Hate

by Gemma Brocato

  “You’re supposed to be protecting me. That includes from yourself.” Aerie scrambled to her feet, jerking her shirt down. In her most secret heart, she’d admit she rather liked the weight of him on her. But she sure wouldn’t ever mention it to him.

  Had she ever wanted-not-wanted someone with this much intensity? Flashes of his humor, his decency, his compassion vied with his grumpy, surly attitude. As a package, Finn was entirely confusing. Heat blasted up her neck as her thoughts turned toward his package. She fought the need to lower her eyes and forced her gaze over his shoulder.

  “Come on.” She led the man from the office, and hustled toward the residential half of the building.

  Finn stopped her from opening the front door with a hand over hers. “Let me go first.”

  Heat seeped into the back of her hand, whether from her attraction to him, or due to his worry for her safety, she wasn’t sure. Well, she did know, but that was just one more thing she’d never admit to herself. “Finn, I regularly charm my home. No one can enter without an invitation.”

  She shook his hand away. The knob twisted under her hand and she crossed the threshold. Finn didn’t immediately follow. He bore a confused look, as if he wasn’t sure he’d be able to step inside.

  Biting back a laugh, she motioned him forward. “You’re a partisan, not a vampire. You don’t require an invitation. It’s kind of a failsafe.”

  He took a hesitant step forward, hunching his shoulders as he moved through the entry. Once he stood in her hall, he dominated the space. His physical presence shrank the size of the small foyer. Again, Aerie felt herself strain toward him, but squashed the urge.

  She scooted around him, heading toward the kitchen. She pulled up short as she entered. Finn bumped into her from behind and pressed his hands on her shoulders to steady her. The remains of her meal with Phillip still littered the table. It seemed like days ago that the call had come about the riot at the park. She suppressed a shudder and hastened to carry the dirty dishes to the sink.

  Finn picked up the loaf of crusty bread from the cutting board. “Do you have a plastic bag?”

  “You don’t need to help. Just leave it.” She clapped the lid on the pan, promising to clean the mess properly tomorrow.

  He opened her pantry and rooted around for something.

  “It’s a little rude to start hunting through someone’s cabinets.” Why was she letting this bother her so much? Bracing her hand on the stove, she shoved the irritation down. “The guest room is down the hall, second door on the left. The bathroom is right across the hall.”

  He lifted his chin, but said nothing.

  His silence irked her more. She knew she was being irrational, but she didn’t know how to deal with her insane attraction to him. Probably best to keep it professional. She stepped over to the door to the yard and opened the small digital panel next to the jamb. “I’ll set the alarm before I go to bed. Make yourself at home.” The keypad emitted tiny chirps as she punched in the date of her first incarnation. “Good night.”

  When he didn’t reply, she huffed out a breath and swept from the room.

  Now she was being rude, but running away from him seemed like a good course of action.

  Entering her bedroom normally brought a ton of peace. The sage green spread and creamy walls were meant to induce tranquility. Tonight, the colors failed miserably. She closed the door with a solid clunk. Jerking her shirt over her head, she tossed it into a basket in the closet, then shimmied out of her jeans and dropped them in as well. Her bra went in next, and she reached into the top drawer on the built-in dresser and retrieved a thin T-shirt and pajama pants.

  Reaching overhead, she snagged the chain on the hanging light and tugged, plunging the closet into darkness. The small lamp on the bedside table was on, casting a pale swatch of light on the colorful area rug next to the bed. Climbing onto the soft mattress, she paused, listening for sounds of her houseguest, and battling the need to go talk to him. Finn had been through a lot tonight. He was probably still freaked out.

  She’d just put her hand to the covers to pull them away when her door swung open. Finn stood framed in the dim rectangle of light.

  She jerked the covers to her chin like some kind of vestal virgin. Those girls had been annoying. “What are you doing?”

  What was he doing? When she’d disappeared into her bedroom, it was like a siren’s song to his body. The idea of her, curled up in her bed, tucked tight against him, rocked him to the soles of his feet. “I’m your bodyguard, right?”

  “My partisan.” The timbre of her voice, miffed and wary, still flowed like silk over his senses.

