“You horny assholes. Do you know how long I worked on staging?”
Finn ruffles Lennox’s hair as he passes, the way an annoying big brother would. “You did a great job. The set worked beautifully. We’ll have pictures back in a couple weeks or so…not that I get to see them.” When he gets to me, he wraps his arms around me, letting his hand rest on my half-covered ass. He kisses me unapologetically as if Lennox is nowhere in sight. When I’m good and breathless, he pulls his cool lips from mine and tugs on the T-shirt I’m wearing. “This looks so sexy on you. Keep it. I want to see you in it again tomorrow when I wake up.”
God, I love the attention.
Is that so wrong to admit? Can I be a sensible, hard-working, un-shallow woman and still melt into a puddle when this Adonis of a man looks at me like this?
Finn glances at my empty mug and takes it from me, understanding I haven’t had a chance to pour a cup yet.
“Your phone is over there charging. You must’ve forgotten it out here last night, so I plugged it in.” I point to the outlet on the kitchen island. “It rang like four times this morning.”
“Who’s been calling?” Finn asks absentmindedly. He fetches another cup from the cabinet to match mine and proceeds to fill both cups.
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?” he parrots in a mumble. “You said you plugged in my phone.”
“Yeah.”
“So you didn’t see who was calling?”
“I didn’t look. Wouldn’t that be an invasion of privacy?”
Finn spins around and his puzzled eyes meet mine. “You can. I have nothing to hide.”
I return his befuddled expression. “I believe you. But I respect your privacy.”
Maybe I should’ve gone through Mason’s phone from time to time. I could’ve gotten a tip-off as to what was going on. It’s more than possible that his adventures on the Rumble app didn’t start after we were broken up. I just have never been a snoop. Getting dumped isn’t going to change that.
Finn crosses the room with intention and wraps his forearm around my shoulders, yanking me against his chest. He smells earthy and musky, mixed with the last remnants of his cologne and my shampoo. He smells like we fucked all night. Because we did. Finn plants a firm kiss on the top of my head before releasing me. His unspoken outburst of emotion is obvious. I may be the first woman who’s respected Finn’s privacy.
It’s in this moment that I realize I’m not the only one who was in an unhappy relationship. Where mine was bland and monotonous, Finn’s was boldly volatile. Still…we’re both survivors.
“Well, I’m going to go assess the damage, you jerks,” Lennox says, reminding me we have company. Finn’s embrace was so desperately emotional, the whole world fell away for a moment. “But here, Avery,” she says, setting a paper shopping bag on the kitchen counter next to me. “I stopped by a friend’s boutique store this morning to pick up some stuff for the set that you guys defiled, and I mentioned your mermaid costume. She had the perfect one. I bet it’ll be smokin’ sexy on you. And it covers all the important bits.”
“Mermaid costume?” Finn asks.
“For Cass’s party.”
I think Lennox has assumed we talked about it, but we were a little occupied last night. I meant to ask Finn how he felt about me going this morning. I was going to ask if he wanted me to go as Lennox’s friend or his date. Judging by the deer-in-headlights look on his face, I’m assuming he doesn’t want me within a ten-mile radius of Ruby’s.
“You spoke to Cass?” Finn asks me.
“No, I got a plus-one,” Lennox answers on my behalf.
Finn narrows his eyes at his cousin. “And you invited Avery?
“I don’t have to go—”
“The fuck you don’t!” Lennox shrieks. “This costume is superior and I already have a bunch of glittery mermaid shit. You’re going.” She narrows her eyes back at Finn and points directly at his forehead. “And you fix your face. You’re coming off like an ass. I’ll be back,” she mutters, heading to the door that leads to the basement, grumbling the entire way about us sullying her art.
The minute we hear the door shut, Finn raises his palms in the air as surrender. But I speak before he can.
“Finn, I wasn’t trying to insert myself—”
“No, it’s not that. You’re welcome wherever I am—”
“It’s just that Lennox was trying to be nice, and I mentioned my idea for a costume, and she’s excited.” I interrupt him right back and continue in a panic because the look on his face seems a whole lot like rejection. Of course. Finn and I make perfect sense in private, but I should know better than to think he’d want to show up with me at his future gentleman’s club surrounded by a sea of beautiful, slim women—
“Cass and I have sex,” he blurts out. “Had sex. For years. We just stopped a few months ago.”
The timeline doesn’t make sense. He had sex with Cass for years? But I thought he was with Nora for years. “You cheated on Nora?”
“No. Never.”
“So you’d sleep with Cass when you guys broke up?”
Finn hands me a filled mug, then steps back. “Well, technically that too.”
“Can you stop being so evasive?” I take a small sip from the hot coffee. I don’t flinch when it scalds my tongue. I’m too invested in whatever is making Finn look like someone is shoving nails through his fingertips. “Just tell me.”
He blows out a deep breath. “Nora and I and Cass would sleep together.”
“Huh?”
“Good grief,” Finn grunts, rolling his eyes, agitated that he has to further clarify. “A threesome, Avery. Most of the time, Nora and I would have threesomes—just with Cass. We trusted her. But she’s only ever been just a friend. Cass likes gratuitous sex, no strings attached. After Nora and I broke up, it was easy to be with Cass when I was hurting because it was just physical.”
“You stopped sleeping with her when you met me?”
Finn shakes his head. “A few months before that. I don’t know if I told you, but I was abstinent for a while before we met.”
I try to hide my surprise. And fail. I can literally feel how wide my eyes are. “Why?”
“I got to the point where I stopped liking sex. It got boring and tedious. I’d be with a woman and wouldn’t feel anything. Eventually, I realized it wasn’t what I wanted, so I stopped sleeping around to get a little clarity.”
I point to my chest and mouth, me?
He chuckles as he nods. “There was something about you that made me feel safe. Is that lame for a man to say?”
“Not at all,” I say soothingly. “You deserve to feel safe.”
But then again, so do I.
I’ve been waiting for Finn’s kink. He seemed to really enjoy the rough sex last night. I am totally fine with fuzzy handcuffs and I would be open to more naked photo shoots, but this…
“So do you still like threesomes?”
He runs his hands through his hair and purses his lips. “How am I supposed to answer that?”