Alli’s chest heaved in frustration. Her adrenaline poured through her skin. Her knees were shaking. He’d loved it that she was so out of control when he was around. When she was eighteen, she loved that about him. His ability to take to her to places she was always too scared to go.
Finn grabbed her, hauling her up to him. “I have no intention of going anywhere until you hear me out.”
He placed one arm around her back. His other hand moved to her face again. He caressed her cheek, looking in her eyes, trying to lose himself in their depths.
At first Alli stiffened against him. He kept running his hand along her cheek, taking his time. Willing her to be calm, to not be afraid of him.
She finally began to relax in his embrace and he continued. “Alli, you and I are meant to be together. I know it sounds crazy. Whether you believe it or not, it’s true. Yes, I came back to help my family with Heather but I also need you.”
Her eyes widened. She wanted to believe him, it was there in her gaze, in the tight line of her mouth. Finn had more work to do to convince her he wasn’t fucking around.
“Hmmph, now what’s the other reason you’re here?” It was obvious she didn’t want to discuss them being together but her resolve was starting to weaken. Her face had softened and her voice was much calmer.
He sighed. “I do have another request. My family needs your help.”
“I’m not a witch. How can I possibly be of any help to your family?”
He slid his hand down her face and neck, picking up the black onyx jewel that hung from her necklace. “This, Alli, this jewel is one of three that will break the curse on my family and save Heather’s life.”
“How are you so sure this is the actual gem you need?”
“The Oracle gave us the location of the stone. Though Da claims he’d always known it from the moment he set eyes on you. It was one his feelings. If that was the case, it would’ve been nice if he’d told me when I was younger.”
“My grandmother gave this necklace to me,” she whispered, putting her hand over Finn’s. “How would knowing this was what you needed have helped you then? We didn’t part on such good terms.”
“I wouldn’t have left. I would have stayed and fought for you. Begged you to understand what really happened that night between us.”
Electricity shot through her body when their hands touched. It traveled along her spine and straight to her pussy. Finn must have felt it too—his cock grew hard against her thigh.
He pulled her in line with the zipper on his jeans. She gasped as she felt the large bulge from behind the worn denim. Her body remembered the feel of his shaft deep inside her. Grinding and pumping in and out of her body.
“This necklace, your necklace. According to the curse, when we join as mates, this gem is one of three that has the power to restore Heather back to health. When this necklace is brought together with the other two stones, we have the chance to break the family curse and Heather won’t have to die. This jewel wrapped around your lovely neck proves you’re mine and we belong together.”
She pushed Finn hard away from her. She couldn’t think with his body pressed against hers. Shoving her hair aside, she turned her back on him once again. What the hell was she doing, listening to anything he had to say? This was the man who’d torn out her heart and left her bleeding so long ago.
Her first experience with making love had turned sour, dashing the hopes of a young girl in love. Now Finn was here professing they belonged together. Did she look that desperate, that lonely? Alli was more livid than she’d been in a long time.
She wasn’t sure whom she was more pissed at, Finn or herself. The truth was, she still wanted him. She longed to feel him touch her, not as the boy he once was but as the man he’d become. With that sexy, arrogant, hot body he now possessed.
Alli knew he would do things to her, make her feel things she didn’t want to feel again, and it scared the hell out of her. God, she was pathetic. She didn’t need anyone to tell her she was crazy for still wanting this man.
Turning back around to face him, she reached up and undid the clasp. “Take this, Finn. You can have the necklace, just take it and go.”
Giving him the precious gift from her grandmother was worth not getting her heart broken again. She was terrified of getting hurt.
“I can’t,” he said, shaking his head, wrapping her hand back around the jewel. “It doesn’t work that way. I know you don’t understand but there are conditions to breaking this curse, and rule number one is that I can’t take it until after we have mated. Not in the way of non-magical people but in the way of my people, in a traditional witch ceremony. We have to unite in the eyes of the Goddess. Only then can you present me with the necklace.”
She shook her head in denial. Her mind screamed to kick his butt to the curb but her heart was crying yes.
It was funny how Fate loved to pull a fast one on a girl. She wasn’t normally an indecisive woman. She considered herself to be practical. Practical and safe flew out the window when Finn walked through her door. Mated…what did that really even mean? Would they be married or were they destined to be lovers until she gave up the necklace? Then what? Would he walk away again, leaving her devastated a second time?
She curled her fingers to keep from touching him. The sorrow in his eyes cut like a knife. Alli wasn’t able to tell him to go to hell, the words wouldn’t form. She wanted to delude herself into thinking she was going to do this because she felt sorry for him. Unfortunately, she was always honest with herself. Call her weak and stupid but she was in big trouble.
Finn watched the indecision flicker across her face. Taking advantage, he leaned into her and touched her lips with the barest caress. He came back once, twice, lingering longer with each pass. Her mouth opened up with the lightest pressure of his tongue.
He wrapped his arm around her, pulling her into his embrace. Tightening his hold, he increased the depth of his kiss. Light sweeps of his tongue became more urgent as she fell into a rhythm with his lips.
