I can hear Finn swallow hard before answering, “No.”
I turn to him, letting go of his hand. “You wouldn’t take me to Mass if I were wearing this? It’s a charming dress, not inappropriate for church.”
He doesn’t look at me as he replies, “No, I wouldn’t take you.”
“Why?”
“You know why,” he asserts with a burning look that could start a forest fire.
Morgan states audaciously, “Hmm. I see someone couldn’t keep it in his pants this morning.”
“No way!” Rod shouts, his head whipping up. “You were screwing when I called then? I thought you said Finn was in the shower?” I look away from Morgan’s and Rod’s intrusive scrutiny. Finn clears his throat. I look up at him and he’s failing horribly to hide a shameless grin. Jerk.
Morgan rolls her eyes and laughs. “Oh, a shower. So, Finn, you didn’t even have to take it out of your pants after all. You already had it ready to deliver.” Finn sucks on his smiling, bottom lip, which only makes him look all the guiltier.
Rod huffs, “Hey! So that’s why you were late! Morning sex! Thanks a lot, Hadders!”
Finn puts his arms around me and picks me up. I ensnare him, burying my face into his neck, smelling his deliciousness. I can feel his sensual voice vibrating through his throat and over my lips pressed against him. “I warned her about the dress.”
“See. I told you if you wear a dress for Finn, he would love it. You look totally fuckable now!” Morgan laughs.
I raise my head from Finn’s shoulder and peer over his face at her. “Thanks,” I mutter sarcastically. I look down at his face, my eyes getting lost in his deep, dark depths. “Wasn’t I before?” I mean to ask teasingly, but it comes off distractedly.
Finn unwittingly licks his lips. “You don’t need to wear a dress to turn me on, baby,” he whispers up at me, his eyes drifting from mine down to my lips.
“We could tell yesterday after the race,” Rod says with disgust in his voice. I look down to Finn’s mouth as my face hovers above his. I lower my head down to kiss his inviting lips and Rod starts gagging loudly.
Before we can become lost in our kiss, Finn steals his lips away from mine. “We’ll find you…someone.” he says to Rod, his big, brown eyes shining with humor.
“A woman, Wilder. I’m not gay!”
Morgan twists around on the blanket so she can see Rod behind her. “That’s not what the wall in the men’s restroom at the gym says.”
Rod gapes at her. “How in the fuck would you know what the men’s room wall says?”
Morgan shrugs and checks out her pink nails. “I’m dating a personal trainer who likes to be daring in his own way.” She glances at Finn and laughs.
Finn perceptively smirks at Morgan. “That’s my favorite way to be daring.” I can’t take it anymore. I dip my head down and run my tongue through his stubble, away from everyone’s view, making him close his eyes. I feel a low humming noise through his chest. I’m so close to taking him to his car and making use out of his backseat.
Finn’s eyes flutter open and he slowly puts me down. “What the hell goes on at the gym you three go to? Maybe I should join yours instead of working out at the station.”
I straighten out my dress as Finn watches me like a hawk. I sneer, “Wow, Morgan. I’m also sorry that I know that.” I scowl at her and she laughs.
Rod looks both sickened and panicked. “Fuck! I take my showers in there!”
Morgan rolls her eyes. “How much you guys want to bet that Rod lost his virginity on this blanket?”
Rod’s mouth immediately hits the ground. “Hey, Morgasm! That’s not even funny!”
“You’re right, Rod. I’m sorry. I meant how much you guys want to bet that Rod is still a virgin?”
“I’m 27 years-old! I lost it when I was 17!”
She raises an incredulous, perfectly plucked eyebrow. “To a girl?”
“Yes, a girl!”
“Was her name Blow-Up Betty?”
He grumbles, “No. It was Jenna. Shut up.”
Morgan hops up and walks over to Finn. “I want to get a closer look at this hickey that Rod has been carrying on about.” He promptly angles his head so she can see it. Grinning, she moves back and smacks my arm. “Nice one!”
Finn beams immodestly. “Isn’t it? My girl just can’t help herself.” He stoops and playfully bites my neck; making me squeal.
“Gross,” Rod complains. He sets his iPod in his portable amplifier and picks a song. “Let’s eat.”
Finished with his phone call, Ivan walks over and we greet him. We all take a seat on the blanket. I dig into my bag and pull out everyone’s sandwiches, handing them to each person. I hand Morgan a sandwich, but she shakes her head at me.
