Bet in the Dark

by Rachel Higginson

  “You can stay if you want.” He stepped away from me to find his shoes. “But I’m going to keep drinking. And I’m going to encourage you to as well. Then neither of us will be able to drive you home, so you’ll be forced to stay the night here.” He stopped looking for his shoes and turned to face me, meeting my gaze with his heated stare he said, “At some point I’ll forget all my reasons for keeping my hands to myself and I’ll convince you to do the same. And then nothing will stop me from touching you, from putting my hands and my lips all over your hot little body, from exploring every single inch of you. So Ellie, if you want to keep your moral high ground you better go home now.”

  “Um, Ok,” I whispered with a shaky voice. I slid off the counter onto unsteady feet. I forced my mind to settle and to get ahold of myself before I agreed to all of that. Because I was maybe thirty sEconds away from doing just that, saying yes please to all of that.

  Fin walked around the corner holding my shoes in his hand. He handed them to me with a cocky smile. “Did you still want to go home?”

  Brat. He knew what he was doing to me. “I’m not sure anymore.” I said honestly, but mostly just to mess with him.

  “Want me to help persuade you to stay?” he asked in that sexy rumble of his.

  “Probably you should take me on a date first, before you start seducing away my virtue,” I shot him a playful glare.

  “Probably.” he agreed on a light laugh. “Besides, the ride home has ice cream.”

  “Ice cream?” I asked sounding more excited about dessert than whatever Fin had threatened me with. But to be fair, I knew ice cream. I knew what to expect with ice cream, I knew how ice cream would treat me and how I would feel after I had ice cream. I knew nothing about what Fin was promising, not what to expect, not how I would feel, not even if I would like it. And that didn’t mean one day I wouldn’t be excited for all those things. But today, for sure today, I was not ready.

  “It’s your birthday. We’re still celebrating,” he promised.

  “Point taken,” I smiled at him, I was more relaxed now than the last thirty minutes. He had a way of winding me up so tight I couldn’t think straight and then helping me relax until I was putty in his hands. I had a feeling he did that on purpose.

  I grabbed my backpack and Fin held the door open for me. We walked down to his car in silence but now I was hyper aware of him. He was all I could think about, all I could focus on.

  And he was being too sweet for those feelings to go away, probably ever.

  He held the door of his red Jeep open and I crawled inside. His Jeep had the removable doors and roof and I loved the idea of him riding through the bluffs with everything opened, the wind blowing riotously through the car. His Jeep was aged; at least as old as my car and the red painted was faded and a little rust around the tire wheels. But it was a fun car, it suited him well.

  He got into the driver’s seat and put a hand on my thigh giving me a squeeze before he started the engine and had to use both hands to drive and use the stick shift. But just because we weren’t touching didn’t mean the frenzied passion wasn’t still hot between us. He slid me a look from across the car that made me want to crawl into his lap and attack his face with my mouth.

  “Jameson and I will get your car back to you, alright?”

  “Sure, whatever,” I wasn’t worried. “Britte can drive me over here tomorrow too.”

  “It’s fine,” he shrugged. “I want to. Besides, I’m the one not letting you drive home.”

  “Which is kind of ridiculous,” I argued. “I’m fine to drive.”

  “No, I’m fine to drive. You basically threw yourself at me in the kitchen. Obviously your judgment is impaired.” He reasoned and it sounded like he actually believed himself.

  “Are you kidding me?” I sputtered.

  He cocked his head to face me at a red light. With gravity he said, “I would never forgive myself if something happened Ellie. Better safe than sorry.” He was absolutely sincere and he was right.

  “You’re right, Fin. Thank you.”

  “Ok, Culvers? Flavor of the day?” he turned the car toward those gorgeous blue awnings and I got excited all over again.

  “Yes please!”

  “How did I know ice cream would win you over?” he mused, sounding entertained.

