Daring the Wild Sparks

by Alexander, Ren

  He’s wearing his glasses.

  Hot. Damn.

  It is outrageous how sexy he is wearing them. He never has them on in public, but he also doesn’t like to wear them around me either. That’s a blunder on his part because I’d want to jump his bones even more than usual. They make him look brainy to go with his outgoing personality, which is super-hot.

  I walk over and stand behind him, putting my arms around his neck and my cheek against the side of his head. I peer down to his delicious-looking pancakes that look nothing like my sorry attempts. “I see you’re cheating on me again.”

  He nods his head, bobbing mine with it. “I am, Becks. Sorry. I promise to only have eyes for your pancakes after we get home.”

  I scoff, “Save it, Wilder. I already told you at Bethany’s that I just won’t make them for you anymore. You’ll have to find someone else to give you pancakes from now on.”

  He puts a hand up on my arm, tipping his head back, and I move my head so I can see his face, the light reflecting from his glasses. “Aw, baby. Don’t say that!” he fake-pouts. “I love the way your pancakes taste. They melt in my mouth. They’re pure heaven.” My gaze falls to his mouth when he suggestively licks his lips.

  Not yielding to his attempts at seduction through flattery and sexy tongue maneuvers, I say, “Nope. You aren’t worthy to eat my pancakes. I’ll make them for someone else.” I slide my arms off his shoulders and step away, but he quickly spins his stool around and grabs my arm, yanking me to him so that I’m standing between his legs, akin to me standing between them at the club in front of those bitches. His back is to his mother and Ricky. Sparks’ arms go around my waist and I put my hands on his thighs, scratching my fingers against his dark gray sweatpants, being careful I don’t go too high to incite an Easter breakfast erection for him to display.

  Smiling, he says, “No way. I’ll always eat your pancakes. No one enjoys eating them more than I do.”

  Ricky holds his fork mid-air and asks, “Wait. Are you actually talking about pancakes or what?” He looks at us in confusion and then scowls. “If you’re talking about sex, will you wait until I’m done so I don’t puke all over my pancakes?”

  Without taking his eyes off me, Finn stretches his arm behind him to flip Ricky off. I giggle at Ricky’s sour expression.

  “Alright, Finn,” Julie cautions, obliging Finn to look back at Ricky and laugh.

  Simone walks into the room as Ricky adds, “No more sex talk in the kitchen, Wilder.”

  Returning to me, Finn shrugs. “Okay. How about I just have sex with her in the kitchen instead, right here on the counter? I promise we won’t talk.”

  “Come on, man!” Ricky complains, dropping his fork.

  “Yuck!” Simone yelps.

  “Finn Robert!” Julie scolds from the stove.

  “Oops,” he says with a huge grin and without a trace of remorse.

  “Hadley, sweetie, here are your pancakes. You can sit down here by me if my vulgar son is bothering you.”

  Finn tightens his hands on my back. “Nope. She’s not leaving me. She loves my vulgarity. Everybody does,” he tacks on with a cocky tone, raising an audacious eyebrow, challenging me to argue with him. I purse my lips, trying not to laugh.

  Simone complains grumpily, “Ugh. Please, Wilderness, go get laid before we leave. I don’t want to run into you guys doing it on a hiking trail.”

  “Simone Rachelle!”

  “Busted, crybaby,” Finn teases his sister as he grips my shirt and pulls me in for a maple-flavored kiss.

  “My breakfast is trashed,” Ricky gripes.

  Simone scoffs, “Agreed, Officer Tesco.”

  Julie asks, “Ricky, are you coming with us to Henlopen?”

  “Henlo what?”

  “Henlopen State Park. It’s about an hour away from here.”

  Ricky gives Finn and me a sickened look before he says to Julie, “As much as I’d love to have these two arrested for indecent exposure, I can’t. I have to work tomorrow, so I’m taking the rental and heading back to Richmond in a couple hours. Thank you anyway for the invitation and thank you for having me here. I know I’ve been in the way.”

  “Ricky, I should be thanking you. You’ve been so great. I’m sorry the weekend was more than you bargained for.”

  He smiles and shakes his head. “Don’t worry about it. I just hope I was of some help.”

  Julie squeezes his arm. “You were. Thank you so much.”

  Finn looks over his shoulder and announces, “FYI, as much as you like saying my name, Ricky even loves his name more than I do.” He nods his head to Ricky. “Isn’t that right, Richmond Charles?”

