Chapter Eighteen

Finn

T his girl. Chessly killed me the second she arrived in the lobby of her dorm. That oversize sweater made her gorgeous blue eyes pop and emphasized the perfect handfuls of her hips and those long, long legs in her tight jeans. The way her eyes sparkled with curiosity and fun when I played with her on the ride over to the facility told me I'd read her right when I planned our first date.

All through dinner she never let me up, wrapping her plump pink lips over a hummus covered celery stick, groaning with pleasure as she noshed on a succulent meatball, teasing me with her eyes as she dabbed olive relish from her sandwich from the corner of her mouth with her napkin. She'd left me semi-hard from the minute we sat down to eat.

Then she went to work on her dessert, that pink tongue touring those kissable lips, licking off every last taste of the chocolate-raspberry treat, and I thought I'd lose my mind. Before Chessly, I had no idea sharing a meal with someone could be so damn sexy.

"Next time I'll order two desserts for you." I smiled.

"Next time we could just have dessert for dinner," she said as she set her empty parfait glass on our makeshift table.

I liked that both of us were already talking about another date before our first one was even over.

"You want anything else?" I nodded toward the cooler beside me. "I have a couple more beers in here, but we might want them later since the next part of the evening has the potential to leave us parched."

She blinked. "This isn't it? A romantic picnic in the middle of a football field?"

"Epic, remember?" My lips twitched as I watched her process. "A picnic doesn't rise to the challenge." I started putting away the remnants of our meal—which, admittedly, I'd eaten the lion's share of, but I'd planned for that.

Wordlessly, Chessly pitched in to help. In a couple of minutes, we'd put the picnic away and stacked the blankets neatly on top of the cushions and the pallet I'd used for a table.

She stood when I did, and I said, "Wait right there."

Her brow and the corner of her mouth hitched up, but she said nothing. I jogged down to the other end of the field where I'd set up the rest of our date. Since we only finished dinner a minute ago, I decided we'd start easy. I flipped on the switch for the glow-in-the-dark ring-toss/tic-tac-toe game and jogged back to where I'd left my date.

"What's going on? Have you invited aliens to join us?" she teased.

"Not quite." I slipped her hand into mine and started walking toward the game.

My hand swallowed hers up, but she gripped mine in a way that said she liked holding onto me. God knew I loved touching her. As we strolled up the field, I couldn't seem to stop my thumb from stroking the warm, soft back of her hand. If I hadn't been so tuned in to her, I might have missed the tiny shiver that shook her the first time I stroked over her skin. I didn't even try to stop the smile from stretching my lips at her response to my touch.

When we neared the game, she let go of my hand, and with a delighted laugh ran ahead of me.

"A glow-in-the-dark game!" Turning back to me, she said, "I love playing these."

In her excitement I don't think she clocked that she'd grabbed my bicep and squeezed with both hands. But I noticed—all the way to my cock.

"Let's see who's the better strategist—physics major or bio-chem major."

"You are so going down, big guy," she challenged. Picking up a handful of glowing yellow rings she asked, "Where is the touchline?"

I'd strategically set up the game so the touchline was one of the painted lines on the turf. Pointing to it, I said, "Here." Then I picked up a handful of red rings and stood beside her.

Right as she pulled her arm back to toss her first ring, I said, "Care to make a little wager on the outcome of this game?"

Stopping mid-swing, she narrowed her eyes. "What kind of wager?"

I touched my forefinger to my lips, pretending to think about it. "If I win, you give me a kiss."

"And if I win?"

"I'll give you a kiss."

Tilting her head, she regarded me with dancing eyes. "So no matter what, when the game is over, there will be kissing."

"Huh." I feigned surprise. "That didn't occur to me until you pointed it out, but now that you mention it, I see your point. The outcome of the game will involve kissing." Leaning down, I brushed a soft kiss over her cheek. "I like this game already, and we haven't even started playing yet."

She blinked, and then a slow smile played over her lush lips.

Focusing her concentration on the glowing green and blue pegs, she wound up and stepped into her throw, ringing one on the edge of the square. Throwing her hands in the air, she did a cute little dance, the remainder of her glowing yellow rings creating a light show as she waved them above her head.

"Nice one," I said before I stepped into my own throw. My glowing red ring dropped over the blue peg beside her yellow ring, forcing her to choose another direction.

She launched her ring for the row opposite the touchline and overshot the game. "Damn," she whispered.

Seeing my advantage, I aimed for the middle blue peg and ringed it.

Suspicion colored her tone. "You've played this game more than a few times, I think."

With a shrug I said, "We like to play lawn games at the house."

After emitting a frustrated growl, she lined up her shot to block me and landed her ring on the peg next up from where she intended.

