by Laura Drewry
“Yeah, me neither.” He let his hand slide down her arm, then hooked his pinky finger around hers. What was he supposed to say next? How did a guy apologize for being such a dick?
“Come on; it’s cold standing out here.” Unhooking her finger, Jess moved past him into the room, crawled up on his bed, and tugged the blanket up to her chin. “Apparently I sleep better with you snoring directly in my ear instead of down the hall.”
“That,” he said, expelling a huge breath, “is excellent news.”
He kicked the door closed then crawled into bed and wrapped himself around her so her back was pressed against his chest and her perfect little butt was settled tight against him.
“Mmmm.” Tugging on his hand, she curled both of hers around it and tucked it all up between her breasts. “That’s better.”
It was better than better; it was perfect.
“Jess.” He breathed a kiss behind her earlobe, right where he knew she liked it, then tightened his hold on her as she shivered. “I’m sorry.”
“What for?” she whispered. “You didn’t do anything.”
“I know, and I should have.”
Jess tried to wriggle around, but her nightgown twisted the wrong way, making it take longer than Finn would have liked. By the time she’d dragged the nightgown around so she could face him, she was a bit flushed.
“You could just take it off, you know.”
His helpful suggestion was flat-out ignored.
Lying face-to-face now, she took his hand again and tucked it back up between her breasts, a position he could quite easily get used to.
“You have nothing to apologize for. Liam was way out of line.”
“No, he wasn’t; he was just looking out for you.”
“I don’t need him looking out for me, especially when at least part of his motive is self-serving.”
“What d’you mean?”
“I mean we’re all pinning our hopes on the fact Hooked will put this place on the map, and none of us more than Liam. God, he’d probably give his right arm to have me kiss up to Sam if it would help to keep them coming back every year, because the sooner this place starts turning a profit, the sooner he and Kate can get out of that shed they live in and maybe build a house so they can start a family.”
Finn could already picture it, too: Kate, Liam, and enough kids to field their own ball team. And while the image of that made Finn smile, it also left him feeling something he wasn’t prepared to feel: envious.
“So I can appreciate why he wants to start making money,” Jess said. “But I resent him trying to use me to do it, and I think they’re both total shits for trying to steer me away from you.”
“Maybe,” Finn murmured. “But they weren’t wrong about my track record, so can you really blame them?”
“I don’t care about your track record.” Her gaze lowered to his mouth, and if she didn’t stop looking at him like that, those orcas were going to end up in shreds pretty quick. “I only care about right here, right now.”
She looked so sure, sounded so sure, and yet…
“What?” she asked. “You don’t believe me?”
He wanted to believe her, he really did.
“Finn?”
It took him a couple of seconds, but he finally managed to say it.
“A week or so ago you told me you knew this wouldn’t last, so how can you say you don’t care about the past, when you’re already planning the future based on it?”
A wave of guilt washed through her eyes, turning her mouth into a slow frown.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “That night I…I was a little freaked out, and I really thought I knew what would happen, but then you went and changed everything on me.”
“Me? What did I do?”
Her gaze fell to his lips again, just briefly, as color raced up her cheeks and made her blink twice as fast as normal.
“You went and made me realize I was in love with you after I told myself I wouldn’t do that.”
Finn’s smile started slowly, but only because he was trying not to look like an idiot by letting it all out at once.
“Yeah, well, it’s not often I get to make you do something you don’t want to do,” he said. “So…you’re welcome.”
Unlike him, Jess let her smile burst out all at once and then immediately tried to bury her face in the pillow.
“Hey.” Finn tugged his hand free and fingered her hair back. “Since we’re on the subject, I gotta tell ya—you really need to work on your presentation.”
“I know,” she cried, laughing into the pillow. “I’m sorry—I didn’t mean to just blurt it out like that.”
“Oh no, don’t get me wrong,” he chuckled. “It wasn’t the blurting I had trouble with; it was the fact you told my stupid brother before you told me.”
With a quiet snort, Jess rolled over a little so she was looking up at him again.
“That’s not entirely true,” she said. “I sort of told you both at the same time.”
“Yeah, that’s still not right.” Finn didn’t give a rat’s ass how she’d said it, and he was pretty sure she knew that. “Besides, I thought we agreed that you’d loop me in on the things batting around inside that pretty head of yours.”
“Only the things that I needed help figuring out,” she said. “And I didn’t need any help on that.”
“No?” He didn’t know why they were whispering again, but he didn’t care, either. It seemed to make everything closer, more intimate.
“Mm-mm. It’s the first thing that’s made perfect sense to me in a while.”
He had to look away for a second, not because he had to work up his nerve, but because having her in his bed, gazing at him with those beautiful eyes, and saying things he never thought he’d hear—things he never thought he’d want to hear—was massively overwhelming and he didn’t want to screw it up.
But he didn’t want to say nothing again, either; he just needed a second to get a grasp on everything whirling around inside him.
“Well, here’s the thing about that,” he said. “It’s the only thing that’s—”
“Don’t.” She pressed her fingers against his mouth, so softly he almost thought he’d imagined it. “If you say it now, there’ll always be a little part of me that thinks you’re only saying it because I said it first or because I forced you to admit it.”
