He passed the thermostat on the wall, and he hesitated for just a moment as he turned the heat up higher. When he got to the kitchen he flipped on the light to reveal a beyond beautiful kitchen. Black appliances, black countertops, black cabinets. Everything else was white. A white subway tile backsplash, white walls, white tile floors. A rectangular ebony dining room table with four chairs sat in front of the wall of windows.
“Holy crap,” she whispered as she looked at the area. “That kitchen is gorgeous.”
Finn set the bag on the counter and started pulling out the Tupperware containers. “Shep remodeled it a few years ago, when he lived here.”
“Shep lived here?”
“Yeah, this was Owen and Ella’s house. Owen built it, just like he built the bar. When he died, it was Shep’s. Then Hannah came down, Shep moved in with her, and he gave it to me.” Finn explained as he put all of the food in the refrigerator.
“Owen built this house?” Brie asked as she looked around again, taking in the open floor plan and how most of the downstairs had been designed for whatever view was beyond those windows.
“He did indeed. You want something to drink?”
“Yeah.” She nodded as she looked over her shoulder to him. “Something hard?”
“I have whiskey,” he said as he tossed his jacket onto the dining room table, pushing up the sleeves of his sweater.
“Perfect.”
“You want it on ice?”
“No. Just give it to me straight.” Brie moved farther into the living room, pulling off her jacket and tossing it on the sofa. “So what else has been remodeled?”
“Mainly just the bathrooms,” Finn told her as he grabbed two tumblers from a cabinet and moved to a waist-high liquor cupboard off to the side of the kitchen. “The layout is the exact same that he built, floors are originals. We did have to replace the windows, but that was when Owen and Ella still lived here. He upgraded to ones that were better for storms.”
Brie listened as she sat on the arm of the sofa, unzipping her boots and pulling them off along with her socks. Finn had his back to her, so he didn’t see when she unsnapped the top of her jeans and shimmied out of them. Nor did he see when she grabbed the bottom of her sweater and pulled it over her head. She was standing directly under a vent, the heat blowing out, moving across her skin.
“The plumbing has been updated, along with the electricity, but again those were changes that Owen made when he—” Finn stopped talking the second he turned around and saw her.
She stood in front of him wearing a red lace thong and black bra.
“Damn.” His eyes moved over her hungrily, like it had been years since he’d had her as opposed to just that morning. “How do you do that every time?”
“Do what?”
“Make it impossible for me to think.” He grabbed both glasses of whiskey, each holding a little more than two shots’ worth, and moved toward her.
He handed her a glass, and she didn’t hesitate to tip her head back and drink it all. It burned its way down her throat and to her belly, but she didn’t stop until she’d swallowed every last drop.
“OK.” Finn nodded his head before he mimicked her, tipping his own glass back and downing his whiskey. Then he reached forward, taking her glass out of her hand and setting both empty tumblers on the end table next to them. He moved closer to her, his hand sliding to the small of her back. His fingers were spread wide at the base of her spine as he pulled her against him. He dipped his head low, his mouth going to her ear. “What do you need, Brie?”
“I need you to make me not think for a moment, Finn. Or a lot of moments.”
“And how do you want this forgetting to go? Soft and slow? Hard and fast?” He pulled her earlobe into his mouth, lightly dragging his teeth across the delicate spot.
She gasped at the sensation, her hands grabbing on to his waist and holding on. “All of the above.”
“That can without a doubt be taken care of.” He moved his mouth to hers, his tongue thrusting past her lips as he very thoroughly kissed every thought out of her mind.
He tasted like whiskey and oblivion.
Brie loosened her death grip on his shirt, her hands moving up so she could wrap her arms around his neck. “Take me to bed, Finn.”
He didn’t hesitate, his body swooping low for a second, one of his arms coming behind her knees as he lifted her up. Her hold around his neck tightened as he moved through the room and to the stairs. The man had absolutely no trouble navigating up to the second floor with her in his arms. In fact, he moved like he’d done it a number of times.
