Finn paced in front of her, running a hand through his mussed auburn hair. “Yes, and I’ll catch hell for it, I’m sure, but you saw enough. You know they weren’t using magic to coerce him. I think Ceri naked within touching distance was more than enough persuasion for your beloved Kyle.”
Sheridan swallowed. No doubt. It had nearly persuaded her. “Did they take his life force?”
He glared at her. “For someone who couldn’t look away, you weren’t paying that much attention. The claiming is a connection. They shared their light, their life force, with him. There was no taking. They marked him, tasted him so they would be able to find him anywhere, at any time. You didn’t see it, but then, you don’t see things like your cousin, do you?” He exhaled roughly. “You can barely see what’s right in front of your eyes.”
He really was upset. And now so was she. “What the hell is wrong with you? Did I break some fairy rule I’m not aware of?”
He strode toward her until she had to look up to meet his fiery stare. She refused to look away. Refused to be the first to blink.
Finn swore. “No, damn it. I broke the rule. Several, in fact. Ceri is an outcast and I made her Kyle’s protector. The queen knows about her, but I didn’t tell her about Dian. Didn’t tell her that I had no qualms about allowing a Dweller, one of the true and sacred disciples of Danu, to leave our realm to participate. And worst of all…”
He swore again, this time in another language, the twitch in his temple telling her she wasn’t going to like what he said next. “Worst of all I am recently cursed with more conscience than a Fae should be asked to bear. I don’t feel shame as humans do, Sheridan. About certain things, yes, but not about sex or desire. I give and take pleasure with no apologies and no regrets. As a rule, I’m not made to carry the burdens of guilt that made Damon and Hawk’s lives so bleak before they found their mates.”
“What are you talking about?” she asked breathlessly.
“I’m talking about you,” he growled. “You, whose body tempts me beyond my powers of restraint, beyond sanity. Even now, with every beat of your heart you are offering what I’ve wanted with something akin to desperation since I met you. But now, because I know you—know what you value and care what you think of me—I cannot take what you are finally offering. Not until I tell you…” He took a breath as she held hers. “Sheridan, I was in your dream last night.”
Her jaw dropped. She hadn’t been expecting that. “How do you know that? You can’t read my mind. You’ve never been able to.”
He didn’t look away, but his jaw was set as he forced the words out of his mouth. “I can’t, but in this case it wasn’t necessary. I was in your dream. It’s something my people used to do centuries ago. To inspire and experiment. You controlled it, every step of the way, but I was there in the alley. In the interrogation room. I remember everything.” He met her gaze again. “I don’t want to lie to you. Not even by omission to make things easier. I won’t.”
She couldn’t catch her breath, could hardly form a coherent thought. Not that he gave her any time. He walked toward her until her knees hit the edge of the bed and he reached for her waist. “Most importantly, I don’t want you lying to yourself about this. About us. You are not under a spell and you aren’t dreaming. Nothing that you’ve done has been against your will and everything you felt in that room just now was real. What you told me in your dream was real…and I can’t force myself to pretend I’ve forgotten. You want me as much as I want you. You can taunt me and fight with me, you can try to chase me away, but you can’t deny the truth anymore. Not with me. I know.”
“You mean that was you in that ridiculous sweatshirt? In handcuffs? You let me…” Shit. She’d known the dream was different, but she hadn’t expected that. She felt her cheeks flush as she remembered how brazen she’d been, feeling safe in her dream. But he’d been there. She recalled the darkness that had chased them out of that bedroom. He knew about that now too.
Send him away. He wants to end me. He’ll use you to get to me.
“You will not shut me out now, Sher.” Finn tore at his shirt with one hand, the buttons flying as the other still held her close to him. “I saw you suffering. I was trying to take away your nightmares. Your pain. I had no idea where we’d end up. Once I realized, I couldn’t leave. I didn’t want to.”
As if that could excuse him. Whatever his intentions, he’d just ripped away all her protective armor. He knew what was in her mind, the darkness, but he hadn’t mentioned it. That fact alone was suspicious. “I think you should go.”