“But you already—”
“Please?” Her smile faded as her fingers stilled against his chin. “I know it’s crazy, because part of me already believes you do, but when you say it—if you say it—I don’t want it to be for any other reason than you can’t hold it in anymore.”
“So you want me to yell it in Liam’s face like you did?”
“God, no.” There it was, that smile. “I think we’ve sufficiently freaked him out enough for a while.”
Finn wrapped her fingers in his again and tugged them out of the way so he could kiss her, just once, long, slow, and gentle.
“Jess,” he murmured. “You’re not quite right in the head, you know that, eh?”
“Yeah.” Her whisper tickled his lip. “It’s one of the things you love about me.”
Damn right it was, but apparently he wasn’t allowed to say as much yet. That was okay, though, because talking was overrated anyway. Why say it when he could show her instead?
“Don’t suppose you’d like to lose those stupid orcas, would you?”
“What’s wrong with the orcas?” Laughing, she rolled onto her back and started tugging the nightgown up. “I like them.”
“Like I said, not quite right in the…Sheeeeze.”
Finn whistled, low and quiet. If he’d known she was going commando tonight, that damn nightgown never would have made it into the room.
“A little help here please,” she cried.
With her back still pressed against the mattress, and the fabric of her nightgown chafing against the sheets, there was quite a tangled mess around her neck and head, but it worked
well for Finn, because it gave him wide-open access to everything else.
He smoothed his hand over each of her breasts, then traced the same path with his mouth, kissing and tasting his way as she struggled to finally free herself.
Already flushed from the exertion, Jess laughed, her lips trembling as Finn trailed slow kisses down her stomach and across her hip.
“Ah,” she gasped sharply, as he ran his hands along the insides of her thighs and gently nudged them apart. “Any chance you could…oh…speed things up?”
Finn pressed the first of many soft kisses against her thigh and chuckled. “Sorry, sweetheart, I’m going to be a while here.”
Longer than just a while, actually. By the time he was done with her, he knew what every inch of her tasted like, knew that kissing that spot on her back, right above her butt, sent shivers racing all the way up her spine, and that massaging her feet would get him pretty much anything he wanted.
Turned out that the thing he wanted most was simple: her lips and hands all over him and him buried deep inside her.
What more could a guy ask for?
—
Jess had never been one to hold a grudge, and she wasn’t shy to admit when she was wrong or when she might have overreacted. And for those two reasons, they started the next morning with fresh cinnamon buns and coffee from the percolator.
Finn was leaning over her shoulder as she rinsed out the dishcloth, whispering kisses against the side of her neck, when the back door opened. Bracing himself for anything else Liam might have left to throw at him, Finn shifted over so he was side by side with Jess.
“Hey.” With his left cheek swollen and purple, Liam stepped cautiously into the kitchen ahead of Kate and offered Jessie a small apologetic grin.
Not surprising, she didn’t return the smile, but that wasn’t because she was still pissed off—at least not at Liam right then.
“God almighty, Finn—why does everything have to end with somebody bleeding?”
“He’s not bleeding,” Finn scoffed. “Look at him—he’s fine. He walked it right off like a champ, didn’t you, Liam?”
“Well, I don’t know about the champ part of it, but…” It looked like it hurt, but Liam still managed to smile, even though Kate glowered. “Not gonna lie, Jessie, I was more worried about walking in here than I was about a little tap on the cheek from him.”
“A little tap?” Finn crowed. “I’ll give you a little tap, all right.”
“Stop it.” Jess pinned them both with one of her “don’t test me” looks before homing in on Liam. “Are you okay?”
“I’ll live.”
“Good. Then grab a coffee and sit down, ’cause there’s something I need to say before Olivia gets here.”
Finn had no idea what she was going to say, but he stayed right beside her anyway in case there was any doubt about whose side he was on.
Once Liam and Kate were settled at the table, Jessie sighed.
“I’m not sure I see it the same way, but Finn here seems pretty convinced that all that crap last night was honestly you just trying to watch out for me.”
“It was. It is. Seriously.”
“If that’s true,” she said, clearly not convinced, “then thank you, I appreciate it. But at the same time I want you to know that I think you’re a complete asshole for the way you threw Finn under the bus like that.”
Liam wrapped his hands around his mug and gave Finn a small smirk. “Apparently he wasn’t very happy about it, either.”
“This isn’t funny,” Kate snapped. “It was bad enough he hit you once, but twice? Really?”
“You hit him twice?” Jess croaked.
“Well, yeah.” Finn shrugged nonchalantly, then chuckled quietly when Liam did the same. “First one was for him being a dick; the second one was for him making me look like a dick, and you know how it is. Sometimes you gotta speak the language he understands.”
Neither Kate nor Jess thought that was funny, but Finn and Liam did; it was their go-to explanation every time they got into it with each other. And the beauty of it—albeit a crazy and childish beauty—was that a punch or two was usually all it took to get the shit out of their systems and then they were good again.
