“Almost all of it. You?”
“Every last problem.” His gaze dropped to my mouth again. “Wish you didn’t have to leave. I could feed you supper and we could watch a movie or something.”
I snorted. “Or something.”
“Seriously, Chessly. Today was a best day ever.” Palming my cheek, he slid his long fingers into my hair. “This weekend has been the best one I can remember in a real long time.” He ghosted another kiss over my mouth. “When can I see you again?”
“Like. for a date?”
“Date, study session, hanging out.” He rubbed his thumb over my cheek then stared hard into my eyes. “I want to spend more time with you.”
“I have some free time tomorrow afternoon before my six o’clock lab. We could meet at the Union.” Somehow my hands had found their way to his back where I mapped the muscles beneath his T-shirt.Damn, but the man was built. Standing this close to him and breathing in faint notes of clean sweat from our earlier activities, and something woodsy and citrusy on his T-shirt, had me tightening my center and wishing I could take him up on his offer of dinner and a movie—or something.
For the first time in my life, I was seriously contemplating skipping work. Of course, Jamaica heading back to the dorm took that option right off the table.
A naughty thought tipped up the corner of his mouth. “I think I can find us a quiet corner somewhere in the Union.”
“Finn...” I warned.
“Our trainers ride our asses about eating sugar, but I’ve tasted your kisses, Chess, and now I’m a sugar addict. No doubt I’m going to need a fix when I see you tomorrow.”
When he dropped his killer smile on me, all I could do was give him a dopey one back. The man was utterly lethal to my common sense. From his expression, no doubt R-rated plans were developing in his sexy mind. The scary part was, I was pretty sure I’d be going along with them.
“You finally gave in, huh?” Jamaica shoulder-bumped me as we walked down the hallway from our dorm supervisor’s apartment after our weekly meeting.
“Excuse me?”
She laughed and linked her arm with mine. “When Callahan and I came downstairs from his room, Danny was slumped on the couch, whining about all the noise coming through the wall of his bedroom.”
I was surprised the hot flames licking my cheeks didn’t set my hair on fire.
Giving my arm a squeeze, she said, “No one’s judging you.” She squeezed me again. “It was past time you put Finn out of his misery.”
I wrinkled my brow. “What are you talking about?”
As she explained, we took our time climbing the stairs to lobby of the dorm. “The poor guy’s been mooning after you for months, even with all your sarcasm and snark.” She slid me a side-eye. “Maybeespeciallybecause of your sarcasm and snark. I’ve heard him go on and on about how smart you are. It’s obvious you impress the hell out of him.” Smiling at me, she added, “Callahan is always complaining about Finn’s lack of finesse and discernment when it comes to women, but I don’t think that was ever the problem.”
When we reached the lobby, I faced my friend as my brows took a trip up to my hairline.
“Finn’s problem is he’s such a nice guy that he gives everyone the benefit of the doubt.” For a second a dark look clouded her features before she smiled again. “But he actively worked for your attention. He’s had a thing for you ever since I let him take you home on Homecoming.”
“You let him?” I snorted.
Her nose went up in the air. “If you recall, I grilled him on his intentions and demanded he take the best care of you.”
Memories of my afternoon with Finn swamped my mind and the words slipped out without my permission. “He definitely did that.”
A naughty grin spread over her features. “You will notice I’m not grilling you about your ‘study session’ this afternoon.” Her one-handed air quotes were ridiculous.
Shaking away thoughts of Finn’s body and how he’d used it to light up my world, I asked, “I did notice. Why is that?”
“Because I expect the same courtesy from you from now on since both of us are seeing Wildcats players.”
I couldn’t mistake the meaning in her tone. With the way Piper, Saylor, and I had razzed Jamaica about her relationship with Callahan, I deserved the hard time she was so obviously holding back from giving me.
“I wouldn’t say Finn and I areinvolved...” I stretched out that last word like a rubber band.
My friend’s “Huh” snapped it back at me. That sparkle in her eyes told me I should have kept my mouth shut. “You sure you want to deny that? According to Danny, you and Finn spent most of the afternooninvolvedwith each other.”
