by BETH KERY
“But I gave my keys to Jess. He lives in Bucktown and we can walk to my place,” he added.
She glanced around in surprise. They were in the midst of Streeterville, just a block off Michigan Avenue, one of the most expensive, sought-after places for real estate in the city.
“You live around here?”
“A few blocks up. You familiar with the area?” he asked as he dragged her across a traffic-laden street.
“Sure, I’ve lived in Chicago my whole life.”
“Me too,” he said with quick grin. Esa stared, wondering if she shared ten thousand one-night stands with him the potency of his smile would fade. Maybe it had to do with the fact that the expression of his face was usually quite serious…intense. The appearance of his white smile was like the unexpected drawing of a blade, piercing straight through a woman’s typical defenses.
“I grew up on the South Side.”
“South Side Irish?” Esa asked.
“You got it. There probably isn’t a stereotype in existence about a Chicago Irish South Sider that the Madigans don’t completely embody.”
“Lots of brothers and sisters?” Esa queried as she walked rapidly to keep up with him. She found his undisguised haste to resume their sexual exploration of each other to be sort of endearing.
“Yep. Seven of us.”
“Die-hard Sox fans, one and all?”
“Is there any other baseball team in Chicago?”
Esa laughed, knowing quite well what her south suburban male patients thought of the Cubs. “And do all of your brothers besides Jess work in construction as well?
Once again there was that gleaming sidelong glance. Esa’s grin wavered slightly.
“I’m the oldest. Two of my brothers are still in college. But Jess works construction and one of my sisters does too,” he replied casually enough despite a censorial glance as he swung open a glass door for her. “Mary Kate was always one to thumb her nose at stereotypes.”
Esa glanced around the luxurious lobby. Talk about thumbing your nose at stereotypes. She felt like everything was moving so fast with Finn…and in such unexpected directions. Unlike the lobby of her modern, Near West Side loft this place screamed of old, established money.
“Good for Mary Kate,” was all Esa had the opportunity to say before Finn grabbed her hand again and pulled her across the lobby. The doorman greeted him warmly by name. A sedate buzz accompanied the opening of the security door. The elevator slid open immediately when it was called. Finn hit the button for the twenty-third floor.
The next thing Esa knew he was pushing her back against the wall of the elevator.
“You’re not changing your mind, are you?” he asked softly just inches from her parted lips.
“No, of course not,” she answered, recalling that Finn expected her to be a wanton who didn’t blink twice at the idea of bedding a man she’d just met. The type who didn’t fuss about the fact that they were being surveilled by a security camera while they were in a clinch in the elevator either, Esa assumed.
He dropped a slow, sultry kiss on her upturned lips and Esa forgot what the words “security camera” even meant. He raised his head to study her after a breathless few seconds.
“Good, ‘cuz I’m gonna make you purr, Kitten.”
He sank his blond head again for a kiss that made Esa’s toes curl in her boots. His hand cupped her jaw possessively on both sides as he penetrated her mouth again and again. He kissed her as though he believed without a doubt that she would submit to every single one of his desires.
And Esa had to admit, Finn had the rare ability to make her believe it too…to make her want it desperately.
That must have been why she didn’t protest when he removed one hand from her jaw and slid it boldly beneath her coat and blouse while he continued to kiss her silly. He filled his palm with her breast, shaping and massaging her before he flicked his forefinger against a nipple that strained against tight nylon. His hand was large, his fingers long. Esa felt strangely satisfied that her breast overflowed it.
She moaned into his marauding mouth when he gently pinched the stiff bud. He heard the plaintive sound and lifted his head. Esa stared up at him helplessly as he teased and flicked and agitated her hypersensitive flesh. She bit her lower lip to keep from crying out in acute pleasure when he angled his long body, sliding and pressing his cock into the juncture of her thighs.
His nostrils flared.
The sound of the elevator dinging open was highly unwelcome to both of their ears.
The cool air of the hallway did little to relieve her overheated state as Esa raced down it, Finn in the lead, already digging in his front jean pocket for his keys. He paused in front of a mahogany door, grimacing as he inadvertently tightened denim that already strained against his erection. He caught Esa’s amused look and they exchanged a grin before he finally extracted his keys and pulled her through the opened door.
Something about that moment of shared amusement sent Esa over the edge and straight into the abyss of mindless lust. Instead of allowing him to lead her into his bedroom, she stole a page from his book and pushed him against the wall of the foyer. She was all over him immediately, her fingertips, lips and tongue starved for all that lean muscle and smooth, golden-brown skin.
Finn looked a little surprised when she plowed into him but he recovered quickly enough, returning her ardent kiss with hot passion and unsurpassable skill. Esa thought she’d never tasted anything as good as his mouth but she regretfully gave it up to sample his neck. She wasn’t disappointed. He chuckled when she nipped at him playfully.
He cupped her bottom with both hands, bent his knees and brought her flush against him. This time when she nipped him he swatted her fanny lightly.
“Naughty kitten,” he admonished.
Esa’s already simmering body flashed up to the boiling point.
“Bed,” he ordered.
