by Brea Viragh
My panties nearly dripped for wanting him. Already. Any woman would have a hard time turning him down. Breath caught in my throat when Finn leaned forward and licked first one nipple through the fabric, then the other. His hands cupped my breasts and fingers skimmed over the swells where his mouth had been. Nudging the bra strap aside, he lowered his head to lap at my bare shoulders, his devilish tongue trailing a path over my flesh before moving lower. His fingers slid up and down the sides of my body.
Finn stood intimately between my legs while I used the wall for balance. I understood how it felt to have someone else take the lead. To want to be controlled. To like it. It wasn’t like I hadn’t had sex before, but this was different. There was all the fervor of the first time, the need to feel his body on mine. In mine.
Immediately.
Every touch sent a shock through my system, a jolt to my normally ordered patterns of thinking and doing.
“How could you ever think you weren’t beautiful?” Finn murmured when he slipped the bra aside, lowering his skillful mouth to my breast.
No, I wouldn’t think about those other women now. How many women he’d touched, kissed, sampled.
I hadn’t known he could be like this—strong yet vulnerable at the same time. I hadn’t known how powerful arousal could be when I yielded to a man who was nothing if not wrong for me.
There was a thrill to this dark pleasure.
His kiss deepened, tongue pushing my lips wider and fanning the heady desire in my nether regions. With ease, he spun me around and set my ass on the edge of the couch, yanking my legs to the sides to press his erection hard between my thighs.
We existed in a dream, where the air was thick and his touches sweet. Soon my shirt pooled on the floor under his steady hands.
His dark curls of chest hair teased my skin and I arched into the contact, slick heat building.
“Finn,” I gasped. The single syllable broke along with my resolve.
“Fuck your protests. Fuck anything going on behind those eyes saying this is a bad idea.”
His pants dropped to the floor and I was rewarded with a look at his cock. My eyes drew down farther, to the long, jagged scars running the length of both legs. Before I had a moment to focus on the shining skin, he was kissing me again.
My lungs clenched when he ran the tip of his nose along my jaw the same time his fingers slid down and across my chest. I arched against him and tilted toward the touch. Greedy.
He explored me like a starving blind man with a feast. Caressing hollows and curves and burning every speck of resistance from my body. His index finger slid down my stomach and slipped under my panties.
I didn’t care about the time, how soon it was following my breakup, or the numerous sins I’d be committing in the community’s eyes if they ever found out.
This was our time.
I relished each minute.
Finn pushed me back on the couch and lunged forward to bite the inside of my thigh. I cried out when his fingers found my pussy and circled the clitoris. Massaging my breasts with my hands, I squealed the moment he thrust his tongue home. Rough hands pushed my thighs wider.
I was ready, answering the demand with my own need for him. I didn’t think about the why or the when or the where. My body gave me no choice in the matter. It purred and hummed, a well-oiled machine. Everything blurred except for Finn and the single purpose between us. It was thrilling. Nerve endings sparked, a deep and sudden tangling of circuits wherever he touched me.
The slickness of his lips and tongue threatened to shatter me. He was getting as much pleasure from the experience as I was, if his erection was any indication.
He groped, squeezed, drew me inside him.
“Please, please, please,” I gasped, chest heaving, palms slapping the cushions. Feeling like a sacrifice splayed for his pleasure.
Finn lifted his mouth from my core and sent me a single look. My heart stopped. The air in the room thickened until I thought I would suffocate. He shifted to draw me out along the body of the couch, then lowered himself between my legs the moment the orgasm burst. I drew in a breath, shivered, the head of his penis pressed against my entrance. Liquid pleasure swamped my system and my head fell back on a moan.
He used his teeth on the exposed column of my throat. “Hot enough for you?”
“God, yes.”
There was no more chill. I was on fire. Blood pumped like lava beneath my skin. I held tight to his shoulders and rocked against him. My hips rolled from side to side, preparing for his length.
