Page 61 of Riptide

“I think we could arrange that,” I say, my eyes not leaving Finn’s.

Something eases in him. The lines around his mouth soften. His eyes brighten. The corner of his mouth lifts just slightly.

And in that moment, I know I’m falling for someone who’s still learning how to stand again.

Chapter twenty-six

Finn

Bythetimewemake it back to Foxx’s building, the wind has picked up. The tip of my nose is cold, and my fingers are stiff where they grip the donut box. The walk wasn’t far, but the cold has a way of settling in and staying there, and I can’t quite shake it.

Eugene climbs the front steps ahead of us like the morning didn’t touch him. He’s got the agility of someone my age. In fact, I’ve seen younger people move slower than him. He stops at his door, keys already in hand. “I need my mid-morning nap, so I’ll see you both later.” Just as he’s about to disappear, he turns again. “You coming round over Christmas this year, Finn?”

The question catches me off guard. It’s not that far away, maybe, like, two weeks or something, but that feels like what real couples do, and we’re so new at this whole situationship. I decide to go with... “I’m spending it with my family.”

He nods and leaves, then I turn to Foxx, not addressing the question that Eugene just bombed us with, opting to give him a lighter topic. “Does ‘later’ mean he’ll be coming over for dinner?”

Foxx pushes his key into the lock. “It could mean anything. Just be thankful he doesn’t have a key.”

I step in close behind him as he pushes the door open, making sure my mouth is close to his ear. “I’m glad he doesn’t have a key, because I’d like to be alone with you for a little while.”

Just as the door unlocks, he pauses, rolling his shoulders back into me with a moan that’s almost undetectable, but I feel it rumble in his chest. He doesn’t say anything, but he doesn’t move away either.

I’m not used to being needy, and I didn’t think I’d ever be. I’ve always been good at keeping people at a distance. But I guess after last night, he’s brought something out in me that I don’t want to push away. I want to lean into it—this pull, this strange gravity between us, even if it’s casual.

But… There’s a but now. And I hate it. Because it means I’m starting to want more than what we promised. Moments like this, when he doesn’t flinch as I touch him, doesn’t ask me to let go, that I forget that it’s all temporary.

He’s warm pressed against my chest, and I want to hold on tighter. Just for a second longer. Just until he says I can’t. And maybe spending some of the holidays together is allowed, right? I mean, festive sex sounds great to me. Santa hats and blow jobs sounds like a great time.

“You’re cold,” he says as he steps fully into his apartment. The scent of him envelops me. Woodsy, fresh, a little spicy, too, as we walk inside, removing our outer layers, and I vow to leave here with this beanie hat. In fact, I plan on wearing it to class next week. I’ll start the torture small to begin with. Beanie hat first before I wear one of his shirts, smelling like him while he teaches me math equations.

“There are plenty of ways you can warm me up.”

He smiles as he moves toward the living room, and I trail after him. We both sink onto the couch, and he grabs his glasses tocheck his emails, just as I feel my phone vibrate in my back pocket. I see a message from Daphne with a picture of Rosie on a swing, smiling with her little gums.

“She’s a really cute baby,” Foxx says, surprising me. I wasn’t hiding my phone from him at all, so I don’t mind that he saw. “I can see why you’d want to stick around here for her.”

“She’s lucky she got the James genes.”

Foxx lets out a deep chuckle as he pushes me back to the couch and brings my legs to drape over his. “I can’t believe I thought you and Daphne were… Never mind.”

“Yeah, you jumped to conclusions real fast. I couldn’t even get a word in, and you zoomed outta that coffee shop like your ass was on fire.”

He scoffs, a flush staining the side of his neck. “I never asked, who’s the father? Are they together?”

“Do you know Hudson Parker? He plays for the Wildcats, their linebacker. They’re together and very happy.”

He pushes his glasses up his nose, and it’s so fucking cute, the way his nose wrinkles and eyebrows pinch. “I think he was in my freshman classes, but I can’t be sure. A lot of students come through my doors; it’s hard to keep track sometimes.”

“Except me,” I say, just as his strong hands find the arch of my foot. “Oh my god,” I groan, losing all sense of decorum.

He pauses for a split second, and when I look at his face, he’s frowning. “Except you.”

“If you let all your students sleep over and hijack your Saturday mornings and do unspeakable things to your body, I might be a bit concerned— Ohgod, yes, that feels so good,” I hiss as he presses against the pads of my foot.

My head drops back onto the arm of the couch as he continues massaging, and I float away into heaven. “Pretty sure I only need one of you.”

He’s teasing, but there’s truth buried in it, a fondness that I’m only now hearing, and it’s like sunlight is warming me all over. Or maybe it’s just the fact that he’s unlocking some kind of foot massaging fetish I never knew I had until now.

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