Page 60 of Finn Rhodes Forever

“A couple trees on my side,” I answered as I gazed into the crackling fire.

He dragged a breath in, like he was trying to calm himself. “I can’t wait to see them,” he whispered, eyes darkening, and I shuddered.

Finn and I sat there for a long time, watching the fire and listening to the sounds of the forest as the sun sank lower and the sky turned dark.

A canopy of twinkling lights stretched overhead and I sighed. Somewhere in the trees, an owl hooted.

I hugged my knees, feeling funny. How many times had Finn and I sat on his roof, staring up at the sky? We’d climb out his window, usually when his parents were asleep. Their bedroom was on the other side of the house so they wouldn’t hear us if we were quiet. We’d lie on the roof, stare at the sky, and point out shooting stars, whispering back and forth. Sometimes our hands or arms would brush. Once, Finn reached his foot out and rested it against mine, and we stayed like that for an hour, neither of us moving, connected by that square inch. The side of his socked foot against mine. His socks had Bigfoot on them. I had thought about that for days after.

For every star in the sky, I had a memory with Finn. My head was full of them, and the more time we spent together, the more resurfaced. It was like I was waking up, I realized, and shaking the last twelve years off.

I glanced at his mouth, the perfect line turned up at the corners in a cruel, smug smirk. Vulnerability wavered in his expression though, and my heart tugged. God, I hated that mouth, and yet I wanted to kiss him again so fucking badly. In my head, I replayed the kiss at the movie in the park, the moments before I nipped him.

It wasgood. It was the kind of kiss I’d wanted without realizing it—deep and consuming and desperate. That kiss was like one bite of the best chocolate cake, and it wasn’t enough. I wanted the whole slice. I wantedmore.

It would be so fucking good. I didn’t even care that Finn had hurt me, that he left and he’d leave again because guys like him didn’t stick around even if he truly believed he would. I didn’t care.

He got those tattoos for me. I knew he did. Why was that so hot? Why did Finn have to get so much hotter over the years?

It wasn’t fair.

What if I gave in?

He’d stick it out in town for the summer, at least. I could admit that I’d never been attracted to someone the way I was to Finn, not when we were teenagers and definitely not now, as adults.

Grown up, Finn was impossible to resist.

What if I enjoyed him while he was here? I could keep my heart out of it. It would just be sex. Messing around. Nothing serious.

“We should make out,” I said, staring at his mouth.

The fire reflected in his dark gaze, eyes hooded and full of heat. His smirk turned up even more. “Yeah?”

I nodded, meeting his eyes.Confidence, Olivia. He couldn’t see how fast my heart was beating.

“That’s what couples do, isn’t it?” My tone was light, cocky, and playful, like I’d taken notes from him. I mentally high-fived myself. “Among other things.”

His Adam’s apple bobbed and his mouth curled into a wicked grin. “Come here, then.”

23

Olivia

My pulse tookoff as I settled in Finn’s lap, straddling him. His eyes were on me, heavy and clouded. He gripped my waist, head tilted up to me, watching with wonder. Under my hands, his shoulders were warm and firm. My finger traced the skin above his collar, and his breath caught. Between us, the air crackled with tension.

No smirk in sight, I noticed.

My heart slammed in my chest as I studied his face. He was so fucking handsome. I’d never seen someone as good-looking as Finn, not even celebrities whosejobwas to look hot.

Something about Finn, his face and his body, the knowledge of those tattoos lingering under his clothes, it lit my blood on fire.

I lowered my mouth to his, and he groaned into it. On my waist, his fingers dug in as I brushed my lips over his. My hands slipped into his hair, and it woke something up in him. He sat up straighter, his arms slid up my back, and he coaxed my mouth open, sliding inside.

This. I shuddered as his tongue swept over mine, steady and firm and unrelenting. This wassolike Finn to kiss like this, like he knew exactly what I needed. Like he’d been thinking about it forever. Like he was ready to take what he wanted.

Heat spread through me, over my skin, through my chest, building and swelling at my center. My fingers twisted in his hair and when he sucked my tongue, I think I pulled his hair a little because he groaned again, low and desperate.

“I should teach you a lesson for biting me the other day,” he said in between kisses, and my thighs clenched around him. A low laugh rumbled against my mouth as he leaned into me.

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