She pushed the thought to the back of her mind that he probably had. This was not the time for her to think about him with other women in this house.
The only light in the hallway came from a small night-light on the wall, and Finn carried her down and to a door at the very end. He only took a few steps across the room before he gently lay her down on the middle of a bed. His hands left her body and he moved away. A few seconds later there was a low clicking noise before the room was filled with a soft light from the lamp on a nightstand.
Brie did a quick sweep around the room, taking in the dark brown furniture and another wall of windows that she was sure faced the water. That was all she processed before her eyes were on him.
Finn tossed his glasses onto the nightstand before he reached behind his back, grabbing a fist full of his sweater and pulling it over his head. He was kicking off his boots in the process, his hands at the front of his jeans as he made quick work of getting himself undressed. Besides the sweater coming over his head, his eyes didn’t leave her. His gaze was hot and hungry as it stayed on her body.
Once he was completely naked, he knelt down on the bed, moving over to her. He reached for her thighs, his fingers hooking in the straps of her panties before he slowly pulled the thin material down her legs. He lingered over spots as he moved, his fingers trailing across her skin, circling her knees, massaging the back of her calves.
“So pretty,” he whispered, shifting forward as his hands moved back to her knees and pushing her legs wide. “So perfect.”
He leaned over her, his hands sliding under her back and to the clasp of her bra. Once it was unhooked he pulled it from her body and lowered his head, sucking one of her nipples into his mouth. Her back arched off the bed, her hands delving into his hair as she held him to her.
Apparently this was the slow part of the forgetting, because he took his time admiring her breasts. She enjoyed every moment of it, too. But not as much as she enjoyed one of his hands moving between her legs, his fingers tracing over her slick folds before he slid two inside of her. Deep inside of her.
“Finn.” Her fingers tightened in his hair, her back arching again, her hips pumping.
He kept working her over but when she’d get close to coming, he’d pull back and slow down, leaving her feeling even more desperate, something she hadn’t even thought possible. All the while his mouth never left her breasts, his tongue laving, teeth nipping, lips sucking.
“I need you inside of me.” She whispered the words, mainly because she didn’t have enough air in her lungs to speak any louder.
Finn leaned to the side, reaching for the nightstand next to him. He grabbed a condom, sitting back on his knees as he ripped it open and rolled it down his cock. “Do you still want slow?” he asked as he ran his hands up the inside of her thighs.
“No. Hard and fast.”
“Roll over and get on your hands and knees.”
Her pulse quickened at his words, her breath catching in her throat. She moved her legs, shifting so she could do as Finn had just told her. The second she had her ass in the air, Finn moved in behind her, his palms moving up and over her.
“I like you in this position.” His voice was low and raspy, like he was barely holding it together. “Then again, I like you in every position.” Both of his hands gripped a cheek before he massaged them, making her moan. “You have the sweetest as
s, baby.”
At his words one of his hands let go before it came back down with a sharp smack. Not enough to hurt, but enough to make her moan again. It was then that she felt the blunt tip of his cock at her entrance. His hand came down on the other cheek as he thrust forward and filled her.
All of the air left her lungs with the movement, and at the same time Finn groaned. Both of his hands were now on her hips, his fingers pressing in as he held her. “God, you feel good.”
“So do you.” He was so thick inside of her, every inch of him buried deep, but he wasn’t moving. She needed him to move. “Finn, please fuck me.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He moved his hips, slowly pulling out before he moved back in. But he didn’t stick with slow for very long at all. Once they’d both adjusted to the new angle, he started to pick up the pace, thrusting in harder and faster.
She had absolutely no idea what incoherent words or sounds came out of her mouth. That might’ve been because she’d fallen forward, her face pressed into the bed as her arms stretched out, hands fisting in the comforter on the bed. Her legs started shaking and she was beyond lucky that Finn still had her hips firmly in hand, holding her up.
