More power to them. If Finn got anywhere near that age and had a woman who’d let him mack on her like that, he’d have considered himself a very lucky man.
Molly’s pale face appeared on the screen next. Cleo sat to her left, but to her right, a dark haired guy Finn had never seen before lit up as bright as the screen itself. With a gleeful grin, Mr. Sleaze slouched back in his chair, hooked his arm over the back of Molly’s seat, and wiggled his eyebrows at her.
The crowd cheered. Finn’s stomach dropped. Molly and Finn had sat for what felt like an entire twenty four minutes in complete silence on the phone the previous evening before Molly had whispered one word before hanging up.Okay.
Whatever had been simmering between them for years on end was approaching boiling point. Finn was caught in the wheels of a steam train, being dragged toward Mollyville. Population: one. Sassy, classy, and badassy as hell. He couldn’t fight it even if he wanted to.
While part of him almost wished for the chemistry between them to die off so the tugging in his chest would stop every time he saw, or spoke to Will. Another part – a much bigger part of him – yearned to explore whatever was between them.
His dick twitched in his cup.Allof whatever was between them. On the screen, Molly’s eyebrow arched and the cocky asshole next to her shrugged as if to say “What are you gonna do?”
The camera cut to a younger couple, teens decked out in Snow Pirate’s jerseys and holding hands. The young girl’s face turned scarlet and her blush only deepened the minute her beau’s lips brushed against her cheek.
The crowd booed, relentless in their pursuit for overt PDAs. The camera panned back to Molly, who thumped the screen of her phone like it had done her wrong. Was she texting him? His heart fluttered. He was a goner. Once she’d said okay, his heart was off to the moon on a rocket ship. There was no reining it in.
The crowd escalated their encouragement, screaming and applauding. The douche nozzle next to her leaned toward her, pointing to his cheek. Storm clouds gathered in her eyes right there on the big screen. Man, homeboy was about to cop a headbutt from MoMo if he wasn’t careful.
The crowd booed harder when Molly covered his face with her palm and pushed. Finn chuckled. She could have just kissed his cheek and been done with it. But that wasn’t Molly. She dug her heels in, doubled down on the stubbornness and said not today, asshole.
No one painted Molly Morrison into a corner – unless she wanted to be in the goddamn corner. The camera moved to a father, cradling adorable twin girls on his lap. The girls bounced and pointed at themselves on the screen, tight, ringlet curls bobbing with the movement. The father’s lips moved, presumably explaining why they were on the huge TV over the ice pad, and within seconds both little girls planted kisses on their father’s cheeks.
A collective ‘awwwww’ and wave of applause washed over them from the spectators before Molly’s face appeared on the screen once again. The prick next to her elbowed her, catching what would have to be a still tender boob from the procedure she’d had done. Molly winced and scooted a couple of inches away from him. Her brows were drawn tight together in a deep frown and the apples of her cheeks were stained red. Her eyes flickered to Finn’s on the bench, full of heat and fury.
He’d seen that look in her eyes a thousand times before, but it had never spoken straight to his dick the way it did when blown up on a larger-than-life screen. That was Molly Morrison’s action face. The guy puckering his lips and making smacking, kissy kissy faces at her was about to end up with blue balls and a broken nose.
Molly
If that asshole didn’t get his puckered lips out of her face she was going to smack him. Or worse, junk punch him. Weren’t parents teaching their sons that no meant no? Why did women have to work to dissuade a man’s interest, while a whole arena encouraged his advances – despite her very clearly having said no? Multiple times.
Her entire body burned, not with desire for the douchebag sitting next to her. Not even with anger. No. Finn O’Brien’s panty-melting smolder burned through her clothes from the bench. He was furious on her behalf and it was hot as fuck.
Her chest tightened. While it was just a kiss, and aside from not being attracted to the jerk at her side, she could have done it without consequence, but images of every time she’d seen Finn kissing another woman accosted her senses.
Tina Morelli behind the bike sheds in high school. The blonde after they’d lost the championship game in their first year of college. The brunette in the bar as Molly made her way to the bathrooms. And countless others.
A bitter taste filled her mouth. If there was even a remote chance that her kissing someone else would have anywhere near the same effect on him, she couldn’t do it. But the cameraman wouldn’t relent. It was great entertainment.
The crowd chanted ‘kiss him, kiss him,’ clapping and whooping like she was on the ice, during a playoff game and on a breakaway. Will stood in front of the box, waving a hand between White and Lewis, obviously pleading his case for his teammate to get away with his infraction. Finn arched an eyebrow that saidWhat are you gonna do, MoMo?
So she did the only rational thing she could think of. She swiveled in her seat, arched an eyebrow at Cleo and silently prayed she was down with helping her best friend out. With the smallest of nods, Cleo smirked. Molly grabbed her by the collar of her game wornScott #13shirt, and laid one on her. They’d kissed before, they’d kiss again, it was no biggie.
“What the hell?” The guy next to her snorted as Molly snuck a glance at the big screen. Sure, she was kissing her – very much in a relationship – best friend, but surely Linc would understand given the circumstances… right?
Fuck. She sure as shit hoped he would understand. She didn’t miss Finn’s small smile as he slipped his mouth guard back over his teeth and took to the ice. She pulled back from Cleo. The corner of Linc’s mouth twitched into a smirk. He tilted his head, and Molly shrugged, the camera still on her. She’d smooth things over with him later if she had to, but his grin didn’t suggest she was in any major trouble with her bestie’s boyfriend.
Molly rolled her lips between her teeth, kept her shoulders square, and eyes hard. The camera finally panned away from the two of them and Molly trailed her thumb under her lip just in case her impromptu kiss had smudged her red lipstick. “I can explain. I’ll apologize to Linc.”
“No need.” Cleo squeezed Molly’s thigh. “You didn’t wanna kiss another guy in front of Finn. I get it. I’ve seen your face when he’s kissed other girls. And I’ve seen his when you kiss guys. I can understand wanting to avoid that pain. For both of you. Especially now you’re edging out of denial and into acceptance.”
“You’ve seen his face when I’ve kissed guys?”
Cleo nodded as she tracked the puck on the ice.
“And you never mentioned this before because…?”
“Because. We were in the ‘let’s pretend we can’t see all the signs’ phase of your denial, Molly. That’s why.” She lifted a shoulder and dropped it again. “I wasn’t going to push it until you were ready to admit you had a problem.”
She jerked her chin at the ice. “A tall, broad-shouldered, red-haired beast of a problem named Finn get-in-my-pants O’Brien. This has been brewing for a while between you guys. You both decided to ignore it, or you’re both idiots. Either way, I kept my mouth shut. I wasn’t suffering your wrath.”
