Then he moved faster and she stopped thinking about what he was feeling and lost herself in the pleasure rippling through her body. He watched her, noting what made her gasp, and it wasn’t long before the orgasm swept over her. She grasped his shoulders as she came, holding on to him as her body trembled.
He thrust deeper and faster until his muscles tensed under her hands. As his orgasm faded, he lowered himself onto her and his breath was hot and ragged in her hair. She wrapped her arms around him and held him close.
“I’m pretty sure I made you cry out,” he whispered when he’d caught his breath.
She chuckled against his neck. “But was it your name?”
“Maybe.” He stroked his hand up her side, making her shiver. “You weren’t exactly enunciating clearly.”
She would have been content to stay the way they were for the rest of the night, but he gently rolled off her. “I’ll be right back.”
When he disappeared into the bathroom, she rolled onto her stomach and grabbed one of the pillows to support her head. They’d pretty much wrecked the neatly made bed, with the bedspread all crumpled and sideways, and the pillows strewn about. Considering he was supposed to be alone and working, the sight made her chuckle.
“What’s so funny?” Finn asked as he slid back onto the bed.
“The owner’s going to wonder what kind of report you had to write that involved rolling around on the bed.”
* * *
He was almost asleep—even though he hadn’t intended to nod off since he had to drive them back to town—when Anna asked a question that had him wide awake again in a hurry.
“Where do you disappear to?”
He opened his mouth, but at the last second, he realized telling her where he actually went could blow up in his face. Or even worse, in Gram’s face. Having to think about every single word he said before he said it was the hardest part of this crazy charade. “What do you mean? I took a long lunch break because I had some errands to run.”
“And you took yesterday off. You weren’t here at all, and that night at The Dock, I hadn’t seen you in a week. Tess said you were handling some stuff for your dad, but your dad said you were helping a friend move. Plus, I had walked downtown for a muffin one day and saw you go by on your bike, heading out of town. You seem to randomly disappear.”
“It’s cute that you think Blackberry Bay actually has a downtown,” he said to buy himself a few seconds to think. If he told the truth—that he had business to take care of—she was probably going to wonder what kind of business the handyman for a decrepit fake inn would conduct out of town. Since he was on his Harley, he couldn’t even claim he’d gone on a supply run.
“Technically that part of town is a downhill walk from the campground, so it works for me.”
“Doesn’t it get old, staying in a camper all the time?” It was a pretty slick change of subject, if he did say so himself.
“They’re nice campers, we get to see a lot of really pretty parts of New England, and we don’t actually spend all that much time in them.” She smiled. “So, why don’t you want to tell me where you disappear to?”
Maybe not so slick a change of subject, then. He’d assumed she’d be more comfortable talking about herself, but she wasn’t going to let it go. Unfortunately, he had to lie to her, but maybe he could give her small bits of the truth.
“I help Gram keep up the property.” That wasn’t a lie at all. He’d been doing odd jobs—including mowing the lawn, trimming hedges and snow blowing—for as long as he could remember. But it lacked enough of the truth to let him look her in the eye as he said it, so he had to give her a little more. “I do have an actual job so I can pay actual bills.”
“I figured you either had a job outside of the inn or you stole that Harley.”
He laughed with her, even as guilt gnawed at his gut. He hated not being totally honest with her, even if it was for Gram’s sake. But maybe he could be a little bit honest with her. In this moment, with her cuddled against his side in bed, it mattered to him.
“When Gram told you I’m the handyman, she meant more of a part-time handyman. I’m her grandson. I’ve been doing chores for her since I could walk. I think she was afraid you would hold her age against her if you thought she didn’t have help and pass over her application, so she might have promoted me from unpaid grandson to unpaid handyman.”
“So what do you do when you’re not being handy around the house?”
“I’m a financial manager. My business partner and I help people with enough money to need help managing it, but not enough money to have one of the big firms handle it. It’s a modest little company, but we do okay.”
She pushed herself up to her elbow so she could look down at him. “A financial manager? Really? How have you spent so much time at the house?”
“I sneak away and answer emails and return calls. And I do a lot of work after we’re done filming for the day.”
Her brow furrowed and he had a moment of fear that he’d blown it. That learning that Gram had claimed her financial manager grandson was the inn’s handyman might make her question other things, as well.
“You must be exhausted,” she said. “How come your grandmother doesn’t have other help? That’s a lot to handle alone.”
He was going to point out that she’d seen the condition of the house, so maybe handling it alone was a bit of a stretch. But he realized just in time she wasn’t talking about Gram handling a large house. She wanted to know how Gram managed a large inn by herself.
“She’s a pretty stubborn woman,” he said, and she dropped her head back as she chuckled. “And it’s easy to find cheap, seasonal help in a tourism-driven town.”
That wasn’t a lie. There were always teenagers looking for temporary jobs during the busy seasons. Not that Gram actually hired any of them, but they were out there.
