Daring the Wild Sparks

by Alexander, Ren

  His full lips spring into a glorious grin. “Don’t forget about the glasses.”

  I haughtily smile. “Oh, I won’t.”

  His cocky grin diffidently falters. “Are you going to give me an answer?”

  I laugh and tug on his hair, bobbing his head. “You asked me to be your girlfriend three years ago. You know my answer.”

  Finn raises a hand from my hip and holds onto my upper arm. “But I need one here, at my school. What’s it going to be? Are you going to be mine? I pray that you will because I really want to kiss you.”

  Dragging my fingers through his hair, I watch the strands shimmering from brown to gold in the afternoon, cloud-filtered sunshine. “I thought you were going to go find another girl?”

  His head shakes under my fingers. “I can’t. Not when I’m so hung up on you.”

  I dig my fingers back into his hair and lightly pull it again. His hands tighten on my hips and I smile, knowing I’m turning him on. I tip my head and look into his heated gaze. “Do you write my name in your notebooks, whisper about me to your friends and stare at me in the halls?”

  His eyes burn with exhilaration. “Fuck, yes.”

  I bend closer so that our noses touch. Letting go of his hair, I grasp the top of his gray jacket. “Wow, Finn Wilder. Sounds like you have it bad for me.”

  The exhilaration sparking behind his glasses ignites into something hotter, and he replies again with, “Fuck, yes.”

  I giggle and lean my forehead down onto his and whisper, “Yes, I’ll go with you. You know, be your girlfriend. I’m yours.”

  Finn pulls his head back and smugly grins. “I knew you couldn’t say no to me.”

  Rolling my eyes, I retort, “Don’t be cocky, Wilder.” I purse my lips and raise an eyebrow, praying I don’t smile.

  He shakes his head. “You like me cocky.”

  “Cockiness will get you nowhere,” I counter, futilely shamming disdain.

  He squeezes my ass. “Oh yeah? I think it’ll get me in your pants.”

  I point at his chest. “Don’t you dare get overconfident and think I’m going to sleep with you. I’m saving myself for my epic love. My one, true love.”

  He smiles his sexy, crooked grin. “I’m here. And you’re already falling for me. It’s okay. Everybody loves me.”

  Desperately straddling the line of trying not to laugh or to kiss him senseless, I scoff, “We’ll see about that.”

  Unexpectedly, Finn moves his arms under my butt and swiftly picks me up. Grabbing onto his shoulders, I wrap my legs around his waist, and gripping onto his hoodie jacket, I pull it until his lips are on mine.

  His lips move avidly over mine, and he choppily says, “That. Was. So. Damn. Hot.”

  Wrenching my mouth from his, I ask, “Which part?”

  “All of it. I could take you right on home plate.”

  I cringe. “That would be dirty.” Literally, dirty. Not a turn-on.

  He proudly smirks. “Oh, baby, you like me dirty.”

  Diving in for another kiss, I laugh against his mouth, pulling away to nod over his shoulder. “There are people here walking the track, so that’s not going to happen anyway.”

  He tips his head back in mock defeat. “Shit.”

  Giggling at his playfulness, I say, “I guess you’ll just have to show me what you looked like when you were playing ball, hot shot.”

  Finn raises his head and boyishly smiles. “Okay.” He gives me a quick kiss and sets me down on the bench. Before he can walk to the diamond, I ruffle up his hair and tell him, “The messier, the better.”

  He shakes his head. “You’re crazy, baby,” he says with a lilted smile. For Finn Wilder? Hell, yes.

  When he turns and makes his way to the field, I quickly shrug out of his jacket and lay it on the bench behind me. I then unzip and take off my black hoodie, throwing it on top of his jacket. I straighten out my shirt. I had asked Julie to help me make a “jersey” for me on the fly. She found a spare, white T-shirt of Jack’s and pulled out a photo album since she couldn’t remember what number Finn was. I barely could concentrate on making the shirt after I saw the picture of him in his baseball uniform. Yum. I definitely would’ve been crushing on him. I wonder if he still has his uniform. If not, he’ll have to get one so I can have sex with him while he wears it. Especially with the cap.