His eyes held a hint of madness when he looked at me again, and his lips parted to reveal clenched teeth, a lust-filled grimace.
He slowly slipped a finger inside of me, keeping his gaze locked on mine. “You’re ready.”
“Yes…”
“Let go for me. I want to feel you come. While you let me take you over and over.”
“Come…again?”
“Oh yes.”
There was no tenderness now, not when the need to mate rode us both hard. A sigh tore from my throat when I wrapped around him, pressing my face to his throat.
Finn used his free hand to reach into the back pocket of his jeans and draw out a single foil envelope. My jaw worked in time with his movements when he unraveled the condom along the length of his cock.
Once he was finished, he swiveled to cover me with his body, cupping my hips. “I need you. Now.” With a hard kiss to punctuate the statement, he thrust.
He gave me no time to adjust. No time to ready for the intrusion. He drove inside and I tightened around him in prolonged ecstasy, half-shoved, half-lifted over the arm of the couch, pressed to the wall from the force.
I let the devil take his due.
The wide head of Finn’s cock pressed into my folds while he pounded into me with rough strokes, exactly the way I’d known he would.
“You’ve wanted me this whole time,” he breathed.
Had I? I couldn’t remember. Couldn’t remember my name for how hard he fucked me.
“Yes. I wanted you. So goddamn much.”
My half-hysterical laugh transformed into a ragged sigh when he pressed his pubis to my skin. It was my turn to nibble, biting against his collarbone and lapping at the softness of his neck.
His heart pounded against mine like a bird trapped in a cage. The strength returned to his legs. The muscles bunched while he continued to pin me harder against the couch, cushions shifting beneath us. He pumped into me and drew my climax further. I opened my eyes, looking up to see his meet mine. He was close, and I thought about all the times we’d joked about fucking. We’d joked about the therapist’s breasts and the way chocolate gave him a hard-on, one of the reasons he liked sweets so much.
There had been no chocolate this time.
What I’d never told him was about the nights I’d woken from sleep with images of his mouth hot and wet between my legs. Scattered images of all-night marathon sex. I’d hidden each of those desires in a deep-rooted need for something else. Acceptance. Work. Fulfillment.
Finn bit my lip with a throaty growl, fingers digging into my hips. I bucked and he held me tighter, worked me harder, kept my pelvis pinned to his. With each movement, the weight of our bodies shifted the couch and cushions until we nearly fell off.
Furious flesh drove into my own and I knew I should be satisfied. I was not. He filled me until I nearly shattered and I still wanted more.
Gathering a handful of my hair, he pulled me down until my lips pressed to his neck and held tight. The movements slowed to an excruciating halt. His release came in a blinding flash I felt in my core. Arms curled around me, breathing harsh…I knew this was debauchery at its finest.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Hours, years, millennia later, Finn slipped from my body, his departure leaving me with a bitter sense of emptiness. A chill stole over my limbs and I sat up, with knotted hair and tangled thoughts.
The afterglow faded under a frontal attack of reality. I spar
ed a glance to my right where Finn crouched on his knees, thighs shaking from exertion.
Finn…and I…oh my God.
My pussy throbbed from his attack.
What the hell was I doing? What had I allowed to happen? I must be out of my mind.
Swallowing my nerves, I pushed away from the couch and walked naked to the kitchen. I dug my fingers into the countertop in an attempt to stop the chills shaking my body.
There was no alcoholic buzz to shield me now. No artificial internal warmth on which to blame my poor judgment.
“Ros?”
The last time I’d had sex, it had been with Weston. I’d awakened beside him and stared down at his urbane features. It was sex with sophistication, not a stitch out of place. Then, I’d had the urge to comb my hands through his hair and muss the strands. With his eyes closed and breathing deeply, I’d pictured another face, one with blue eyes and a layer of untamable scruff.
It was odd to have that same face staring at me now, while the place between my legs was sore.