  I smiled at him, so content just to hang out with him. There would always be that heated tension between us, at least until we did something about it. But until then, he was just fun to hang out with too. Fin Hunter was turning into a something so much more than I could have ever anticipated. And for the first time I wasn’t terrified of it, I was looking forward to it.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “Are you sure you don’t want me to come over?” Britte asked for the twentieth time over the phone.

  “No, I’m Ok. He’s going to be here any sEcond. I just wanted to call one more time so you could give me a pep talk.” I was standing in front of my closet mirror, rocking back and forth from heel to toe feeling like I was going to puke. Fin would be here any sEcond for our “date” and I was two sEconds away from backing out.

  I decided last night’s moments of bravado were completely alcohol induced and I was crazy to think I could run in Fin’s league.

  “First, tell me what you’re wearing,” Britte demanded. She’d been over here all afternoon and brought the arsenal of her wardrobe and makeup.

  “I went with the black skinny jeans, pink shimmery tank top and the sheer silver cardigan,” I recited mechanically.

  “Shoes?”

  “Hot pink stilettos.” Which I was confident I would face plant in the minute I tried to walk three feet.

  “Purse?”

  “Black beaded clutch.”

  “Hair?”

  “Side French braid into a messy side pony tail thingy.” Solid description. Britte would know exactly what I was talking about.

  “Makeup?”

  “Smoky eyes, pink lip gloss. And before you ask, chunky silver earrings, lots of bangles and your giant fake sapphire ring.”

  “You look gorgeous, don’t you?” She actually sounded emotional, like my mom the night of my senior prom.

  “Yes, yes I do.” I had to agree though. I hadn’t looked this hot in maybe ever. Fin better die, or at least appreciate the effort.

  “I can’t believe he’s forcing you to go on a date with him,” she was still dealing with shock after I filled her in over what happened at the track, last night and how he used my stubborn reasoning to get me to go on a date with him. “Mostly I can’t believe that he has to force you. Shouldn’t you be begging him to pay attention to you just like every other girl?”

  “I don’t know. That’s what I think. But for whatever reason he has attached himself to me like a tick and I can’t dig him out.” I laughed at my own metaphor, even though it didn’t feel like that at all between us.

  “Uh, huh.” Apparently Britte didn’t believe me either. “You know I think you’re gorgeous, and a catch. Any guy would be lucky to have you.” She thought about that for a minute and then changed her mind, “Except for Colton. Colton would not be lucky to have you but only because your brothers would literally kill him if you ended up with him again. Anyway, it’s not that I don’t think you’re not good enough for Fin Hunter. Believe me; Fin Hunter isn’t good enough for you.”

  “Get to the point, B,” I laughed.

  “It’s just that, I’m still trying to wrap my head around a world where Fin is desperately interested in a girl and she doesn’t immediately give into him. That is one solid stubborn streak, Els.”

  “Thank you,” I curtsied to myself in the mirror.

  “But you’re totally going to give in tonight, aren’t you?”

  “Uh, no.”

  “But he said that you’re not allowed to think about the debt thing.” She reminded me, as if I didn’t have that running on a loop through my head constantly.

  “That’s fine, but I’m still not a girl that gives
it up on the first date,” I reminded her.

  “Oh, good point. It just doesn’t feel like the first date for you guys. It feels like you’ve been dating for a while.”

  She had a point, but all that time spent together was not exactly quality time. Working off a debt twice a week couldn’t exactly be considered in the same realm as dating. “Still keeping the v-card.”

  “Virgin sistas for life,” she cheered into the phone empathetically.

  “Ok, maybe not for life,” I laughed.

  “You’re full of good points tonight,” she giggled.

  “And yet you’re on your way to becoming a surgeon. Watch out medical world!”

  “You sound less nervous.”

  “Don’t sound so smug. Fine, you’re good at distracting me, is that what you want to hear?”

  “Yep. Now go get ‘em tiger.”

  “Love you, B.”

  “Love you too, Els.”

  As soon as I hung up with Britte there was a knock on my door. I gave myself a last minute, only slightly panicky once over, slipped my phone into my clutch, double checked that I had my brand new ID- declaring that I was in fact of legal drinking age- and then walked to the front door.