"Unlucky."

She peered up at me from beneath her eyebrows, her expression daring me to end the game.

Of course I took that dare. After all, the stakes were a kiss. When I dropped my red ring over the peg, lining up three rings across the middle of the square, I turned to her with a grin.

"Pay up."

Her eyes glittered with mischief as she stepped into me. With the foot difference in our heights, I had to lean down a bit to give her access. When she wrapped her hand around the back of my neck, I closed my eyes and puckered up in anticipation of her sweet mouth. But the kiss I expected didn't land on my lips. Instead, she pressed her luscious lips to the corner of my jaw, lingered for a second, and stepped back.

"There's your kiss."

I should have clocked that warning in her naughty gaze. But when she played with the stakes, she gave me ideas for the rest of the night.

"Thank you." I smirked. "Stay right here."

I set my one extra ring beside the square of glowing pegs and jogged across the field to where I'd set up the next game: glow-in-the-dark cornhole. After I turned on the game's lights, I trotted back to my date. "Let's see how we do with the next one."

She shot me a dubious glare when we walked up to the game. "You play this at every football party, I bet."

"Nah. I'm usually representing the boys at the beer pong table."

Ignoring my comment, she went on. "Plus, your roommate is from Kentucky. I read somewhere that this game originated there."

"Maybe." I shrugged. "I couldn't tell you. But I don't play it as much as you think."

"Hmph," she snorted.

Suppressing a laugh, I said, "Same stakes?"

Shooting me a side-eye, followed by an eye roll and a secret little smile, she nodded.

"Which one do you want?"

Chess walked over to the red-lit cornhole box and picked up the matching glowing beanbags I'd stacked on the edge of it. I picked up the glowing blue beanbags and stood on the other side of the box from her.

"You go first," she said.

I tossed a bag at the illuminated blue box opposite us, landing it on the slope below the hole.

With impressive concentration, she lined up her shot and tossed, landing her bag on the lip of the hole.

"Hmm," I said and lined up my next toss.

She cleared her throat right as I swung through, and I let go of the bag a fraction too late, sending it up in the air to land on the turf at the foot of the box.

"You did that on purpose."

Turning that liquid blue gaze to me, she batted her lashes. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

She lined up her next shot, and right as she swung through, I snorted into my hand, "Cheater."

My antics didn't faze her. She followed through with a perfect toss that dropped the bag through the hole, taking the one clinging to the edge with it.

"What was that?" she asked, her tone all innocence. "I don't see how you can cheat at cornhole."

Without giving her another chance to distract me, I tossed my third bag, landing it beside the first one on the slope of the box. Her next toss landed on the box right above my two bags. My next toss skidded off the end of the box, and hers landed beside it. When we tallied up the points, she had me down five to zip.

"Seems to me you've maybe played this game once or twice," I said as we retrieved our bags from the blue box and set up to aim at the red one.

With a noncommittal toss of her hair, she said, "I might have played it before."

Might have played it before, my ass. Chessly wiped the floor with me, beating me 21-9, and she hadn't wasted any time doing it.

"Remind me to have you on my team at the next party," I said as we stacked the bags on the blue box.

She stood in front on me, an expectant expression on her pretty face, and it was my turn to tease. Leaning in close, I nibbled my way along her jaw to the sensitive spot behind her ear where I lingered an open-mouthed kiss and relished the shiver that stole over her. For an extra second or two, I stayed where I was, inhaling the soft floral scent of her perfume, a smell that shot straight to my groin.

Stepping away from her, I said, "The next game requires a bit more skill, so I think we need to up the stakes."

"Yeah?" came out in a dreamy tone that I liked—a lot.

"Wait here."

I dragged myself away from changing the bet and giving her a kiss for every point she'd outscored me. Instead, I headed for the end zone where I'd set up the ultimate glow-in-the-dark game. Running from post to post, I turned on the lights for glow-in-the-dark Zber my parents had given me for my birthday last year. As I set it up, that thought about extra kisses took up residence in my head. By the time every post and ball was lit up in a rainbow of neon color, I'd decided to up the ante considerably.

Eyeing the end zone, which was now lit up like some kind of shimmering neon obstacle course, Chessly asked, "What are we playing now?"

"Zber." I handed her a brightly lit lime-green disc. Noting the consternation on her face, I said, "It's a kind of frisbee-golf game. You score points for hitting the posts or for knocking off the balls sitting on top of them."

With a sage nod, she said, "Good thing you're a lineman and not a quarterback."

"Why is that?"

"Because I have a chance against you in this game."

I cleared my throat. "Did you or did you not just kick my ass at cornhole?"