There were too many feelings crowding in my chest and taking up room I couldn’t spare. I’d always considered myself uninhibited, able to do and go and say what I pleased. There was so much more to consider, I thought, more than a hot burst of lust, his brand still inside of me.
Too much.
I felt Finn’s gaze against my skin, roaming to places where his hands and mouth had touched moments earlier. My thoughts flitted back and forth, as useless as leaves fighting a hurricane wind. I could hardly believe what I’d done, what we’d done.
I slept with Finn Price.
The town bad boy. The town manwhore. The town where he probably had illegitimate babies spread around like grass seed.
Thank goodness he’d used a condom with me.
I turned to face him, not a traditionally handsome man by any means but seductive nonetheless. He was intriguing and uncouth.
The worst part? Despite his choleric and sometimes insipid attitude, there was a clever mind lurking beneath the surface. A clever mind and a kindness I couldn’t forget.
“What?” I asked when he wouldn’t stop staring.
He shook his head, sinking low and relaxing his legs. “Are you done acting like I killed your puppy?”
Instead of touching him the way I wanted to, I rushed out from the kitchen and reached down to grab my jacket, covering my nakedness. “I don’t have a puppy.”
“You’re missing the point. You’re trying to sneak off.” He shifted to sit on the sofa and laced his hands behind his head in a signature pose. This time I could see it was forced.
“It’s not sneaking if you see me clearly moving.”
Finn sighed. “What happened in the last thirty seconds to make you completely change?”
I glanced away from his rapidly shrinking member. Still glistening with our combined juices. God, what had I done?
“It’s personal,” I muttered.
“Oh, and the sex wasn’t?”
I winced. Maybe I’d come to my senses. Maybe I’d come to the sudden realization that I could never make a relationship with him work. Maybe I knew I would rather be alone than change him, change myself to make him fit.
What did I do?
“Nothing happened.” I forced a smile. “We had a little sex and now it’s done. You should be happy about it. You finally got me to open my legs for you.” God, it sounded crude when I said it.
He stood and grabbed his pants from the floor. “I admit, seduction was the goal when I drove you home.”
“See?” It was the ammunition I needed. “My point is proven.”
“You won’t believe me if I tell you different, but I’ll give it a go.” He kept his gaze trained on his feet, trying not to let me see the way his limbs shook when he brought the pants over his ankles. “I don’t feel the same way now.”
“You finally got me. You’re content,” I supplied for him. “You can leave with your goal accomplished. Bravo.”
He slipped the fly button through its hole and the sound of the zipper was as loud as a machine gun. “I don’t want to walk away from you, Ros. River. Not this time. I want a chance to figure out if the best sex of my life was a fluke. Or if it was you.”
I stared at him, hard enough to leave bruises. “Hiding a compliment in an insult isn’t helping your case.”
“I’m not trying to scare you. You are stubborn.”
“Let’s call it practical. I had a moment of weakness and I’m trying to make up for it.”
“Weakness?” He raised a doubting eyebrow. “Wow, you know how to kick a man when he’s naked.” Finn gestured toward his bare chest, the rest of him covered. It was the sort of sexy, casual look designed to make me want him all over again. My mouth felt three sizes too large. “Give me a chance to get the rest of my clothes on before you criticize.”
I looked back at his face, and tiny grenades detonated in my chest. Bang, bang, bang. Man, this had been a bad idea. When he brought those blue eyes in my direction, already frosting over with anger, my lungs started shutting down.
Turning, I did not glance back at him. I knew his mouth tightened. I knew he was hurt. He kept his eyes on me but mine were focused on the floor.
“I want us both to be clear. This was sex and nothing more,” I said. Determined to make it stick. Otherwise it was bad. Bad for him and worse for me.
“Here I thought we could start from scratch and see where it went.” Finn exhaled sharply. “It’s not like we don’t have enough in common. And the chemistry, Ros—”
“What about your precious Cassandra?” I bit out. If she ever found out, I was roadkill.
