I nudged Finn with my elbow a little harder than necessary. I could tell he was itching for a fight and would gladly give it to Cory if given the slightest provocation. “Finn.”
“Fine.” He sighed and smiled at Cory, but it came across as more predatory than friendly. “You’re forgiven. I won’t punch you, and you can go back to silently hating me and waiting for Carrie and me to fall apart. Deal?”
Cory choked on a laugh and took a step back from us. “Uh, yeah. Sure. Whatever you say, man.”
Finn narrowed his eyes at Cory. I tugged on his hand, trying to distract him, and started talking way too fast. “Well, now that that’s over and everyone is friends again…” Finn still didn’t look away from Cory, and Cory was growing paler by the second. I tugged harder. “Hello? Earth to Finn.”
Finn finally looked down at me, his hot eyes searing into mine. He seemed to shake off whatever he’d been thinking. “Yeah. I’m here.”
“Good.” I smiled at him, my heart skipping a beat when he placed his hand on the small of my back. His hard chest pressed against mine, making me want to press closer and rub up against him like a stripper doing a lap dance. “You ready?”
“Hell yeah,” Finn said, leading me toward his bike. He glanced over his shoulder, his brow furrowed, and his eyes on where Cory probably still stood. “That took a lot more self-control than I thought I had, I’ll have you know.”
“Why?”
“I don’t like him.”
“I know, but he’s harmless enough.”
“Yeah.” Finn snorted. “As harmless as a sniper.”
I looked back at Cory. He wore a lavender shirt, was going to school to become a doctor, and had manicured nails. He turned and walked away, his stride slow and laid-back, just like he was. Call me crazy, but that didn’t exactly scream dangerous thug to me. “I just don’t see what you see.”
“It’s simple, really. He likes you. I don’t like him,’” Finn said, grabbing my helmet off the bike. “Need I say more?”
He stuck my helmet under the crook of his elbow and smoothed my hair from my face. With his hands on either side of my head, he leaned down and pressed his mouth to mine, stealing my breath away with a simple kiss. My stomach twisted in knots, and my heart thudded in my ears.
When he pulled back, he ran his thumb over my lower lip and gave me a small smile. The way my body reacted to the simple touch, he might as well have stripped naked in the street. His blue eyes skimmed over my body, making me tense with anticipation. “Were you a good girl today?”
“Of course I was,” I answered instantly. “When am I not?”
“If you got down on your knees with my c**k in your mouth,” he said, his gaze fastened on my mouth. “You’d be pretty damned bad then.”
“Finn.”
My cheeks heated and so did other parts of my body. Namely, in between my legs. I’d be lucky if I made it home before jumping his bones. And man, I wanted to do what he described now that he’d put the image in my head.
I wanted to kneel at his feet and taste him with my tongue, sucking him in deeper and deeper until he came in my—
“Hello?” He waved his hand in front of my face, his lips curved into a smile. “Did I break you?”
I licked my lips and he watched me hungrily, his gaze flashing as he read my expression. “Nope, not broken. I want to go home and do exactly what you just said, so hurry the heck up, will you?”
His eyes widened. “Fuck yeah.” He slid the helmet over my head, slammed his own on, and climbed onto the bike. “Climb on.”
Oh, I wanted to. And I would…as soon as I got rid of some clothes. It was the perfect time to do it, because most of my dorm mates were at dinner. “Hold on. I need two minutes.”
I grabbed the bundle of shirts I was donating, ran inside my building, and threw the clothes in the normal spot. Mom sent me way too many clothes, so I shared. No biggie. I darted back outside without being seen.
As I got on the bike behind him, I let my hands dip lower to his erection. Man, he was hard and ready and mine. He revved the bike and hissed when I closed my hand over him through his jeans. “Fuck, Ginger, keep that up and we won’t even make it home.”
“Then drive fast,” I said, resting my head on his shoulder. “Now.”
The tires squealed as we pulled away from the curb, and I laughed. When we got home, I planned on doing all the things I’d been dying to do since this morning. If I had it my way, we wouldn’t even say a freaking word once we cleared his door.
I needed him too badly.
I closed my eyes, enjoying the air whipping around us as he buzzed through the crowded streets, darting in between stopped cars as if we were invincible. And lately I’d been feeling pretty darn invincible. I felt like I could handle anything life threw at me from now on.
I had a freedom I’d never had before. My lifelong goals were all laid out and in motion, including acing classes and having a great GPA. I was making more and more friends every day. And to top it off, I had a hot, surfing, tattooed, bike-riding Marine for a boyfriend.
Even better? He loved me as much as I loved him.
We were invincible.
As long as we had each other.
Chapter Three
As soon as I turned off the bike, she was standing and removing her helmet. After I took it from her, she held her hand out to me. The image of her there, the sun setting behind her and silhouetting her perfectness, was so f**king beautiful that I wanted to take a picture of it and carry it with me wherever I went.
I was never one for taking pictures, but she had changed a lot of things about me. Now I talked and forgave instead of kicking ass and asking questions later. Now I was a f**king softie, and I didn’t even mind.
If I had a camera in my pocket, I’d have snapped it right then and there. But no one carried around cameras anymore. Not with cell phones.
No shit, Sherlock. Use the f**king phone.
“Don’t move a muscle. Don’t even twitch a finger.” I hung the helmets on my bike and took out my phone, grinning at her. “Hey. I saw you blink.”
She shifted on her feet. “Blinking is kind of essential. Are you taking a picture of me?”
“Yep.” I grinned. “Isn’t that what boyfriends do?” I opened the camera app. “Take pictures and set it as their backgrounds or some shit like that?”
She laughed and I snapped the picture. She still was silhouetted perfectly, but she was smiling. Fucking perfect. Her hand dropped. “Let me see it.”