“Do you have any more art I can see?”

“Yeah, sure. There’s one in my bedroom.” He led Rory down the hall, heart rate climbing. Finn had, of course, made sure his room was impeccably tidy, but his eyes still darted around, trying to see it as Rory would. There was only one framed photograph—him and Luka accepting the corporate fundraising award from the first year they did the 5K for Hope. And tucked in the corner of the frame was a picture of him and his niece and nephew when they were small. He had straightened the ‘To Be Read’ pile of books on his bedside table, but maybe he should have put them away. The pile was embarrassingly large. Wait, was that a sock poking out from under his bed?

Rory was staring, but not at the sock.

They were staring at the huge painting above Finn’s headboard. It was one of Finn’s favorites—long stretches of skin, hints of lips and hands. An open mouth, head thrown back, maybe. Two bodies as one.

“Absolutely stunning, Finn,” Rory breathed.

Finn pushed his hair back. “Thanks.”

Rory shifted, gaze still locked on the canvas. “What is this one called?”

“ Temptation. ” Finn fiddled with his zipper.

“Wow.” Rory shook their head. “It’s beautiful. Have you ever shown your work anywhere?”

“Um, I tried, once, in college. Didn’t go well.” He waved at Rory’s flight suit spread out on his bed. “You can change in here.” Finn bolted into the hall, dizzy from the compliments and from the fact that Rory was standing in his bedroom staring at his painting of two people having sex. He headed back into the living room and found some cushions to fluff, but the dizziness only got worse as he imagined Rory now undressing in his bedroom in front of his sex painting.

Then, thankfully before Finn’s imagination could go too crazy, Rory appeared in the living room in their flight suit. Finn had to hold back a groan of appreciation. So fucking sexy. Anthony Edwards had nothing on them. “You look amazing,” Finn said.

They popped their aviators on and smiled. “Yeah, we do. Hey, let’s take a picture.” Rory pulled out their phone and held it up, sliding their arm around Finn’s waist. They tucked so nicely under Finn’s shoulder. He inhaled the scent of Rory’s hair as he put his arm around them and smiled for the camera. Their ear-to-ear grins matched exactly.

Rory sent Finn the picture then tucked their phone away, surveying the living room. The kitchen was at the back, partially visible through a pass-through window. A bar was on the counter on this side of the sill, with the table of snacks and candy along the far wall. “What can I help with?” Rory asked.

Finn ignored the buzz of Rory’s text in his pocket, even though he so badly wanted to stare at that photo. “Just a few more appies.”

They pulled the trays of sausage rolls and mini-quiches from the oven and set out some veggies and dip, until, right on schedule, their coworkers began arriving.

Rory stuck to Finn’s side as the house filled. “You two look great!” they heard over and over, and Finn couldn't get enough of it. “Thanks,” he said, wanting to pull Rory closer, kiss the top of their head. Instead, he shared a smile and settled for picking a stray thread off of Rory’s arm.

“Oh, there’s Luka and Thomas,” Finn said when he spotted them in the crowd—together, of course. Luka did indeed look fucking hot as Sandy, black spandex clinging to his lanky frame, calves especially shapely in his red heels. Tawney was nowhere in sight but, somehow, Thomas was dressed as Danny instead, all in black, beautifully aged leather jacket perfectly hugging his wide shoulders. As a pair, they were hot enough to melt the bowl of bite-sized chocolate bars on the table behind them.

“You crazy kids!” Finn called in greeting, clapping Luka and Thomas on the shoulders. “Welcome! First question—why don’t you have a drink yet?”

“Danny and Sandy!” Rory exclaimed when they came up behind Finn. “You guys look great!”

Luka and Thomas looked at each other in surprise.

“Wow.” Luka laughed. “Actually, Tawney was supposed to be Danny, but she’s sick.”

“And I’m the Terminator,” Thomas added.

“Oh,” Rory chuckled. “That’s funny. You go together like rama-lama-lama.”

God, Rory is so fucking cute.

“Yeah, I guess that works out for me, then,” Luka said. “You two look great, too!”

Rory and Finn grinned at each other.