“We should get dressed,” Anna said, sounding sleepy. “If we don’t we’re going to be doing the walk of shame tomorrow.”
“I wish we could stay.” He kissed the top of her head. “I like being here with you.”
“I like it, too.” She stroked her fingertip across his bottom lip. “Maybe next time.”
Next time. “You know, anybody who’s spent time with my mother and grandmother recently would find it totally believable I’d rent a camper just to get away from them.”
She laughed and pushed him toward the edge of the bed, forcing him to get up. “I told you what happened to Eryn and the sneezing. You might not know this about yourself, but you’re not very quiet.”
“Me?” He scoffed and threw her the bra, which had ended up on top of his pants somehow.
“I happen to have a key to the Bayview Inn,” she said. “It’s closed for renovations, but a thick sleeping bag and a few pillows...”
“That had crossed my mind, but it’s my grandmother’s house,” he said, wrinkling his nose. But he wasn’t a man with a lot of options, and Gram technically wasn’t living there right now. “I’ll think about it.”
“I never really understood people who have sex in public places, but we’re going to end up in the alley behind the bookstore at the rate we’re going.”
“I don’t think Carly and Zoe would appreciate that,” he said, even though he was fairly sure she was joking. When he picked up his phone to slide it into his pocket, he winced. “It’s later than I thought.”
“I’m almost ready. Tomorrow’s going to be a rough day.”
He reached out and snagged her hand, pulling her close. “Worth it?”
She lifted onto her toes to kiss him. “So worth it.”
Chapter Twelve
“Are you doing anything tonight?” Finn whispered in Anna’s ear, and she looked around to make sure nobody was listening. Or looking.
Even if somebody couldn’t hear what he was saying, he was a little
closer to her than a conversation usually required. When she didn’t see anybody, she stepped sideways to close the distance between them.
“What did you have in mind?” It had been three days since their not-quite-overnight trip, and it had been on her mind. A lot. She’d like to do that again sometime soon.
“I was thinking I’d take you for a ride.” He paused and then chuckled. “On the bike, I mean.”
“Oh.” Admiring how he looked on that bike, especially the way his jeans hugged his butt and thighs, was one thing. She hadn’t really imagined herself on the back of it, though. “You don’t have one of those seats with the big back on it, though.”
“No, but it curves up a little to support you. And you can hold on to me.” He rested his hand at the small of her back and she shivered. “I won’t let you fall off the back, I promise.”
“Do you have a helmet for me?”
“Of course. It’s my mom’s, actually. She used to ride with my dad sometimes, and every once in a while she’ll take a ride with me around the lake just to get out.”
The idea of going down the road on a motorcycle made her nervous, but she’d watched Finn on it more than she cared to admit. He was comfortable with it and it was obvious he knew what he was doing, and she trusted him to be safe with her on the back.
“That could be fun.”
“I promise it will be.” The fingers stroking the small of her back dipped just under the waistband of her jeans.
“I’m not having sex with you outside,” she said, heading that off at the pass. “Or on your motorcycle, because that doesn’t look fun no matter what Playboy magazine says.”
“We can kiss, though, right?” She nodded because that wasn’t even a question. She always wanted to kiss him. “Should I pick you up at the RV about seven?”
“I’ll meet you at the entrance to the campground at seven.” She’d tell Eryn where she was going, of course, but if she played her cards right, the rest of the crew would never know she left her RV. Fewer questions that way.
When the day finally ended—later than it should have due to somebody not being great with a measuring tape—she was tired, but she jumped in the shower and made herself a chicken salad sandwich for dinner.
“You’re running out on me again?” Eryn asked from her usual spot on the tiny couch. “Where to tonight?”
“He’s taking me for a ride on the bike.” She wasn’t sure which of the butterflies in her stomach were nervousness and which were excitement, but they were all fluttering in there together.
“You’re going to want to take that ponytail out and either do a low pony at the base of your neck or braid it. The lump under your helmet might give you a headache after a while.” When Anna looked at her with surprise, because nothing about her assistant screamed biker chick, Eryn shrugged. “I dated a girl in college who had a beat-up motorcycle. We had a blast with that thing. I think I liked the bike more than I liked her, actually. When we broke up, I really missed it.”
Laughing, Anna went back into the bathroom and redid her hair so it was pulled back below where her helmet would sit. Then, after putting her license and a credit card in her back pocket, she grabbed her phone and said goodbye to Eryn.
It was a short walk to the campground entrance, which was around a wooded corner, so it was out of sight of the RVs. She heard the rumble of the Harley’s engine before he came into sight, and as he pulled up beside her, the nervous butterflies kicked into high gear.
After he’d turned it off and leaned it onto the kickstand, Finn swung his leg over the bike and pulled her in for a long kiss.
“You’re shaking,” he said. “We don’t have to do this if you’re not sure.”
“I want to. I’m nervous about it, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to try it.”
