by Shea Godfrey
“I believe it.”
Declan held out an envelope. “These are the pictures I took. Mama Ailish helped me with them, so you could take them with you.”
Asher blinked and took the envelope with a careful hand. Declan had been taking pictures all day with a beat-up Kodak camera, and Asher had no idea what moments he might’ve caught with his keen eye. Ian’s mother was a photographer of sorts, from what he could tell, and she took great pride in her grandson’s skill. It was a lovely gift and completely unexpected. “Declan.” Asher noted the pride on Ian’s face, and he had to take a moment before he spoke again. “You are a true gentleman, Declan, thank you for your kindness.”
“Did Cassandra speak to you, Declan?” Ian asked. “Or to Finn?”
“No.” Declan put his hands on his hips as he tried to stand taller. “But she likes Finn an awful lot, and Finn likes to make her smile.”
“Go get the food from Mama Ailish, okay?” Ian put a hand on his son’s shoulder. “It’ll be good for the road and Casey might get hungry. And the blankets, too.”
“Yes, sir.”
Asher watched the boy run toward the house again. “You have a fine family, Ian.”
“So do you.”
Finn handed Casey’s kitten back to her and Casey took a small step closer as she reached out with her free hand, pulling at Finn’s shirt. When Finn leaned down, Asher thought that Casey would speak, but Casey lifted onto the tips of her toes and kissed her instead.
It was a small, soft kiss upon the mouth, but it was sweet, and when Finn stepped back, there was a look on her face that Asher remembered very well. His own first kiss seemed a lifetime ago, though he had never forgotten the magic of that moment.
Ian laughed softly and Cassandra walked away from Finn without a word. Asher waited as she approached him with a strange sort of confidence. When she reached him, she slipped her hand within his and stood close.
Asher leaned over at the waist and Casey’s big brown eyes stared into his own. He had dared to hope that she would’ve spoken to another child, and Ian’s Finnegan was most certainly a charmer. Perhaps it was not meant to be. Perhaps she would never speak. Perhaps there would be no King of Thieves. “Are you ready to go home, Cassandra?”
Asher’s heart let loose with a flutter at the unexpected warmth and emotion that swirled up within her eyes. The open display of feelings was new to them both and he held his breath.
“Yes, Oncle.”
Chapter Thirty-nine
Near Bergerac, the Dordogne, France
Present day
Casey dropped her backpack to the floor, walked to the window, and pushed the shutters open to the late afternoon breeze.
The trees were still full and there was a pleasant rustle of leaves as she looked down the hill. The afternoon sun hit the back of her house and the bank of windows was set ablaze by the angle of golden light. The maples had come in nicely, and from a distance, her land was absolutely beautiful.
She heard Finn’s boots on the wooden floor behind her and she spun around. Finn wore her faded Levi’s and a navy-colored button-down that hung untucked beneath Asher’s battered and yet still lovely brown leather jacket. Finn had given over the jacket, which she had carefully stored, and Casey had promptly given it right back to her. Finn’s eyes had filled with tears as she smiled, and when she had shrugged into it, it was quite clear that it belonged exactly where it was. Her bruises were healed and the stitches had come out, and as Finn stood before her, she appeared to be as guilty as original sin.
Casey could not have been more in love with her if she’d tried. “So this is where you watched me from?”
“Mostly. You can’t see the river from here, or your boat.”
Casey nodded and stepped to her right. The laptops were stored neatly but there was a pile of books on the corner of the table, and a surveillance scope the size of which she’d never seen before. She touched the scope and eyed her lover. “This is very nice.”
Finn’s lips puffed out as she exhaled.
“It’s okay.” Casey grinned and walked to the bed. “No, it’s good.” She bent over and pushed her hands onto the mattress. It was soft, but it creaked slightly. Casey pulled at the slightly rumpled blanket and straightened it out with a flick of her fingers. “Is this where you slept then, Finnegan O’Connell?”
“Yes.”
“Is it soft?”
“It’s not too bad.” Finn’s voice was quiet. “It creaks a bit.”
There was a small light on the bedside table but nothing else, and Casey opened the drawer and then shut it. She turned back and stood up straight. “So when you went to bed, did you…” She tried very hard not to smile, but the blush that moved along Finn’s neck and over her jaw was fairly spectacular. “Did you think of me, while you touched yourself?”
Finn didn’t answer her.
Casey smiled at last as she put her hands into the back pockets of her jeans.
