Finn kisses across my cheek, down my jaw, until he reaches the delicate skin on my neck. His teeth graze the skin before he bites down gently, sending a jolt of pleasure right to my core. I cry out, one of my hands coming off the wall to tangle in the dark strands of his hair. A low possessive growl rumbles in his chest, and I feel his tongue soothe the mark at my neck.
“I’m not pulling out, Winnie. I’m going to fill your pretty little body with my cum. I’m going to mark you. I’m going to make you mine from the inside out. When I’m dripping out of this perfect cunt tomorrow, you’ll still know who you’ve always belonged to.”
In one ruthless thrust, Finn’s inside me. I let out a cry, my core throbbing and stretching around him, gripping him tighter. Finn’s forehead presses to the back of my head, and his other hand grips my waist.
“Fuck, Win.” His breathing is choppy while he starts sliding in and out, building a brutal pace while placing open-mouthed kisses over the back of my neck and shoulder. “You feel so good. So wet for me.”
“Please, Finn,” I beg, needing him to move faster. He groans, his hand slipping from my neck and under my shirt to grab my breasts, teasing the nipples until they’re pebbled for his touch. “Finn, I need you.”
My words snap his resolve, his hips punching deeper and harder. I fall easily into the sensations, loving the way he holds me, the sounds of our skin slapping together, the way his hands glide across my skin, anywhere he can touch me. Moans slip past my lips, and I find myself chanting his name over and over while he growls how much he missed me. How much he loves me. How perfect my body feels, and how messy and wet my pussy is for him. This time, my orgasm hits me in waves, builds and crests, the intensity increasing until it spins out and I shatter around him. Finn roars with his own orgasm, his body taut as he thrusts and spills inside me.
“I missed you. How the fuck did I live without you?” he mutters, his lips against my ear before placing a kiss on my neck, over his mark from earlier. “You’re so damn perfect.”
My hands brace against the wall, ready to push out of his hold and hide. Now that the tension has ebbed, the need to clear my head and think is overwhelming. I don’t regret what just happened, but I’m also not ready to admit what it means. Sensing the conflicting emotions inside of me, Finn runs his large hand down my spine.
His arms tighten around me. “There’s no hiding from me, Win,” he says darkly, lips curved up in a smirk. “We’re just getting started.”
Chapter 27
Finn
Sunlight touches my arm, stirring the shadows in the room and signaling that the world is waking up. A small groan falls from my lips, mostly because it feels like I just fell asleep a few hours ago. Once Winnie let me back inside her body, I carried her to my room and kept her body pinned under mine until dawn was breaking. We had five years to make up for. She felt the same about it as I did, judging by the red nail marks on my back and the red bruises on my chest. Not that I’m complaining. I’ll wear these marks like a badge of honor.
After that phone call with Prez, all I could picture the rest of the night was the look she gave me when I called her my old lady. It was full of hurt and anger, and once again, I was hit with the realization of the depth of the damage I’ve done. For the rest of my life, I’ll work to fix what I broke and earn her trust back. Having Winnie back in my arms only proved one thing, we are meant to be together.
My arm slides out across the bed, hoping to touch her bare, warm skin, only to encounter cold sheets. For a second, my heart stops, and the same panic I felt that morning she left me fiveyears ago rises in my chest. I spring out of bed and grab a pair of jeans from the closet.
“Win!” I call her name, feeling my stomach sink further when she doesn’t answer. I sprint from the room and down the hallway, checking my office quickly before heading to the living room. “Winnie!” I call again, finding the living room and then the kitchen empty.
Fear flares in my chest as I take the stairs up to the guest room she’s claimed as hers, two at a time. I swallow down the rage that threatens to bubble up, as each room and the bathroom turn up empty. She wouldn’t leave. Winnie may be mad at me or hate me, but she’s smart. She knows she could be in danger; she wouldn’t leave. My hands pull at my hair as my eyes take in her empty room, the still-made-up bed, and dark closet. A glint catches my eye through the window. My head swivels to look closer, just in time to see Winnie walking the path down to the gazebo. Shit. The instant relief at finding her settles in my bones. I waste no time in rushing back down the stairs and outside, taking the same trail to the gazebo.
She must have woken up way earlier than me. Her hair is smooth and pulled back into a braid. And she’s dressed, wearing a pink maxi dress with a long-sleeve gray cardigan against the slight chill. She senses me as I get closer, her head snapping up, and our eyes collide. I watch as hers get bigger, like she can sense the ebbing panic rolling off me in waves. I come to a stop in front of her, my chest tightening while my gaze trails over her face. She’s beautiful as always, even with a shred of sadness in her eyes.
“You left,” I manage to say, the words sounding stupid now to my own ears. Her chest rises and falls heavily before she nods. Her gaze flicks down to the floor before coming back to mine.
“I needed to think.”
I blow out a deep breath, reining in my first impulse to gather her in my arms. Every inch of me wants to reach for her, to kiss her and make her mine again. “I couldn’t find you. It felt, it felt like that day all over again.”
She inhales sharply, biting her lip, her eyes swimming with tears. “I’m sorry I left without telling you. Back then, I needed to escape. I already felt like you didn’t care if I was around. You were never there with me anyway. I thought nothing could fix what happened, and I was so tired of trying.”
“You don’t owe me an apology, Win,” my voice rasps. “I deserved it. At first, I panicked because I thought someone had taken you. That one of my enemies had come after us. Until I saw your key in the bowl. Then I realized you left on your own, willingly. I was going to come after you, but my phone rang.”
“Always the club,” she whispers, and it sounds depreciating.
I shake my head, running my hand over my jaw. “The thing was, they wouldn’t have cared if I blew off church to go after you. I didn’t learn until after that Prez had called me in to chew my ass about lying to you about the runs. Jocelyn had told him about your conversation. It was the first time I had a very honest talk with Prez and my brothers about you. They all knew I screwed up, but it wasn’t until you didn’t come weeks later that they saw me spiraling and realized exactly how fucked I was.”
Winnie sits next to me, her frame stiff, but she’s listening. That's all I can ask of her. “They’ve been different since I’ve been back.”
“I had a lot of growing up to do, Win. They held me accountable to be the man I wanted to be for you, and not continue to be the asshole I had been. I had held back from them, and for the first time, I wasn’t just being honest with myself but with my brothers as well. I set them straight about your role in my life, and that everything I had been doing for youwas to make you happy because I loved you. They realized, too, that they had failed you as well,” I tell her.
Tears slide down her cheeks, and she brushes them away with her sleeve just as fast. Her head ducks down, glancing away from me. “I just thought they didn’t like me.”
“It was never you, Winnie. I was the problem, and I handled a lot of things wrong.”
She glances up at me again. Her lips, swollen and red from my kisses and bites last night. “I want to believe you. It would be so easy to fall. I can’t agree with the plan because the past hurts too much. It feels so reminiscent of the accusations that I’m trapping you, or forcing you to do what you don’t want to.”
“Do you regret what happened last night?” I ask, keeping my gaze intently on hers.
