Page 41 of Learning Curve

I nod. “Yes, it’s fine.”

He lifts the covers, and I scoot all the way toward the wall to give him some space as he climbs in. It’s a small bed—twin-size, at most—and Finn is a big guy.

Nerves and excitement and a million other things flit around inside my belly. I never imagined I’d be ending the night in bed with Finn. It’s like my body doesn’t know what to do with itself.

I roll to my side with my back to the wall, and Finn rolls to his, facing me. Just enough moonlight shines through their window that I can make out his face in its entirety. It’s beautiful, as always, but undoubtedly marred by the fight.

“That looks…bad.” I wince as I gently touch my index finger to the broken skin on Finn’s cheek, a spot that showcases one of many blows he took tonight. “Does it hurt?”

“Trust me, I’ve had worse,” he whispers back, his eyes gentle on mine.

“You’ve had worse?” I frown. “What does that mean?”

He considers me carefully. “You have a good relationship with your dad?”

“My dad is awesome. Super supportive.” Now, my mom, on the other hand, she’s not even worth talking about.

His smile is soft, but mostly sad. “I’m glad to hear that, Scottie.”

“What about you? What is—” I start to ask him about his family life, but when he reaches around my head and gently pulls the ponytail holder out of my hair, I lose my train of thought.

“There,” he whispers softly. “That had to hurt to lie on.”

With a tenderness I didn’t even know was possible for a guy who just beat the shit out of an ex-UFC fighter, Finn pulls my body closer to his, adjusting us on the mattress so that our heads rest on his pillow. His brown eyes search mine for a beat before he presses his lips to mine.

The kiss is soft and sweet and everything I wish my first kiss as a thirteen-year-old girl would’ve been. But when he moves his hands into the strands of my hair, the urge to press my body tight against his becomes undeniable.

Chest to chest, I kiss him back. A complex warmth becomes rooted in my belly before it starts to spread to the rest of my body, and a delicious throbbing between my thighs makes a small moan escape my throat.

“Scottie,” he whispers against my mouth, and my hips push into his until I can feel the growing hardness beneath his lounge pants. An intense, powerful feeling I’ve never experienced in my life overwhelms me.

If he asked right now, I think I’d let him put himself inside me. Which is fucking nuts, considering Ace and Julia are asleep ten feet away.

His hands move through my now-loose hair as he pushes his lips to mine again, so softly this time I barely feel them. Just like our voices, they’re a whisper.

“Get some rest,” he orders. “It’s okay to sleep. I promise.”

He punctuates that statement by turning me on my opposite side and pulling my back flush against his chest.

He’s still hard and I can feel his arousal on my ass, but his big arms cocoon my body in a way that’s not overtly sexual. It’s gentle and caring and makes me feel safe and protected.

I thought it would take me ages to fall asleep—to let go enough to pass out. But there, in the warmth of Finn’s arms, one second, I’m aware, and the next, I’m gone.

Fast asleep in Finn Hayes’s bed.

Maybe I tugged hard enough on the rope of our hot and cold tug-of-war that the bad stuff is behind us.

Sunday, October 6th

Finn

The train rattles as we pull away from the station at the stop before mine, and I sink down in my seat and pull my jeans away from my knees. My knuckles are a mess, and my face doesn’t look great either, but thanks to a dark basement room full of rich kids, I’ve got twenty-five hundred dollars in my pocket.

I rub my lips together to remind myself of the stinging split in the bottom one and catch the slightest hint of the taste of Scottie’s lip gloss.

My jaw locks. When she wakes up in my bed alone and realizes I’m gone, I know she’s going to be pissed. I didn’t take her virginity—I’m not that big of a dick—but even the act of sleeping together is the kind of intimacy that deserves a “good morning” rather than an empty bed. Instead, I’m on my way to hell.

Willow texted me first thing this morning, upset from a confrontation with our father in the middle of the night. Both Trav and Jack stayed at a friend’s house because they’d been drinking, and our mom worked the overnight shift at the factory—something she’s apparently been doing a lot because of the two-dollar pay differential.

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