Page 12 of Late Night Talking
Finn sits next to me on the edge of the bed and takes my hand, bringing it to his lips and breathing against it. “Are you okay?” he asks, his voice quiet and cautious.
I nod, even though I’m not sure it’s true. It could have been a lot worse, but that was the scariest thing I’ve ever been through. I was a call girl for almost three years, and more than once men had threatened to hurt me or had taken things far past my comfort zone. But it’s different when it’s someone you think you know, someone you trust.
“Come here, you.” He pulls me up onto the bed and tucks me under the covers. He crawls in beside me, and I feel so safe, so secure in his arms, that I start to cry. He wraps himself around me, covering me completely with his warmth, until it feels like the entire world is made up of just him and his skin and his smell. “It’s over,” he says in my ear. “You never have to go back.”
I fall asleep like that, wrapped up in him.
Chapter Nine
When I open my eyes, I have no idea where I am. In the light of day, this bedroom isn’t familiar, the view outside the window isn’t familiar, and even the smell of the laundry detergent on the sheets isn’t familiar.
“You’re awake.”
I feel every muscle in my body go soft and pliant when I hear Finn’s voice behind me. I roll over and find him there, head propped in his hand, watching me. I smile up at him, feeling a contentment that seems to go all the way down to a cellular level.
“How long have you been up?” I ask him. He’s not dressed, but his cell phone is sitting on the bed between us, which tells me he’s already been working.
“Not long,” he whispers, leaning forward to kiss me. “You’ve got to get up, get ready for work. What time do you have to be there?”
I stretch, feeling lazy, even though it’s definitely not my day off. “Lunch shift today.”
“Good. I had someone go by your apartment and get your work uniform from Bonnie.” He points his chin at something hanging over a chair in the corner of the room, and I realize it’s my jeans, shirt, and apron.
“Finn,” I say, feeling overwhelmed by how he’s taking care of me. It’s been so long since someone cared so much.
He ignores my attempt to thank him and burrows into my neck instead. “Shower?”
I nod and excitedly let him lead me into the bathroom that’s easily the size of my entire apartment. The walk-in shower is huge, and he turns on the water, sticking his hand in to test the temperature. I’m not being particularly seductive, but Finn pulls his hand out of the shower and watches me slip out of his clothes like it’s the most fascinating thing he’s ever seen in his life. I hold his gaze while I slide the shorts down and let them puddle at my ankles. I revel in his attention when I’ve got his shirt off over my head and his eyes have gone straight to my chest.
“Get in the shower, Devin.”
I bite back a smile and slide past him, making sure to rub against all of his bare skin as I pass by him. He’s so warm, like there’s a living fire inside him, and when our skin meets, his eyes fall closed. He carefully sucks a breath in through his nose.
I climb into the shower, the hot water soaking my hair and my shoulders, and Finn reaches out to close the glass door behind me. I watch, disbelief low in my belly, as he gathers the clothes I left on the floor and drops them into a hamper against the wall.
“Finn?” My voice bounces off the walls of the shower, and Finn turns to me, his eyebrows raised in question. “Aren’t you getting in?”
His hands clench and unclench. “I shouldn’t.”
My hands fall to my sides. The water still feels so good falling down around me, but I want him in here with me, body close to mine, eyes on me while I do things that seem like mundane daily tasks but are somehow sensual when he’s near me. “I don’t understand.”
The door has started to fog, blurring his features, but I still see the way his jaw moves, the way uncertainty flashes through his blue eyes. “I want to give you space.”
This is about Ethan. He wants to give me space because of what Ethan did to me last night. I can count on one hand the number of nights we’ve spent in bed together without having sex—last night being one of them. He’s still being so cautious.
“Finn, please get in.” I make it very clear that I’m pleading for him. That I want him in here with me. The idea that Ethan could put any distance between Finn and me makes me sick.
He stands there another moment, watching me and clearly warring with himself, and then he takes off his boxer-briefs and pushes open the shower door. Under the spray of the water, I hold my hands out for him, and he comes to me, putting his hands on my shoulders and rubbing my tight muscles, until I feel like I’m made of gelatin. I sigh, and he pushes his fingers into my wet hair.
“Turn around,” he says, and I don’t hesitate. He puts shampoo in my hair and rubs it in, massaging my scalp until I’m leaning against him for support. My knees have completely stopped working. He turns me to rinse the soap out of my hair, and between us, I feel him get hard, his cock lengthening and pressing against my stomach. I reach down between us to wrap my hand around it, but he pushes me away.
I look up into his eyes, feeling hurt right in the center of my chest. Finn has never said no to me, and I’ve never said no to him. But his eyes are gentle, soft, as he says, “You don’t need to do that,” and then leans in to press a gentle kiss to my neck.
I nudge him back away from me a little, until there’s enough space between us for me to move. “Idoneed to do it,” I say, and then I drop to my knees in front of him.
“Fuck,” I hear him say over the sound of the shower that’s spraying against my back, just before I open my mouth and swallow him down. Having him in my mouth, feeling the slide and pulse of him against my tongue, it’s all just confirmation. I don’t feel about anyone the way I feel about Finn. Not just my heart and the way I love him, but my body, too. No man has ever made me want and yearn andneedas much as he does. And having Ethan’s hands on me again made that all too clear. Because what Finn and I have comes from trust. I know without the slightest doubt in my mind that Finn would never hurt me, not the way Ethan did.
I pump him with one hand and put the other between my legs. A throb has started there, thrumming rhythmically, and I moan around Finn’s length before plunging two fingers inside myself. But it’s not enough. Not even close. I need to come so bad, I’m shaking, but it’s not going to happen with my fingers.
