A quiet, menacing growl rumbled in his chest as I pressed closer, his mouth a single breath away, closing the space.
I should be stopping this.
I didn’t know if this was right, butdamn. His touch felt good, doing something to me I didn’t think I’d have the strength to fight off. It’d been forever since someone touched me like this, since I’dletsomeone touch me like this.
Technically, that last someone had been Lochlainn, but that was different. We’d gotten drunk, our mouths somehow finding each other’s—among other places. It was desperate, teasing,fun. The kind of sex that was disheveled and messy. A thrill to fill the void of loneliness.
But with Finley, this was incomparable. There was raw, unfiltered emotion behind the way he was looking at me.
I felt like a stick of dynamite, seconds away from catching fire if he didn’t kiss me. But that incinerating heat became deeper. More scorching. More destructive.
Tug.
Tug.
Tug.
Myinklingflared. Stabbing in warning . . . or irritation. I could feel the ancient creature inside me stirring.Snarling.
My hands moved before I could think, shoving Finley back.
“Wait!” I panted.
He staggered, but he didn’t unlock one arm from holding me in place.
“Sorry—” he gasped. “I thought—” He looked away, deflated. “Sorry.” A slow exhale left him.
I untangled myself from his arms, already feeling the flush in my cheeks.
“No, I should’ve stopped before it got tooheated.” I held up a hand, halting him from interjecting. “Not just because of the teacher-student thing,” I stated quickly. “But because I care for you, Finley. Really, I do.” I gestured a hand between us. “I want to. I just—I’m not in a good place right now.”
His disappointment hit fast. Like watching a little kid drop their ice cream cone in slow motion.
Dragging a hand through short, tousled locks, he blew out a defeated breath. Then, to my surprise—he laughed.
“I’m an eejit,” he groaned, shaking his head. “Ya just had one of the most traumatic experiences and here I am, trying to stick my fecking tongue down ya throat like a complete gobshite!”
He gave a small, tight shrug.
“I don’t know what came over me.” Face wincing, hecontinued, “Well, I do—but forgive me. Really, there’s no need to explain. I get it.”
“Well,” I laughed. “Takes one to know what. It’s all right.”
This golden retriever of a man was too much for my dysfunctional heart to take. I wanted to give in so, so badly. My body was obviously all-in. But apparently my annoying, magical instincts had their own opinions. They practically rolled their eyes at me, lecturing:Why don’t we practice wielding our abilities first before wielding what’s between our legs?
Finley winked.
“As long as we’re idiots together,” he said as his head jerked down the path. “Come on, I’ll get ya to Lochlainn’s. Even promise to keep my hands in my pockets.” An intoxicating smile kissed his lips.
Some wicked part of me was disappointed when he kept that promise the whole way there.
21
CARWYNN
“Piss off!”
Lochlainn yelled from behind the door.
