Page 34 of Redemption

He doesn’t need to be prodded twice. His lips capture mine, and he slides me onto the bed, his body covering me. The graze of our skin is an ecstasy I’ve dreamed about for months. At first, when I closed my eyes, he appeared, sometimes like this, all over me, waking up my body. Other instances the dream would be the two of us in bed, chatting as though we had all the time in the world. To know I’ll get both tonight heightens my desire. Whatever happened to lead him to my hotel room doesn’t matter. He’s here, slipping his fingers inside me while his thumb circles my clit.

“Oh, God, that feels so good,” I cry out as his teeth graze my nipple before he takes the whole thing into his mouth. When he parts my legs and his tongue flicks across my center, I buck against him, as my hands dig into his scalp. He’s always known how to pleasure me, how to bring me to the brink, and then over it again and again. “Please, Finn,” I plead.

At that, he rises over top of me, and our gazes connect. A key sliding into a lock; a puzzle solved. When he enters me, even that isn’t close enough. All those months spent apart make me want to cry from the pleasure now, and the pain of before. He presses his forehead against mine as he moves inside me.

“I missed you so much.” He kisses my temple before angling his lips over mine again.

His pace is exquisitely slow, as though each touch of our bodies is a gift and something to be savored. His hand snakes under my ass, tightening our seal. He presses my core against him with each movement. I raise my hips, the friction ratcheting me closer and closer to orgasm.

“Oh, Finn,” I murmur, unable to get out anything else.

He lifts his head from my neck, gazing at me, his eyes filled with unmistakable desire. “I want to watch you come.”

“I’m almost there.” My voice is strained. “But I don’t want this to end.”

He pushes into me a little harder, and I dig my nails into his biceps, so near to toppling over the edge, my vision is blurry.

“Are you—are you close?” My words are garbled and sluggish.

“Yeah, Carys.” He kisses me. “Come for me, baby.”

Our gazes are locked, and he rocks us one last time. I cry out, my body spasming around him, and I clutch his arms as though I might fall through the bed.

He thrusts into me two more times, and then he’s pulsing inside me with his face pressed against my neck. I wrap my legs tighter, locking him in place. A sigh of contentment escapes me. I can’t remember when I was so happy.

The questions I realize I should be asking him float through my mind, but instead of speaking, I run my hands along every inch of his body as we cuddle in bed. He’s here, and we’re together. Nothing else matters.

“I’ll have to call Evander so he can stop the search. I should tell Jay to prep the plane to go back to Cape Verde.” My voice is sleepy to my ears. When did I last have a restful, uninterrupted sleep? A year? More, maybe.

Finn kisses my temple, but he’s gone tense beside me.

“You don’t want me to do that?” I peer up, trying to read his expression.

His fingertips dance along my spine, and he sighs. “I’m not coming back with you.”

I sit up, clutching the sheets to my chest. “What?”

He follows my lead, the sheet pooling around his waist when he leans against the headboard. His defined, muscled body is a distraction even now. Will I always respond like this to him? We’re in the middle of a crisis, on the brink of a fight, and the urge to straddle him, worship him with my hands, and pretend he didn’t say those words is overwhelming.

“I don’t even know where to start.” He meets my gaze, and unlike before, there’s a steely resolve. “I’ll tell you whatever you want as long as you promise you’ll go back to Cape Verde. You can’t stay with me.”

I let out a frustrated noise and move farther away from him. “No. I’m not making that promise. But youwilltell me everything.”

He rubs his crown and then crosses his arms. Any hint of the yielding lover is gone. He’s in full business mode. He climbs out of bed and starts sweeping the room for bugs. “Evander must suspect I came here willingly.”

I clench my jaw. “He does. Did you?”

He shrugs and keeps checking the places a listening device could be used. “It’s complicated.”

Once he’s satisfied, he tugs on his boxer briefs and sits on the edge of the bed. When we’re touching, my brain doesn’t function. His distance is a relief and an annoyance. “You understand that’s not an answer I’m going to accept for anything.”

He draws a hand down his face, and then he levels me with the full weight of his gaze. “Evander’s not as clever as he thinks.” Then he continues with a story about the FBI, a deal with Zahir for a reduced sentence, a jailbreak that almost didn’t happen, the inclusion of Kimi and Lorcan, and then meeting Pierre-Jacques, the head of the PLA.

My mind bends and weaves around the information he’s dumping on me. There are so many problems with this plan, I’m not sure where to start. Instead of speaking once he’s done, I climb off the bed and dress. “They’re going to reduce your sentence to three years?” It’s better than the twelve consecutive life sentences he was supposed to serve, but it’s not the happily ever after I envisioned when I hired Evander.

“If I help take down the PLA.” Finn doesn’t meet my gaze, and I wonder whether he’s thinking the same thing as me. The deal is very good—maybe too good. It’s easy to give exceptional deals when the FBI doesn’t believe the person they’re dealing with will survive to cash it in. “You can’t stay.”

“Why not? As far as I can see, the danger is to you.” If he’s in danger, I don’t want to leave. Even if I trust Lorcan, I’m not sure I trust Kim, and I don’t trust the FBI or CIA. “You need someone who has your back.”

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