  Julie and I had to be fast because I had no idea where Finn was for the time being. On the front of the shirt, I used a blue marker Simone had and wrote a huge 11 in the middle and in the upper corner: I love Finn. On the back, I wrote Wilder across the top, an 11 in the middle and then at the bottom corner of that, Sparks’ Girl.

  Simone had actually loved the idea. While I did the shirt, she found paper and made me a sign, printing bold letters with a black marker. The first three she had to throw away: Bite me. Do me. And then Marry me. I picked the fourth one she made.

  I grab the sign from my pocket and unfold it as fast as I can. When Finn reaches first base, I start cheering and bouncing excitedly on the bench.

  He spins around to see what I’m doing and his eyes nearly fall out of his head.

  I guess he notices my shirt and sign.

  Paws off, bitches!

  Wilder is MY man!

  Go, Finn!

  “Go, baby!” I shout and giggle.

  A slow smile creeps across his face and he puts his right hand over his heart. I blow him a kiss and jump off the bench. Striding to the chain link fence, I peer at him through the metal diamonds as he walks from first base to meet me.

  He checks out my shirt through the fence. “What did you do?”

  “I wanted to show you that I’m your biggest Finnatic.”

  Finn’s smile is smooth. “And my favorite.”

  “You look so sexy out there. You make me want to jump you on the dugout bench.”

  “Well, if you were wearing shorts or a skirt, we’d definitely be in there.” He nods his head to the nearest dugout. “We can still go in there. Come on.”

  “Hold on. I want to grab the jackets.”

  I pick them up from the bleachers and walk around the fence to the dugout he disappeared into. When I take a seat next to him, he wastes no time kissing me. As we kiss, rain begins to hit the roof and we break apart.

  He grumbles, “Shit. Well, I guess we can run for it.”

  “We can sit here for a little bit, can’t we?”

  Looking at me doubtfully, he says, “If you want to sit in a dugout.”

  “It’s with you and it’s where you used to sit during games.”

  Smiling, he states, “I never got to see your shirt. Turn around.” I stand up and pull my ponytail to the side so he can see the back of my “jersey.” Facing him again I ask, “Do you like it?”

  A brilliant white smile lights up his face. “I love it, Becks.”

  “I have my iPod.” I grab my jacket and find my white iPod in the pocket, a gift from Finn last Christmas. Without planning it, we had given each other the same thing, only different colors. Sitting down, I state, “You never know when you’ll have a music emergency.”

  His expression is perplexed. “What?”

  I scroll through my music as Finn leans on my shoulder to look at the screen. “A Rodism.”

  “He really says that?”

  “Yes. Do you know something I realized today?”

  He distractedly asks, “What?”

  “We don’t have a song.”

  He argues, “Yeah, we do.” That’s news to me.

  Without looking up from my iPod, I warn, “Do not say, ‘The Eye of the Tiger’ or I will punch you in the face and break up with you right now.”

  Finn gasps and mutters, “Damn. Well, what do you have on there? Any MC Hammer?”

  I whip my head to him, almost knocking his glasses off his face. “You’re joking?”

  Finn teasingly smirks. “Hell, no.”

  Narrowing my eyes at him, I ask, “You really don’t want to kiss me again, do you?”


  He leans his weight onto my arm, his breath floats down my neck and his cologne smells even sexier mixed with the damp air. “Oh, baby. You won’t be able to keep your hands off me for too long.” He’s so right.

  I look back to my iPod. “You’d be the one begging me to kiss you. You couldn’t even keep your hands off me this morning.”

  Dipping down, he kisses my neck, sending tingles through me, heightening my desire for him. “You’re absolutely right, Becks. I honestly can’t get enough of you. I want to nail you in my bed again before we leave tomorrow.”

  I shake my head and tease, “I told you, I’m waiting for my true love.”

  He sits up, turning my face to look at him. “Well, I know that you’re mine. You definitely would’ve been my first, along with being my last.”

  “Same here, Sparks. I would’ve given it to you…eventually.”

  “I would’ve waited,” he replies with sincerity.

  “I know you would have.” Leaning in for a quick kiss, I smile at him and stroke my fingers through his stubble. I pick Paramore’s “The Only Exception” and stand up. I set my iPod down on the bench and offer my hand to him. “Will you dance with me?”