She laughed. "My dad's in a league. He likes to practice with me in the back yard in the summer."

"Huh. Funny you didn't mention that before we started."

Her alto laughter rippled through me. "Looks like you're going to get even with this game."

With my lips next to her ear, I whispered, "I plan to get ahead."

She returned a narrow-eyed challenge, and my body tightened in anticipation of the game—and the stakes.

"We'll make this one more interesting, yeah? For every post you hit, I give you a kiss. For every ball I knock off, you give me two kisses."

"What if I knock the ball off the post?"

"I'll give you three kisses."

A tiny smile played over her mouth. "Challenge accepted. You go first."

Not knowing if Chess had even thrown a disc before, I'd set up the course in a wide zig-zag so we wouldn't have to make fancy throws around posts. I'd also made it fairly short because even though I could fling a frisbee for almost the width of the end zone, I doubted my date could. After the shellacking she'd given me in cornhole, however, I had to consider the flaws in my strategy.

Loosely gripping my glowing blue disc, I took aim at the first "hole," a post about ten yards from the sideline starting point, and let my disc fly. It rapped against the post with enough force to send the neon-purple golf ball resting atop it for a ride.

"That will be two kisses, please," I said.

"Nuh-uh-uh. You hit the post, not the ball." She planted her hands on her hips. "And you accused me of cheating at cornhole." Then she pushed up on her toes and left a soft kiss in the hollow of my throat. When she stepped back, her eyes glittered up at me.

Swallowing hard, I said, "Your turn." I led her to the next touchline and stepped aside as she lined up her shot.

Her disc skimmed the top of the ball without hitting either the ball or the post, leaving an open shot for me. Taking careful aim, I let my disc go, knocking the ball from its post with the frisbee itself rather than its momentum.

"This time there are no technicalities. You owe me two kisses."

My mouth tingled with the desire to have her lips on mine, but with the way the games had gone so far, that wasn't in the cards—yet. My body hummed in anticipation of where she would decide to kiss me though.

Reaching up, she palmed my cheeks and tugged me down to her level. Then she planted one soft kiss on my eyebrow and another in the middle of my chin.

A chuckle bubbled out of me at her antics as she stepped away to retrieve her disc. Again, I let her go first, and this time she dialed in on the post, her disc giving it a tap for a point, but not enough to knock off the golf ball resting on it. Following her lead, I buried my nose in the sweet scent of her behind her ear and trailed the tip of it down the side of her neck and across her collarbone, stopping at the hollow of her throat where I planted an open-mouthed kiss. A tiny moan escaped her, and when I stepped back, my heart sped up at the desire darkening her stunning sapphire eyes.

After that my throw was a bit wobbly, but it still managed to hit the mark, sending the glowing white golf ball flying with the disc.

This time, she took my left hand first and brushed her lips over my knuckles before switching her attention to my right hand. Her eyes danced as she stared directly into mine and gave me an open-mouthed kiss in the middle of my palm. Until that second, I had no idea my hands were erogenous zones. White-hot desire shot from my palm, up my arm, into my chest, and down the center of my body to pool in my balls. Something in my expression must have tipped her off, because Chessly shot me a wicked grin before turning away to sashay over to retrieve her frisbee. When she deliberately bent at the waist to grab her disc, my eyes arrowed directly to her sweet ass, and my mouth watered. With her concentration on her next toss, I dropped a hand in front of my zipper and discreetly adjusted myself in my jeans.

On the next "hole," she had some luck at last. Her toss bumped the post right at the top, knocking the little white ball to the ground. Sticking her hand out, she said, "That will be three kisses, I believe. Pay up."

The games had begun as me teasing her, but this girl was a quick study, turning the tables on me so fast. I wrapped one arm around her waist, drawing her front flush with mine, and cradled the back of her head with the other, holding her right where I needed her. Her hands flew to my biceps, and she held her breath as she waited for where I'd kiss her first. After her antics on the last toss, my patience was shot, so I didn't make her wait long.

Kissing that tiny divot in the middle of her chin, I whispered, "One." Then I kissed the corner of her mouth and said, "Two." Her lips parted slightly, and I said, "Three," before I mashed my mouth to hers, eagerly accepting the invitation she'd given me.

In seconds we'd both forgotten the game as our lips fused together, our tongues chasing and tagging each other as though it were the only activity they were meant to do. Chessly's hands found their way to my shoulders, one sliding up to plow her fingers into my hair while she dug the fingers of her other hand into the hard muscle of my back. To my ever-loving delight, she held me as tight as I held her. When she started climbing me, I dropped my hands to her ass, hauling her up so she could wrap those pretty legs of hers around me.