“What the fuck is this?” Rod asks, holding his wrapped sandwich up for me to see.
“What do you mean?” I ask innocently, struggling to not burst out laughing.
“A poison sticker? What the hell did you do to my sandwich, Hadders? Are you trying to kill me?”
Morgan scoffs, “If she were really trying to kill you, do you think she’d actually put a warning sticker on it before you ate it, Nimrod?”
“I don’t know. Some people do crazy shit. It also says, In case of emergency, please call: Morgan Yates.” Rod pushes up on his bandana and gives a hardened glare to Morgan. “Shit. I’d be dead if someone called you.”
She asks, “What the hell do you have on, by the way? You look like a reject from Karate Kid 10: Daniel’s Downward Spiral: The Musical.”
“Shut your pie hole, Morgasm.”
“And what is this shit that we’re listening to? It’s worse than that time you made a screeching noise when you were being ‘chased’ by a honey bee.”
Rod’s mouth sags and he stares incredulously at Morgan. “That fucking thing was chasing me! I swear to everything holy! That bee was on drugs! It chased me two blocks! I think it even had a pitch fork. You probably cast a spell on it.”
Finn laughs. “Maybe it was the women’s perfume you like to wear.”
“It’s not women’s! It’s unisex, Wilder! Fuck me!”
Finn’s face pinches into a sour look. “No, thanks. I’ll pass.”
“It seems like you do have a crush on our resident hottie here, Dick Rod,” Morgan observes, nodding her head over to Finn. Dick Rod. Oh, yes. One time Morgan, Rod and I had lunch at the park near our building. Morgan asked what Rod’s middle name was, but he wouldn’t tell her. So, she actually wrestled him to the ground and took his wallet to see his driver’s license. His middle name is Richard. Gregory Richard Rodwell, thus the Dick Rod. I refuse to call him that, so Morgan is the only one that does. Poor Rod. It’s bad enough nobody calls him by his rightful name.
“I do not have a crush on Wilder!” Rod turns to Finn, almost pleading with him. “I promise you that I do not harbor any kind of sexual feelings toward you!”
Finn grimaces before he takes a bite of his food. “That’s good to know.”
“You’re taken anyway!” Rod argues and then his entire face freezes. Finn stops mid-chew. Rod drops his sandwich down onto his wrapper. “That did not come out right!”
“Sure,” I say before biting into my sandwich. “Do I have to worry about you stealing my man?”
“Shut up, Hadders!”
“Hell no!” Finn growls at the same time.
“I think they have support groups for confused people such as yourself,” Ivan says, grinning at Rod.
“Okay, Mr. Muscles! You can stay out of it, too! I already have Wilder riding me!”
Finn protests, “I am not riding you. Don’t even joke about that.” He shifts closer to me on the blanket, his hand now propped on the other side of my body, next to my hip, as he leans against me. His scent is forcing me to want to unbuckle his belt.
“Ahhh!” Rod yells down at his abandoned sandwich.
“I’ll eat your sandwich, Rod,” I say and hold out my hand.
“That so
unds naughty, Hadders. I don’t think Finn wants you taking a bite of my sandwich.”
“You got that right,” Finn states, his humor gone.
“Don’t eat too much,” Morgan imparts. “You know how Shane is already going to be kicking your ass tomorrow.”
I sigh. “I know. Especially since Mondays he’s even more sadistic with an extra helping of relentless bitchiness.”
“Shane?” Finn asks.
“Shane is my personal trainer. I told you about him.”
He shakes his head and the skin around his eyes crinkle. “I just hadn’t heard you mention his name before.”
I nod over to Ivan and wince. “He and Ivan are best friends.”
Ivan laughs. “He’s not that bad.” His blue eyes dance as he runs a hand through his spiky, blonde hair.
“Oh, yes he is! He hates me!” I sound like a grade school girl complaining about a mean boy in her class.
“He only pushes you because he knows you can do it. He likes you.”
“He does?” I ask in astonishment.
“He does?” Finn echoes edgily.
Ivan brushes a few crumbs from his white T-shirt and laughs. “Whoa! As a client.”
“He talks about me?” Probably about my chubby thighs.
“He knows you and Morgan are friends and that Morgan and I are together.” Why does Rod call him Jethro? He doesn’t even have an accent? Rod, Rod, Rod.
