Page 8 of Hound Dog
Finn held my phone close to his face, eyes squinted. “Holy shit… is this… is your dad Stan Skinner? FromDecimal?”
Crap. It never occurred to me that someone might recognize that photo of my dad. Especially not someonemyage.
“Uhhh…well...”
Yep. Good save, Haylee. You’re a freaking primo liar.
Finn’s eyes went wide, and his exhale held the whisper of a curse word. His eyes scanned my face, differently than before. Like he was cataloguing each of my features. “Wow. I can see the resemblance now that I know to look for it.”
Not many people knew who my dad was. It made my mom so uncomfortable and since she never told anyone, neither did I.
I wiggled, itchy with discomfort like I’d just put a wool sweater on bare skin. “Finn—”
“Don’t worry,” he said. His voice was sweet and thick, like dripping molasses. “I won’t tell anyone. I swear.”
When I glanced to my left, he’d shifted closer to me, his face only a few inches from mine. Electricity buzzed in the air between us like a magnetic tether, and I felt myself drawing nearer and nearer to him.
“Well, that seals it,” he said.
“Seals what?”
“That if this were a horror movie, youwouldget out alive. Virgin daughter of a rock star? Yep. You’re the heroine the film is based on. The one who survives. Me, on the other hand? With my lack of virtue and the fact that I’m the small-town boy who brought you up to the roof? I’ddefinitelybe the first one slaughtered.”
Did he just admit to me that he wasn’t a virgin… without actually saying so?Desire coiled in my chest. The bite of cheese I took was like sand in my throat, and I washed it down with a gulp of seltzer.
Even though he said this was a date, I couldn’t help but feel like a charity case. There was no way a guy like Finn looked at a girl like me and thought we were in the same league.
I sighed and leveled him with a look, pulling away a little. “I know you said this was adateand all, but you don’t have to do this, you know. Just because your mom and my aunt pushed for you to babysit me tonight—”
“Whoa,” he interrupted me, his head jerking to the side. “I’m going to ignore the finger quotes you threw around the word ‘date’ and pretend that didn’t just slash at my ego a little. But who says I’m babysitting?”
I plucked the metal tab of my can, the sound reverberating a hollow echo. “Well, I’m just obviously not in your league—”
“If you recall,Iinvited you out tonight before my mom or your aunt pushed the matter. This was my idea. Not theirs.”
Well, that was true. I blinked, looking up at him and smoothing my hand nervously over my curly ponytail. “Why?”
He was silent for a long moment, gaping at me. “You really have no idea, do you?”
“No idea about what?”
My words came out dry and husky, and as soon as they were out, I clamped my teeth over my bottom lip. I barely even recognized my own voice, and a gasp hiccupped in my throat as he leaned forward, dragging his thumb across my jaw and brushing my bottom lip.
His gaze dropped to my mouth as he whispered, “How absolutely gorgeous you are.”
My heart sputtered like a dying engine, thoughts stumbling over that word:gorgeous. And then… I snorted a laugh.
Basically proving how wrong he was.
He didn’t seem fazed by my extremely unattractive snort-laugh. Instead, his mouth curved into the sexiest half-smile I’d ever seen.
I was a realist. I knew I wasn’t altogether unfortunate looking and I understood my “dating capital.” I’d even had a boyfriend for my entire senior year. We broke up right after prom. Sure, I was attractive. Maybe even pretty by some people’s standards. But gorgeous? That was a stretch.
Then, Finn said, “I’d do just about anything to see your real smile for once.”
I rolled my eyes. Even though he sounded completely sincere, I couldn’t help but doubt he truly meant these lines. A guy like Finn could literally have any girl he wanted. So why the hell would he choose the plain, frizzy-haired virgin with cotton underwear?
Okay, not that he knew about the cotton underwear. But still. I pulled myself out of the thought spiral, and answered, “I smile all the time.”