Angling his head to the side, he opened her mouth wider for his invasion. She tasted like fine red wine and his mouth hummed with the need to have more of her. He ran his fingertips up and down her spine. The deeper his kiss, the more daring his fingers became as he slid them down the length of her back.
Finn finally reached the place on her he’d been dreaming about while in the truck. Her delicious ass was as soft and round as he remembered it. His large palms squeezed her bottom and she yelped. Her arms came around his neck.
Alli kissed him back, thrusting her tongue deep into his mouth, matching his earlier driving force with her own. It was Finn’s turn to moan as the front of her body rubbed along his. She was perfection in every way.
Home. The thought flitted through his lust-fogged brain. After all this time he finally felt as if he was home.
She pressed more firmly into him, he spread his legs. Backing up against the counter, he brought her with him. Finn
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pushed her lower half into the cradle of his jeans, rubbing his cock against her knit skirt. One hand traveled from her ass up along her rib cage until he reached the underside of her breast. He moaned as he filled his hand with its full weight.
Slipping his tongue out of her mouth, he pressed soft kisses along the bridge of her nose, the line of her jaw. Biting her chin, he licked it before moving to the front of her neck. He needed to taste her nipples. Longed to see them pucker and strain for his touch.
She was fire, pure and simple. Her sinful curves were made to take him in, hold him tight, cushion him during the fall he was going to take when they made love.
A knock on the glass door made Alli break contact. He felt the loss immediately; he knew he’d lost her for now. The hazy quality in her eyes began to clear as reality doused the flames.
“Finn, please, my friend is here. Unlock the door.” Her swollen lips looked stunning when she asked him to release the lock. He swore so
ftly under his breath at the person knocking.
He grabbed her chin, forcing her to look up at him. He bent down, placing a hard, sizzling kiss on her lips. “I’ll let this go tonight, baby, but this is only the beginning. Enjoy your evening but tell your friend you’re officially off the market.”
Alli never had the chance to respond as Finn turned on his heel, flicked his wrist and the door unlocked. Opening it, he passed the thin blond male who had interrupted them. He nodded his head, the other man looked directly at him and nodded back. Finn had to hand it to the guy, he wasn’t intimidated by him.
Getting back into his truck, he waited until Alli and her friend were safely out of the store. Jealousy burned his throat as he thought about the other man. Who the hell was he, how long had she been dating him?
This was a setback he hadn’t thought of. He should have. Alli was a vibrant, lush, beautiful woman. It only made sense that she had a lover. He’d been surprised to hear she still wasn’t married.
At any rate, it didn’t matter. Finn meant what he said, she would be his by this time tomorrow and nothing and nobody would stand in his way. For now, he watched her lock up the store, her ample ass swaying in that tight skirt of hers as she walked down the street and turned the corner. It was going to be a long, painful night for him.
His physical reaction to her made his gut clench with the need to claim her. His only thought when he was kissing her was to lower her to the floor. To make love to her deep and hard, make her his, body, mind and soul.
When his father informed Finn that Alli was his mate, he’d been tempted not to leave California. How in the hell could he come home and face the girl he’d known before? He admitted it, he was scared even now, standing before her acting calm and cool. Deep down inside he was nothing more than a boy terrified of absolute rejection.
He wanted to shrug off his trepidation and pretend that if they were lovers for a while he could expunge the carnal need he had for her. She would give him the jewel and all would be well. If afterward she chose to stay with him, he would show her all the things he’d always wanted to.
It seemed Fate had a different plan in mind and like all things in life, this wasn’t going to be easy. Excitement built in his chest. For the first time in fifteen years, he felt alive.
He’d serve his duty to the family and Heather, and for his efforts, he would be with the luscious Alice Downing for the rest of his life. It was a good match, he and Alli, if the fireworks they made just from kissing were any indication. He wanted…no, he needed to believe this would work, that the torch he’d been carrying around for her all these years was true and real. It had felt like a dream for so long, until he’d walked into the shop. Her scent filled his nose, her body fit so perfectly against his and he knew that what he felt was real.
They may need a little time to reconnect as adults but their spirits were already bonded, had done so the first night they made love and she’d given her virginity to him. He’d never forgotten the look in her eyes that night as they came together. It haunted his dreams and made it impossible to get serious with any other female.
The prospect of life with her made his dick even harder. He looked forward to seducing her, wanted her begging for his body. He thought he might be the one to beg though. He wanted her in his arms, he wanted in her sweet body as soon as possible.
Finn shook from head to toe with pent-up frustration. Alli, after all these years, he still loved her. He would make up for his past mistakes, he’d prove to her that he loved her. She would realize they were meant to be together. He felt it, deep down, she would be his.
He smiled as he pulled at the front of his jeans, trying to relieve some of the pressure his hard-on was causing. Time to head back to his dad’s and take a long, cold shower.
Chapter Two
Alli tossed and turned in bed all night, finally giving up on sleep. Her dinner with James had done nothing to relieve the stress she felt after Finn came into her store. It also didn’t make the ache between her thighs any better.