“Oh. Well, I still think he’s a hardass,” I complain.
“You can tell him yourself, if you want. I have his number right here and I just talked to him about 20 minutes ago.” Ivan holds up his phone.
I cringe and fervently shake my head. “No, thanks. He’ll own my ass tomorrow.”
Finn leans in close to me and softly teases, “You won’t need to work out tomorrow once I’m done with you tonight.” I bite my smiling lip and look down at my lap. I feel him grinning against my ear.
“Cut it out over there!” Rod yips across from us.
Finn sits back. “Cut what out?”
“Making out, or whispering sweet nothings to Hadders.”
“You think this is making out?” Finn pulls my face to his and kisses me passionately in front of everyone, his tongue slipping into my mouth, his hand determinedly rubbing my shoulder as he kisses me. I feel all eyes on us, like we’re a museum exhibit. Why is he doing this again? We’re with our friends, but we’re still very much in public. Amazingly, he doesn’t seem to care right now.
“Come on, you two! This is a family event! Let’s not try to make a family here and now,” Rod grouses and throws his uneaten sandwich at us. “I want to see both of your hands, Wilder, above Hadders’ dress. Don’t try to get her off in front of us!”
Finn immediately stops kissing me and scoots away. I can feel the hot irritation rolling off of him. I’m not sure if he’s pissed at Rod’s comment about getting me off, or if he’s mad because Rod insinuated that Finn would even want to have a baby with me. Probably both.
Finn suddenly stands. “Finn?” I grab for his hand, but he moves out of my reach. He strides to and behind the massive tree we’re all parked in front of. His back is to us, but I still notice that his index and middle fingers are brushing his bottom lip. Shit. He’s deep in thought. What’s going on with him now? I want to go over to him, but I’m afraid he’ll push me away, maybe physically; definitely emotionally.
What is wrong with my boyfriend? What is he hiding from me?
Morgan’s gaze trails from Finn to me. She says to Rod while staring at me, “Play a good tune, Rod, and I think you know what I want.”
“No way, Mortgage! Do I have to play it?”
“Yes.”
“Really?”
Morgan swings her head over her shoulder to Rod. “Do it!”
Rod pouts as he picks up his iPod. “You always make me play it!”
“It’s Hadley’s and my song! Play it!” I glance at Finn and he’s still in his own galaxy. Is he mad at me? Rod?
Rod sighs as he peruses through his music library. “You know how I love to dance, but you two seem to have some kind of moratorium on anyone else dancing with you when this song is on.”
Morgan stands and pulls me up with her; however, my eyes are still on Finn’s back. He has a hand on a hip and his fingers are still working his lip. “That’s right, Dick Rod!”
“Damn it,” Rod mutters. He puts the iPod into the speaker and Belinda Carlisle’s “Heaven Is a Place on Earth” starts.
“Come on, Hadley! Dance with me!” Morgan shakes her hips to the beat and lets go of my hand to twirl around. This song does things to us both. You won’t normally see Morgan dancing like this for anything. Only for this song. Shortly after meeting at the firm, we discovered our shared love for this song. We play it all the time for each other, especially when we get ready for our workouts at the gym. It’s our anthem. I have a song with both of my girlfriends.
Morgan grabs my hand and spirals me around, under her hand, singing as we dance in front of the blanket, dodging Rod’s laser beam glares. She can sing. I try, but successfully fail. Morgan grabs both of my hands and pulls me to her, and we sing loudly to each other. My ponytail bounces along my shoulder and back as we jump around like kids. That absolutely cannot be helped when this song is on. This song came out when I was in middle school. I think I killed the cassette tape I had to it.
We dance over to Rod and he irritably pushes us away, making us giggle crazily. Dancing away from him, something catches my eye. Finn is leaning against the tree with his strong arms crossed over his chest, his legs crossed at the ankles, watching me. His expression is unreadable, his sensuous lips unsmiling and his brown eyes don’t leave me as I twist and sashay with Morgan.
Pulling me forward, Morgan swings me and I stop short right in front of Finn, who doesn’t blink as he continues to stare down at me. Morgan dances over to Ivan and pulls him up to dance with her. At least he’ll dance.
