SWNOVELS Finn Rhodes Forever: Chapter 18
THE BELL on the door rang as we stepped inside the diner off the highway between Queen’s Cove and the next town.
“Sit anywhere you like,” the server called.
I grabbed Liv’s hand and led her to a booth in the corner, slipping in after her and propping an arm over her side. She glanced back at my arm with alarm, and I rolled my lips to hide a grin.
I’d been thinking about how to hold her hand all day. It was like we were teenagers again.
“Go sit on the other side,” she said, tilting her chin at the other side of the booth.
“I’m good here.”
“There’s not enough room.”
“Sure there is.”
The server appeared with her pen poised. “What can I get you two?”
“We’re going to split an order of curly fries,” I told her.
Liv loved curly fries. Or she used to.
She straightened up with a start. “I forgot my wallet in the car. It’s in my pack.”
I didn’t budge. “It’s fine, I’ve got it. What else do you want?”
She shook her head. “Nothing.”
Bullshit. She’d burned thousands of calories today. She was just being stubborn.
“Two club sandwiches,” I told the server. Liv could change the order if she wanted but I wasn’t going to let her skip dinner. “A slice of apple pie with vanilla ice cream, and two glasses of water, please. Thank you.”
The server jotted this down and hustled off.
I turned to Liv, my gaze sliding over her cheekbones, where more freckles had popped up since a few days ago. On the top of the booth, my hand twitched, itching to touch her. The smell of her shampoo had me considering burying my face in her neck.
She glanced at me with a snort. “Stop drooling.”
I leaned in closer, my mouth an inch from her ear. “What, I can’t buy my girlfriend dinner?”
The corner of her mouth lifted before she rolled her lips to hide it.
“This doesn’t count as a date, you know,” I told her.
She leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table. “Yes, it does.”
“I’m not wasting my date on a crappy diner off the highway.”
She reached out to fiddle with her napkin, and her arm brushed my fingers. She sat there tearing tiny pieces off it.
“What are you thinking about?” I asked, my gaze on the curve of her dark eyelashes.
She was quiet a moment. “My dad’s going to sell the bar.”
“Wow.” My eyebrows shot up. “Are you okay?”
She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. “I don’t know. I think so.”
I waited, desperate for more of this version of Liv—honest and real. Walls down. Unguarded. Being herself. It was intoxicating and addictive.
Her lashes fluttered as she blinked, frowning to herself. “I have to find a new place to live if he sells it.” She glanced at me. “You do, too.”
I nodded, running my fingers over her arm. Her skin was like silk. “We’ll figure it out.”
“Buying the bar was supposed to be my backup plan.”
I made a noise of acknowledgement, remembering what Sadie told me at her wedding to Holden. “If you don’t find the flower.”
“Yeah.”
“But you will.”
“Maybe.” She ripped another piece of napkin off.
“You will.”
Her hair had been up in a ponytail all day but pieces in the front had come loose, waving around her face. Feeling bold and brave, I tucked a lock behind her ear before my arm dropped to her shoulder, fingers brushing the hem of her t-shirt sleeve, running across her skin. Her eyes shot to mine with a flicker of surprise, and under my arm, she shivered. Warm brown eyes locked on mine, lingering. Something new flared in my chest.
“You will,” I whispered, and her eyes dropped to my mouth.
“They’re worried about me.” Her eyes flickered with something vulnerable. “My mom thinks I’m stuck.”
My eyebrows pinched together. “Do I have anything to do with them being worried?”
She paused, frowning to herself. “My mom doesn’t think it’ll last.”
I narrowed my eyes, tapping my top lip with my tongue. Stubbornness formed like a rock in the middle of my chest. Once Jen saw how happy Liv was with me, she’d come around.
“You’d love that, wouldn’t you?” I quirked her a teasing a smile.
Her eyes widened for a split second before a smile curled on her pretty mouth. A mouth I wanted to kiss. “What makes you say that? I’m crazy about you.”
My chest shook with laughter. “You’ve always been a bad liar.” My finger brushed down her arm, stroking the soft skin. It was barely a graze, downright pure, and yet her eyelids fell halfway and her breath hitched.
My cock woke up.
I stared at her mouth. I remembered how it felt to kiss Liv, to consume her mouth and for her to come right back at me with just as much desire and need.
When I dragged my gaze up to hers, she was looking at my mouth. Her eyes met mine with a start.
“Busted,” I whispered.
Her lips parted before she blinked. “Can you stop that with your hand? It’s distracting.”
I pulled my arm back up onto the top of the booth. Did she look a little disappointed?
“I think you like being distracted like that,” I said as the server dropped our plates off. I thanked her and slid the curly fries over to Liv.
Off her questioning look, I rolled my eyes. “Don’t even pretend you don’t like them. You used to devour them.”
She let out a laugh and I memorized the sweet sound. I slid her sandwich over in front of her, beside the fries.
“Eat,” I said.
She gave me a funny look before shoving a fry in her mouth. “You’re so bossy.”
I nodded. “I am. You’re going to need your strength this summer. I’m not going to wait around while you catch your breath.” My knee bounced under the table as energy buzzed inside me, waiting for her reaction.