  Finn stands and I put my hands on his shoulders as he winds his arms around my waist.

  “This is my song I pick for you. I picked it because you are the only one that I will ever love. There’s no one else for me. You’re the one I’ve been waiting to love.”

  “Same here, baby. There will never be anyone else for me.”

  I pull on his sweatshirt jacket and bring his mouth down to mine. My hands instantly go to his hair—my specialty.

  Shifting back, stretching my arms with him, he asks, “So, have you figured out where you want to go on vacation?”

  “No. Have you?”

  He shrugs. “We could go to a beach in a couple weeks when it’s warmer or we could get a cabin in the mountains.”

  My eyes light up. “I like the cabin idea because we just were at the beach, and then I’ll be at another one again for Morgan’s wedding.”

  “Okay. It doesn’t have to be the mountains. We could get a cabin at a lake. Wherever you want to go. We’ll even one with a hot tub. How’s that sound?”

  “Like heaven. I just don’t want to get eaten by a bear.”

  He tightens his arms around me, pulling me close. “I’ll protect you. I’ll keep you by my side the whole time. I promise.”

  “I’ll hold you to that.”

  “Do you think you can take about four, maybe five days off?”

  “That’s about all the days I have left since I took sick days plus a week’s vacation when I had pneumonia in January. I get more time added each month, though.” Finn had called off from work a couple days when I was at my worst to take care of me, camping out on my bed next to me, watching me nap, helping with breathing treatments, and giving me my meds. Another time I fell even more in love with him.

  He contemplatively nods. “Okay. I’ll look into some places.”

  “You want to be stuck with me in a cabin for that long?”

  Finn scowls. “Do you really expect me to answer that?”

  I smirk. “What ever will we do? I can bring some games and you can bring some movies.”

  He grins. “Now you’re talking. Rocky and Die Hard.”

  “I didn’t expect anything less. I guess that means you’ll watch Dirty Dancing and Pretty Woman with me?”

  Plastering a horrified expression onto his face, he asks, “What am I getting myself into?” I giggle as I clutch the side of his face and kiss him.

  Instead of letting up, the rain begins to pour harder. I groan. “I guess we will have to make a run for it.” I put my black jacket on and shove my iPod and sign into my pocket. I pull my hood over my head and then slide into Finn’s jacket. He doesn’t even bother with his hood. Men.

  Finn takes off his glasses and stuffs them into the pocket of his hoodie before he grabs my hand, hurriedly towing me behind him. His legs are too long and he’s way too fast to drag me at his speed.

  We make it halfway to the school and Finn’s vigorous pace increases until we’re running, but I can’t keep up. “I can’t run that fast!”

  Finn abruptly stops and I run into his back. He stoops. “Hop on!”

  I instantly jump onto him and hold tight; however, he doesn’t make a move. Instead, he turns his face and shouts, “I always liked the rain!”

  I yelp, “Finn, I’m getting soaked!”

  “The wetter, the better!” He can’t even stop stealing my lines in a downpour.

  Suddenly, he twirls fast and I squeal as I tighten my arms around him. “What are you doing?” I squeak, hoping I don’t fly off of his back.

  “Playing with my good luck charm!” he yells over the rain.

  I bury my head in his shoulder to drive away the dizziness. “I’m going to puke!”

  Mercifully, Finn halts the spinning and I raise my head. He reclines his head so my face is in his. “Sorry. I got carried away,” he sputters in the drizzle.

  I plow a hand through his soaked hair, flicking more water droplets. “That’s okay. At least I get to see you in some kind of shower this weekend.”

  I move to kiss him, but he unexpectedly stoops again and I slide off. “What’s wrong?”

  Turning around, he hastily picks me up. “Nothing. I just want to carry you this way.”

  “You can’t go very fast then.”

  “I don’t want to.” He grabs my sopping ponytail, tugging my face down. “I’d rather kiss my girl.” Letting go of my hair, he puts his hand on my face to move me the rest of the way to his mouth. When our lips meet, he thrusts his tongue into my mouth and kisses me with wild abandon, not caring that we’re being drenched in a monsoon. My hands slide throughout his slick, dark brown hair as we kiss, intermittently gasping for air as we lose ourselves amongst the drops of water cascading over us.

