Page 67 of Finn Rhodes Forever

“And who’s this beautiful young woman?” Jackson leered at Shannon while she preened, flipping her hair back.

“I’m not interested,” she said in a haughty tone.

“Like hell, you’re not interested.” Jackson grabbed the back of Shannon’s hair and kissed her. She moaned into him as her hands fisted his shirt.

Beside me, Finn leaned back, looping an arm over the back of my chair, studying his menu with a grin. Other diners peeked over Shannon and Jackson wrestled with each other’s tongues. Avery brought out another table’s food and stopped dead in the middle of the restaurant, eyes wide as she spotted them making out.

My face heated even more. Why did I do this? Stupid, stupid, stupid. I should have taken Finn to see some boring movie instead. I should have known he’d be more entertained by this than anything.

Finally, they broke apart and Jackson took his seat, readjusting his pants. Ugh. Gross.

“So, Finn,” Shannon started, smiling at him. “How do you like being back in town?”

“It’s great.” His hand snuck into my lap, resting on my bare thigh, and he gave me a squeeze. “I’ve missed everyone.”

Shannon inhaled deeply and let it out with a sigh. “Ah, Queen’s Cove. So much to miss. Are you here to stay for good?”

Finn’s mouth turned up and he glanced at me, giving me another thigh squeeze. His hand was so warm on my leg, and I resisted the urge to place my hand over top of his.

“I’ll be wherever Liv is, let’s put it that way.”

I rolled my eyes but smiled at my menu.

“Oh my gosh.” Shannon put her hand over her heart. “That’s so sweet.” She turned to Jackson. “How come you never say things like that?”

He made a face. “What do you mean? I said you had magic hands back in the car.”

I held back a disgusted grimace and tried not to picture the context.

Shannon scoffed. “I jerk you off and you can’t even be romantic about it?”

My hand settled over Finn’s, and I dug my nails into his skin.

He smiled, waving a server down. “We’re ready for a few drinks,” he told her.

After the server left with our orders, Jackson turned to Finn.

“Finn, my guy. I’m telling you, the first few years of marriage, you got sunshine and rainbows coming out of your dickhole, but ten years in? You gotta do more to keep the magic popping, you know what I mean?”

Finn glanced at me with amusement sparking in his eyes. His hand was still on my thigh. “Please go on,” he managed, like he was trying not to laugh.

Shannon sighed, head falling back with drama. “Enjoy this phase of your new relationship because soon enough, all you’ll be talking about is toenail fungus.” She shook her head and jerked her thumb at Jackson. “This one has struggled with it for years. Wecannotget rid of his toenail fungus.”

She waited like she expected me to say something but I blinked. “Okay,” I replied, nodding. “Wow.”

“What kind of fungus?” Finn asked, and I stared at him in shock.

His expression saidpolitely interestedbut when his eyes flicked to mine, they saidoh, you wanna play? Let’s play.

Butterflies filled my chest and stomach. He shifted his hand, wrapping his fingers around mine.

“What kind of fungus has Jacksonnothad, more like,” Shannon answered before going on a long, rambling rant about how tough it was to eradicate toenail fungus because Jackson kept going barefoot in the gym showers.

“I’ve got your drinks here,” the server said sometime later.

“Thank fuck,” I whispered under my breath and Finn gave my fingers a squeeze.

Shannon pointed a spiky nail at me. “Olivia, be sure to check Finn’s feet for fungus every night after he gets home.”

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