Page 43 of Finn Rhodes Forever

I was torn. The yoga leggings would make my ass look amazing, which seemed dangerous, but even I wasn’t stupid enough to keep wearing these pants.

“Fine,” I told him, pulling them out of my bag before I pointed at him and twirled my finger in a circular motion. “Don’t look, though.”

“I won’t.” He stood and turned.

I paused with the pants in my hands, nerves running through me. “I’m serious, Finn.”

He sighed. “Liv, when I see you without pants on, it won’t be against your will, okay? You’ll be begging me to take them off.”

I blinked, heat flashing through me. “Whatever.”

He snorted, and even with his back turned, I could see his smugness turned up tenfold. “Yeah, whatever. Right.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “Do your thing, I won’t peek.”

Once I had removed my boots, I yanked the shorts from hell off and threw them onto my bag before pulling on the yoga pants as fast as possible.

“Okay. Thanks. Let’s eat lunch.”

Finn nodded once before we pulled our food out and ate. After our sandwiches were done and we had polished off another bottle of water, Finn reached into his bag and tossed me—

I gasped at the crinkly orange bag. “Cheezies?!” My face lit up with a big smile. “Oh mygod. I could so fucking go for some Cheezies right now.”

His smile hitched, and embarrassment at my excitement over the snack had my skin feeling warm. He leaned his chin on his palm, watching me. “So go for them. I brought them for you.”

My eyebrows shot up. “You did?”

“Are they still your favorite?”

I tore the bag open. “They sure are.”

“Then I brought them for you.”

I bit into one and closed my eyes. “Oh my god. So good.”

Cheezies were absolute trash junk food. They were made of space dust, chemicals, and salt. They glowed bright radioactive orange and were in bizarre little cat poop shapes.

They were delicious.

I crunched one, dancing in my seat as the salt hit my tongue. “Mm. So good. I love these.”

Finn watched me with bright eyes. “Good.”

I smiled at him. “Thank you. I almost forgot that you touched my inner thigh today.”

He snorted. “I was a gentleman and a professional.”

“You were.” My eyebrows bobbed as I chewed. “I’m kind of impressed. Being a gentleman is so unlike you.”

Something moved through his eyes. Determination and regret. Worry pinched in my gut. Should I not have said that? Was I being a dick?

“I’ll have to keep showing you what a gentleman I can be, huh?” His gaze held mine and my stomach did a lazy roll.

After we finished eating, we packed up our garbage and sat around for a few minutes, staring at the forest and listening to the birds chirp around us.

My mind wandered to the flower. It was already June, which meant it was definitely in bloom by now. If I couldn’t find it, the last five years of my life would have been a huge waste of time. No one was going to hire a researcher who hadn’t finished school.

A researcher who most people were laughing at behind her back.

“Hey,” Finn said, eyes soft. “We’re going to find it. I know it’s out there.”

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