  CHAPTER 19

  When we got back to the house, Finn and I used separate bathrooms to take a shower. It’s kind of weird that we took showers after being in a shower.

  My iPod made it through the downpour, which I was glad. Julie grinned at the sight of me wearing Finn’s jacket. Simone gagged at us. I’m going to assume that Owen never returned her call.

  When we got back to Julie’s, she advised us to leave our wet clothes in the sink and she’d pick them up to wash them for us before we leave tomorrow. That’s so nice of her and such a motherly thing to do, I guess. I wouldn’t know.

  Sitting on the edge of my side of Finn’s bed, I raptly stare at his class ring. Oddly, this ring, unlike my Easter ring, gives me a warm feeling. He used to wear his class ring and now he wants me to have it. I’m aware that I won’t actually put yarn on it and wear it anywhere, but the symbolism is still significant to me.

  Finn didn’t tell me about soccer or his seeing a psychologist. Maybe he won’t. That makes me feel sad for the both of us. Sad that he doesn’t want to talk about it, and sad that he doesn’t want to talk about it with me.

  The door opens, startling me, as Finn walks into his room and catching me staring at his ring. He’s dressed in a tight, gray T-shirt that clings to his damp skin. Even his black sweatpants are sexy on him, subtly showcasing the bulge between his legs. His wet hair sticks up in spiky patches and his glasses are back on his face.

  Double. Hot. Damn.

  Looking utterly mystified by my blatant gawking, he asks, “What?”

  I shake my head and put his ring on the nightstand next to his phone, keys, watch and wallet.

  Offhandedly, I mention, “You didn’t get to say goodbye to Ricky.”

  He shuts the door and regards me peculiarly. “Yeah I did. Before we left for my school. I told him not to wreck the rental.”

  I raise an eyebrow. “How sentimental of you.”

  Walking over to me, he asks, “What did you want me to do? Hug him at his knees and beg him not to go? Chain myself to the rental car? Confes
s my undying love to him?” Just about.

  I giggle, thinking about Finn doing just that, and shrug. “No. I guess I can’t say much since I didn’t tell him goodbye.”

  Stopping in front me so that my bent knees are against his legs, he puts his hands on his hips. “You mean, you didn’t tell my best friend goodbye? What’s wrong with you?” he teases.

  I roll my eyes. “I think Ricky is fine with me not telling him goodbye.”

  He shakes his head and playfully smacks my thigh. “Yeah, but I’m not. You may have hurt his feelings.”

  I frown and mockingly glare at him. “Not likely.”

  A pensive look crosses his face. “Well, I think maybe you should make it up to his best friend, at least.” Leaning down, he puts his hands on either side of my hips. His lips are inches from mine, and the strong smell of his body wash and wet skin forces my hormones into overdrive.

  Playing along, I coquettishly ask, “I should? Well, how do I make it up to his best friend?”

  Deliberately straightening to my chagrin, his eyes float over my body in a circuit before he quietly answers, “You should touch him.”

  A smile sweeps across my lips as I stare up at him. “Where?”

  “Anywhere.” I’m pretty sure I know where that is.

  I stand. “How about here?” With my right hand, I drag my nails along his scruff and he leans his face into my palm as I glide my thumb over his bottom lip with my left.

  Finn kisses my fingers and whispers, “Lower.”

  Through his glasses, his bottomless, brown depths blaze. Moving my hands down to his biceps and up the short sleeves of his T-shirt, I caress his shamrock and cross. “Here?”

  Without taking his fervent stare off me, he torpidly shakes his head. “Lower.”

  “Hmm. What about here?” I move my hands down his barbed wire tattoos and over his shirt to his chest.

  He huskily says, “Lift up my shirt.”

  I pick up the bottom of his shirt and slide my hands up along his skin to his pecs. “How’s that, Sparks?” He nods. I kiss his sternum, gripping his hip with one hand and toying his key with the other. I feel and hear him tranquilly sigh. His scent is even more potent, now mixed with the smell of his arousal. His heart pounds beneath my kisses and his light chest hair tickles my nose and cheeks.