Page 63 of Seas the Dating Coach

Like always, Finn doesn’t rush me. He lets me giggle it out, watching with an entertained smile. I yank off my boxing gloves so I can use the collar of my shirt to wipe my face.

“I just— She just—” I give in to the coppery sensation swimming in my veins and laugh some more. “Geneva yelled at mefor talking.”

Finn’s expression softens with understanding. “You’re right.” He braces his forearm on the brick exterior beside his head,voice deepening as he leans toward me. “You know, I’m not surprised. You’re quite a chatterbox once you get started. I can see you as the most disruptive person in the class if you keep coming with me.”

I like that thought. I like the idea of coming back and challenging myself. Of attending classwithFinn.

Hope swirls in my chest. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” The corners of his eyes crinkle in the wan streetlight. “You can do whatever you want, Vivian.”

His complete faith in me makes my heart skitter and switch directions. What if what I want is to rise on my tiptoes and kiss him? To slide my wrapped hands over his ribs and pull us flush, regardless of our disgusting sweatiness? My gaze falls to Finn’s lips, fixating on his slightly uneven cupid’s bow surrounded by dark stubble.

I flick my eyes back to Finn’s, a smirk curling my mouth. “Thanks for permission.”

Then I palm the back of his head and bring his lips to mine.

twenty-seven

Finn

Asurprised sound leaves my mouth, and Vivian chases after it with her tongue. It’s impossible not to react, not to flip her against the building and put all my weight into deepening the kiss. This is nothing like the first time. There’s a fervor to this kiss, an impatience. It’s dangerously explosive, burning through my soul with a ferocity that leaves me stunned.

Vivian’s fingers knock my hat off to dive into my hair, and a groan vibrates up my chest. Then realization hits, and I’m turned inside out.

Vivian is kissingme.

She’s not practicing for some eventual kiss with another man. She’s kissing me. She wantsme. I’m dizzy with relief until a nasty voice reminds me that Vivian doesn’t know the real me.

Not yet.

There’s time to change that.

Yesterday had been monumental, telling her such a significant piece of my history. The way she’d accepted it—accepted me—and held me afterward makes me think that I could try again. I could let her in piece by piece and hope that when she’s holding my heart in her nimble fingers, she’ll treat it as delicately as the fabrics she adores.

I pull back slightly. “Vivian—”

“Talk later,” she tells me before surging forward, nipping at my lower lip.

Okay, then.

Spreading my fingers wide, I memorize the curves of Vivian’s waist. I don’t even care that we’re both soaked in sweat. If anything, it heightens the sensations against my fingertips. I’m two seconds from slipping my hands beneath her shirt and curling them at the small of her back when Vivian pulls away slightly.

“Maybe you shouldn’t— You might not like—” When she bites her lip, I release one hand to soothe it with my thumb.

Her shoulders slump, her gaze dropping to my collarbones. “It’s just— I’m not good atnoteatingfood.”

“Vivian.” I give her hips a reassuring pat before sliding my hands to possessively grip her waist. “Do you think I want to hold onto a flat, cement slab while I’m kissing?” My tongue touches my top lip as I let my gaze sweep down her. “I’ve dreamt about what it would be like to hold you like this.”

A truth. A very insistent one.

Vivian’s mouth opens and closes twice. “You have?”

“Yes.” I set a gentle kiss on her temple before bringing my lips to the shell of her ear. “You, Vivian Hutchinson, are perfect in my book.”

I’m not sure what I expected her response to be. A timid smile, perhaps? A breathy “Oh?” I certainly didn’t expect all five foot five of Vivian to flip us until she’s pressingmeagainstthe building. An amused sound resonates in my throat before Vivian’s kiss knocks all logic out of my brain. I burrow my fingers into her sweaty curls and pour myself into her. When Vivian sighs against my lips, a zip of electricity burns backward through my body, fundamentally changing my cellular structure until there’s only one thing I’m absolutely certain of.

I can’t give this up. I can’t giveherup.

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