Heat floods me so strongly I almost hide under the blanket.
I don’t.
“You can tell me,” I whisper.
He exhales a shaky laugh.“God, you’re gonna ruin me.”
Then he kisses my neck, slowly, dragging his mouth along the spot beneath my ear, down to my collarbone.My back arches involuntarily.His hand grips my hip.
And for a moment, it’s just us again—no danger, no fear, no Adrian, no cameras, no hallway shadows.Just Finn’s mouth on my skin and the way his voice breaks every time he says my name.
Eventually he pulls back, panting faintly, forehead dropping to my shoulder.
“I need a second,” he mutters.“Or we’re not leaving this room all day.”
I’m embarrassingly okay with that.
I slide my fingers through his hair gently.“Take your second.”
He inhales tightly and nods, pushing himself up to sit against the headboard.His hair is a disaster, his chest rising fast, his shirt half-tucked and twisted—and somehow he’s never looked better.
He glances at me, cheeks flushed, eyes soft.“Are you hungry?”
“Starving,” I admit.
He brightens.“Breakfast.I make good pancakes.Like really good.The best pancakes you’ve ever had or your money back.”
“You’re not charging me.”
“That’s because you haven’t tasted them yet.”
I laugh again, and he grins like he’s collected a prize.
He slides out of bed, tossing me the blanket I’d lost somewhere in the night.“Stay here.I’ll be right back.”
And before I can move or think or fall apart, he pads barefoot into the hallway, whistling under his breath like a man who’s had the best night of his life.
Maybe he has.
I sit there for a long moment after he leaves, hands fisted in the comforter, staring at the space he occupied a second ago.
I should be scared.
I should be overwhelmed.
I should be thinking about Kael, about Atlas, about Adrian, about the danger threading itself through my life like a fuse.
But right now, all I can think about is the way Finn looked at me.
The way he touched me.
The way he said my name like it mattered.
And the way it made me feel—
wanted,
safe,
