"We weren't friends before."

Puck quickly pulled away from Rachel's touch, looking anywhere but her face. If he met her eyes, she would see through his facade. And the last thing he was going to do was act like a pussy in front of the of the football team over a chick. He had a badass reputation to think of. It had nothing to do with how he felt different when he was around her. Or how he had smiled more in the last week with her, than he had in the last year of cougars and trampy Cheerios. She was just a stupid gleek!

As he leaned forward, Finn's eyes met his from the field below. The golden boy didn't look too happy that he and Rachel were having such an intimate conversation. Finn stretched and paced increasingly closer to the bleachers with a scowl on his face. Subtlety wasn't his boy's strong point, but for some reason the chicks ate it up. The moment Rachel walked away, Finn would unwittingly charm her into thinking she was his world and she'd never look back.

Fuck that.

Puck reached out and grabbed Rachel's hand as she turned to leave, tugging her back towards him. She squeaked in surprise and stumbled against the aluminum step. His arm shot out and caught her by the waist before she could fall and he easily settled her small frame into his lap. Puck held back laughter at the fury building in her eyes as she drew in a breath to let him have it. With a voice like hers, his ears would be bleeding if she had the chance to get started. When Rachel got pissed her voice went up octaves, and she looked like she was ready to go sonar.

In a quick motion Puck cradled her head his hands and brushed his lips against hers in gentle kisses that took Rachel by surprise. The tightly wound diva deflated in increments with each whisper soft touch of his lips until she had lost her will to argue. In between kisses, he coaxed her in a rumble of words that she felt against her skin.

"We're not breaking up, Berry." He interjected his kisses by rubbing his stubble against her throat in a tingling rasp.

"Yes, we are, Noah." Rachel replied in a dazed, but firm voice. "I explained that this isn't going to go anywhere."

"Because you want to be with Finn, right?" Puck asked, trying to sound casual. He fought the urge to pull her closer.

Rachel looked away, her cheeks pink. "I should never have agreed to date you in the first place. I'm so sorry, Noah. It was wrong of me to use you like that."

Puck just gave her a wicked smile, and whispered against her ear. "Lover boy is watching us. Every time I touch you, every time you smile at me, he starts to lose it."

A thrill went over Rachel as he whispered to her, although she wasn't sure if it was because of his words, or because of his warm breath tickling at the nape of her neck. It was wrong to want to torture Finn...wasn't it?

"Finn's never been the sharpest tack in the box, but he knows that he wants you, Rachel. He's just not willing to do anything about it." Puck punctuated his point by scraping his teeth against her earlobe. "He thinks he doesn't have a choice in the matter. That he has to stand by Quinn, and what he wants is out of reach."

Rachel quieted in his arms as the words sank in. Puck could almost hear the gears moving in her little head. "And you think he needs a little push to do something about it?" She asked uncertainly, daring a peek over her shoulder at the gangly teen eyeing them from the field.

"He thinks I'm just chasing tail, and that I'll toss you aside when I get tired of you." Puck played with her hair, running the strands through his fingers.

"Aren't you?" Rachel said quietly. "It's your usual MO."

Puck's mind raced to form an answer. What the hell was he doing with her? He wasn't ready to face that sort of question, so he said the first thing he could think of.

"You're in a position to give me something I want."

Rachel nodded slowly in understanding. "Quinn."

Puck blinked in confusion, but covered his expression quickly. "Give the girl a gold star." He drawled lazily.

"If Finn acts upon his feelings for me, you hope that Quinn will reciprocate your feelings for her once they have broken up."

Puck made a noncommittal grunt, and ran his hand over his scalp. This wasn't coming out the way he had intended it to. Although he wasn't sure what he had intended. He just knew that when he had seen Finn waiting for him to fuck up, something had snapped.

"If Finn believes that I'm serious about you, he won't be able to stop himself." Puck said with a sinking feeling in his stomach. "We just have to convince him that this is real. That we really are falling in l-l-l...."

Rachel's laughter tinkled in his ear. "Can't say the L word, Noah? What happened to your badassness?"

"Whatever!" He sneered and looked away. "Do you want to do this, or not?"

Rachel looked at him solemnly, searching his face until she seemed satisfied. "It's a deal. We date until Finn admits his feelings for me."