“Is that a problem?”
Finn scrunches his nose. “You can’t even run.”
“Okay, the way you said that was hurtful.”
He smiles. “Did you ever chase down a cow?”
“I don’t chase, Finn. I attract.”
He laughs. The deep, velvety sound fits him to a T. Even his laughter is princely.
I smile as the golden glow in my chest intensifies. I like making Finn laugh. A lot. “The cows weren’t my responsibility, but I did herd the chickens in and out of the henhouse. It was a very important task.”
“I can imagine.” He sits on the edge of my bed.
I scoot over to make room. It feels so comfortable having him close to me—when he’s not threatening to kill me by sleeping with me.
“Why’d you leave the farm?”
A lump forms in my throat.
Finn’s eyes dim. “Oh.”
I clear my throat, fighting not to get emotional. “Let me, um”—I inhale—“let me show you the decryption.”
To my surprise, a pair of big hands close on my shoulders. Finn pulls me to his chest so I’m half-leaning off the bed. With my nose scrunched against his shirt, I get a whiff of his clean, woodsy cologne.
My watch beeps as I stutter, “W-what are you doing?”
I expect him to say something mildly comforting. On the spectrum of delusion, I may even be hoping he’ll say something romantic.
But instead, Finn hisses, “The door.”
I tilt my head up in confusion. “What?”
“I saw someone looking in.”
“This is the hospital.” I whisper because he’s whispering too. “Nurses are always?—”
“Not a nurse.”
“It’s probably just a fan or the paparazzi then,” I mumble. The entire hospital was in anuproarafter Dutch and Zane showed up today. The admin had to make an announcement on the PA system about rules of conduct.
Finn’s palm flattens on the back of my head. His hands are so big, his middle-finger-to-thumb ratio is like the span of a tennis racket, and my skull is the tennis ball.
When he presses me forward, it feels like I’m being adjusted by a bulldozer.
“Look,” he orders between gritted teeth. “But don’t make it obvious.”
I peek reluctantly past him. I don’t expect anything or anyone to be outside, but to my surprise, I see two faces peering into my room. They vanish just as quickly.
My heart jumps in alarm, and my fingers clench around Finn’s waist. I hide my face in his chest as fear tornadoes through me.
My watch beeps.
“How many?” Finn growls.
“T-two.”
