Free Finn by Madison Stevens

shrinking violet when it came to sex. She knew what she wanted and had no issues going after it.
    “Why, Haley, what in the world are you asking?” She laughed into the line. “And what would your mother say?”
    “She’d say young women shouldn’t have, talk or think about premarital sex. But then I’m fairly certain my parents only did it once in their whole life,” she laughed. “Now spill!”
    “Nothing much, just a little petting. Then he ran from the room.”
    Haley laughed loudly through the phone. “What did you do, ask him for a ring?”
    “Ha, ha,” Alyssa said sarcastically. “My shoulder hurt, and I let out a yelp.”
    “Well, I can see that not going well. He was so protective of you at the hospital.”
    “Yeah, well, he’s too protective at times.” Alyssa sighed. “He spends so much time worrying over my shoulder that he’s not seeing anything else.”
    Haley laughed into the phone, and Alyssa frowned. “Yeah, because the worst thing in the world is a man worrying over you.”
    “You try dealing with it,” she mumbled.
    Haley sighed. “I wouldn’t mind letting that Noel worry over me.”
    Alyssa nearly dropped the phone. “Noel?”
    “Yup,” she replied. “He’s just so,” she paused as if she was savoring it, “big.”
    Alyssa giggled at her friend. It was strange to think of the two of them together. Haley was so short it seemed like such an odd pairing.
    Haley huffed into the phone. “Not that he would reciprocate. I invited him in for a slice of cake and coffee, and he wouldn’t even think of it.”
    Alyssa debated telling her friend that Noel had spent the night guarding her outside but thought that might actually make her feel worse.
    “I get the impression that he comes from a bad background,” Alyssa said into the phone. “So maybe he’s just not used to that sort of thing.”
    “Or,” Haley said, “he’s very used to it, and I’m just not his type.” She huffed again like a child. “Whatever.”
    Alyssa smiled. If anyone could take her out of bad mood, it was her friend.
    “Well, I’ve got therapy here soon.” She stretched her stiff muscles. “I’ll check in again tomorrow.”
    “You had better,” her friend warned.
    She got off the phone and went to put on the usual outfit for therapy. Even though she doubted they would make her work her shoulder too hard, it was still good to be ready.
    She put on the tube bra and a thin, strapped pink top with gray and pink pants.
    It took a little longer than normal, and by the time she was finished, someone was already knocking at the door.
    She jogged to the door and opened it. If she had thought to whistle, she might just have. This man was the epitome of a Greek God: chiseled nose and jaw, deep tan, black hair and a chest like a wall.
    He smiled at her and walked past as she opened the door.
    “I’m Steve,” he said. “Looks like you’ve got a note on your door.”
    Alyssa absentmindedly pulled the note off and set it on the table.
    “I’m Alyssa,” she said shyly.
    “That’s what the report said.” He gave her another winning smile, and her knees went weak. “Also said you’d been shot, and the muscle was torn up. How is it feeling today?”
    She blushed and looked away. “I fell yesterday and think I messed it up,” she lied.
    There’s no way she could tell him that she was running from crazy Russians.
    “Oh that’s not good,” he said. “Let’s see what we’ve got.”
    “Okay,” she said.
    Steve manipulated the shoulder and kept a hand on it as he went. When she cried out, he released her arm.
    “Why don’t you take a break, and then, we’ll go on.” He pulled out his phone to make a call.
    Alyssa sighed and went to get a couple bottles of water out of the fridge. It was amazing how much she could sweat when she hadn’t even done any real work.
    She set the bottle on the table. A paper slipped to the floor, the note from earlier. She picked it up and opened it. There was a