And despite everything that was said, or not said, last night, Finn had no doubt that he and Liam were just fine, especially after Liam pulled a face at Jess and pointed to Finn.
“Really, Jessie? Are you sure? ’Cause I’m a thousand percent certain you can do better than that.”
“Funny,” Jess said, lifting her mug to hide her smirk. “I’ve wanted to say the same thing to Kate about a hundred times.”
“Oof!” Liam slammed his fist against his chest and slumped over the table. “Shots fired!”
“Yeah, you guys are hilarious,” Kate said, offering them all a long eye roll. “But, Jessie, we really are sorry, and I know it’s awful to say, and you probably don’t want to even consider it, but we can’t help worrying what will happen if things don’t work out with you two.”
“It’ll work out fine.” Of the three other people in the room, Jess was the only one smiling after Finn made this statement. The other two just stared bug-eyed. “What?”
“Nothing,” Liam sputtered. “I never thought I’d hear you say something like that. Like never. Ever.”
Finn pushed away from the counter and faked a lunge at him. “You wanna go again?”
Liam didn’t even flinch, but Kate sure did.
“Stop it!” She waited until Finn moved back again, then clicked her tongue in disgust. “Can we focus here for a second please? How are we going to handle the Sam situation?”
“There is no Sam situation,” Jess muttered. “The only reason I’m worried about any of it is because he said if things work out, the Buoys would be an annual stop on their schedule, and that’s the kind of publicity we can’t afford to blow off.”
“We’re not going to blow it off. We just need to tread lightly until we know what he’s thinking.” Kate tipped her head a little. “Maybe it’s time you fessed up to him about you and water. You said yourself that’d probably be enough to send him running.”
Finn had to blink himself clear to make sure he’d heard Kate right.
“You never told him that you didn’t go in the water?” he asked. “Why not?”
“Because.” Jess sighed, her face a couple of shades paler than a minute before. “It’s a long, stupid story.”
“Jesus, Jess,” he muttered, backing up a step. “Please tell me that’s not why you—”
“No! Of course not.”
“It’s not what?” Kate asked, glancing warily at both of them.
Finn didn’t say anything, just waited for Jess to tell him the whole story.
“When all this started, Kate said I should do something about it for me, no one else, and yeah, okay, Olivia said I should do it for Sam, but that’s not why I did it.”
“Did what?” Liam asked, a bit more forceful than Kate, whose eyes were almost the size of dinner plates.
“No!” She gaped. “Did you do it? For real?”
“Not completely,” Jess said. “But we’re getting there.”
She glanced over at Finn, her smile wiping away any lingering irritation he had that she might have done it for Sam.
“Do what?” Liam bellowed. “Hello!”
Finn didn’t know why Jess was being so bashful about it; she’d done a hell of a job. She still had a ways to go, but a little encouragement and she’d get there.
“Finn’s been helping me get in the water,” she said slowly, shrugging it off.
“You?” Liam croaked. “No way!”
“It’s not like I’m ready to do the hundred-meter butterfly or anything, but…it’s something.”
“It’s a hell of a lot more than something,” Finn said. “You should see her.”
“No, you shouldn’t!” Jess laughed. “I’m not ready for that yet.”
“But how? When?”
Finn
pulled Jess up beside him and kissed the side of her head.
“Up at the lake,” he said. “Almost every night for the last few weeks.”
“Are you shittin’ me?” Liam asked. “Jessie—our Jessie—gets in the water now?”
“You bet your ass. We’ll have her swimming in no time.”
“I don’t know about that,” Jess choked. “I’m just happy I can walk around in it without having a complete meltdown.”
“That’s so great,” Kate gushed, holding out her arms for a hug. “That couldn’t have been easy.”
“Piece of cake.” Snorting, Jess unwrapped herself from Kate’s arms and tucked up next to Finn again.
“Maybe for you,” he said, smoothing his hand up her arm. “Every freakin’ night we went out there took another year off my life.”
Liam hadn’t stopped shaking his head the whole time.
“Sorry,” he said over a couple of long blinks. “But this is all too much. I mean, the water thing is great, Jessie, really, that’s…I’m so proud of you. But—”
All three of the others leaned forward, waiting.
“Yeah.” Holding both hands in front of his face, he turned his head a little so he wasn’t looking at them anymore, then sputtered out a laugh. “The whole idea of you two together…I can’t…I just…no.”
“Why not?” Kate’s laugh softened when she locked gazes with Finn. “They’re adorable.”
“No.” Still chuckling, Liam wouldn’t look up. “It’s too weird. It’s…Oh my God, Ro’s gonna shit himself sideways.”
Chapter 14
“I had to call in sick; my arm was in a cast.”
After all the hoopla and angst over having Hooked film at the Buoys, Jessie wished they’d get there so the whole Sam thing could be resolved once and for all.
He’d called a couple of days after the blowup with Liam and Kate, and she’d told him the truth about her fear of water. Or, rather, she’d told him part of the truth. Finn was still the only one who knew about Tracy, so Jessie had simply told Sam that she’d had a scary incident when she was a kid and left it at that.