Another laugh burst out of her. “While you’ve been doing bong rips with your bros, I’ve been hauling my ass all over these mountains looking for that stupid flower.”
I ate another fry. “My body is a temple.”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m sure. Tell yourself that when you’re jerking off to pictures of yourself.”
I snorted. “Liv, the only photos I’ve ever jerked off to were yours.”
Her hand paused, curly fry dangling halfway to her mouth, and a pink flush spread over her cheeks. Her gaze cut to mine, and the heat behind her eyes sent blood rushing through my veins.
A slow, wicked grin curled up on my mouth. “You love that idea, don’t you?”
“No.” Her nose twitched and her jaw tensed.
Jesus, she was so fucking sexy, all pissed off and grouchy like this. I wanted to tickle her until she laughed. She’d try to scratch my eyes out, no doubt.
My brain flashed with a memory of her scratching me in a different context. Skin on skin, hands fisting sheets and each other’s hair and her teeth nipping my shoulder as she tensed under me.
My body hummed. For so long, I’d been remembering short bursts of us together on grad night, fumbling around, excited to finally explore each other, and while those memories met my needs with my hand wrapped around my cock in the shower, a low buzz ran through my veins at the idea of more.
I leaned in, letting my lips brush her ear. “Do you remember how it was, Liv? Because I do. I remember every inch of your body.” Could she feel my heart slamming against my chest, pressed against her shoulder? “And soon I’m going to show my girlfriend all the things I’ve been thinking about doing to her.”
Her lips parted and when I nipped her earlobe, she let out a breathy squeak. My cock hardened.
“Eat your fries, sweetheart,” I told her, straightening up. “You can daydream about me later.”
When we were done and I had paid up, we headed to the car. I held her door open and she glanced at it with a small frown before getting into the passenger seat.
I pulled onto the highway, Liv turned the music up, and we drove back to Queen’s Cove without talking, just listening to music, me tapping my hands on the steering wheel and Liv staring out the window, lost in thought. By the time I parked behind the bar, her eyes were closed, her head leaned on the window, and her chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm.
I took the quiet moment to study her and wondered whether it would feel like this every day if we were together for real. We’d spent the rest of the time at the diner talking about our upcoming hike, planning a route and pitching ideas to each other about future trips around the mountains. Liv’s eyes had lit up and warmth gathered in my chest at the knowledge that I helped put that look on her face. When she dropped her knives, being with Liv was so fucking easy. It always had been. We had been best friends for a reason. We just clicked.
I sucked in a deep breath and let it out slow, tracing the slope of her nose with my gaze. I’d cover that nose with kisses if I didn’t think she’d punch me in the dick.
I reached out and gently shook her shoulder. “Liv,” I murmured.
“Mmm.” Her eyes stayed closed.
“Liv, we’re home.”
My heart twisted at the familiarity of the words. Home. One day, we’d live in the same place. My mouth turned up at the thought and I gently shook her again.
“Wake up, baby, or I’m going to toss you over my shoulder and carry you up the stairs myself, and that’ll really get people talking.”
Her eyes shot open and she inhaled a sharp breath. “Awake. I’m awake.”
I grinned. “Mhm. Come on.”
I got out of the car and went around to help her, but she was already stumbling out with a jaw-breaking yawn that made her eyes water. I closed the car door behind her and led her to the bar.
“I’ll bring your pack up later,” I told her. “My girl needs to sleep.” I held the back door open and a chorus of noise hit us from inside.
“I’m not your girl,” she grumbled, walking past me inside.
A smile twisted up on my mouth. “We’re back to that, huh? No more sweet Liv stuffing her face with curly fries and talking to me about hiking? That’s fine, I can deal. I’m persistent.”
“I know you are.” She started up the stairs. “Stop staring at my ass.”
“I’m not,” I said, eyes on her ass.
Fuck, she had a great ass. I dreamed about that ass, round and soft and smooth.
She rolled her eyes and turned the key in the lock. “Goodnight, Finn. Thanks for dinner.” She opened her door.
My heart flipped. I didn’t want to say goodbye. Not yet. “Wait.”
She paused.
I swallowed, suddenly nervous. “Stay right where you are.”
“Why?” She stood there frozen, eyes wide.
I leaned closer, so fucking slowly so as not to scare her off. I gave her time to lean back and get the fuck away from me if she wanted.
“I’m going to kiss you goodnight.”
Alarm rose in her eyes. “What?”
“You heard me.” An inch closer.
Her gaze dropped to my lips. “Um.” She blinked, lashes fluttering. Her gaze was going hazy, eyes on my mouth. “Okay,” she said, surprising me.
I drew closer, closer, until at the last second I paused a hair’s width from her lips. My chest brushed hers. Her breath moved over my skin, and wide brown eyes stared back at me. I quickly turned and pressed a soft, lingering kiss to her cheek. She shivered under my touch.
“Goodnight,” I murmured in her ear.
“Goodnight,” she whispered back before she whirled around and closed the door.
I stared at it, smiling to myself.
Liv still had feelings for me, whether she realized it or not. Now, I had to take her on a date that reminded her why.