Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 71651 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 358(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71651 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 358(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
“Kiss me,” I told him, close to his face.
Something burned in my chest.
“That’s what you want?” he asked, his hazel eyes looking down at me like I was his plaything.
“You know what I want.”
Inside I was smoldering, a volcano ready to blow.
I moved in to kiss him and his fingers came up between us, pressing gently on my mouth.
“Think we’ve been doing that a little too much to call this casual, don’t you think?”
I rolled my eyes, tugging on his belt loop. “Who fucking cares?”
“You do,” he told me, lifting an eyebrow. “Now are you going to let me go take a piss?”
“Kiss me first.”
“Not going to do it.”
“Wanna fucking bet, Finn?” I told him, reaching to grab his ass with my free hand. “I’ll suck you off in the bathroom stall, right now.”
He bit his lip, keeping calm and composed.
“Nope,” he said simply. “Chill out. Don’t you want to hook up with someone else before you suck me off, anyway? Isn’t this a little too steady for you?”
I wanted to laugh, kiss him, and fight him all at once.
“Can’t tell if you’re a tease or a dickhead,” I said.
He leaned down and kissed my forehead with a little peck. He wrestled my fingers away from his belt loop and stepped back, heading down the hallway.
“Just having some fun, Ori,” he called back.
The bathroom door closed behind him and my heart felt like it was stretching out toward him, reaching and reaching, but not ever settling down.
Bad, bad, bad, I thought.
What the fuck was going on with me?
What did I want?
Usually I would have gotten off on the idea of another guy telling me to “go hook up with someone else.” I loved keeping things open and free, and it always sounded like fun to me.
But it felt different coming from Finn.
Everything felt different with him.
The idea of him hooking up with that woman tonight even pissed me off a little, too. I wanted to go home with him, fuck him senseless, then sit on the couch together, mindlessly watching baking shows with him.
I wanted him to play country music loud in the house, and sing along to it, serenading me.
For fuck’s sake, I even wanted to see him in that dumb cowboy hat.
My heart was tugged in too many directions. How was I so drawn to so many things that didn’t make sense for me?
The saloon. The diner. Bestens. All of Tennessee, really.
And Finn, too.
I went back to the bar, dropped some cash near my seat, and walked out into the night air. I took the long way back to Finn’s house, not knowing if I was ready to head home or not.
I walked in and set my keys down on the little table, looking all around.
All of Finn’s DIY projects. The wood shelves he was slowly putting up against one wall in the living room. The indoor herb garden. The bay window, which he’d been restaining this week.
I thought of my cold, modern little studio apartment back in LA, and how blank it had been in comparison. Hell, I’d barely had anything in my fridge sometimes other than condiments and a bottle of wine.
“Fuck me,” I muttered, leaning against one wall in Finn’s living room, feeling the truth land on me, light as a feather.
I liked it here.
It did feel more like home than LA had.
And maybe I wasn’t crazy to feel that way.
An hour later, I padded into Finn’s room, took off my pants, and slid under his sheets. He still wasn’t home yet from the saloon, and I didn’t stop to let myself wonder if it was a bad idea to get in his bed.
I was on autopilot. And it smelled like him, in a way I was hopelessly addicted to, now.
I’d nodded off within ten minutes.
By the time Finn got back some time later, I was out. I only woke when he gently stepped through the doorway.
The nightstand light was still on. Finn looked goddamn angelic in the soft light, walking in and seeing me on the bed.
“Howdy,” he said softly.
“Hey,” I said back, still blinking awake.
“S’ok,” he murmured. “You can stay.”
I breathed deep. “You sure about that? Mr. Keep-it-casual?”
He chuckled. “Just giving you what you want, Ori.”
My heart felt like it was orbiting around in wild circles, like a butterfly flitting around in the sun.
Maybe I do want casual, unless it’s with you.
Or maybe I’m crazy and losing it.
Maybe I just want to be next to you.
A few minutes later he got in bed next to me, and I smelled the minty-fresh scent of his toothpaste.
He reached up to turn off the light and then his arms landed around my body, pulling me in close.
Fuck, it felt too good.
Please don’t stop holding me like this.
“How was the blonde woman?” I murmured, feeling the warmth of Finn’s body pressed against my back and my ass.