Page 63 of Stirring Up Love
“It means, is there anything you can’t do?”
Avoid him, apparently. “Well, I’ve never gotten the knack for soufflés.”
Finn bit out a strangled laugh. “That’s your biggest flaw? That you can’t make soufflés? Simone Blake, you are so adorable I could kiss you.”
She met his eyes. “Then do it.”
“What?”
“Kiss me, Finn.”
He searched her eyes for a heartbeat, brown eyes burrowing into her soul. She squirmed under his gaze but didn’t look away. She let him take her in, hold her. Then his thumb swept over her lips, parting them, and the motion broke something in her. She slid her hands up into the hair at his nape, then tugged him down.
When their lips met, relief flooded her senses, so deep she lost her footing, knees weak. He stumbled, too, crashed into her, a wave of passion cresting between them, and she let herself be obliterated, found again in the wreckage, reimagined, renewed, reborn as a creature of fire and molten gold, searing and bright.
The back of her knees hit the couch, and she fell, pulling him on top of her, their kiss broken only for a moment before Finn’s lips coaxed hers open, and she let herself melt. The fleece of her jacket, soft before, scratched at her collarbones, and she lifted her hips to free it.
A groan tore out of Finn, and he dipped his hand down, fingers fumbling against hers, and in a laughing tangle they tugged the sweatshirt over her head. She lay there in an old T-shirt hiked up over her waist, but his gaze roved over her like she wore silk lingerie. The look made her feel exposed, vulnerable, where she’d always felt certain, sure.
She tipped up her chin, daring him. “What?”
“You are the most gorgeous woman alive.” Then he was back, a welcome weight, grinding her into the couch, and she slipped her hands over the taut muscles of his trembling biceps. Dipped one hand under the sleeve of his shirt, palmed the intricate patterns on his arm.
Seeking more contact, she drew her fingers down to his belly button and traced them back up, reveled as he shuddered at her touch.
“You’re not bad to look at either.” She grinned and yanked up on the hem of his shirt, happy when he pulled it over his head, then dipped his head to kiss her again, fierce and deep.
She breathed out a moan as his tongue swept over hers. Her hand strayed up to his chest, and his heartbeat thudded against her palm, tracing the same pattern that swirled along her eyelids. Finn’s arms on either side of her caged her in, but she felt free. Wide open. Known.
No animosity in this kiss, nothing to prove, only the heat of pure need, echoed in the slant of Finn’s mouth over hers, the press of his body, urgent and—
“Hello in there!” The door rattled on its hinges with a knock like the battering ram of an invading army, and Finn sprang off her in a flash.
“I’ve got the extra blankets you asked for.” The man on the other side of the door may as well have been standing in the room for how clear his voice was. The walls must have zero insulation. Had he heard them going at it like a couple in a car at a drive-in?
Finn’s eyes flicked toward hers, and she pulled the chevron blanket over her chest. He snorted. “Like you’re the one with an issue.”
She dodged her eyes down, then back up, cheeks hot. She grabbed her sweatshirt off the floor, ready to toss it to him, but he waved her off. “It’s fine.” Positioned behind the door, he cracked it open and peeked out, head and shoulders exposed. Simone caught a flash of red hair that cleared the lintel of the door.
“Not a nudist, eh?” The man shoved the blankets into Finn’s bare chest and closed the door himself.
Laughing, Finn turned around and tossed the blankets on the foot of the bed.
“What was all that about?” Simone sat up on her elbows.
“There was a mix-up earlier. When you left me naked in the car.” Finn hitched a creamy shoulder. “He caught me in a compromised position.”
She arched one eyebrow, not passing up the chance to tease him. “Oh?”
“Yeah.” Finn came over and framed her with his arms. “Come to think of it, that’s twice now, thanks to you.” He bent his head and pressed a soft kiss to her lips.
Every fiber of Simone’s being wanted to arch up into him. To close her eyes and lose herself in the beautiful chaos of Finn. So she did the opposite.
She slid down and scooted out from under his chest, falling to her knees, and basically crawled forward until she was clear to stand, which she did, on shaky legs.
“Sim?”
Her heart cracked, hearing him say her name. She needed superglue, stat. “Just going to grab that shower. You’d better get under the blankets. You need to get warm.”
