She flopped face first onto the king-sized bed. Kicking off my shoes, I followed her down, lying on my side to face her.
“You don’t like it?”
“It’s beautiful, Finn.”
She inhaled deeply, then released a shuttering breath as I began rubbing circles along her back. The longer we lay there, the more relaxed she became, which was my intention. She deserved so much more than my weak attempts to comfort her. She’d saved our lives, for heaven’s sake, and gotten injured in the process. Christ, the image of her bloody footprints on the kitchen floor was something I’d never get over.
“Thank you.” My whispered words were inadequate, but if I said the three words that were on the tip of my tongue, I’d be chasing her down again. She wasn’t ready to hear them yet, regardless of how true they were.
Assuming she’d fallen asleep, I slowly sat up, pulling the blanket from the end of the bed over the both of us, then reached behind me to flick off the bedside lamp. When I slid my arm under her head, she turned, curling into my side.
Her shaky voice penetrated the stillness. “I’ve never been more scared in my life than I was tonight.”
“Baby.” I wrapped my other arm around her waist, pulling her tight against me.
“I don’t know what I’d do if I lost anyone else who means something to me. It’s why, up until recently, Shayne and Duncan were the only people who were truly able to get past my walls. But you’ve made me forget all the reasons why I built them to begin with.”
“Sorry?”
“No, you’re not.” She chuckled. “Honestly, I’m not either. It was a pretty lonely existence.”
Going for broke a second time in one night wasn’t what I had planned. Sure, she was in my arms at the moment, however, I wasn't delusional enough to believe my luck wouldn’t run out eventually. Choosing my words carefully was imperative, otherwise I’d spook her. Unfortunately, my mouth didn’t get the memo.
“When I came to Huntington, I didn’t have a plan beyond finding you. Sloane found this house. It’d be great for a family, but I’m not attached to it. I’ll leave it up to you.”
“Leave what up to me? What are you saying, Finn?”
“If I thought your answer would be yes, I’d ask you to move in with me right this second. Instead, I’d like you to think about whether you could see yourself living here with me someday.”
Her head lifted off the mattress; her emeraldeyes carved a path straight through to my soul. “What if I said no?”
“I’d start looking for something else immediately.”
“What? Why? This is a nice house.”
“I’m forty years old, Waverly, I’m not looking for a house. I’m looking for a home.”
“I don’t know what to say to that.”
“Don’t say anything. Just think about it. Nothing has to be decided in the next five minutes.” I’d given her more to think about than I probably should’ve. When she yawned, I knew it was enough. Kissing the top of her head, I said, “Go to sleep, baby.”
“Mkay.”
With the events of the night threatening to play on repeat in my dreams, there wasn’t a chance in hell I’d follow her into slumber. Or so I thought, until her sleepy confession eased my troubled mind.
“I like you a whole lot, Finnian O’Lachlan.”
“I like you a whole lot too, Waverly Mitchell.”
A whole feckin’ lot.
7ULTIMATE DICK-DEFLATER
Waverly
“Sons of Adam? As in Adam and Eve from the Bible?”
My entire team, plus Shayne, were at the office when we arrived at ten on the nose. I hated being late and, to me, being on time was tantamount to the same thing. Nelson hurried his steps to keep up with me as I made a beeline for the coffeepot. If the pounding in my head was anything to go by, my caffeine levels were dangerously low. And it was all Finn’s fault. Or rather it was his dick’s fault. You’d think between bullets flying and broken sleep, my sex drive would’ve gone into hibernation. But you’d have thought wrong. When I rolled out of bed in search of Finn, I found him in the shower, stroking himself fast and furious. I joined him, and let’s just say by the time we finished, we had to rush through getting dressed. So, yeah, I was blaming my lack of liquid gold on Finn’s enormous…loofah.
