If he was surprised, he recovered quickly, confirming he wanted this too. My hands clutched the front of his sweater and my feet lifted off the ground when he wrapped both his arms around my waist. His beard scratched against my cheeks. His mouth was warm and wet, and I sighed into it. He slipped his hand under my sweater and rubbed my back. It felt so good. And exactly what I needed. I didn’t want to think about my disaster of a day…disaster of a trip. And then he pulled away. “Why…” I placed small pecks on his lips. “Are you not…” I tugged on the zipper of his jeans. “Kissing me?”

I didn’t know him well enough to be so bold, but the unfamiliarity made me braver. Besides, it was obvious he was into it, at least from a biological standpoint. Then I realized consent went both ways and dropped my hands. “I’m sorry. Did you not want to? I thought…” I avoided eye contact, as if my not looking at him meant he couldn’t see how embarrassed I was for completely misreading the situation.

“I totally…” He stroked my cheeks and combed his fingers through my hair. “Want to kiss…” His brown eyes pierced mine. “Every part…” He nipped at my ear. “Of you.”

“Oh, thank God.”

He laughed.

“Did I say that out loud?”

“You did,” he confirmed.

“How do you do that?” I asked before lifting my shirt over my head. Another bold move, but I was on a roll.

“Do what?” he asked, pulling my top all the way off and placing it gently on the rocking chair like it was an original Oscar de la Renta and not twenty dollars from Forever 21.

“Look at me like you’ve known me forever.”

“It’s just the way I look at you.” He ran his thumb along my wrist bone, making me shiver. “Do you want me to stop?”

“Please don’t stop.” I placed his hand on the lace trim of my bra. “Any of it.”

His eyes crinkled at the corners. “I like you, Adina.”

The feeling was mutual. Pleasant Hollow had disenchanted me at every turn with one exception, and he was standing before me. Eventually, I would need to face the reality of my situation and come up with a plan, but right now I wanted to lose myself in Finn, or rather, let him lose himself inside me.

I shimmied out of my jeans. “No more talking.”