  I opened the door to find Fin leaning on the door frame looking sexy as hell. He was wearing a simple black t-shirt advertising some band I didn’t recognize with a gray cardigan over the top. The cardigan was opened, hanging loose to his sides and the sleeves were pushed up to his forearms. He was in loose black jeans with classic Chucks. His hair was styled and his face cleanly shaven and everything about him was just delicious.

  I tore my gaze from eye-raping him and forced myself to meet his hot stare. He was looking at me like he had never seen me before.

  “Ellie,” he breathed and said nothing more.

  But he didn’t need to. I felt to my bones how much he appreciated my low cut tank top and skin tight jeans. I saw the desire make his eyes practically glow. Just my name falling from his lips was enough to light a fire deep in my belly and make my fingers tingle with anticipation.

  “Ready?” I asked, not able to keep the smile off my face.

  “Ready,” he reached out for my hand and I gave it to him easily, like it was the most natural thing I’d ever done.

  We started the night grabbing a quick bite at a cute little local burger place. It was impossible to look sexy while eating a burger, but it was way too good to be worried about how I looked. Besides, I reasoned with myself that Fin just watched me eat six pieces of pizza last week, but the argument fell flat.

  Because if I was honest with myself, tonight felt different than any other time we’d spent time together. All day I promised myself this would be just like all the other nights, that the money would still be a heavy presence between us, and that Fin would behave no differently than before.

  But I was wrong. This was not a casual night in Fin’s apartment, this was clearly a date, where he paid for everything and treated me perfectly. The seven thousand dollars was nothing but a whisper in the farthest recesses of my mind. And Fin. Fin had apparently been holding back before, because where his attentiveness and attraction had been hard to ignore before, they were now impossible.

  After the burger place, Fin drove downtown and parked on Third so we could barhop with the rest of the weekend crowd. Most of the bars in this area catered to college kids so beer was always cheap and there was plenty to do.

  Fin picked the first bar we went into, an old building with mostly high top tables all crammed together to fit in as many as they could. The stools were just inches apart, so when Fin found us a table in the back of the room we sat down basically on top of each other. And that was Ok with me.

  Fin’s knees were spread wide, and I was basically tucked in between them. His arm went protectively around my back and his other hand landed soundly on my upper thigh. He looked down at me with staggering confidence and I had to wonder how he was imagining this night would go.

  I looked around the bar, taking it all in. College students were everywhere, yelling at a game on TV, playing pool at the three different tables, darts that were near the bathrooms or ordering more drinks from the bar. I saw a couple waitresses making the rounds but doubted they would ever make it back here since their attention was constantly being pulled from table to table.

  When I turned back to Fin he was just watching me. His eyes were on my lips, his mouth was twisted in an adorable smile. Slowly he lifted his gaze to my eyes but while his smile widened from embarrassment at getting caught staring at me, his eyes only heated.

  I shook my head at him as if I were disappointed, but leaned toward him. I couldn’t help it. And I hadn’t even had a drink yet.

  Fin leaned in so he could shout in my ear to be heard over the music and asked, “Do I have to wait until the end of the night to kiss you?”

  “Of course,” I shouted back, feeling my cheeks heat from a blush.

  “I don’t want to,” he yelled back, pulling back so he could look me in the eyes directly.

  “What do you want to do then?” I was flirting with him, playing with fire, but I couldn’t help it. This was a date.

  “Bad things,” he promised with a wicked expression and I felt my breath hitch in my throat. I must have looked a little scared because he turned playful and shouted, “I’ll get us some drinks. Don’t move.”

  I watched him walk to the bar. He knew enough people to stop and talk to a few as he pushed his way to through the crowd. The bartender, a guy I recognized from campus but didn’t know his name, leaned across the bar and did the guy handshake thing with Fin. They talked for a minute before he handed Fin our pints of beer and then went back to tending to his insane bar.

  “I should have asked if you liked beer,” he said as he set it down in front of me.

