Page 40 of Finn Rhodes Forever

“That’s not true,” I whispered, my eyes flicking up to meet his before I glanced back down to the ground.

His hand came up and his fingers brushed below my chin, tilting my face up to look at him. He stared down into my eyes and my heart skipped a beat.

“I know what you’re doing,” he murmured in a low voice that made my heart beat harder, “with these ugly pants and the haircut and the doily museum.”

“So you admit they’re ugly,” I whispered.

His mouth twitched into a grin but heat flashed through his eyes. “I’m going to do everything I can to show you I’m different.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “I’ll never make the same mistake again.”

My heart twisted and I wanted to believe him so, so badly. A part of me did believe him. He was here, wasn’t he? Hoofing it around the mountains when he could be doing anything else. He’d endured a three-hour mind-numbingly boring doily museum tour.

Maybe he wasn’t the same Finn who’d stepped all over my heart.

But what if he was, and he was just fooling everyone, himself included? What if I let go of all this anger and heartbreak that I had grown around and let him fill in the gaps and make me whole again? When he left, I’d have nothing holding me together. I’d fall apart for real this time, and harder. Smaller pieces were harder to put back together.

Fast as lightning, Finn’s hands framed my jaw and he stole a kiss from my mouth. His lips were warm and his stubble brushed me, sending sparks across my skin. I gasped and he pulled away, flashing me a grin and a wink.

“Come on, Morgan,” he called over his shoulder, continuing on through the forest while I gawked at him. “I’ve got all your water and you’re still struggling to keep up.”

A shocked laugh scraped out of my throat while I stared after him.

Warmth bloomed in my chest and I bit my lip to hide my grin. What a fucking asshole.

16

Olivia

Within two hours,we reached the area I wanted to search today. I dropped my pack and pulled out my notebook to study the map and glance over the printouts of the flower.

“Do you want to look?” I held the images up for Finn, but he shook his head and pulled out his own notebook.

“Got my own.” He flipped the book open and showed me images of the plant taped to the pages.

I frowned. “Where’d you get those?”

“Theinternet.” He said it like it was a novelty while studying his page. “I’ve been doing a little reading.”

I stared at him. “On the flower?”

“Mhm.” He reached down for a bottle of water and nudged my elbow with it. “Drink.”

“I’m fine.”

He undid the cap and nudged me again. “If you get dehydrated, I’ll have to carry you.” His mouth curled and he narrowed his eyes at me. “Bet you’d like that, huh, Liv? Been fantasizing about me carrying you, firefighter style?”

My expression turned to a glare and I took the bottle from him, holding eye contact as I drank. A smug grin pulled onto his face as he turned back to his notebook.

“That’s what I thought. You’re such a fucking brat,” he murmured, eyes on the page.

“You wish.” I rolled my eyes and adjusted my swishy pants. The stupid zippers were scratching up my inner thighs. I should have worn shorts underneath. No wonder that person gave these pants away.

I eyed my backpack. I had a pair of leggings in there as a backup but putting them on would be a defeat in this battle against Finn.

Besides, my leggings were like a second skin, hugging my curves and making my ass look incredible. I wasnotgoing to play with that kind of fire today. I was trying to turn Finn off, not wave a red flag in front of a bull.

When I took a step, the zipper scraped my skin again and I winced.

“What’s wrong?” Finn asked, brow creasing with concern. It was unnerving when he turned serious like that.

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