“Thank you,” he rasps. Then, he drinks some more as I return to my spot beside him. After finishing the bottle, the human continues, “So”—he clears his throat—“orgasms, huh?”
“Yes.” The carbonation of my seltzer diminishes with each moment, and I set it to the side. “I was relieved when I found out they worked. But I can only ever manage one with my hand. I need a vibrator to get more, and I didn’t bring one with me.” As honest as I am with my parents, I don’t know that I want to return home to grab a self-stimulator, only to immediately head back out.
With Finn quiet beside me, I realize I must have overshared. I tend to mix up what is and what is not acceptable to discuss in relation to sex.
Maybe I should place him in the same category as my parents.
But that doesn’t seem right.“I apologize if I made you uncomfortable.”
“What about with a partner?” His question isn’t one I expected.
“A partner?”
Finn stares into my eyes, focusing on me in the method he seems to have perfected, coaxing me to float forever in those gray-blue depths. “Has a partner ever gotten you to more than one orgasm?”
Blinking away from his hypnotizing stare, I consider my past liaisons. “One. But that was because he was a particular fan of cunnilingus.”
Finn goes quiet again.
Since I don’t have anything further to add to the conversation, I stretch my toes toward the fire, enjoying the way my skin tingles in the heat. A scent drifts past my nose. A cedarwood soap, mixed with the earthy smell of lake water. Must be Finn’s still-damp hair.
“What if I offered to help you relax before bed?” the human asks, his voice lower than before. “Would you stay over?”
All of my nerves clench, as if I pressed as close to the fire as I could get without setting myself aflame. “Definerelax.”
“I could help you achieve your orgasms.”
An image enters my head—Finn fully bare, in a bed with me.
Straining. Panting. Sweating.
I tuck my feet close to my body, suddenly overheated.
“That would not be a good idea.” The words fall from my tongue without consideration, which is not how I prefer to converse.
“Why not?”
Because I like the idea too much and you are not who the fates chose for me.
“Do you recall the plan I mentioned earlier? The secret one?”
“Yes.”
“The plan is to seduce Owen. And I cannot do that while you are seducing me.”
4
FINN
She wants to seduce Owen?
Owen MacNamara?
“Why would you want to do that?”
Isla rarely shows emotions on her face, but if anything, she’s gone stonier. The woman crosses her arms over her chest, grasping her opposite elbows, as if she needed to protect her inner organs.
“We’re meant to be together.” Her lips thin, as if she were trying to suck the declaration back into her mouth. “You wouldn’t understand. It’s a family thing.”