  Ricky frowns at my chortling boyfriend. Such fifth-graders.

  “I love it!” Simone giggles.

  Getting up and walking around the bar, Ricky shoves Finn on the shoulder. “Not exactly, Finnigan Robert.”

  Ricky walks back to his seat and takes his plate to the sink. Finn tugs on my shirt again, causing me to lean forward, in which he whispers, “I love these pajamas, but I’d like them better on the floor.”

  I giggle and flick my eyes to everyone else eating at the long bar. Ricky and Julie are talking about how Ricky got his name and Simone is checking her phone.

  I whisper in his ear, “Wear your glasses today. You are smoking hot, Sparks.”

  He looks at me doubtfully and quietly asks, “Really?”

  Biting my lip, I slowly nod and he bends to my ear. “Eat and then come upstairs.”

  I whisper back, “Why?”

  His lips brush my ear when he replies, “We never officially broke in my bed yet.”

  “Stop whispering over there!” Simone whines.

  “Simone, you don’t even want to hear what they’re whispering about,” Ricky says, raising a knowing eyebrow at us. Great.

  Finn turns his head to say to Ricky, “Shut up, Tesco. You’re just jealous that I’m not sharing my secret recipes with you.” At least Ricky hears the rest of Finn’s secrets.

  Ricky keeps his eyes down on his coffee mug. “Yes. That’s it. You caught me,” he replies monotonously.

  I move to give Finn room as he stands. Still on my back, his hands slide up underneath my shirt, grazing my skin, and lightly digging in his fingertips before he walks out of the kitchen.

  Shit. I want to forget about stupid pancakes and follow him.

  I hurriedly eat my breakfast and help clean up, but Julie shoos me away, telling me to get ready for our trip. I have other things to do first, like her son.

  As I practically bounce out of the kitchen, Simone mutters, “Tell Wilderness to make it a quickie so we can leave soon.” I glance at her from the corner of my eye and see she’s checking her phone again. She adds, “I mean, at least change your shirts beforehand.”

  “Simone!” Julie exclaims, putting her hands on her hips and glaring at her daughter. Ricky laughs as I hightail it out of there and nearly run up the stairs.

  When I enter his room, Sparks is lying on his back in the middle of his unmade bed, grinning, which makes me beam at him in return. I shut the door and lock it before bounding to the bed and leaping onto him. He laughs as he rolls us over, his key necklace dangling between us.

  He tries to kiss me and I move my head. “I have maple syrup breath!”

  Laughing again, he says, “So do I. Maybe we should form a support group.”

  I giggle as he kisses my cheek, traveling down to my neck. “Simone told us to make it a quickie so we can leave.”

  “Did she?” he mumbles over my throat as he yanks my shirt to the side and moves to kiss my shoulder. Lifting his head, his eyes flash wickedly and he huskily whispers, “I guess that means I have to make love to you ever…so…slowly.”

  With my hands on his chest, my right over his tattoo, I’m already panting. “Only if you wear your key and glasses. Nothing else.”

  “I can do that.” His lips heatedly merge with mine and I wind my arms around his neck, holding him close
to me.

  Amongst our kisses I whisper, “Fuck me in your old bed, Finnigan.”

  He groans against my mouth. “I can do that, too, Hadley.” His fingers go to my waistband and I instantly tingle for him, outrageously needing him inside me.

  As he works my pants down, I warn, “Sparks, we have to be quiet.”

  He hovers over me and his dark, lustful eyes pierce my soul. “Huh-uh. That’s something I can’t do. Not when I’ll finally have you in this bed.” I try to object, but his lips overwhelm mine, passionately kissing me, and I smile against his lips as my hands gluttonously tear at his shirt.

  CHAPTER 17

  Sitting in the backseat, Finn strokes his fingers with mine as he holds my hand on top of his thigh. In the front passenger seat, Simone alternatingly glances out the side windows and the windshield like she’s a cat watching a laser light on a dark wall.

  I glance at Sparks to see him gazing out his door’s tinted window, his left hand propped against it while his index finger lazily brushes his bottom lip. He’s deep in thought about something, but he definitely won’t tell me what he’s thinking of with his mother and sister sitting a few feet from us. Shit, he probably wouldn’t tell me anyway even if we were alone.