  “I take the job seriously.” He advanced toward the bed, pulling his gun from the holster. It clunked when he placed it on the table. His hands went to his belt.

  “You’re not sleeping in here.”

  The belt swished against the fabric of his pants as he pulled it free. The buckle rattled as it clunked to the floor. “Yeah, I am. You’re on my side. Move over.”

  “This is my bed. It’s my side. And you are not sleeping in it. There’s a perfectly good room next door. That’s yours.”

  “I’ll be sleeping in here. This side is closest to the door. That makes it my side.” He barely gentled the tone he used when ordering a perp to freeze or lower his weapon.

  Aerie lowered her brows over narrowed eyes and pressed her lips together in a tight seam.

  God, he wanted to kiss the scowl right off her face. He crossed his arms over his chest, biceps straining the cotton of his long-sleeve shirt. “According to Mars, you’re my responsibility. I’ll be sleeping in this room. Doesn’t matter if it’s on the bed or the floor. But the bed would be more comfortable.”

  “Finn, this is unnecessary. We’ve battled Hate today. We probably have a couple of days before she surfaces again.”

  “Doesn’t matter if she disappears for a month. Protecting you…being prepared…is my job.” His voice was muffled as he swept his T-shirt off.

  As he pulled his head from the fabric, the change in her expression was a dead giveaway that she knew they’d reached a stalemate.

  “You can put pillows between us, if you’re afraid I’ll maul you or something.” It was going to be a long night for them both. Finn caught himself holding his breath, praying she’d let him into her bed.

  Without easing her glare, she shuffled to the far edge of the mattress. After snapping off the light, she flopped onto her side, back toward him. A heavy breath filled the quiet air. Her motions were rough as she jerked the sheet and blanket to her shoulders.

  The bed dipped when Finn sat on it. His back muscles stretched against the heavy tension in them as he bent to untie his boots. One clattered to the floor, followed quickly by the other. Another sharp huff of breath sighed into the room as he pulled the covers back.

  Aerie tensed, waiting for him to settle. His foot connected with hers under the blankets; his knee grazed her thigh as he stretched out next to her, his front to her back. Close, but not quite touching, although he wanted to wrap her in his arms and pull her into his body. Her warmth seeped across the small space between them.

  “This isn’t easy for me, you know.” His breath stirred her hair.

  “I’m sorry for being such a brat. It really isn’t like me at all.” Contrition filled her tone like sand being poured into bags, heavy and solid. “For the goddess’s sakes, my aura is yellow. My temperament is normally pretty sunny.” Reaching up, she turned the lamp back on. She flipped over to face him.

  Pale light streaked across the bed, illuminating her hair in a nimbus of gorgeous red. Her eyes glittered in soft light.

  He lifted a shoulder. “I’m sure it isn’t easy to have the fate of the world resting on your head. I suppose you are entitled to be mad.”

  “Entitled or not, I have a newly minted immortal to look after.” Tucking her hand under her cheek, she stared into his eyes. “It’s not easy to find out you’re a god, either. How are you doing
with that?”

  “Not something I ever thought I’d hear.” A wry snort escaped his lips. “But, it helps explain a lot.” Propping his elbow on the bed, he rested his head on his hand.

  “Like your blackouts?”

  “Mostly.” And why it had never felt like he belonged to his family. “Mostly, I wonder how different things would have been if my grandmother hadn’t died. Would I be a cop? Or would I have turned my gifts toward really making a difference?”

  “You have made a difference in so many lives already.”

  The corners of his lips sagged down. “Not in Meredith Miller’s life.”

  “Who’s she?”

  For a second he debated brushing her question off, asking a few of his own. Or giving up entirely on conversation, kissing her, rolling her under him and losing himself in her sweet heat. His body tensed and his mouth went dry when her tongue snaked over her lips. She plumped her pillow and waited, one brow cocked.

