Page 63 of When The Rain Falls

“Aimee, you don’t—” Finn starts. I pinch his ass and he stops talking.Good boy.

“Just give me the details and consider it done.” I give her my biggest, most-obviously fake smile.

The woman crosses her arms. This is not what she wanted. I’m clearly winning.

“Fine,” she finally mumbles. “I’ll pass the details onto Finny and he can give them to you.” The way she says his name. Oh,my God. Maggie flashes Finn one more slimy smile and turns around.

We watch her walk away. I think we both want to make sure the coast is fully clear before we let our guards down.

“You want to remove your hand from my ass now?” Finn asks.

“Not particularly.” And why should I? He slappedmyass earlier. I should be able to touch his.

“You know,” he says. “She’s also looking for a Team parent. You seem like you’d make great friends. Maybe I should volunteer you.”

“Bear,” I warn. “Don’t even think about it.”

“So, snack mom, huh?” He studies me with amused curiosity. I mean, he’s still mostly glaring, but there’s an amused and curious undertone to it.

“What? You think I can’t do it?” I reluctantly pull my hand out of his pocket to cross my arms.

“I think you just didn’t like her talking to me.” He raises an eyebrow and I swear to God the corner of his mouth raises, just a tad. Is thatalmosta smile?

“Jealousy looks good on you, babe.” He winks before turning his attention to a row of booths in front of us.

Wait. Did he justwink?

Wait. Did he just call mebabe?

My arms fall from my chest and I feel my mouth gape open.

He called me babe!

"Ooh. Smell this one." I shove a candle towards Finn.

He looks at it dubiously, which makes me laugh.

"That's a popular one," comes a new voice. An elderly lady in purple glasses and grey hair styled in a pixie cut approaches us from the opposite side of the table. Finn finally gives the candle a tentative sniff. Right as he does, the lady continues, "It’s sandalwood. It enhances arousal."

Finn immediately jerks his head back. His facial expression is a billboard of utter disgust. I laugh at him again as I hold it up to my face and take my own deep sniff. I give him a knowing look as I set the candle back down on the table.

"Oh, look at you lovebirds." The lady smiles at us as she clasps her hands. "You don't even need the sandalwood."

"We're not—" Finn starts, but I quickly cut him off.

"Swingers," I say, pinching his cheek as I lean into him. And shit. I can suddenly feel the heat of his body. And it's causing a chain reaction straight down to the space between my thighs. "Definitely not swingers. I don't like to share." Finn closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, like he's enduring a major inconvenience and he's trying to remain calm. Hi, it's me. I'm Finn's major inconvenience.

"Of course you don't want to share," the lady says, eyeing Finn's stature. “I’m going to check out these customers,” the lady says as she tucks a pencil behind her ear and nods to the other end of the booth. “Holler if you need anything. But be sure to try the blood orange candle. Studies show that blood orange is an aphrodisiac," she calls over her shoulder.

"Don't even think about it." Finn gives me a side eye. God, his side eye can melt flesh from bones. I am so attracted to him that it drives me insane. Every ledge and surface in this place is now the scene of a fantasy involving our sticky and sweaty bodies finally giving in to the tension between us.

“And swingers?"

"I only said what was true.” I grin at him. “We aren't swingers. Where's the lie?” I think about how smiles are contagious. For example, when you watch a movie and you see someone smile, you realize that you’re suddenly, involuntarily smiling at yourself. I keep hoping that will happen with Finn. Like, if I smile hard enough, he might accidentally crack a grin. I’d love to see him smile. Even just a small one. But so far, nothing. The man’s impenetrable.

But I’m not. I’m extremely penetrable. And I’d be happy to show him.

I’m not even going to scold myself by saying “Bad Aimee” this time. Because it’s sotrue.

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