Chasing the Wild Sparks (37 page)

Pam sighs and peers at Finn. “Finn Wilder is our resident bachelor. Most of the crew that we work with thinks he’s a major playboy and he’s with a different woman every other night.” She looks at me and her lips pull to the side in consideration. “I know that bothers him. A lot, actually. Finn is a good boy. Only Milo and I were privy to the fact that he’s been dating you for a long time. He mentioned Hank knows now, too.” I woodenly nod when Finn’s red shirt catches our attention as he walks back over to us.

“What are you telling her, Pam? More makeup lies? Seriously. I thought you were my friend.”

She teasingly says to me, “And I also have to use a shit ton of guyliner on him, but he
loves
that one.”

He puts his hands on his hips and shakes his head. Looking at Pam, he nods in my direction. “No way, but Hadley has a friend that probably would.” I still can’t get used to him calling me
Hadley
. I love the way his deep voice wraps around it.

I finally come-to and respond to his joke, which really
isn’t
a joke. “True. He would.”
Oh, Rod
.

“Bring him over. I’ll set him up!” Pam chuckles. Don’t even jest. Rod would run over in a heartbeat.

“Well, I should be letting you guys get back to work.” I don’t want to leave, but I need to think about Pam’s revelations.

Finn clenches my hand and I say, “It was nice meeting you, Pam.”

“Yes, it was nice meeting you, Hadley. It’s about damn time!” Finn playfully rolls his eyes and pulls me away. We walk past a few of his coworkers, some of whom are still staring at me. I see there’s a gray-haired, bearded man now talking to Milo. I’m assuming the director, maybe?

Finn takes his hand from mine and affectionately rubs my back. “You don’t want more introductions?”

I cheerfully smile. “That was a good start for today. Thank you, Finn. That makes me so happy.”
More than you know.

He grins as he looks me in the eye. “It makes me happy, too.” It does?

I stop and turn to him. “I’m going to walk out and wait for Morgan.”

He nods to the statue. “You can stay and watch me. We’re almost done.”

Grinning, I cross my arms and lean towards him, not wanting to touch him in case he’s met his limit in front of his coworkers.
Baby steps… Baby steps…
“I
was
watching you earlier. You’re hot.”

He stoops to my ear, saying, “And just-fucked. You forgot that part. I didn’t even take a shower. I can still feel you and smell your perfume all over me.” I smile as he straightens.

Spontaneously, I grab his shirt and whisper in his ear, “I can still feel you between my legs.” I hurriedly smooth out his shirt as he takes a deep breath and blows out a huff of air.

He’s again at my ear, fervently whispering, “That’s such a fucking turn-on, Becks. You need to tell me that on Friday when I can nail you in my old bed.” I nod and giggle. He sighs and begrudgingly peers over his shoulder. “I gotta go, baby. I love you.”

“I love you, more.” I wait for him to walk away, but he instead bends to give me a long kiss, surprising me again. I wonder how many people are watching Finn Wilder make out with his supposed flavor-of-the-day.

“Love you, Becks,” he again tells me. He turns and walks to his group, his golden hair glowing. I’m left grinning stupidly as my boyfriend glances over his shoulder at me on his way back to work.

“Where’s Rod?” I ask Morgan as I prop my foot up on the metal bench to tie my black sneaker. I’m wearing a pair of black shorts and a black T-shirt with pink hearts. Morgan is wearing a white T-shirt with dark blue shorts.

She laughs and tosses her head back. “I think he had to go to urgent care for his arm.”

I laugh. “I didn’t hit him that hard. Shit.”

“He said he’d be here.”

I lower my leg and fix my ponytail. “He has a water aerobics class starting pretty soon, doesn’t he?”

Morgan smiles. “In a bit, with the women’s class.”

I put my hands on my hips. “I can’t believe they let him in.”

She pulls her hair into a ponytail and looks at me. “I had to pull some strings. They didn’t want to let him in for obvious reasons.”

I scrunch my face up. “I wouldn’t want a guy in my class staring at my rolls.”

She sends her eyes heavenward. “Rolls. Yeah, right. Anyway, it’s Rod. He
is
one of the girls.”

I giggle. “He said the guys ‘intimidate’ him.”

“Ivan told the gym that Rod is gay so they’d let him into the women’s class.”

I cover my mouth and muffle, “Oh, dear God! That is hysterical!” I drop my hands. “Can you imagine what those women are thinking of him in that class?”

“Yeah. They’re probably thinking
they’re
manlier than he is.”

“I just hope he doesn’t do anything to prove himself otherwise.”

She scowls. “You mean like a boner?”

I cringe at that gross thought. “Yes.” I grab Morgan’s wrist and twist it so I can see her watch. “Damn it. I have my class with Shane in five,” I groan and pout, close to stomping my feet.

“Lucky you. I’m going to hit the elliptical. I just hope I don’t throw up on it.”

“That would also be funny.”

“You’ll be the first person I find if it happens.”

I laugh. “Have fun.” We walk out of the women’s locker room and into the noisy gym, where most of the weight machines are located on the first floor. Music is blaring and metal is clanking against metal.

Rod is waiting against the wall. “What the fuck takes you chicks so long?”

I burst out laughing and Morgan soon follows. I wheeze between gasps, “What are you doing? Sweatin’ To the Oldies?” Rod is wearing a blue headband, black wristbands, a Brad Paisley shirt, and super snug, yellow shorts. I think they’re girls’ size, not even women’s.

