SWNOVELS Finn Rhodes Forever: Chapter 16
WITHIN TWO HOURS, we reached the area I wanted to search today. I dropped my pack and pulled out my notebook to study the map and glance over the printouts of the flower.
“Do you want to look?” I held the images up for Finn, but he shook his head and pulled out his own notebook.
“Got my own.” He flipped the book open and showed me images of the plant taped to the pages.
I frowned. “Where’d you get those?”
“The internet.” He said it like it was a novelty while studying his page. “I’ve been doing a little reading.”
I stared at him. “On the flower?”
“Mhm.” He reached down for a bottle of water and nudged my elbow with it. “Drink.”
“I’m fine.”
He undid the cap and nudged me again. “If you get dehydrated, I’ll have to carry you.” His mouth curled and he narrowed his eyes at me. “Bet you’d like that, huh, Liv? Been fantasizing about me carrying you, firefighter style?”
My expression turned to a glare and I took the bottle from him, holding eye contact as I drank. A smug grin pulled onto his face as he turned back to his notebook.
“That’s what I thought. You’re such a fucking brat,” he murmured, eyes on the page.
“You wish.” I rolled my eyes and adjusted my swishy pants. The stupid zippers were scratching up my inner thighs. I should have worn shorts underneath. No wonder that person gave these pants away.
I eyed my backpack. I had a pair of leggings in there as a backup but putting them on would be a defeat in this battle against Finn.
Besides, my leggings were like a second skin, hugging my curves and making my ass look incredible. I was not going to play with that kind of fire today. I was trying to turn Finn off, not wave a red flag in front of a bull.
When I took a step, the zipper scraped my skin again and I winced.
“What’s wrong?” Finn asked, brow creasing with concern. It was unnerving when he turned serious like that.
“Nothing.” I tilted the book so he could see the map. “This is the area I want to search today.”
He peered over my shoulder, studying the map before he nodded. “Let’s get to it.”
We spaced out so we could search in corridors while keeping each other in eyesight, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Being in Finn’s vicinity was doing weird things to my brain. My concentration was shot. Every time he got close, I replayed his quick brush against my lips earlier today.
This guy was driving me insane.
We searched the area before I checked it off on the map and we moved to the next section. We worked in silence, keeping each other in sight.
My mind wandered to the printouts he had shown me, and I held down a smile. A flush of happiness hit me in the chest. He didn’t take anything else seriously, but he cared about me finding the flower and finishing my PhD.
We might be friends after all, once this was all over.
I took another step and winced as the zipper scratched my skin. Pain seared my inner thigh and I clamped my mouth into a thin line to hold in the groan. Fucking hell, that hurt.
“Liv, you want to break for lunch?” Finn called over.
“Sure.”
He gestured to a big log with a clear area around it. “Over here.”
I made my way over, trying to walk in a way that didn’t agitate the zipper against my skin. He shot me a funny look.
“Did you hurt your ankle?” He cocked an eyebrow and glanced down at my legs and feet. “You’re walking weird.”
I took a seat on the log and he dropped to kneel at my feet, reaching for my ankle.
“I’m fine,” I said, swatting him away.
He frowned. “Liv.”
I stared at him before relenting. “These ugly pants are scratching my legs up.”
His head fell back and he let out a bark of laughter. “I knew you were wearing these to fuck with me.” He opened his bag and dug through it, pulling out a first aid kit. “I have some bandages in here. Unzip them.”
Alarm shot through me. This was dangerous territory. “No.”
He tilted his head, watching me with a patient look. “Liv, it’s going to get worse and we have a long way to go.”
My teeth gritted. I knew that. I knew wearing these stupid pants was a mistake. “Fine.” I held my hand out for the first aid kit but he ignored me.
“Unzip.” He sat and opened the small kit, shuffling through the different sizes of bandages.
You know what? This was nothing. It was no big deal, and if I was in the field with a colleague, I wouldn’t think twice about this. People got scrapes and blisters and cuts, and then they dealt with it.
It wasn’t a big deal. It didn’t matter than Finn was here.
I yanked the zipper on the pants, turning them into shorts. God, I hated these pants.
Finn shook his head at my newly bare legs. The fabric ballooned out around my ass. “They’re even worse as shorts.”
A snort escaped me and my chest shook with laughter. Finn’s gaze snapped to mine, surprised and delighted, before I covered it with a cough.
“Sit,” Finn said, tilting his chin at the log.
I ignored him, holding my hand out. “I’ll do it.”
He stared back at me with that annoying, smug little smile. “Sit down. Jesus Christ, Liv, I’m trained at this.”
Okay, fine. He wanted to be professional about applying a bandage to my inner thigh?
Deep down, I wanted to see another flash of that heated look he gave me once in a while, like he was thinking about us on grad night. I took a seat on the log and he knelt at my feet.
His fingers tapped the inside of my knee, and sparks shot up my skin. “Can I get in there, please?”
I tapped my tongue against my top lip, watching him. This would be an exercise in getting stronger, I told myself. Like exposure therapy to Finn’s hotness.
I could totally handle this.