If anything, her mission of not thinking had been accomplished. The only thought on her mind, her sole focus, was that of the orgasm building at her very core. All of the playing and retreating that Finn had done earlier made her beyond primed. She screamed into the mattress as she found her release, Finn pounding into her from behind as he let go and came inside of her.
It was a moment or two later, when her body had stopped pulsing around his, that he pulled from her body. He gently guided her hips down to the mattress, her entire body flat.
“I’ll be right back,” he whispered as he kissed her shoulder and slid out of the bed.
Somehow, she wasn’t sure as to the how, she opened her eyes and watched as Finn’s fine ass disappeared through a door that she guessed was the bathroom. She grinned…she couldn’t help it. The pleasure had been mind-numbing, more intense than anything she’d felt with him.
More intense than anything she’d felt with anyone.
When Finn came out of the bathroom a couple of minutes later, he grinned seeing her in the bed and in the exact same position he’d left her in, before he headed for the chest of drawers off to the side. Brie again enjoyed the view of the back of him, right up until he pulled on a pair of loose boxers.
“You want a T-shirt?”
“Yes please.” She pulled herself up into a sitting position as he crossed over to the bed and handed her a folded black shirt.
“I need to run downstairs and let Frankie out before we go to bed. Do you want anything?”
“Water.”
He placed both of his hands on either side of her hips, leaning close and pressing his mouth to hers in a long, lingering kiss. He’d just brushed his teeth as he tasted like mint. Brie dropped the shirt in her lap as she reached up and held on to the side of his head.
When he finally pulled back enough for her to speak, she whispered against his lips. “Thank you.”
“For what this time?”
“Everything.”
He grinned as he gave her another kiss, this one quick, before he pulled back from her. “Help yourself to whatever you need in there. Towels are in the cabinet.”
“OK.” She nodded, again watching as he turned around and walked out of the room. Even covered, she wasn’t going to miss an opportunity to look at him from behind. Or more accurately to look at his behind.
He was at the stairs when she finally made a move to get out of the bed and crossed over to the open door, shirt in hand. She turned the light on and looked around to find more black and white.
The entirety of the walls was covered with white subway tile, the floors a white and black checker pattern. A cast iron tub was in the corner, white on the inside, black on the outside. A standing glass-fronted shower was off to the very back. Double white pedestal sinks were on the wall right when she walked in, matching mirrored medicine cabinets above each of them. A black cabinet sat in the space between the sinks, and her eyes landed on a spare toothbrush that Finn left out for her, still in the packaging.
For the second time that night she thought about the other women he’d brought here…that he had spare toothbrushes at the ready for whenever someone spent the night with him.
God, what was wrong with her? He wasn’t hers. He didn’t belong to her. This was just a temporary thing…for as long as she was in town. Besides all of that, she’d never been the jealous type before. And yet thinking about him with other women made her chest ache.
She reached up and pressed her hand to her heart, her eyes landing on her reflection in the mirror. Her hair was good and truly a mess from all the writhing around she’d done. Her lips swollen from his kisses. Her neck and chest were still tinged red from both the flush that hadn’t abated and from the rasp of his scruff moving across her skin. And then there were her breasts and the light marks he’d left on both with his mouth.
Brie dropped her hand, shaking her head. She needed to stay in the moment with him. The past didn’t matter and there was no future. It was just the present, and she was going to have to accept that.
* * *
When Finn came back upstairs with Frankie, Brie was still in the bathroom, light shining from underneath the door and the water running. He set both glasses of water on the nightstand before he grabbed the top of the comforter and pulled it down to climb in the bed.
Pushing the pillows against the headboard, he lay back, slightly propped up. Brie walked out a moment later, flipping the light off as she stepped into the bedroom.
“The Stingrays?” she asked, grabbing the shirt on both sides, pulling it forward and looking down at the logo on the front.