  “Sure, I love it,” I smiled at him.

  “You’re a bad liar.”

  “True, but I don’t really know what I like right now, so I might as well try beer,” I shrugged.

  “Good point.”

  We sat there shouting at each other, people watching and touching, mostly touching. It was like we couldn’t keep our hands to ourselves. His hands were always moving over me, from my lower back to my shoulder blades where he would rest for a minute and then soothe his way back down. Or his other hand that stayed planted on my thigh, gripping me tightly as if holding on to me, as if to make sure I wasn’t going anywhere. As soon as he sat down, he opened his knees so I could fit my legs between his again. And taking his cue, I let my hand rest on his kneecap. His skin was hot under my hand even through his jeans, and I loved the muscular hardness of his thigh.

  When the waitress stopped by he ordered another round even though we weren’t even halfway done with our first drinks. When she walked away he explained that we had no idea when she would be around again so it was smart to be prepared.

  Which turned out to be brilliant because by the time she finally returned with our order we were done with our first set and ready for more.

  “So how come you didn’t have plans already for your birthday?” Fin asked at the end of our sEcond round of drinks.

  “Britte’s not twenty-one yet and she’s really the only one I would want to celebrate with other than you.” Oh crap. I did not just say that. “I mean, since I have to spend it with you.”

  Fin caught my slip and shook his head at me. “At least let me believe I was your first choice.”

  “Always,” I said teasingly, but the truth was so loud in my head I still blushed.

  “I was hoping we would get to play pool, but the lines are pretty long. Do you want to go somewhere else?”

  “Sure,” I didn’t actually care where we went, but I was up for anything. I trusted Fin and I was having a really good time.

  He threw down some money and we wound our way back outside. The night air was cold and refreshing after the hot, muggy bar and I lifted my head to the sky, drying the beads of sweat that had broke out across my foreh
ead.

  We walked down the street together, silent after so much shouting back and forth inside. Fin reached for my hand and I gladly gave it to him. He glanced over at me, and I glanced back just in time for him to look away. I smiled to myself, this was the dumb stuff I’d always rolled my eyes at, but now it felt right and perfect with Fin.

  When he glanced over at me again I caught his eye this time and he held my gaze. With a move so smooth I wondered for a sEcond if it was practiced, he pulled me just inside an alley we were walking by. My back was against the cold brick of a building before I could comprehend what was happening and his lips were pressed against mine just as fast.

  I lost myself in his long, drugging kiss. The pressure of his lips was addicting, the strokes of his tongue consuming. I slipped my arms around his neck, my fingers tangling in his hair and pushed myself against him. He groaned at the tight contact, his long arms wrapped around me possessively.

  “Ellie,” he moaned as his kisses moved down the column of my throat. “This is what I want to do to you every time I see you.”

  I closed my eyes against the rush of feeling at those words. And before I could even try to come up with a response his mouth was back on mine, demanding that I give him everything he was giving me.

  Eventually his kisses slowed and he pulled away from me, resting his forehead against mine. “I get one date with you until I figure out all the other bullshit, until I figure out how to make you mine. I’m not wasting it by waiting till the end of the night.”

  I nodded, breathless and panting. “Ok.”

  “But I’m not going to disrespect you in an alley either,” he laughed. “Even though it’s all I can think of right now.”

  I nodded, afraid of what I would say if I tried to talk. The only thoughts that were making any sense sounded like: go ahead, or yes please.

  “Ready to try somewhere else?” He pulled away from me, taking in my face with his dark eyes.

  “Sure,” I whispered, still not able to form much of a coherent thought. I closed my eyes, working hard to get my bearings.

  “Damn, I love the way you look after I kiss you,” he rumbled. “If I had my way you would look like this all the time.” My eyes popped open to meet his in a penetrating stare. “You’re beautiful all the time and you know that. But I need you to look like mine, like I’ve branded you. And the way your lips are swollen right now….” he rubbed his thumb over my lower lip, leaving me wanting with more desire than I knew what to do with. “Ellie, those lips are mine.”