  She’d given him no indication she’d welcome his advances. Just the opposite, in fact. Digging his fingers into his scalp, he attempted to focus. “The day Randy Morgan got married, Anson and I took on a call. Meredith’s husband had chosen that day to beat her up. She wouldn’t press charges and even went back to the loser. A few days later, he’d beaten her to death.” His throat tightened and ached, and he looked away from the horror on Aerie’s face. “It seems like when my help is most needed, I fail. If I’d known that day about my immortality, could I have made a difference to her?” Speaking the question caused bleak darkness to swirl around his chest.

  Aerie touched her fingertips to his jaw. “Not necessarily.”

  The churn slowed then dropped away, leaving calm resolution in its wake. “How do you do that? Calm me with just a touch?”

  “I’m a Muse. That’s my gift.” She moved her hand over his shoulder, dancing her fingertips over the mark on his back. “The thing about mortals is they possess free will. We don’t tell a human what to do, but we make suggestions. Whether they opt to accept the inspiration or not is entirely up to them.”

  The blemish tingled and felt alive under her touch. The frisson of sensation traveled at light speed through his body, landing low in his groin. His cock jumped, making him suck in a sharp breath. Clenching his glutes to keep from rocking toward her, he tried to focus on her words. “So, even though you hit someone with inspiration, they don’t have to act on it? Are you saying regardless of what I did, Meredith Miller was going to do what she wanted?”

  “In a nutshell. Do you always do what you’re told?”

  “Rarely.” He slid his hand up her arm, until he reached her shoulder and drew her closer. He hovered his mouth over hers and whispered softly. “For example, if you suggested right now that I shouldn’t kiss you, I doubt I’d listen.”

  Her eyes flared open, awareness deep within them. She didn’t tell him no.

  Fourteen

  She should tell him no.

  She should kick him out of her bed, out of her room. Maybe even out of her life. She had a partisan. Phillip. Who’d abandoned her for Emma Jordan with Mars’s permission.

  Whatever. She didn’t need Finn.

  It didn’t change the fact she wanted him. Wanted this. If she’d admit it to herself, she’d wanted him from the moment she’d met him. Despite telling herself he was too angry to consider indulging in an affair with him, it was right at the top of her must-do list.

  His breath fanned her face as he whispered his challenge. “What, no snappy comeback? No demand to back off?” He curled his hand around her nape, exerting pressure to draw her closer. To make her meet him halfway to the kiss.

  Her fingers brushed his chest as she pressed near. The thick mat of crisp hair covering his muscles rasped under the heel of her hand as she stroked her way up to his neck. His pulse pounded as rapidly as hers, wild and racing. Insistent.

  Confident this would happen between them. A sultry flare of acceptance blasted right to the hidden spot between her legs.

  She lifted her gaze away from his pecs and found him studying her, heat and lust flaring in his eyes. She licked her dry lips. “I…the inspiration I’d hit you with right now wouldn’t be to back off.” Tilting her chin up, she closed the small gap between them. In the second before their lips met, his eyes widened and his mouth quirked into a smile. She sealed her lips to his.

  The touch, tentative at first, soft and sweet, quickly became demanding. Finn opened his mouth and prodded for entry to hers. Their tongues touched, stroked, collided in her mouth. She tightened her fingers on his neck and wiggled closer, until her chest brushed his. Desire exploded within and landed in a pool of liquid heat in her stomach. Finn feathered his hand on her hip, and urged her toward him, pressing their bodies tightly together. His arousal dug into her belly, rock hard and like the rest of him, big and oh, so hot.

  Working his hand around her shoulders, he rolled to his back, pulling her on top of him until she straddled his body. Holding her in place with one arm around her waist, and his other hand cupping her butt, he let her control the kiss. His move surprised her. She’d never guess that he’d be the type to allow anyone else to dominate. Propping her elbows on each side of his head, she dipped her tongue past his lips, angling her head and returning his greedy kisses. The zipper of his pants stood out over the solid outline of his cock, a nonverbal taunt to unwrap-me-now.

  When he slipped his fingers under the waist of her sleep pants and curved them into her bare flesh, ardor burned like the sun under his touch. She rocked her hips, her clit rubbing over his erection. A whimper escaped her mouth as sensation built. His lips slanted over hers, a satisfied smile as he moved her to the level of desire that made her want to groan with need.