His violet eyes were alive with light. Glowing in the dim light of her room. “No you don’t, love. I don’t need my telepathy to know what you’ve been thinking since last night. What you were willing to let me do just now as we watched Kyle getting his brains fucked out. You want that. You want that with me.”
He was right. She still wanted him, damn the consequences. Still felt lightheaded and aroused and ready. Her mouth watered. She wanted to taste him again. “Don’t tell me what I want.”
“Drop the pretense, love.” He pushed her lightly with his body and she lost her balance, falling back on the bed. Finn reached for the buttons on her jeans as he continued to speak in savage, almost guttural tones. “Our bodies are screaming, one for the other. Desperate for a replay of last night’s tease. Desperate for release.”
He tugged her jeans and underwear down and off. Sheridan didn’t push him away or try to stop him. He was right. Oh God, he was right. She wanted him too much to deny it. Yearned to reach for him. Touch him. “Why are you bothering with the clothes?”
His lips tilted so sensually she almost moaned. Beautiful. “Maybe I like this human tradition. The unwrapping of my gift. Or perhaps I enjoy making you wait. A moment of payback for what you’ve put us through for too long.”
As he spoke she lifted herself up onto her elbows to watch him. He slid his hands slowly up her thighs and she shook her head to stop him. “What I put us through? What? Just because I didn’t leap into your lap like every other woman you’ve ever me—”
“Just because you haunt my dreams,” he murmured, his fingers digging into her skin in a way that made her gasp. “Just because you pushed me away and made me suffer—made both of us suffer—by denying what was between us. You ruined me with one kiss. No one else will do and I will never be satisfied until I have you.”
Until he had her. She was a challenge and she knew it. Knew that was what was driving him to say all the things she most wanted to hear, but she didn’t care. She didn’t want to deny herself anymore, or spend another night, another minute wondering. Wanting.
But she couldn’t let herself forget who and what he was. Fae. Other. Someone she would have to work beside until her part in this was done. She wasn’t so far gone that she couldn’t see how many new complications they were about to create.
She covered one of his hands with her own. “Then let’s agree. One night, Finn. That’s all. Just to get this out of our systems. My only condition is that my dreams are my own. You help me solve the mystery, but you stay out of my head and my bed until it’s over.”
His hands paused and he closed his eyes for one tense, nerve-racking moment. “One night won’t be enough.”
Her tongue slipped out to dampen her suddenly dry lips. A part of her had been hoping he’d say that. “Then until we solve our riddle. But you can’t tell anyone about this. No one. Then, if either one of us wants out, that’s it, no questions asked. No drama from the peanut gallery. This is just between you and me. And like I said, you stay out of my head. Agreed?”
He was looking at her again with an intensity she’d never seen. “Agreed. Sheridan Kelly, you have made a pact with a Fae. If you knew your history better you’d know you couldn’t have made a more dangerous decision.” He caught her shiver and grinned. “There is always a catch.”
She wasn’t sure what he meant, and frankly, she didn’t care. Her gaze clung to his body. It was true. Every detail o
f her dream had been true. He was magnificent. And for the moment, he was hers. She reached between her legs to scrape his hard stomach with her nails, making him hiss out a surprised breath between his teeth.
“You are playing with fire, love. I’ve been thinking of nothing but this since last night. Your taste. How you felt around me.” He moaned when she pulled her hand back long enough to drag her sweater over her head, revealing the peach lace of her bra. It was nothing like the leather costume her mind had invented, but from the look in his eyes it was even better.
Her thighs were already damp and shaking, waiting for him to take her. To crawl onto the bed and finally give her what she craved. Her impatience was a living thing inside her. Greedy and aching. “Please, Finn.”
He tensed, shuddering as though rocked by a powerful wave. “You have no idea how long I’ve waited for those two words to come from your lips. I have to hear them again. But first, I have to deliver on a promise.”
