Chasing the Wild Sparks (38 page)

Shit.

Did I mention how much I wish Shane Parker would die in a fiery, freak jumping jack accident?

One can only dream.

CHAPTER 21

I’m towel-drying my hair when my cell phone rings. Running out of my blue bathroom, I slip on the small throw rug, smacking my arm into the door frame.
Damn it
! I still manage to make it to my bedroom to pick up my phone off my bed before it goes to voicemail.

“Hey, baby,” I greet breathlessly.

Finn hesitates before responding. “Hey. What’s going on? What are you so out of breath?”

“Just trying to catch the phone before I missed you. I fell.” I rub my arm and laugh.

“Baby, I would’ve called you back. Are you okay? You didn’t break a bone, did you? Do I need to come home?”

“No. I’m fine. Just banged my arm.”

“I wish I were there to kiss it for you.”

I giggle. “I wish you were here, too.”

“Other than that, how was your day?”

“As you can see, it was shitty after I left you.” I’m really not in the mood to rehash Shane. That would ruin the rest of my night. “How’d the rest of your porno go?”

He laughs.
“Porno?
Yeah. That’s exactly what I was doing at a park. Doing a porno. I was doing that
before
the shoot.”

I laugh. “Was that before or after you were with me?”

“You’re funny.” He laughs again. “It was good. Though, nobody would stop asking me who I was ‘hanging’ all over.” He actually sounds amused.

“I’m sorry. It was a last-minute, spontaneous thing to do and I shouldn’t have done it. I feel really bad.”

“Becks, it’s okay. In fact, I’m glad you came by.”

“Why? You were working and I interrupted you.”

He loudly inhales. “I always love seeing you. You know I want even more of you,” he says quietly.

Not knowing what to say to that, I ask, “What were people asking?”

“The number one question was who you were. I had to tell everyone at least twice that your you’re my girlfriend. I didn’t even get tired of repeating it.”

I laugh, utterly amazed that he
finally
revealed his biggest secret, or at least is starting to. “I’m sorry everyone kept doing that to you.” I regret springing myself on him and his coworkers, but I’m not sorry for wanting to be a part of his life.

“Baby, really. It’s fine. I have to admit, I was nervous at first, but I’m glad I finally introduced you to Milo and Pam. Milo told Artie, our director, that I should’ve have had you in the spot with me.”

“What?
Why
?”

“Because we’re a ‘cute’ couple.” I can hear Finn’s smile through the phone, if that’s probable.

“We are?” I ridiculously grin and hop around in a circle next to my bed.

“I don’t know about me being cute, but you are.”

“You’re the prettier half.” I giggle.

“That’s not what my coworkers were saying. Everyone was asking what I had to do to get you as a girlfriend. When I told them how long we’ve been together, nobody believed me. Milo and Pam had to vouch for me.”

“Did they think I was just one of your Finnatics?”

“Yeah. I told them you are my biggest Finnatic,” he says with a small laugh.

“You bet I am, baby,” I purr and sit down on my bed, running my hand along the comforter where we made love earlier. “How did your dare go? Are you done with it?”

“It’s done. It went well. Milo thought it was cool, but it surprised Artie and the couple of others who were with me. In the end, it was all good.” He chuckles and then pauses. “It was really good.”

“Well, I can’t wait until I get to watch it. I’m dying to know what you had to do.”

“I can’t wait, either. I think you’ll like it.”

“What if I don’t? What if I hate it because you risked your life too much? There’s not much you could do if I hated what you did.”

He mumbles, “No, I guess not.”

I sigh. “As long as you didn’t jump off of a damn bridge, jump out of a plane, walk a high wire, go hang gliding, or go running with the bulls in Pamplona, then I shouldn’t hate it too much.”

“I’ve done all of those except the bulls and the high wire. It wasn’t any of those, but the rush was so much greater than all of them combined.”

“Now I’m really afraid of what you did this time. Who dared you?”

“Someone you know.”

“Who?” I ask impatiently.

“I’ll tell you everything Friday, Becks. I promise.”

“Okay. We can’t have lunch tomorrow? I mean,
lunch
this time.” I giggle.

He sighs. “No, I can’t tomorrow. I have to meet with Hank and then meet with Milo and our intern, Cara, about the trip. I’m sorry.” A woman is going with Finn? How do I feel about that? I trust him. I don’t give a shit about what stupid Shane says.

“I guess I’ll have to wait until Friday to see you.”

“I will make it worth the wait. I guarantee it, baby. How was the gym? I bet you didn’t get as good as a workout than the one
I
gave you.”

“No. I can do that every day with you.”

“Me, too.”

I run a hand through my wet hair. “Cara? I never heard you mention her before.”

“Yeah. She’s been with us since last August. I’ve only begun working with her more recently. I mostly work with Kyle since he wants to focus on sports. She and Kyle help us out with location shoots, last-minute shit and coffee runs. Kyle was supposed to go with us, but his parents are coming to visit him. Cara hasn’t been to Philadelphia. I told her I’d show her a few places, but Milo disagrees with the places I picked. So, this should be really interesting.”

“I know where you’ll go.”

“No, you don’t,” he taunts.

“You want to take her to the Philadelphia Museum of Art to show her the Rocky Balboa statue. Then, you just won’t be able to resist running up those steps like he does in the movie, and jumping and cheering for yourself when you reach the top.”

He heartily laughs. “Becks! How do
you
know? I’ve never taken you there with me!”