I look into Finn’s unfaltering gaze. I wrap my fingers around his intersected arms and attempt to pry them apart, but it’s like trying to reposition a bronze statue. “Come on, baby. Dance with me.” He doesn’t reply as his eyes pore over my face, his jaw muscles rolling underneath his stubble. I drop my hands to his hips and try to pull him to me, but he doesn’t budge. Okay. I dip my fingers into his front pockets to try it that way. Nope. His gaze darkens and his irises are almost black. Is he mad? Turned on?
“Please dance with me.” I do my best to plead with my eyes. A lazy smirk finally emerges and he shakes his head. With his arms still crossed, he leans forward, scraping against the bark of the tree and whispers, “You know I don’t dance.”
“There’s something Finn Wilder doesn’t do?” I whisper back mockingly. Besides get married and have kids. “Are you afraid?” I inquire, using Belinda’s song as inspiration.
“No,” his deep voice asserts, but his eyes scream yes.
“Hey! How come your men are allowed to dance to this song, but I can’t?” I see Rod standing and crossing his arms. Unlike Finn’s crossed arm stance, which is an obvious defense mechanism, Rod’s is out of petulance, like a small child who had a toy taken away from them.
I stretch up close, to Finn’s lips. “Are you my man, Finn Wilder?”
His eyes silently roam down to my lips, my breasts and then back up to my eyes. “Always.” I speedily spin around and lean against him. His arms instantly wrap around me as I sway to the beat with his chest alongside my back. I look over at Morgan who is kissing Ivan, her arms snug around his neck and his bulky arms holding her to him. Finn’s muscles are more defined than massive like Ivan’s. To me, Finn’s body is so much sexier, especially when he uses those muscles to make love to me.
To the other side of me, Rod appears to be pretty repulsed by Morgan and Ivan, but he doesn’t look away from them either.
Finn’s hands slide down to my hips and I push back into his fly. He swiftly leans down to my ear. “You have to stop doing that.”
“Doing what?”
“Brushing up against me like that, especially when wearing this dress. Remember this morning?”
I angle my head up at him and his eyes fall to mine. “Oh, yes.” I move my hips to grind into him again, but his grip stops me.
“Becks, I mean it,” he pleads. “Stop.”
“I’m only dancing, Finn.”
His lips drag along my earlobe. “Against my dick. I’m ready to lift this dress up again and unzip my jeans in front of everyone.”
“So, if I would turn around right now and kiss you, what would you do?”
I close my eyes as he whispers into my ear, “Just don’t.”
I look up at him and grin, my pulse racing. I reach up and pull his ear closer to my mouth. “That sounds dangerous, baby.”
“It is,” he growls into my ear. Finn pushes me slightly away and I turn around to face him. His arms are immediately around me once more, his fingers running along my lower back through my dress.
“Do I turn you off that much?” I give him a faux dismayed expression, rocking my hips side to side along with the song.
His eyes are on fire as he asks, “What are you trying to do me?” He sinks his teeth into his lip, causing his jaw to delightfully undulate.
“I bet you say that to all the girls who try to get you to dance.”
His dark gaze bores into me. “Never.”
Rod’s voice breaks into our whispering. “I’m feeling really left out over here! Knock it off!” Looking at Rod, I laugh and release my hands from Finn, but he possessively holds me against him.
Before I realize it, Morgan swings by and yanks me away from Finn. “Let’s finish this song!” she shouts. I look behind me and Finn has his back to us again, this time one hand is buried in his hair, while his other hand is flicking his fingers agitatedly. What the hell now?
Rod jumps in between Morgan and me and dances outrageously to a whole different rhythm to the beat. I know he’s doing it to piss us off because he really is an awesome dancer. I love dancing with Rod at office parties. Since Finn doesn’t go with me because he always seems to have to work, my coworkers are quite accustomed to me going to the parties alone. Therefore, Rod is my normal dance partner and everyone at the firm loves watching us dance together. Val, especially, encourages Rod and me, which is funny since you would never expect her to do such a thing. We’ve also gone to clubs and danced with Morgan and her sister. Rod and I are no Fred and Ginger, yet we always have a blast. Rod can get raunchy when he dances, so I’m glad Finn hasn’t been around to witness that. Even if he claims he’s not the jealous type, I think he would rip Rod’s head off if he saw him bumping and grinding with me; thus, the reason why I don’t want Rod dancing with me right now.
Chasing the Wild Sparks Page 12