Finn dragged her body down the bed and pulled her to her feet. She inhaled in sharp surprise when he twirled her around in his arms, took her wrists in his hands and bent her over the bed. “What are you doing?”
“I think the ‘real’ Finn owes you a spanking,” he muttered. “It’s long overdue.”
“What? No!” She tried to move but she couldn’t. That knowledge should terrify her or make her angry. It did neither. Hadn’t she just had this fantasy? The one where he took control? “Oh God.”
He stepped behind her and caressed the cheeks of her ass with his hot hands. “I thought we were finally going to stop denying what we want. What we deserve. And oh my fiery Sheridan…you definitely deserve this.”
She deserved a spanking? Her breath caught as the idea thrilled her. It shouldn’t, but it did. Yes. A spanking. For pretending she didn’t want him. For teasing him and pushing him away. For being strong enough and stubborn enough to resist him for so long.
Regardless of the lust she could feel pouring off him in waves, he was taking his time. Too long. His fingers lightly traced the back of her thighs, her hips and each curve of her body as she fought to keep her knees from buckling. But then, he wouldn’t let them, would he? His magic held her body up for his pleasure, still and completely vulnerable to his every whim.
“You want this.” It wasn’t a question and yet… “Say it. Tell me you want this.”
She groaned. “Hell. Yes, okay? Yes.”
“Yes what?”
“I want it,” she whispered, feeling the heat rising up her neck and bathing her face.
Finn bent over her and kissed her shoulder, the feel of his body flush against hers making her tremble. “What—exactly—do you want?”
He was going to make her say it, damn him. Going to make her admit her need. It didn’t scare her. He didn’t scare her. He drove her crazy, and turnabout was fair play. She turned until she met his intense stare with her own. “I want you to spank me, Fairy Finn. I want you to spank my ass and pussy until I come. And then I want you to fuck me with your big, hard cock until I’m never the same.”
He reared back as though she’d dealt him a physical blow and Sheridan’s lips quivered into a smile. “You wanted me to tell you. Was I supposed to be subtle?”
He opened his mouth on her shoulder and bit into her skin just enough for her to feel the pinch. As he stood, taking away his warmth, he shook his head. “Why start now, Harridan?”
She heard the sharp smack of his hand on the curve of her ass before she felt the impact. But when she felt it…? “Oh God.”
He did it again. And again. The sensation of stinging fire seemed more intense because she couldn’t move away from it. His magic held her hips still, made her ass tilt upward as if in supplication. As if she were silently begging for more.
She was.
She couldn’t explain why, or why she was so emotional. All her senses were heightened. She felt like laughing and crying at the same time—and she was so close to coming she wanted to scream. The rhythm of his hand sped up, peppering smacks on each cheek, on her upper thighs. More. She still needed more.
“I’m going to spread your legs,” he muttered. “I’m going to give you exactly what you want, love. Exactly what you asked for.”
Her legs spread without his touching her and she moaned, knowing he’d stepped back to watch. That he could see everything. The arousal coating her sex, her thighs. Her clit that felt swollen with need.
“And I’ll keep our bargain,” he whispered harshly as he positioned himself at her hip. “I won’t tell anyone how wet I’m making you. How much you love being bent over and spanked by Fairy Finn. You can scream if you like. I promise you, I’ve made sure no one—with supernatural senses or not—will be able to hear you shout my name and beg for it. Only me.”
His hand came down between her legs and she screamed, her climax crashing around her with that first, perfect slap. “Finn! Fuck.”
Stars and spots clouded her vision and she bit her lip until she tasted blood. She couldn’t move with it. Couldn’t move at all. All she could do was feel. It rocked through her body, refusing to fade in intensity as he continued to spank the lips of her sex, her clit. Continued to torture her with pleasure again and again. Soft and hard. Pain and pleasure. One wave of sensation swallowing another until she was drowning in it.
It was too much and it wasn’t fading. Why wasn’t it fading? What was wrong with her? “I can’t stop it. It won’t…Finn, it won’t stop.”
