“I can’t let you do that,” Finn said, shaking his head. “It’s too dangerous. No way.”
“There you go again, trying to tell me what to do.” She looked up at him. “Finn, I can’t just sit by while people are being abused. I was in a cruddy situation when I was a teenager, and I had no one to turn to, and it felt horrible. If my helping them out means that we can’t be together, then it will break my heart. I mean that. But I still have to help them.”
“Damn it, there you go again, being all noble. Making me fall for you even harder.” Finn shook his head in mock annoyance.
“I know, what a jerk I am, right?” She laughed.
He sighed and shook his head. “If you’re dead set on going, I’ll go with you. Krystle will probably come with us. There’s no way you’d make it there on your own.”
He slung an arm around her shoulders, and she leaned against him, her body tense.
“Relax,” he urged her. “I don’t bite. Okay, I do bite, but only if you say pretty please.”
“You want me to relax? Talk to me,” she said to him.
“What do you want me to say?”
“Anything. Tell me what’s been bothering you. Tell me what you really want for us.”
“That picture in my apartment,” Finn said. He paused, and when he spoke again, his voice was thick with sorrow. “That was my squadron. I lost half of them. One of them was Jennifer’s older sister, Marybeth. Three years ago next month. She sacrificed herself for me, and that’s a burden I carry with me to this day. My failure to keep her safe.” He cleared his throat. “And now I’m afraid that I can’t keep you safe, and if anything happened to you, it would kill me. And here I’ve been acting like such an ass that you don’t even want to be near me, and that puts you in harm’s way. I’m so sorry.”
His big, warm hand closed around hers.
“Stay with me, Flora. Please. I need you.”
“Finn, I am so sorry. I wish I’d known. You can tell me anything, you know. And I do want to be near you. All the time.” She pulled his arms around her, closed her eyes and buried her face in his shoulder. “Just hold me,” she said.
Chapter Fifteen
They sat in the damp grass, listening to the soft splash of the river and watching the little whirlpools and eddies in the water. They’d long since fallen silent.
She gave a little sigh and reclined on her elbows, stretching her legs out in front of her. She didn’t feel self-conscious being nude in front of Finn, and it wasn’t just a shifter thing. There was something about the big Alpha lion that made her feel safe. She had to admit that Finn having her back would make what she had to do less daunting.
She glanced across at him and realized he was gazing at her with open, naked hunger. His tawny eyes were dark and intent, his gaze roaming lazily over her breasts, the curve of her waist, the smooth length of her legs, but returning again and again to rest on the inviting patch of dark curls between her thighs. She felt a trickle of moisture slicking her folds as her body responded to his regard and she remembered the avid heat of his mouth on her most intimate flesh. Her nipples crinkled and furled into hard little buds, and his eyes were drawn to them as if by a magnet. Slowly, as if she were a wild animal that might startle and flee, he reached out and played one fingertip gently around her nipple, sending silvery threads of sensation racing down her body. She shuddered, and raised one knee in silent invitation.
Finn rolled over, covering her with his body, settling between her thighs. His body was huge and heavily muscled on top of hers, making her feel feminine and vulnerable. He was warm, and she raised her hands so she could run her palms over the silky-smooth skin of his back, playing her fingers curiously over a short rope of scar tissue at the base of his spine then running her hands over the taut, firm globes of his buttocks.
Finn kissed her thirstily, plundering her mouth with a fierce urgency that made her heart drum and her head swim. She could feel the hard ridge of his erection between her thighs, rubbing between her wet pussy lips with a sweet friction each time she wriggled on the damp grass or he shifted against her to deepen their kiss.
She drew back from his mouth, gasping, and took his head between her hands, staring deeply into his eyes. Her voice came out breathy and desperate. “Don’t stop this time, Finn. Please.”
He groaned and kissed her again, and she felt him parting her slick folds before he pushed one finger inside her, hissing as her internal muscles clenched tightly around it.
Gently, he began to move his finger back and forth, pushing deep inside her and then withdrawing, his movement becoming firmer and more confident as her juices lubricated his thrusts. She gasped and sighed, and he added a second finger, murmuring muddled words of encouragement as he pushed them all the way inside her. He curled his fingers as he withdrew them, rubbing over her G-spot. She whimpered and parted her legs further, wordlessly begging for more.