Page 39 of Finn Rhodes Forever

Do. Not. Laugh.

I stared at him and he stared right back, daring me. “You like these pants,” I repeated.

“Yep.” His chin dipped in a nod and his eyes danced with amusement.

My stomach swooped and the side of my mouth twitched but I didn’t dare laugh. No fucking way.

“Great,” I chirped in a voice completely unlike my own. “I’m ready to go.”

I picked my bag up and frowned at how light it was before I opened it. “My water is gone.”

“It’s in mine,” he said. “I’ll carry it.”

I frowned at him. “No.”

He huffed a laugh, and his hair fell across his forehead. “Yes, Liv.”

“I can carry my own.”

“Iknowyou can carry your own. You can do everything on your own. No question about that.” He looked up at me, standing with my hands on my hips. “But maybe I want to carry your water. Ever think of that?” His eyebrow arched and that amused look passed through his eyes again.

There was something about him looking at me like that, like I was cute and funny and like heliked methat made me feel shaky, silly, and excited.

I hadn’t felt like this in a long time.

Ugh.Get a fucking grip, Liv.

“You okay, Morgan?” His eyes danced, bright and amused.

I threw my hands up, mind whirring and totally scrambled. “Fine, you can carry my water.” I hauled my backpack on. “Let’s go.”

* * *

Half an hour later,we parked my car off the side of the logging road and began the hike. We made our way through the forest in silence as the sun rose higher. Sunbeams cut through the tree canopy and steam rose from where they hit the ground. Birds chirped, our boots sank into the soft earth, and somewhere above us, a woodpecker clacked against a tree.

God, I loved being out here in the woods. It was like all my problems faded away into nothing.

“Happy?” Finn asked with a chuckle, and I blinked.

“Hmm?”

“You sighed.” His eyes crinkled as he glanced between me and the fallen tree he was stepping over. “Your shoulders fell a couple inches and you looked relaxed. I almost forgot you wanted to kill me.”

I snorted and made a strange face. “I don’t want you dead.”

“Uh-huh. Sure.”

“I don’t,” I insisted, laughing a little.

He shot me a grin that told me he didn’t believe me.

“For a long time, I wished I’d never met you, though,” I admitted.

The grin on his face faded, and his eyebrows pulled together. I looked to the ground, watching where I stepped. I’d already searched this area a couple months ago but I scanned back and forth, desperate for a task to keep me anchored and focused.

Maybe that was too harsh to say, about wishing I’d never met him.

“And that,” he said quietly, stopping and turning abruptly, “is why I’m not giving up. Because with the wrong guy, you would have been relieved. You would have been over me by now, but you’re not, are you? You can barely look at me. You’re terrified to let yourself relax around me.”

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