  She tangled her fingers in his short hair and tugged. Lifting from him, she arched her back, offering her breast to his mouth. He cupped it, flicked a nail against the taut nub buried behind the thin fabric of her camisole. He mouthed the tip right through her shirt, the damp heat searing perfection.

  “Oh, Finn,” she breathed as he gently bit down.

  He slipped his fingers over the crest of her butt, sliding between the cleft and easing along her folds. “If you don’t want this, Aerie, tell me to stop.” He trailed kisses up the column of her throat, nuzzling the sensitive skin between her ear and jaw.

  He jutted his hips against her, letting her know just how much he wanted it.

  “In what world could my response be considered a sign for you to stop?” Aerie pushed upright, rubbed her body along his. In case he needed the words, she whispered, “I. Want. This.”

  Holding her gaze, Finn curled his hands over her thighs toward her center. Pulsed his fingers…one over her clit, the other lower along her slit. Color and light generated by the intimate touch climbed like a vortex through her. Lifting her chin, she sighed with pleasure, dropped her head back and arched.

  Finn skated one hand up her stomach, sweeping his fingers under her shirt, and continued to move upward. She rounded her back, and rested her hands on his shoulders, reveling in the smooth glide of his hand toward her chest.

  Callouses on his fingers rasped her skin as he progressed up. The touch of his palm burned erotically as he cupped her breast. Massaging the mound, he swirled his nail over her nipple, the gentle abrasion sensual and demanding.

  Suddenly burning up, Aerie dragged her shirt over her head and tossed it away. She refused to think twice about wanting this man. She was going on feeling alone. And she wanted to feel his mouth on her, his fingers inside her, his body moving on hers in a rhythm as old as time.

  She lowered her torso until Finn closed his lips around one peak. While he kneaded, tongued and nibbled on her nipple he pulsed his fingers in a steady motion between her legs. Sparks of need jolted through her, drawing a moan from deep in her core.

  Unable to bear it, Aerie pushed up, breaking the seal of his mouth around her flesh. Putting her hands on his waistband, she popped the button on his pant. “Finn. Now.
Don’t want to wait. Please don’t make me.” She scooted back along his thighs, giving her better access to his zipper. The hard ridge beneath it jumped as she trailed her fingers over it. The teeth of the zipper clicked loudly as she pulled it down, freeing Finn’s erection from restraint. She slipped her fingers past the elastic of his briefs, stroking the heated, velvety flesh.

  He groaned when she wrapped her hand around his cock, and rocked his hips up. “God, Aerie, that feels good.” He shoved his pants over his hips, baring all for her to see.

  Solid and proud, his erection speared against his flat abs. She skimmed her thumb along the throbbing vein, reveling in his hissed breath. Skipped her finger over the slit at the top, just enough to dip into the opening. Finn sucked in a harsh breath. Moisture welled under the pad of her pinky. She touched her tongue to the droplet, the salty taste bursting like heaven in her mouth.

  “Aw, Jesus,” he blurted out, his voice rough and guttural as her lips ignited a flame.

  She licked the length of him and mumbled over the crown, “Like that, do you? How about this?” She took him into her mouth and hollowed her cheeks, sucking hard as she swept her tongue around the tip.

  Finn growled. The sound rumbled through his body, and charged along her nerve endings. Flexing his fingers into her hips, his grip clenched. His stomach muscles bunched as he flipped her over, until her back was flush on the mattress and her legs cradled his lean waist. Rising to his knees, he jammed them under her butt, lifting and angling her hips. He jerked her pajama pants low on her thighs, and pressed kisses down her torso.

  Muscles trembled and clenched as he splayed a hand over her lower abs. His fingers found a way past her lacy thong and he cupped her sex, a finger buried in her folds.

  Ah, sweet goddess divine, she wanted him in her. Bucking up, she tried to capture his digit within her sheath. Claiming her nipple with his mouth, he toyed with her, slipping his finger over the opening, circling through her folds, teasing her clit until sweet tortured sensation blazed a circuit from his lips to his finger and back. Breath sighed out of her, a whimper, a gasp, a soft moan of bliss.