“Local baseball team that I’m on with all of the guys.”
“Oh.” She nodded, dropping the fabric so that it fell down to her thighs again.
Good Lord he liked the sight before him, Brie in his shirt and nothing else. Brie in his bedroom. Brie in his house. Now he just wanted her in his bed again. He lifted the blankets next to him, invitation clear to climb in. She crossed the room, her bare feet moving across the hardwood floors. Stopping by the nightstand, she grabbed a water glass and took a long drink. Once she was finished, she set it back down and slid between the covers, right up beside him.
“I like your house,” she said as she rested her head against his chest, her arm wrapping around his waist as she tangled their legs together. “And that bathroom is perfection.”
“Now that one I remodeled.” He pulled his hand up, trailing his fingers through her hair and down her back. “It was shortly after I moved in. Where the shower is was a rather large linen closet, so we pulled that out. The floor-to-ceiling subway tiles are new, but the floors and the rest of the fixtures are all originals.”
“I want to take a bath in that bathtub.”
He turned his head to the side, kissing her temple. “You play your cards right and you just might get to.” It was a pretty picture to imagine, her surrounded by hot soapy water, her nipples peeking through the floating foam. Her head resting back against the rim, eyes closed, neck stretched out as she relaxed.
Yeah, he’d very much like for her to be in that bathtub. But as he’d very clearly discovered, he liked her anywhere that was near him.
Like it had earlier in the cab of the truck, he felt her mood shift. She was going back into her head and he was pretty sure she was thinking about that evening at his parents’. Thinking about what she’d learned. He knew if she wanted to talk, she’d say something. Until then, he’d just hold her, continuing to move his hand up and down her back, tracing her spine as they lay there.
She was quiet for so long, her breath steady against his chest. If she hadn’t been running her fingers slowly up and down his abs, he would’ve thought she was asleep.
“I just don’t get it,” she finally said.
“Don�
�t get what?”
“How did someone so mean come from people who were so good? I mean, don’t get me wrong, I know that with certain people what you see is not what you get. People put on acts, façades, a show for the public, and then they are terrible behind closed doors. But what Ella said feels right, what she said about Harold and Petunia, that they were good people, that they weren’t terrible.” She paused for a second and when she started speaking again, her voice had dropped low, her words thick with emotion. “Or maybe it’s just that I so desperately want to believe I come from something good.”
“Brie.” He said her name softly, feeling the pain in her words.
Her hand stopped moving on his abs as she tipped her head back to look up at him. The wetness in her eyes was clear, almost brimming over.
“Bethelda was not good, Finn.” Her voice was even smaller. “You know that. Everyone in this town knows that. I know that. My one and only experience with her was awful…just awful.” She shook her head as her gaze dropped from his.
He wasn’t sure if she wanted to keep discussing it, but he wasn’t going to push her. And he didn’t need to; it was only a few moments later when she started to talk again.
“I was eighteen, it was the second semester of my freshman year at Emory. One of my professors had been talking about genealogy, and it pushed me to pursue the wild hair of finding out who my birth parents were. Part of it terrified me, and part of it thrilled me. I just wanted to know. The only name I got was Bethelda’s. My father’s name wasn’t on any of the documents.”
She paused for a second, resuming the movement of her fingers on his stomach.
“I looked her up online. Found out she lived down here and was working for the town newspaper. So I came down here. When I walked into that building and asked for Bethelda, the receptionist looked beyond surprised. Maybe because I was calm while I asked, and didn’t follow up the request with something snarky or aggressive. I’m assuming that was why most people would go down to see her at the newspaper.”
“Probably.”
“The woman pointed me in the right direction and I made my way to her desk.” Brie paused for a second, taking a deep breath before she slowly let it out. “She looked up at me and the second her eyes landed on mine, she knew who I was. I saw the recognition clear as day. There was something about me that made it instantaneously obvious who I was. Whatever that was I will never know.”
Untold Page 24