He stopped, his voice dark and full of grit. “I know. I can smell you, Sher. Hell, I can still taste you from the dream. That taste,” he groaned. “I have to have more.”
Finn dropped to his knees behind her. What was he doing?
“Oh God.” His mouth was hot and hungry against her sex, his tongue sending electric shocks up her spine. She wanted to hold him, wanted to grip him with her legs and keep him close, but she was still frozen. “Let me move. Please, Finn.”
She wasn’t sure he could hear her. His fingers joined his tongue inside her, thrusting deep and making animalistic sounds of pleasure. Every nibbling bite, every swirling lap of his tongue over her clit had her crying out his name.
Her forehead pressed into the mattress as Finn continued to torment her. She saw sparks behind her closed eyes and her body vibrated as the tingling heat intensified between her thighs. Again? How could she be coming again? Had she even stopped? She wasn’t sure. Every inch of her was too focused on what he was doing to care.
She called his name again while he hummed his pleasure against her throbbing, oversensitive flesh. His kisses gentled as the waves of her climax continued to roll through her body. Softer now, but no less potent. It must be Fae magic. That was the only explanation.
She realized she could move again when she started to shake, raising her hands to cover her face. There was dampness there. Crying. Had an orgasm ever been so powerful it had made her cry? No. She wasn’t the type.
“I have to stop this.” Finn’s voice was ragged. Shaking.
It made her realize she hadn’t gotten to taste him yet. To feel him inside her. They weren’t finished. She pushed herself up and turned around, reaching for him.
“Fuck me.”
“Wait, Sher. Wait.” He pulled away from the bed and, after one last open-mouthed kiss on her thigh, got to his feet. “Give me a minute to catch my breath. To think.”
“What is there to think about?” Confusion pierced through her haze of pleasure. “And where are you going?”
Finn attempted a smile, but she could see his frustration. “We made a pact. We have until the prophecy is fulfilled. And no one else can know.”
“Exactly. To get each other out of our systems. I agreed. You agreed. So where are you going?” She flinched at the sound of her own voice. So needy. Weak.
He shook his head. “That is our problem, Sheridan Kelly. I don’t want you out of my system. And I have no desire to be out of yours.” His fists clenched at his side, drawing her eyes to his e
rection straining through the fabric of his pants. He wanted her. She knew he wanted her. There was no denying it now. So why?
“Why?”
“Sheridan,” he sighed. “I want all of you. I’ve been around for millennia and I’ve never wanted anything as much as I want to be buried inside you right now. But you aren’t ready for what will happen between us. Not tonight anyway.”
She scooted off the bed, angry and frazzled, aroused and a little hurt all at the same time. “You must be going blind in your old age. I was all kinds of ready. I moved beyond ready. I was there. Was being the operative word.”
He backed away from her toward the door, the look of regret on his beautiful features making her want to cry. “You’re not. Not for me. Not for this. We both know what you have to give me. Not merely your body or your passion.”
Her trust. She had to trust a child of Danu. He was talking about the prophecy? Now? Here? Was he kidding? “You aren’t scoring any points for walking out on something I offered. Something I don’t offer to everyone I meet, by the way. Are you really going to waste our time adding this kind of condition to the deal? It sounds like you’re the one who isn’t ready.”
“I know it does.” Finn licked his lips, seeming to savor her taste. “But this isn’t for a few points, love. As your football-loving Texan would say…this is for the game.”
He was gone in a flash of light. Damn fairy couldn’t even skulk out the door in traditional walk-of-shame style like a normal man. A normal man who’d just turned down a night of no-holds-barred, rock ’em-sock ’em sex for no discernible reason other than to drive her bonkers.
Sheridan turned around and fell face first on the bed, using her fists to pound out some of her frustration on her innocent mattress. He’d turned her down. Spanked her, tasted her and left without finding his own satisfaction.
He stole into your dreams and found me. Of course he turned you down.
Behind the Veil: 3 (Temptation Unveiled) Page 11