Finn, he was so damn sexy. His tall, athletic body filled out those jeans so damn well.
He was aroused when he kissed her. She still felt his hard length as she pressed close to him. His mouth was pure paradise. Demanding and in control but needy at the same time.
Closing her eyes, she could still see him walking toward her in those tight jeans of his. Her cunt began to ache, remembering his kisses. How his hot tongue slid so sweetly into her mouth and took control of her, making her body throb. Her pussy was actually throbbing with the need to be taken by Finn.
No other lover ever made her feel this needy, her body was achy and felt empty. With one smoldering glance, he turned her on and made her panties wet, her thighs itching to wrap themselves around his trim waist.
She slid her long fingers up her thighs, trying to extinguish the deep fire raging within her, imagining Finn lying in her bed. His large hands rubbing her legs, slowly up her thighs.
Her finger found the heart of her desire and began circling the now-hard bud. Her other hand joined the first and she slipped two fingers into her tight wet channel. She rubbed and pumped her fingers in and out slowly, picturing Finn’s cock like she always did when she masturbated.
She’d never noticed until now—when she made herself come, it was Finn’s face she saw. It was always about the night they’d shared together. She removed her fingers and reached over to her bedside table. Alli opened it and retrieved her favorite toy. The dildo was seven inches in length and resembled a real cock. Alli yearned for release, the kind she couldn’t obtain with just her fingers.
She needed to feel something hard in her pussy, something penetrating her deep enough to give her one hell of an orgasm. Closing her eyes, she pictured Finn there with her as she brought her hand up to play with her hardened, taut nipples, first rubbing them with her palms before she slowly pulled them away from her body. Alli moaned as she gave them a pinch. She loved her nipples being manipulated and teased until they stood straight out.
It was easy to imagine Finn’s full lips licking over the hardened peaks, laving her flesh until she was writhing in ecstasy, begging for him to fuck her. Moisture flooded her along with the small amount of pain she felt.
One hand remained on her breast while the other traveled down the line of her tummy to the slick juncture that lay between her legs. She slowly opened the folds, stroking the soft flesh there. She was wet and ready for release. In Alli’s mind, she saw Finn’s hand following the same path as her fingers, inching slowly to her clit, nestled in her honeyed folds.
It was Finn sliding his fingers into her pussy, pumping in and out. The rhythm built slowly, steadily, making Alli wetter. Her imagination spinning out of control. Finn’s body looming over her, kissing, licking and giving her pleasure upon pleasure.
She was so out of control with thoughts of Finn taking her the way she dreamed a man would that she grabbed her toy and plunged it deep within her. She let out a loud moan, saying Finn’s name as her dildo dug deeper into her.
Alli rubbed faster on her clit as her other hand pumped the dildo harder into her cunt. She rose off the bed in a frenzied attempt to find satisfaction as she felt her orgasm building deep within her body.
Alli screamed Finn’s name as she thrust deeply once more and fell back onto the mattress. She pushed the toy in as far as it could go and fell apart around it.
The muscles of her vagina contracted tightly, grabbing hold of the toy until her quivers stopped and her body relaxed. Alli turned to her side and rose from the bed. She cleaned the dildo in the sink then placed it in the drawer. She plumped up her pillow and with a small smile, she closed her eyes.
Unfortunately, sleep didn’t claim her. Part of her was frustrated that Finn could walk back into her life and she was ready to give him everything. It was a dangerous tightrope to walk and she wasn’t sure that she could deny him anything. After all these years believing she was strong, only to be knocked on her ass by a
kiss.
Well, Finn was going to have to prove what he wanted was real and it couldn’t be just to save his sister. Alli wanted to do all she could to help but she couldn’t give everything to Finn unless they were going to be together in the future.
Finn threw his arm over his eyes. After two freezing showers, he’d decided that sleep was not going to happen. He gave in to the fantasy that was Alli. The taste of her honeyed lips still lingered in his mouth. The smell of her, light and slightly fruity, stayed on the edge of his senses.
He couldn’t wash her essence from his body. He couldn’t get the picture of her beautiful face and lush body out of his mind. She was tall and her legs went on forever. Her hips flared, perfect for carrying his child. The thought should have spooked Finn but it didn’t. The Donovan men attracted women fairly easily but all three remained single.
Finn never had any serious relationships. No woman ever measured up to Alli. Whenever he took a lover he was always upfront and honest with them. He never wanted the woman he was sharing time with to ask for more than he was capable of giving. He shared the physical part of himself but never his emotions, never his soul. Alli held that part of him, always had and she always would.
The idea of Alli carrying their baby was more of a turn-on than he’d ever imagined.
His hand made its way down his chest as he thought of her doing the same thing to him, her soft, gentle hands playing havoc with his torso. Finn craved her in a way he never dreamed possible. His body came alive when he kissed her. Desire hit him so fucking hard and fast. She was his mate, his destiny, she’d always been the one. He’d been too young and stupid to realize what she’d given to him so many years before.
FinnsRedemption Page 2
