“You’re welcome.”
“Where do you want me?” he asks.
I think Finn just spoke, but let’s be real here. I’m busy inspecting the goods. It’s part of my job, and I always give 100 percent to my assignments.
His pajama bottoms hang low on his hips. Low enough for me to see the top of his Adonis belt. The V-shaped muscle is sexy as hell.
And low enough for me to count that yes, he does have a six-pack. His waist is a couple inches narrower than his shoulders. His pecs are cut, his nipples brown and flat. There’s no obvious sign of his fracture, his collarbone unmarked. His forearms are corded with muscle. His hands big, his fingers long. I’ve never seen such a flawless specimen in person before and I have the insane desire to lick him all over. I’ve never had the urge to do that before.
“Ahem,” he clears his throat.
Shit. I’ve been staring at his body like an unprofessional, infatuated perv. “Sorry, just uh, thinking about how to pose you.”
“I don’t think that’s all you were thinking.”
I ignore his flirty tone of voice. Also? I don’t think he’s wearing any underwear. Also, also? I’m starting to sweat. “Is it hot in here?” I pull on the neck of my hoodie. I’d take it off, but I’m only wearing a bra underneath. Note to self: always wear an undershirt around Finn. “Don’t answer that. Oh hey, we forgot the coffee mug. I’ll go grab it. Be right back!”
I hurry out of the room and race downstairs, grateful for a minute to gather my wits and regain my composure. I’m being ridiculous. Baseball players don’t ruffle me. I’ve been around them forever, and I’ve had several crushes, but I’ve never felt the need for a cold shower before. Finn is just an anomaly I didn’t expect.
As I pour a little more coffee into the mug, my phone chimes with a text. I pull it out of my pocket. At seeing Leo’s name, a sharp ache flares in my chest. He’s texted me twice since we broke up to make sure I’m okay, but I’ve yet to respond. It doesn’t take a genius to know that I’m not, so what does he want from me?
Hi Chloe. Me again. Could we meet for coffee? I promise I’ll stop bugging you after that. LMK.
I swallow the baseball-sized lump in my throat. How the heck am I supposed to respond? How does a girl talk to the boy who engineered the final barricade around her heart in under two minutes? It’s not like we were fighting or didn’t get along or had doubts about our relationship. We’d made love the night before he left. I kissed him the next morning, wished him a good trip, and told him I loved him. It was a Tuesday. Ten days later he returns and tells me he’s found someone he loves better. Who does that?
My boyfriends, that’s who.
Love at first sight bites. Me in particular. In the ass.
Speaking of asses, there is a fine one upstairs. I push Leo out of my mind. He can wait. Today is about Finn. I return to his bedroom and find him looking out the window.Myview is so far out of the ordinary that I take a sec to appreciate it. Finn’s backside is glorious. A piece of art that should be bronzed and placed in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
He must sense my presence because he turns before I tell him I’m here. “C’mere, quick. There’re whales.”
I put the coffee on his bedside table and jog over to him.
“Riiight…there,” he says.
“Where? I don’t see anything.”
“Scan slowly from left to right and back again, fairly close to the shore, and watch for a break in the surface of the water or a puff of smoke on the horizon.”
“Okay.” Finn and I are both quiet, like our silence will make it easier to see the cetaceans. I’m not sure which one of us moves first, but our sides touch, and I find myself leaning against him. He doesn’t seem to mind, maintaining our closeness, so I relax. “Oh! Thar, she blows!” I declare, seeing a plume of water rise above the surface. I have seen whales along the coast before, but it never gets old.
Finn laughs. “Keep watching. There’s a second one.”
“Those are blue whales, right?”
“At this time of year, blue or humpback.”
“I could stand here all day and watch for them. Growing up, I wanted to be an oceanographer.”
“What stopped you?”
“Too much math and not enough writing. One day I hope to write a children’s book with ocean animals as my main characters, though. I think that will satisfy the tiny part of my brain that wishes I’d stuck with science.”
“Did you know a blue whale’s tongue can weigh as much as an elephant?”
“Wow. I did not know that. Are you trying to out pop quiz me? Because then game on. There are a lot of flashcard facts in my head. My dad Brain Quested me to death while we flew to games when I was younger.”