Esa ignored his monosyllabic command. She was pleased to note that he didn’t move, holding her to him tighter as she unbuttoned his shirt. She felt his eyes on her as she used her lips and tongue to sample the crinkly light brown hair and the smooth, warm skin that she revealed as she went.
Her tongue darted over a flat, copper-colored nipple. He beaded tight for her. He muttered something indecipherable and one hand rose to the back of her head. His fingers furrowed through her hair as she teased and agitated his nipple with her lips, tongue and nibbling front teeth. She subjected the other to an equal torment before she continued her downward journey.
Esa acknowledged that she’d never been this aroused in her life as she kissed his flat abdomen and the ridged, clearly defined muscles rippled with excitement. Her tongue dipped into his taut bellybutton. He was such a beautiful, sinuous male animal that it made her ache deep inside with longing. She knew that only he could alleviate that primal pain.
“Ahhh,” he groaned when she tenderly cradled the fullness behind his fly in her palm. Esa knelt before him, her heart running madly in her chest. She’d never done anything remotely like this the first time she was with a man. She reached for the first button on his jeans. His fingers flexed in her hair in a gesture that seemed to both restrain and entreat her at once.
“Don’t… I’m so turned on I don’t know if I’ll be able to…”
Esa glanced up at him and their eyes met. His facial muscles were rigid with restrained excitement. She liked that. She liked it a lot.
“I don’t care if you stop or not, Finn. I want you.”
She lowered his jeans and a pair of boxer briefs that looked starkly white against his tanned skin. She held his gaze as her hand slid along the long, smooth pillar of his jutting cock. His eyes blazed hot as he watched her with a narrow focus.
She leaned forward and delicately tested the tip with her tongue to see if he was as smooth as he looked. He was, but he was hard as steel beneath. She closed her eyes in sublime pleasure and slid him into her mouth.
Time seemed to stand still. S
he heard his guttural groan as if from a distance. Her entire awareness narrowed to the experience of his texture and taste. She couldn’t get enough of either. She learned his most sensitive spots as well as the rate and pressure he preferred by the movement of his fingers in her hair.
Just before he made her stop, he gripped at her with a wild desperation that Esa loved. He restrained the increasingly avid bobbing motions of her head, however, and sank down on his knees next to her.
“Think you’re real cute, don’t you?” he asked, a hard glint in his blue eyes. He ripped open the belt of her trench coat.
It suddenly struck Esa that she was grinning like an idiot.
“Not cute, just extremely horny,” she corrected shamelessly. The sudden appearance of his smile made her clench her thighs together to alleviate the pinch of lust there.
“I’m glad to hear it because I’m afraid this is going to be quick and dirty and you’ve got no one but yourself to blame.”
She yelped and giggled when he pushed her backward and they fell into a graceless heap on the lush foyer carpet. He spread his hands on the outside of her thighs and lifted her skirt. She raised her hips, assisting him as he drew her panties down. A singular feeling of feminine pride surged into her breast when he knelt between her knees and stared down at her wantonly spread legs adorned only with pale thigh highs and her tight burgundy leather boots.
She hadn’t considered herself as sexy very much lately but at that instant, when Finn Madigan went preternaturally still between her thighs, Esa knew she was.
“I must have done something very, very good today to deserve you.” He met her gaze, his stare just as warm as his words before he rifled his jean pocket with barely restrained haste. Esa thought she would combust with excitement as she watched him slide a condom down his firm, proud erection.
Then the lovely weight of six foot and several inches of long, hard, very aroused man was back on top of her. He gave her a quick, scorching kiss as he positioned himself. Esa groaned at the sensation of the head of his cock nudging her moist entry.
He lifted his head and watched her as he steadily impaled her. Esa gasped when he fully sheathed himself in her body.
He looked a little crazed.
“God, you’re perfect,” he muttered as he drew out of her.
Esa gripped his buttocks and brought him back deep with a crisp whap of striking flesh, telling him without words that he was pretty damn perfect himself. Her actions seemed to light a fuse in him.
They began to mate wildly…frantically.
Esa was only vaguely aware that he took her with such force that her body inched slightly back on the lush carpet with each downstroke. But she matched his hard-driving rhythm eagerly. Her desire had built to an almost unbearable pitch even before he had fused his flesh to hers. It didn’t take long for his demanding thrusts to pitch her right into the hot oblivion of an explosive climax.
When she blinked her eyes open a moment later he’d momentarily stilled. He watched her face with a tight, hard focus. He began to move again, at first slowly. But when she began to join him in their taut, fluid rhythm, he increased his pace until he surpassed even his previous one.
She scooted back on the smooth lining of her trench coat and yelped in helpless abandon as he struck their flesh together again and again. The friction built and swelled unbearably until Esa strained yet again for release.
He pushed her arms over her head. Her back arched, her breasts thrust upward. By fixing her wrists to the floor firmly he kept her immobile as he rode her hard to the finish line. She cried out when he lowered his head and sucked an aching nipple straight through her blouse and bra.
“Oh God,” Esa exclaimed as climax reared over her yet again.
He groaned and pressed deep.
The feeling of his penis throbbing inside her as he came triggered her own shattering release. She shuddered as wave after wave of orgasm crashed through her.