  Is he thinking about our lovemaking a little over two hours ago? He meant it when he said he wouldn’t be able to stay quiet, brashly moaning while frantically knocking the headboard against the wall with each wild thrust. I begged him to be quiet, but that only forced him to be noisier until he powerfully came. Fortunately, since Finn was so turned on from having sex in his childhood bed, he wasn’t loud for long, which was good in regard to not being overheard.

  And for the third time this weekend, he fucked me without a condom.

  Simone complains about a slow driver in front of us while playing with the radio, much to Julie’s annoyance, smacking Simone’s hand.

  Still quiet, Finn continues to watch the passing scenery, while languidly sliding his index finger over the top of my hand. Examining his distracted profile, his rough stubble is longer and darker than it was yesterday; also evident from the light scratches he left on me this morning, ravenously sucking on my nipples until my breasts were completely sore from his fervor and his beard. His light brown hair is deliciously disheveled from my own inability to keep my hands out of it, which only further fueled his failure to be subtle. Not bothering to brush it and paired with his gold-rimmed glasses, he looks every bit like a rebellious college professor. If his Finnatics could see him now, they would certainly shove me in front of a speeding car just to get a piece of him.

  I don’t want to tell Finn anything that Julie, Simone and I talked about last night because I’m technically not supposed to know any of it. If he had wanted me to know, he would’ve enlightened me himself. Why hasn’t he?

  My gaze falls to what Sparks is wearing: faded jeans, a gray sweatshirt hoodie jacket over a black Henley, and black Converse—definitely not shoes Greg Rodwell would ever wear. I’m also wearing worn jeans, black Converse like Finn’s, and my own black, zippered hoodie to wear over my white T-shirt emblazoned with Arctic Monkeys, one of my favorite bands. It was a gift from Rod for our Secret Santa gift exchange last year, which wasn’t such a secret since band T-shirts are one of his obsessions. Seeing Finn and I coming down the stairs holding hands, Simone pointed out that we looked “excruciatingly lovey-dovey,” and the fact we were even dressed alike. She then loudly gagged.

  Arriving at Henlopen, Julie parks the car and jumps out, stopping on her way to answer her phone. Before we can get out of the car, Simone swiftly turns around to the backseat, glances down at our hands on Finn’s thigh and says to us, “Don’t you think you two did enough handholding earlier?”

  Finn looks at her with confusion, matching me yet again, as I regard Simone with the same amount of bewilderment. He shakes his head. “Huh?”

  “I heard you in your room, Wilderness. You weren’t exactly quiet.” Grabbing onto the driver’s seat’s headrest, she histrionically pants before imitating Finn’s deep voice like last night, ‘Damn, I can’t get enough of you, Becks. You’re so unfuckingbelievable. So tight. Fuck, I’m coming.”

  My entire body freezes.

  Oh, dear God. She did hear him!

  I want to die.

  Simone grimaces at her brother as my eyes and jaw hit the floor, unable to look at Finn’s expression. The tightening of his hand in mine is the only reaction I detect from him.

  She sneers, “Yeah. Ricky and I heard you, Wilderness. Be glad Mom was on the phone in the kitchen.” With a nod to our hands, she adds, “Now, you’re practically making Hadley give you a hand job. Didn’t you get enough already?” Holy shit, Simone!

  My face burns with humiliation. I told him to be quiet! I honestly didn’t think he was really going to be that loud! Was I that loud? Oh, fuck!

  I attempt to pull my hand away, but Finn tenses his grip, having other plans for me. He places my palm firmly against his crotch, and begins moving my hand up and down the seam of his jeans, feeling the swell of his balls beneath the denim. Too shocked even to protest, he takes advantage of that. Biting his tongue and sucking air through his teeth, he lets his head fall back against the seat as he prods my hand faster, dramatically huffing and moaning as he expeditiously strokes my hand on him. “Just like that, Becks. Unfuckingbelievable. Fuck, I’m coming.”

  Suddenly, his eyes fly open and he derisively mocks, “Like that, Sims?”

  Simone’s eyes practically bulge out of her skull at Finn’s lewd display. “Gross, Finn Wilder! Mom!”

  Stopping my hand, Finn wickedly laughs as Simone throws open her door and slams it shut. He yells at the window as she huffs past, “What a baby!”

  I angrily yank my hand out of his and punch him in the shoulder with my other, taking him by surprise. His mouth gapes as I glare at him.

  Now, I’m beyond mortified and disgraced—similar to how I felt at the club, except this time, he’s sober.