I sank deep into the kiss, losing myself in the sweetness that was Chessly Clarke. Moans from the back of my throat harmonized with whimpers coming from the back of hers as I squeezed her ass and licked and sucked her tongue and nibbled and tugged on her luscious mouth with my lips and teeth. Even as I lowered us to the ground, we kissed each other reckless.

When her back met the turf, her hips started moving. Her kisses had already lit me on fire, so when she rubbed her soft center along my hard length, I wondered for a second if the flames would eat me alive. But I didn't care.

As I dry-humped her, my hand found its way under her sweater and shirt. The warm satin of her skin rippled beneath my touch, signaling to me I could continue my explorations. When I encountered the lace of her bra, I smiled into our kiss. The tight bud pushing at the lace excited me, and I traced over it with the pad of my finger—once, twice, repeatedly, until she squirmed and arched her back, demanding I do more than tease.

Jesus . I wanted this girl more than I wanted air. Then from somewhere on the other end of the field, the sound of a heavy door slamming penetrated the lust roaring in my ears. Against me, Chessly stiffened, and I broke off the kiss, panting in gulps of air as I stared down into her desire-darkened eyes.

"Who's out there?" a male voice I recognized called out.

"Guess our game ended in a draw," I whispered as I rolled to Chessly's side.

"Who's standing at the door?" she whispered back.

"Barney. He's one of the janitors for the facility. Looks like Georgie, the facilities director who gave me the green light for tonight, forgot to tell him."

With a groan, I dragged myself to my feet. My boner made walking a bit of a chore, and no doubt Chess noticed, but I didn't have a choice.

"Hey, Barney!" I called out. "It's me. Finn. Georgie said my date and I could play lawn games on the turf so long as we didn't make a mess."

"Is that what all that glowing is? I thought aliens had invaded for sure." He chortled at his bad joke.

With a half-hearted laugh, I said, "No aliens. Don't worry. We'll clean up and lock the door behind us when we leave."

"You want some help carrying your stuff out? Looks like you could use it."

Chessly jogged up beside me. "That would be nice of you. Thanks." Extending her hand, she said, "I'm Chessly."

Automatically, Barney stuck out his hand. Then his gaze wandered from Chess to me, and a speculative grin split his face. "Sorry for interrupting your evening. I saw a glow of light under the door and thought I'd better check on it." His tone didn't sound sorry. But he'd poked a pin in the mood, leaving me no choice but to go with it.

"That's great, Barney. Thanks."

I spun on my heel and headed back to the games. In only a minute or two, we had everything powered down and gathered up. Between the three of us, we only needed to make two trips to my pickup to put away what had taken me an hour and a half to set up earlier in the afternoon.

In the horseshoe drive in front of Chessly's dorm, I unbuckled, and turned in my seat.

"Epic, yeah?"

Her smile lit up the interior of the cab of my truck. "Epic. Best first date ever. Thank you."

I slid my hand across the back of the seat and moved closer to her. "Thank you for making it so damn fun." Slipping my fingers beneath the hair on her neck, I gave her a tiny squeeze. "How 'bout if you come a little closer?"

She unbuckled and inched over the seat, a naughty tease in her eyes.

"A little closer."

"Is this a new game?" she asked as she moved another inch toward me.

My eyes strayed to her plump, kissable lips. "Nope. This is a ‘thanks for the epic time' kiss, a ‘let's go out again' kiss, and maybe after that, a good night kiss even though I'd rather not end the evening."

"Before tonight I would never have taken you for a romantic."

I blinked my shock.

Her pretty lips twitched. "What with you being a scientist and all. But you so totally are a romantic."

I moved closer to the middle of the bench seat. "Admit it. You like that about me." I traced the pad of my thumb over the sensitive skin behind her ear and leaned in to whisper, "You like me."

Cupping my cheek in her palm, she stared deep into my eyes. "You're right. I do like you."

The "thanks for a great time" kiss started in overtime. Chess fused her lips to mine, our tongues jumping right back into that game of tag we'd been playing so well together before the janitor interrupted us. As she kissed the breath right out of me, I discovered the possibility I might never be able to get enough of her hot mouth. When she mashed her chest to mine for the "let's do this again" kiss, I wrapped my arms tight around her and held on.

As my hand found its way to the tight round globe of her ass, she retreated a bit, nibbling and lipping my lips and along my jaw on her way to the sweet spot behind my ear. Obviously, she intended for her good night kiss to leave me with heavy balls I'd definitely have to take care of when I returned to the house.

With a sigh, she scooted over to the door. "I had a really good time, Finn."

"Wanna get together tomorrow afternoon to study?"

"Hillman Hall?"

"Or my place."