“Because I know you! That’s one of your all-time favorite movies. You told me once that you love those iconic steps and seeing Rocky’s statue nearby.”

He happily sighs. “Do you know how much I love you right now?”

I giggle. “Probably not as much as that movie, but I accept that.”

Finn laughs. “I’ll take you there so you can see me do it.”

“I would love that!”

“We’ll do it, then. We’ll go in the fall when it’s cooler. There are a lot of those damn steps!”

I play with the corner of my pillow. “I didn’t tell you at the park what Morgan asked me.”

“What?” he asks cautiously.

“She asked me to be her maid of honor.”

He’s quiet for a little longer than a normal response would be, except this is Finn Wilder, who suffers from gamophobia: the fear of marriage. Yeah. It’s a real thing. I looked it up.

He says, “Well, that’s not exactly a shock.”

“I thought it was because she has a sister, but she asked me to be her maid of honor, and Tonya will be her
matron
of honor. There’s a difference, I guess, depending on marital status. I think I’m just a glorified bridesmaid really.” Finn is quiet, which still doesn’t surprise me. Not his favorite topic of conversation. “It’s going to be in a few weeks she said. They want to get married on one of the beaches. Probably Virginia Beach. Not sure.” Finn is still quiet. “Are you there, baby?”

He replies, “Yeah. I’m here. Sounds good.”

I chew on my bottom lip, unsure if I should ask him if he wants to go with me, or just tell him that Rod will be my date. Either way, it’s not going to be good. “Um, I was wondering…” Shit. I can’t do this. Why am I so nervous asking my boyfriend to go with me to a wedding? Because I know he’s going to say no. “Would you…? Do you think you might…? Will you be my date to Morgan’s wedding?” I hear him sigh away from the phone. Bad,
bad
, idea. “Never mind. I don’t really need a date. I could go with Rod. He might even get to DJ the reception. Isn’t that crazy? I can’t believe Morgan came up with that. I mean, who would’ve thought that Morgan, of all people, would want Rod at her wedding, let alone him DJ’ing the thing. I wonder if he’ll play Vanilla Ice for their first dance. That would be funny. I haven’t even thought about the dancing. She said Tonya and I could wear anything we wanted. I told her I’d wear a trash can. If I also wore green, would anyone even notice? Do we wear shoes on the beach, I wonder? I guess that would be stupid.”

“Becks.”

“I don’t even know what time of day the wedding will be. High noon and we’ll have to remember the sunscreen, for sure. I doubt it’ll be a long ceremony, since people do use the beach. I wonder what the wedding pictures would turn out like with half naked people in them. I’m just glad she doesn’t want us to wear swimsuits in the wedding. I don’t know about the guests, though. That would be funny.”

“Becks.”

“I probably should look for a dress that is more of a light color. Not black. That would probably look strange for a beach wedding. Something airy and light. I like wearing black. It’s slimming. I bet Morgan would want to wear black by then. Although, she said it’d be in a few weeks, not months.”

“Becks!”

“What?”

“Can you take a breather? Shit. I’ve never heard you ramble so much.”

“Sorry.” I hear rustling around in Finn’s background. “What are you doing?”

“Trying to fix something to eat. What are you doing, besides having some sort of meltdown?”

“I’m air-drying my hair.”

“Oh, so I caught you coming out of the shower?”

“You did.”

“Thanks for the mental picture. I needed that.”

“Are you being facetious?”

“Yeah. About thinking of you naked. Because I
absolutely
hate
thinking of you naked. It’s a total buzz kill, Becks. I spent my entire lunch ogling your naked body because it makes me totally sick. I went home and had to jump on the Internet and find pictures of other women since you do nothing for me.” Do I hang around all smart mouths?

“Okay, smartass,” I mutter and smile. “I’ll let you go eat.”

“I’d rather talk to you when you’re sitting there naked.”

“I’m not. I have a silk nightgown on.”

“Which one? The black one I got you for Christmas?”

“Yes.”

“Becks, why do you
do
that to me? Now I’m so grossed out I can’t even eat!” he mockingly whines.

I smile. “Bite me, Wilder.”

“Oh, I would if I could. I’d be over in a heartbeat, but I have to take care of a couple things here after I eat.”

“You’re not going to tell me what you’re going to be doing?”

“Nope.”

“I guess I’ll talk to you tomorrow then.”

“Yeah. I love you, baby.”

“I love you more.”

“I love you most.”
So sweet
! “And to answer your question you asked a couple
hours
ago now, yes. I will go to the wedding with you if I’m not working. I would love to be your date, Becks.”

“Really, Finn? Are you serious?” I’m completely blown away right now.

He falters, but says, “Yes. And if I can’t go, you should ask Rod to be your date. He’ll be there anyway. He’ll ensure you have someone to dance with.”

“I’d rather dance with you.”

“I’d love to dance with you, too. I just can’t do the shit you and Rodwell do.”

I laugh and shake my head. “Finn Wilder, you are one awesome son of a bitch.” I hug my knees and look over at the pictures of us, missing his smiling face.

“Am I now?” He laughs and then inhales. “Prove it.” That’s my line!

“Oh, I will. Just
you
wait, baby.”

He laughs. “I’ll email you tomorrow.”

“Okay. Same here.”

After we hang up, I go back into the bathroom and take off my black nail polish, smiling because I have the best boyfriend in the whole world.