Like Gravity(59)

He left the ladder and approached the bed, leaning down so his mouth brushed the shell of my ear. I shivered, and felt his lips curve into a knowing smile as they brushed against the lobe. “You are, without question, the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen, Bee,” he whispered. “Sometimes, I look at you and wonder if you’re even real. Girls like you aren’t supposed to exist in real life – you’re the stuff of legends and bedtime stories. So, no, I don’t give a shit if you think it’s lame as hell – you’re my princess.”

Okay. He could call me princess. He could call me whatever he wanted if he kept talking to me like that.

I didn’t say anything. Instead, I threw back the covers, hurdled out of bed, and slammed my frame against his. When my bare legs wrapped around his waist, my mouth found his and my hands slipped into his hair as I let my body do the talking.

Much later, we emerged from the shower and Finn took his time drying me off, using a towel to gently wipe every droplet of water from my body. We’d once again had to scrub ourselves clean of blue paint, as our earlier activities on my bedroom floor had gotten unintentionally creative and we’d ended up looking like aspiring Blue Man Group members. Again.

Finn finally allowed me to leave my bedroom and I greedily consumed half a pot of coffee as soon as I entered the kitchen. He laughed at me, taking only a single cup for himself and downing it black.

Yuck. What was coffee without cream and sugar!?

Lexi was still at Tyler’s apartment, so it was just Finn and I. I shouldn’t have been surprised that there was no morning-after awkwardness, but I was. I guess, despite everything Finn had said and done in the past twenty-four hours, I was still insecure about where this whole thing was heading. I could finally admit to myself that yes, I had definite feelings for him. And yes, the sex had been off-the-charts amazing – better than I’d ever imagined sex could be. But I still was nowhere near ready or eager for a relationship. The idea of Brooklyn Turner, irrefutable ‘Ice Bitch,’ as someone’s girlfriend was laughable. The idea of being the girlfriend of someone like Finn Chambers, however, was downright scary.

“Stop,” Finn ordered, shaking me out of my reverie.

“Stop what?” I looked at him, confused.

“Overthinking us.”

Us?

He set down his empty cup on the kitchen island and made his way around to the stool I was perched on. Bringing one hand up, he lightly smudged a finger across the tension lines that were pulling my eyebrows together.

“Princess, can I ask you something?”

I nodded reluctantly, automatically anticipating the worst.

“Did you have fun with me last night? This morning?”

I nodded again, waiting to see where he was going with this.

“Well so did I. In fact, I had more damn fun last night than I’ve had in a long, long time. So please don’t get all wiggy and female on me. Don’t twist this around into something bad, because what we’ve had these past few days is beautiful. You know that deep down, princess. And if I know you the way I think I do, then I bet it scares the ever-living hell out of you.”

I took a deep breath, met his eyes, and nodded again. His crinkled up in amusement.

“I don’t mind the silent treatment,” he grinned. “If I’d known sex was all it would take to stop you from being so sassy all the time, I’d have made my move a lot sooner. Give the girl an orgasm and she’s finally complaisant.”

“Complaisant? Did you get that off your word-of-the-day calendar, caveman?” I smiled, jabbing a sharp elbow into his stomach. He let out a small oof as I connected, though my arm probably took most of the brunt from colliding with his steely abs. I fought the urge to rub feeling back into it, not wanting to look like the weakling I totally was.

“You’ll have to come over to my apartment and see,” he said with a wink. I’d never been to Finn’s apartment – I hadn’t really allowed myself to think about the fact that this god-like specimen of man actually had a bed and a toothbrush and maybe even a damn word-of-the-day calendar somewhere out there. The thought was staggering.

“Maybe sometime,” I murmured noncommittally.

“After my show tonight,” Finn countered decidedly. He hadn’t invited me or asked if I would be going – he simply informed me that I’d be there, as if my plans for the night were predetermined without any necessary consent on my part.

Overbearing caveman.

Casting a look at the microwave clock, he winced. “Speaking of, I have to get going. It’s already past three and we have a rehearsal before the set. We go on at nine.”

“At Styx, right?” I confirmed unnecessarily. Apiphobic Treason rarely played at any other venues on campus because Styx was one of the few places that could accommodate such a big crowd. On a good night, their shows drew in over two hundred people.

Finn nodded, then leaned down so our faces were aligned and brought up both hands to cup my face. Staring into my eyes, he shook his head back and forth so our noses grazed lightly before tilting his head and giving me a light kiss goodbye.

“I’ll see you tonight, princess,” he whispered against my lips.

“If you’re lucky, caveman.”

“Oh, I’m lucky, all right,” he returned cockily, eyes twinkling as he no doubt remembered how very lucky he’d gotten both last night and this morning. I rolled my eyes as I watched him walk out of the kitchen, but even my exasperation with him was starting to feel forced. If I were being honest with myself – which, let’s face it, was a rare occurrence – I’d have to admit how happy I was feeling at that exact moment. I was the lucky one – and ‘lucky’ was definitely not something I’d ever considered myself before now.