“I feel the need…” Finn began.

“The need…for speed!” Rory finished. They high-fived each other, cackling.

“Adorable.” The only word that could be used to describe Luka’s expression was smug.

“Not adorable. Badass,” Finn corrected, sliding his sunglasses on. “Bar’s over there. Get on it.” He pointed at Luka. “And there’s karaoke later. I’d better see your ass up there, Sandy.”

The house got louder and hotter as it filled. Finn had left some windows open, but the cool night air was quickly swallowed by the fuzzy creatures, spooky witches and sweaty pop culture icons. They greeted Aleandro and Penelope when they came in—an old-school vampire, which was perfect, given Aleandro’s Dracula hair, and a sorceress, in a glamorous high-collared blood-red dress—and Georgia, their head of marketing, who was a princess, in a lavender dress with a long blonde braid. Morgan strutted in with the confidence of Freddie Mercury himself in pale blue jeans, a white tank top and a black studded leather belt with a matching armband.

Finn’s beers went down quickly, a pleasant haze settling over him as the room filled and the noise level grew. And Rory. Rory was always there. Hand brushing his as they collected empties, steadying fingers on his hip as he tripped past a dragon with huge cardboard wings.

Every time Finn turned around, Thomas and Luka were there, too. Huddled together, leaning over to talk into the other’s ear, laughing, meaningful glances shared, seemingly a couple in all ways but officially.

“How much longer can they drag this out?” Finn wondered, watching Luka and Thomas through the pass-through window as he added more carrots to the veggie platter. “It’s so obvious they like each other.”

Rory cleared their throat from their spot at the counter next to Finn. “Maybe it’s not obvious to them.”

“Maybe, but…look at them.” Luka and Thomas were mere inches apart, eyes locked and gleaming, faces wide open and smiling. When Luka tipped his head back to laugh, Finn could read Thomas’ desire from across the living room.

There was no reply from Rory aside from the rhythmic chop, chop, chop as they cut up a red pepper. “So…do you think Maverick and Goose ever hooked up?” Rory asked, breaking the silence.

Finn looked over at Rory, who had paused their chopping. They put down their knife and turned, leaning a hip against the counter and waiting for Finn’s answer.

Finn’s stomach twisted into a knot, the electricity between them crackling. Is this…? “Oh, for sure,” he scratched out. “Please, you could cut the sexual tension with a knife between those two.”

A spark flickered in Rory’s eyes. “Which one would have made the first move, do you think?” They took a half step closer.

“Goose, obviously.” Finn's throat threatened to close, the room suddenly oppressively hot. Run , his brain stem told him. “I just need to grab a drink…” And he turned and bolted from the kitchen. He found Luka digging through the cooler, finally without Thomas. Finn threw his arm around Luka’s shoulders and gripped his anchor. “Luka!” he hissed.

“Buddy,” said Luka, endlessly patient. “What’s up?”

“Umm…” Finn looked around the room to make sure no one was listening, then leaned to whisper into Luka's ear. “I think Rory might like me.”

“You don’t say?” Luka smothered a laugh. “What happened?”

“Well, we were in the kitchen talking, and they asked me, out of nowhere, if I thought Maverick and Goose ever hooked up.”

“And what did you say?”

“I said for sure, and then they asked which one I thought would have made the first move.” Finn raked a hand through his hair.

“Goose, obviously.”

“Right.”

“So? What did they say to that?”

“Well, then I came out here.”

Luka blinked at him. “And they’re just waiting in there still?

“Yeah.”

“Get back in there, you absolute moron . Go fucking kiss them.” Luka shoved Finn in the direction of the kitchen. “Now,” he added before Finn could protest.

Go fucking kiss them. Finn stumbled back into the kitchen, thoughts an indecipherable blur. Rory hadn’t moved. Their beautiful dark eyes widened as Finn stopped in front of them.

Go fucking kiss them. “Actually…” Finn cleared this throat. “I think Maverick could have made the first move.”

Rory let the words hang in the air, a slow smile spreading across their face. Finn pushed his hair back. Then he took a step forward, closing the distance.

And he kissed Rory.

He fucking kissed them.