A heart-pounding, hard-breathing moment later Finn nuzzled her breast. Esa sighed with contentment but already her body quickened around his embedded flesh.
He lifted his head and regarded her with a heavy-lidded look of amusement when he felt the intimate caress.
“Uh uh. You’re not getting your way this time, Kitten. This time we go to the bedroom and do it right.”
* * * * *
Esa touched the soft, steel-blue duvet cover on Finn’s handsome king-sized bed with a sense of growing awe. The headboard was covered by a beautiful cerulean blue fabric—one of the few bold colors in an otherwise muted palette. The décor in this room was much like that of the rest of the condo that she’d glimpsed ever so briefly as Finn led her back to his bedroom before he went to the bathroom to wash up—tasteful, unique, luxurious yet austere.
All the furniture possessed simple, clean lines in colors of gray, blue and tan with an occasional accent of stark white. Floor-to-ceiling windows in both the living room and bedroom faced east, granting what must be a breathtaking view of Lake Michigan during the daytime. She realized that the colors used to decorate the entire condominium reflected the changeable moods of the lake and sky. Esa wasn’t an expert on decorating but she didn’t need to be to appreciate the overall effect of harmony and peacefulness that pervaded the silent condominium.
Or at least Esa wished that the surroundings of Finn’s luxurious condo would calm her at present. Even the sounds of Finn washing up in the bathroom were muted by the thick pile carpeting. She shifted uneasily as she stared at an original contemporary painting mounted above the bed. Her gaze transferred to several oversized volumes on the coffee table in the seating area, with titles on architecture, art and design.
Nervousness flickered into her awareness for the first time that evening.
What did she really know about Finn Madigan? Since when did construction workers live in expensive, luxurious, tasteful Streeterville condominiums with prime lake views?
Since when did Dr. Esa Ormand have sex with a complete stranger on the floor of his foyer?
Suddenly the whole situation since she’d danced with Finn at One Life seemed surreal. She knew nothing about the man she’d just made shameless, passionate love to.
Panic flared in her chest, momentarily stealing her breath. God, at least he’d worn a condom. She’d have that thought to soothe her in her future sessions of self-mortification and mental cursing in regard to her promiscuous behavior tonight.
Esa tightened the belt of her trench coat with shaking hands. The water faucet shut off in the bathroom. Her eyes went wide in panic.
She bolted for the bedroom door like she thoroughly believed lightning was about to strike Finn Madigan’s bed.
Chapter Four
Finn didn’t speak when Jess walked into the trailer at eleven-fifteen the following morning, but he guessed he didn’t have to by the sheepish look on his younger brother’s face.
“Sorry I’m late.”
Finn scowled and let the blueprints on his drafting table roll closed. He wasn’t in the mood for Jess’ excuses. Not this morning he wasn’t.
As the second-oldest Madigan, Jess would have been the obvious choice for shouldering at least part of the burden for the welfare of the Madigan family. Mary Kate was the next oldest but she worked hard as a foreman for Madigan Construction and had three rambunctious children under the age of nine to consider as well.
The previous owners of Madigan Construction, Uncle Joe and their father Ed, had died within three months of each other this past summer. It had been a brutal double blow for the Madigan clan, one that had indelibly changed the trajectory of Finn’s life. Finn’s mother knew woefully little about the details of running Madigan Construction, even less about its financial workings and building contracts.
Molly Madigan had always been a busy housewife. Her husband, extended family and seven children kept her more than busy at home. Any spare time she possessed was spent volunteering at her church and in the community.
The shockin
g, unexpected death of her husband of thirty-four years had hit her the hardest of all, of course. Finn had taken one look at his mother’s bewildered, shattered expression as he went through his father’s office the evening after the funeral, trying to make sense of Ed’s haphazard bookkeeping system, and known that his life was about to change forever.
That same night he’d made the decision to sell his shares in the architecture and engineering firm he’d established with his good friend and partner Jason Prevast. The firm had only been up and running for a few years and hard-won, lucrative contracts had just started to come pouring in. Jason had given him more than a fair price for his shares but Finn was no fool. He knew he’d walked away from not only an enormously fulfilling career but a financially rewarding one as well.
But if he didn’t do something to whip his father’s business into shape, Madigan Construction was not only going to end up floundering, but taking down the Madigan family with it into the murky depths of bankruptcy and monetary hardship.
He’d hated that he had to at least temporarily give up on his dreams. But life was a bitch sometimes, right? No reason to moan about it. He still had two younger sisters in high school, two brothers in college, his mother and his elderly grandmother to think about supporting.
He’d tried his best to plan for the painful, drastic alteration in his life. But fate wasn’t satisfied until it threw him another unexpected blow. His live-in fiancée Julia, the woman with whom he’d believed he would spend the rest of his life, had been dead set against his decision to sell his firm and run the family construction business.
When she’d packed her bags and left just one month ago, Finn knew that she’d made her final decision. He’d made his own by letting her go without a fight. Julia was breathtakingly gorgeous, clever and confident but she wasn’t the woman Finn had thought she was. Not by a mile.