“Shut the hell up, you bitches. I lost my locker key. I only had some of my gym shit in my truck. So, Jim, the guy at the desk, loaned me a pair of shorts they had. He’s a friend, so I took them.”

My eyes shoot over him and I struggle not to lose it before I can say, “I don’t think he’s being
that
great of a friend to you, Rod.”

He glares at me. “Yeah. I’m rethinking
all
of my current friendship statuses,
Hadders
.”

“What you really should rethink is those shorts. They give a whole new meaning to the name,
Dick Rod
,” Morgan states with a horrified look on her face, her eyes locked on his crotch.

“Why in the fuck are you staring, Morgasm?”

“It’s like one of those car accidents you can’t look away from,” she utters, lost in a trance.

Rod lowers his towel and frowns. “Screw you, both!” He walks away from us as we howl with laughter.

“Oh, come on! We’re just playing with you, Peter! Don’t get hard!” Morgan shouts at Rod, who gives her the finger over his head, causing us to laugh even harder.

After we catch our breaths, I walk to the small gym rooms that are used for the personal training sessions. Leaning against the heavy wooden door, I shove into it and go in. My personal trainer, Shane, has his back to me reading a clipboard. Happy Monday to me.

Without turning to see who it is, he says, “And there you are, Miss Beckett. I was wondering when you were going to exalt me with your attendance.” Fucking jerk.

“I’m two minutes late. I’m sorry.”

He turns around and raises a haughty eyebrow at me. He has on a gray tank top and black shorts. “Because those two minutes really don’t matter now, do they?”

“I’m here. Let’s just get the show on the road.”

“Start with your warm up stretches.” He looks down to his clipboard while I take my place on one of the red mats. Even though Shane is a total douchebag to me, he is nice to look at. He is brawny, not as big as Ivan, but he is definitely muscular. His hair is the color of Finn’s eyes, but Shane’s eyes are blue, I think. I try not to look into them for fear I might see Jack the Ripper, The Big Bad Wolf, The Wicked Witch of the West, Loki, or Satan himself. His hair is also floppier than Finn’s and he’s constantly tossing his head to move it out of his eyes.

“Rough weekend?” he asks and I look up at him from my place on the floor.

“No.”

“You’re unusually slow today. Ivan said you went to a club with him and his girlfriend last night. Care to elaborate?” Who is he? My father? I feel like I’m in high school.

I grumble and lean forward to touch my toes. “Not really.”

“I also hear you went to some kind of kite party?” he asks scornfully.

I regard him sourly. “Festival. A kite
festival.”

“Same difference. He said Finn Wilder was there with you. Are you two friends?”

“He’s my boyfriend. You know he is. I’m sure Ivan has told you that.”

“No. You’re not our central topic of conversation, actually.” Asshole.

I look at my shoes and mutter, “That’s a relief.”

“So you and Wilder serious?”

I pull on my feet and stretch. “Yes.”

“Hmm. I didn’t think he dated just one woman.”

I glance up at his arrogant expression. “He does date one woman. Me.” Shane’s a conceited bastard, but unlike my cocky boyfriend, this dick isn’t charming about it at all. He’s irritating and abrasive. How is sweet Ivan even friends with him? He must’ve lost a bet or something.

“That’s not what I’ve heard. I have a friend who works with him and he says Wilder is a notorious womanizer.”

I frown and defend him, “That’s
not
true.”

He laughs. “Like you would really know.”

“I do!” Fucking son of a bitch!

“My friend says Wilder has been seen on several occasions with different women in his car in the parking lot at work on
dates
.” Finn would
not
do that to me. I
know
he wouldn’t.

I growl, “Not a chance. I think I know my boyfriend of three years, Shane.”
I hope
…

He shrugs. “Whatever. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

I swing my head up to him, my ponytail slapping me on my cheek. “I won’t,” I snap.

He tosses his clipboard onto the floor, away from us. “Okay. Get up.” I stand and he circles me like a cagey panther. “Three sets of lunges. So, three years? Isn’t he going to marry you?”

I hate that obligatory question, especially from people I loathe. I roll my eyes and grumble, “I don’t know.”

He laughingly scoffs, “You don’t
know
? I thought you just said you knew him.”

“I’m not talking about this anymore.” Finn is right. I need to get a new trainer, if there
are
any. Damn it!

He smacks my knee. “Bring your knee out more. Why? Is it touching a nerve?”

I look straight ahead to avoid his hard gaze. “It’s none of your business, that’s why.”

“
Oh
. I see why it bothers you. He doesn’t want to settle down. He likes his freedom, not that marriage would probably stop him anyway.”

I whip my head to glare at him. “Why are you trying to piss me off more than normal?”

“I’m only trying to fire you up, Miss Beckett. You’re still lagging. You wouldn’t want to be out of shape for
the
Finn Wilder, you know.” I
do
know…

“What about you? Don’t you have a girlfriend whose life you want to ruin? You probably wouldn’t want to marry her. You know, tie yourself down, and commit your life to one woman.”

“On the contrary, Miss Beckett. I would be man enough to do that if I had a special woman in my life. I don’t, but she’ll come along someday.”

“Right,” I grouse and switch legs.

He smugly smirks and crosses his arms. “The question is: Is Finn Wilder man enough?”