Finn was still so fragile in many ways, and perhaps she was finally grieving for Declan in a way that her rage had not allowed before. It was a startling thing to be given access to, Finn’s vulnerability, and it was a heady gift that Casey did not take for granted. She had let go once before and it had almost been the end of her. She wouldn’t make the same mistake twice.
It had been a long time since she had been needed by someone, and Finn let her inside without a second thought. She had realized quite quickly that there was no greater work of art she might have stolen than Finn’s heart. “You did, didn’t you, Finnegan.”
Finn still wouldn’t answer her.
“Come on, O’Connell, give it up. I mean, there were plenty of times I went swimming this past summer, and more than once without a suit.”
“I know that. I remember that.”
Casey held her lover’s eyes. Her clothes were pulled tight across her breasts and she could feel her nipples press against her bra and the white blouse she wore beneath her green leather. It was a terrible thing to want someone so badly, at all times, and yet it was fucking glorious in every way. “Finnegan.”
“Okay, but just…just a couple of times.”
“A couple of times?” Casey repeated. “Define that, please.”
“More than once.” There was finally a touch of laughter in Finn’s voice. “Less than two hundred and fifty-six. Not a lot.”
Casey laughed. “Is that just a random number? Or does that mean your definition of a lot means two hundred and fifty-seven? Because you really should be specific with this one. It’s going to matter.”
“It is?”
“It might.”
“How?”
“Was it just one fantasy, or did you mix it up? Did you enjoy a nice variety of things?”
Finn took a step back from the end of the bed and shifted her weight as she shoved her hands into the pockets of her jeans.
“Are you counting them?” Casey asked softly.
Finn’s eyes began to change. It was subtle, but the rest of Casey’s body felt the effects of the shift. Casey went to her and when she was close enough, she grabbed Finn’s shirt and pulled.
Finn took a step.
Casey felt the power of their attraction within her thighs and the flesh between her legs filled with heat. “Can you hear me?” Casey whispered as softly as she possibly could.
Finn leaned closer.
“Tell me, Daddy…did you have your cock in any of these fantasies?”
Finn closed her eyes and Casey was a bit startled at the unexpected tremble in Finn’s shoulders. She was walking a rather lovely edge and she wondered just how quickly things were about to progress. They hadn’t really touched each other since…well, for almost nine thousand kilometers. For the love of God, that won’t be happening again.
“Did you lie beneath the covers and imagine being inside me?”
Finn was closer yet again, though Casey hadn’t moved. Finn’s subtle cologne was a now familiar scent and she found herself trying not to
lean forward.
“Was the house quiet…” The lure of Finn’s hair was too close and Casey swallowed and licked her lips. That such loveliness existed in the world had never occurred to her until Finn. “When you touched yourself?” She felt Finn’s breath against her cheek, and then the heat of her lover’s face, so close, too close, not close enough. “Did I make you wet, my love?”
“Casey.”
“Did the bed creak beneath you, Daddy?” Casey’s breath was quick now, and she could picture Finn naked beneath the covers as she fantasized, as she made herself come. Fantasies about her, even as she herself had…As I pleasured myself, in the house down the hill, dreaming of a woman like the one I now have. “Did it turn you on more?”
Finn’s hand slid along her waist and Casey closed her eyes as she tipped forward. Her forehead landed against Finn’s chest and she pulled at her lower lip with her teeth. She turned her head to the side. “Goddammit.”
“What?” Finn asked in a whisper.
“This whole scene…” Casey’s hand found its way into Finn’s hair. She took hold and pulled Finn’s mouth to hers. Their kiss was filled with passion and Finn’s hands slipped around her, even as Casey pulled her mouth away. “I wanted to give you your fantasy.”
“I approve of your plan, yes.”
Casey kissed her again and Finn pulled her up and close. Their kiss became hot-blooded and deep and everything changed within an instant. Casey moaned and pulled back, even though her arms were fierce about Finn’s neck and shoulders. “But now…”
“Now?”
“Yes.”
“What about now?”
“I can give you maybe thirty seconds, at best. You drive me crazy, Finn, I can’t help it, I really can’t.”
Finn’s eyes were a dusky amber, and Casey saw within them the next thirty years that Finn had spoken of. Finn’s slow smile was filled with delight. “That was number seventeen, actually, so I think you’re golden.”
Finn walked her sideways and Casey laughed happily as they tumbled onto the bed.
About the Author
Shea Godfrey is an artist and writer working and living in the Midwest. While her education is in journalism and photography, she has spent most of her career in 3-D animation and design.
You may write to her at [email protected].
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