“You’re pissed about Cassandra? She helped me get on my feet again, end of story.” He sounded incredulous, like he couldn’t believe I had no better excuses. “She helped strengthen my legs to the point where I could finally stand and do the things I want to do. Like come here. To you.”
“She asked you out.”
“She did,” he agreed. “And it broke her poor little heart when I said no. I told her I had other plans and I’m glad to see I wasn’t mistaken.”
I wanted to knock some sense into my own head. “And I stumbled right into your plans. I am stupid.”
“You’re not stupid! How many times do I—” Finn broke off again, mussing his hair to the point where the strands stood on end. “I don’t want to do this. We had a great time and I don’t see why you’re acting like—”
“Like what?” I wanted to know, hugging my elbows close to my torso. “A calm, logical human being?”
“There’s nothing calm about you, sweetheart. A little orgasm and you were thrown for a loop.”
“It wasn’t the orgasm!” Which had been wonderful, by the way. My cheeks blushed scarlet when I thought about what we’d done.
“Let me take a guess. You realized who was fucking you and couldn’t stand it.”
I opened my mouth to answer then snapped it shut.
“Aha.”
It took Finn a moment to compose himself. When I spared a glance at his face, the furious tide of emotions I saw there kept me from responding.
He finally spoke with grim finality. “This is rich. You wanted a chance with the town bad boy, and when you got what you wanted, it wasn’t to your liking.”
“That’s not true.”
“No, Ros, I think it’s exactly true.”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“I want to hear you say you made a mistake.”
“You’re a great character, but—”
“I’m starting to think you don’t know my character at all. Seems like you’ve listened to the whispers around town more than you’ve formed your own opinion of me,” he said, stretching. “What did they say? That I had a disease? That I had a slew of kids and wasn’t paying child support? What? I’ve heard it all before.”
“I’m not saying anything.”
I heard him sigh. “I’m surprised at you.”
There was no av
oiding his gaze now. “Surprised at me? You’ve got to be kidding.”
“I don’t want to act like nothing happened.”
I belted the jacket tighter, uncomfortable with my nakedness. Cool reason slipped between us and held its hands wide. “Nothing did happen. It was sex, Finn. Some stupid sex until I realized…”
“I want to hear you say it.” His voice was hard and exacting. “I want to hear you say until I realized I was fucking Finn Price.”
I winced a second time, surprised when I didn’t bleed. “You don’t need to be so crude.”
“I thought you would appreciate the blunt honesty.” He bent to gather the rest of his clothing. “Since you seem to want to give me the same courtesy.”
“It’s nothing against you,” I insisted. “I’m not the type of person to fool around, unlike you. I’ve never been with someone like you before.”
“Again with the dig. Someone like me. Who exactly do you think I am?” He spun on his heel, striding forward on shaky legs. “We spent the last few months getting to know each other. Tell me, if you’re sure, who I am.”
“You…you are who you are.”
“Cop out. I’m not the type to fool around with you just for the sake of fooling around, River. You know that.”
Did I? I scuttled backward to avoid touching him. “You’re the sort to want only one thing from a girl. You admitted it earlier.”
“And you don’t want to be used and abused like all my other exes. I get it, really. You had your fun, tasted the goods…” He snapped his shirt before tossing it over his head. “Now you can pretend like it was nothing and go on with your tidy life. You took your walk on the wild side.”
“Whatever this was, it won’t happen again,” I answered, trembling.
“Yeah, you’ve made that pretty damn clear.”
“I’m…I’m sorry.”
“What, you think you hurt my feelings?” His smile was pasted on and ready to crack if he dropped it for an instant. He continued to walk toward me, but it was different. He was different, harder, his gaze taunting. “Ros, be honest. I’m the guy who bounces around. You said it yourself. I’ve tasted so much pussy I should win a world record. Right? I won’t tell anyone about this, if you’re worried. I at least have that much decency.”