“If you want to stop, just tap me on the shoulder and I’ll find a place to pull over. And if you want to come back, tell me. I don’t care if we’ve gone five hundred feet or five miles, okay?”
Reassured she could trust Finn to take care of her, she nodded and accepted the helmet and sunglasses he handed her. He had to help her with the buckle, and then he pulled a lightweight leather jacket out of one of his side bags.
“This is Mom’s, too. It’ll be a little big on you, but as the sun starts going down, it can get chilly. And it’s just good protection.” He laughed at her expression. “You ever been hit by a June bug on bare skin at sixty miles an hour? Trust me.”
It took her two tries to get on the bike behind him. The first time, she panicked when the bike dipped slightly, but he assured her he had it balanced and they wouldn’t fall over. And he only laughed at her a little bit. The second time, she was able to get her leg up and over so she could straddle the seat behind him. It was comfortably cushioned and slightly higher than his seat, so she could see over his shoulder.
She wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
When she put her hands tentatively at his waist, he turned and spoke with a raised voice so she could hear him through the helmet. “You can hold on however you want. This is fine, or you can wrap your arms around me if you want. And if you get nervous in a corner, don’t try to sit up straight. Just relax against my back and you’ll naturally lean with me. Okay?”
She nodded, but when he fired up the engine and the massive bike vibrated through her body, she leaned against him and wrapped her arms around his stomach. He patted her hand, and then, with a rev of the engine, they were moving.
It was both terrifying and exhilarating at first, but it didn’t take long for her to relax and enjoy the novelty of having nothing between her and the gorgeous landscape they were passing through. With the lake on one side and either woods or gorgeous waterfront homes on the other, she spent most of the ride looking from one side to the other. She was barely aware of the fact her hands were resting lightly on his hips, though she relaxed against his back whenever there was a corner coming.
Anna wasn’t sure how far from Blackberry Bay they were when he slowed and turned onto a dirt road. The bike felt different, almost squirrelly, and even though Finn didn’t seem too concerned about it, she wrapped her arms around his midsection again.
When they broke into a clearing on the banks of a river, she decided the dirt road had been worth it. He pulled to a stop and put his feet down to balance the bike, and then he tapped her leg and motioned for her to get off. She managed to do it without pulling a muscle or falling off, and then unbuckled her helmet while he walked the bike backward to turn it around. After parking it, he took his helmet off and set it on the seat. He put hers with it, and then gave her a questioning look.
“What do you think?”
“I can see why you spend so much time on it. I’m enjoying myself, except for the dirt road part. I’m not sure I like that.”
“I could tell that from the Heimlich you gave me when we first left the pavement,” he teased, and then he took her hand.
They walked along the riverbank, hand in hand, and Anna felt more at peace than she had for a very long time. “It’s beautiful here.”
“This has always been one of my favorite spots. My dad and I used to fish here sometimes. Mostly I played on the rocks, though.”
“I haven’t done that in so many years,” she said wistfully, looking at all the rocks sticking up out of the river.
He let go of her hand and gestured toward the river. “Now’s your chance.”
“Isn’t that something kids do?”
“Why? Was there an age cutoff I missed for doing things that make us happy?”
“You’re right.” She reached up and cupped his face so she could bring him in for a kiss. A long, slow kiss on a riverbank on a warm summer night. “That makes me happy.”
And then she turned and stepped out onto a large flat rock. She moved from rock to rock, choosing each one carefully and te
sting it first as she moved further out into the river. When one shifted under her foot, she squealed and jumped back, and then she turned when she heard Finn’s laughter right behind her.
“You didn’t think I’d let you have all the fun without me, did you?” he asked. “But maybe not that rock.”
She laughed and turned back to scout out her next rock, wondering if she could make it all the way to the other side of the river and back without getting wet.
* * *
“I think you’re keeping secrets from me, Anna Beckett.”
He said the words in a light—almost teasing—tone, but some of the color seemed to drain from her face as her eyes widened. He probably shouldn’t have brought it up while they were balancing on rocks in the middle of a river.
“What do you mean?”
“I heard an interesting rumor today,” he said, suddenly concerned that he’d opened a can of worms he couldn’t put the lid back on, and she didn’t look happy about it.
“Oh, really?” She stepped onto another rock, maybe to give herself something to look at besides him.
“According to the grapevine, you’re the daughter nobody in Blackberry Bay knew Christy Nash had.”
He could tell by the way her body stiffened that he’d hit a nerve.
“That is an interesting rumor,” she said while neither confirming nor denying it. The way she drew out the words gave him the impression she was trying to buy herself time to think.
“Kind of a coincidence you’d end up in this town.”
“Did Brady say something to you?”
“So Brady knows?” He’d been hoping his best friend hadn’t been keeping something this big from him, but it was obvious she and Brady had talked, and she nodded the confirmation.
Anna was Brady’s half sister. That was something it would take him a while to wrap his mind around.
The Home They Built Page 13