  Astonished, he cagily looks at me and then to the front seat. “What? I was joking with her!”

  Needing to get away from him, I slide over to my door and get out of the car. Humiliated, I timidly walk to the tailgate just as Julie lifts the door and Finn’s door slam shut. Not looking at each other, Simone and I each grab something to carry.

  Finn was noisier than he usually is when we make love. At times, he does shout, but he isn’t normally so vociferous the entire time, so I don’t know whether he was loud on purpose, hoping to piss off his mother, or if he honestly couldn’t hold back and got carried away. Regardless, I’m horrified his sister and his best friend heard us having sex, combined with the intimate way he just used me to torment Simone.

  I tug the medium-sized, red cooler to me, but Finn immediately steps in, taking it from me. He doesn’t think I can carry a cooler?

  Picking up the picnic basket instead, I slide it out of the car. Julie shuts the door and we follow her to a picnic area near the lot. The Atlantic Ocean glimmers a short distance away from the site. The late morning is still cool and the light wind is crisp. Finn walks silently beside me, not making a move to hold my hand with his free one, which is a good thing since I’d probably punch him again.

  Simone picks out a table and we set our things down on it. She abruptly turns to me and nodding down to the beach asks, “Walk with me?” Before I can answer, she pulls on my arm. As I brush past my boyfriend, I hear him huff in protest, but I keep going, allowing Simone to tow me to the shore. She’s about six inches or so taller and apparently stronger than me, too.

  When we’re on the edge of the wet sand, she looks over her shoulder and sighs. Slowing us to a casual pace, she lets go of me. “I’m sorry for embarrassing you back there, Hadley. I shouldn’t have done that. I wanted to make fun of my brother because Ricky and I heard him, but when I was teasing him, I failed to think about how you were involved. I know that’s stupid of me to forget something like that, but I did. I’m so sorry.”

&
nbsp; “That was all-around mortifying.”

  “You didn’t care for his simulating you jerking him off?”

  I wince. “Not at all.”

  She scoffs, “It’s not like you haven’t touched his dick before.”

  Twisting my hands, I look past Simone and watch the waves roll, squinting from the sun peeking out from a break in the clouds. “Not in front of an audience. Jeez.”

  She nods with an incredulous laugh. “That was an appalling move for him to do to you.”

  I cross my arms over my chest as the ocean breeze whips through my ponytail and bangs. I still can’t look at her. “Your mom didn’t hear us upstairs, did she? It’s bad enough you and Ricky did.”

  “No, but I think she knew what you guys were doing. She’s not stupid. She wouldn’t have had you two sharing a bed if she thought you weren’t fucking him.”

  “Wow, Simone,” I grumble at how blunt she is. It’s also unnerving how Julie anticipates me having sex with her son. I gripe, “It didn’t help that you advised for us to have a quickie.”

  She laughs and kicks at a shell. “Probably not. I’m being such a brat today. Sorry again.”

  “Maybe it’s because you miss Owen.”

  “Yeah. I do. I tried calling him, but he didn’t answer, so I sent him a text. He hasn’t answered that either.”

  “He will.”

  She sighs. “I want a love like you and Finn have. I see the way he looks at you, touches you—holding your hand, caressing your back. I notice the smiles you give each other when you think nobody’s looking, and how he whispers to you, making your face light up from what he said. Then there’s how he gave you that damned nickname and then getting it tattooed on his chest.” Shaking her head, she laughs and I reticently smile, brushing wind-blown strands of hair from my face. “I heard him telling you he loves you while you were having sex.” I nearly stop walking as I stiffen and cringe with thick embarrassment coursing through me again.

  Slowing down, Simone bumps her arm against mine. “It’s okay, Hadley. I want to have all of that too. I’m in awe of how much my brother is in love with you. I’ve never seen him in love before. He and I only grew up in the same house for a couple years together before he went to college, but he’s the one who visited more often than my sisters or Beau. I idolize him.” She puts her finger to her lips and says, “I still do, but don’t tell him. It’ll only go to his head.” I giggle and she says, “He seemed to have it all, but he was always alone. That’s why seeing him share himself and his life with you is so awesome. When we were in the ER that night, it was as if he was hypnotized when he saw you. He was drawn to you like a moth to a flame. He didn’t even know who you were, yet he refused to leave your side. I watched as Wilderness gave away his heart to a complete stranger.”