by Susan Stoker
“I want to help.”
“I have something you can help with.” His hips moved against hers, and she couldn’t bite back the smile on her lips or the swirl of lust in her veins.
“You know what I mean.”
“I do.” Finn’s lips brushed hers, as he said, “But I’d much rather focus on things we can actually control.”
The next kiss silenced her, hot and sweet, his strong grip making her melt against him, waking the itch that she knew only he could scratch now. He was perfect, the perfect matching piece to her strange edges, and this could be her last chance with him… so she wasn’t going to screw it up with a pointless argument. Flashing a grin, pushing everything else away, she asked, “Ever had sex on this beach?”
He laughed, and it was wicked and free. “Not yet, but I know just the spot.”
Tossing her over his shoulder like he had at the party he walked forward, one hand keeping her skirt pinned to the backs of her thighs. She laughed, hissed at him when he delivered a swat to her ass, and then they were tucked into a strange little inlet in the rocky cliffs lining the beach. It was small, but the sand was piled in by the wind and feather soft as Finn set her down.
He met her eyes, breathing a little harder from his march across the beach, and even though his lips parted he stayed silent—and so did she.
After all, what else would two supposed sex addicts do when the world was falling apart?
Aubrey dropped her things to the ground, just before they followed, ending up tangled on the beach in moments. His hands pushing her skirt higher on her thighs, her fingers twisting in his hair to pull him to her lips again, silencing both of their thoughts. Blocking out the world, blocking out everything but the humming energy between them that was so damn addictive.
His first sinful thrust inside had her hips lifting, thighs spreading to let him drive deeper, and he moaned against her. “Fuck, Aubrey…”
She nodded, knowing what he meant, but none of the serious stuff mattered in this moment. Only how incredible it felt to have him filling her again, the devious friction of his hips moving against hers, the brushing of her clit making her bite back moans on this public beach. He moved slow, letting her enjoy each and every inch of his withdrawal and surge, but it also allowed him to taste her lips, her neck, her shoulder. And then he pushed her shirt out of the way, tugging her bra down until the cups lifted her breasts to his lips, and he drew one nipple into his mouth.
“Yes,” she pleaded, “God, yes...”
A delirious tugging combined with another deep thrust had her body bowing to his in ecstasy. Finn stroked a hand over her skin, squeezing at her waist, her hip, as their bodies came together again and again. When she opened her eyes, he was looking down at her, backlit in a golden haze, hair alight with it, the sky turning pink and orange above them. “You are so. Perfect.” Punctuating the last two words with sharp thrusts that sent sparks of pleasure up her spine, he kissed her hard, but it was the sincerity of his words, the borderline sorrow in his voice, that made her heart twist behind her ribs.
Yeah, this is what heartache feels like.
Aubrey kissed him back to hide the blur in her eyes, focusing on the pleasure, and Finn took the cue. Driving harder with the next thrust, his mouth finding her breasts again as he filled her, colliding waves of pleasure threatening to drown her on dry land. But it didn’t matter that she couldn’t breathe deeply enough, there was a building heat inside her, and the carved abs of his stomach were working to drive his cock exactly where she needed it. Brushing her g-spot again, and again, until the heat was coiled tight, ready to explode, and she pulled him back to her lips, wrapping her arms around his shoulders as she came. All fireworks, and body tensing pleasure, gripping him deep inside, so that with a strangled groan, he followed her in. They held on, gasping in the too-warm air, sticky with sweat and sand, but neither of them were moving. Neither of them releasing their tight grip on the other, and she reveled in the tingling hum of her skin, knowing by his shuddering breaths he felt the same. Just as hopelessly addicted, riding the high of their most recent fix—possibly the last.
Not even the wild heat of the orgasm had suppressed the twisting ache under her ribs, but it was something to feel the heat of his skin on hers. He needed to know, she just needed to say it.
“You are too, Finn,” she whispered against his cheek.
“What?” he asked, dipping his head down to kiss up her neck in delirious, tiny licks.
“Perfect.”
Finn froze against her skin and then he sat up, a furrow marring the perfection of his face, those sea green eyes evaluating her. “Aubrey…” He cursed under his breath before he blinked and shook his head, letting out a breath. “We should go watch the sunset.”
“Sure.” She nodded, confused, but she accepted the quick kiss to her lips as he slid from her. Ignoring the sand, they put their clothes back together quickly, and Finn stood first to offer a hand. She couldn’t help but smile, because he looked like Prince Charming, only this prince was more likely to fuck Cinderella on the stairs to the castle than return her shoe.
And for once in her life being Cinderella sounded like a pretty good deal.
Taking his hand, he tugged her to her feet, leading her out to where the sand turned into rocks near the shoreline. He found a spot to sit, pulling her down between his legs so she could lean back against his chest and watch. The colors were more intense now as the sun started to skirt the horizon, dusky oranges, hot pinks, flares of gold highlighting the clouds that stretched the width of the sky. “This is why I like to come here,” he spoke softly against her ear. “The sunsets are gorgeous, and so few people know about it.”
“It’s beautiful,” Aubrey whispered as his arms went around her waist.
“So are you.” His nose was in her hair, nuzzling the spot just behind her ear, but that painful twist in her chest came again, and the words tumbled from her before she could stop them.
“I don’t want you to leave.”
“Fuck.” He tightened his arms around her, sighing against her neck. “I swear I don’t want to either, but this is—it’s just not something I can fight him on. He’s got friends in government, and they can make it so I couldn’t even come back. Shit, I just need to—”
“Why is he doing this to you?” She hated the sting in her eyes, the stupid, girlish tears that were threatening to fall. It had only been a handful of days, not even a week, but the more she imagined him leaving, the more she thought about never seeing Harald Finn Solberg again… the more it hurt.
“Because he wants to control me and being five thousand miles away makes that a little difficult.”
“This is bullshit.”
“Yeah, it is.” He let out a slow breath, hugging her close, and it was almost worse with him surrounding her, reminding her of what it was like to be in his presence. To be accepted, to feel whole. “You could always come with me.”
The offer made her heart stumble, skip a beat, and then pick up at twice the pace. “Come with you? To Norway?”
“Or not, that’s—you know, it’s not a big deal. I…” Finn’s voice trailed off, and she knew he was just as confused as she was, but what was surprising was how tempted she was to say yes.
Except her job was here, her parents were here, her whole life was here. She couldn’t just disappear to another country. “I can’t just leave everything, Finn. That’s crazy.”
He squeezed her tight again before relaxing his arms. “I know, but, hell, I had to try. I swear, if there was a way for me to stay, I'd never leave. I love it here. I love my condo, my friends are fantastic, and then I find you just before all of this shit hit the fan, and I can’t imagine my life…” His voice strained to a halt.
“What?”
“I... I can’t imagine my life without you in it, Aubrey.” Finn cursed quietly behind her. “You know what? Fuck it.”
Leaning to the side, he made her face him, and she felt breathless, dizzy as she met
his gaze.
“I have meant it every single fucking time I called you perfect. I know for a fact I will never find another woman like you. Another woman who could keep up with me, enjoy life the way I do. And I am so damn impressed by you, and your job, and how intelligent you are—and you’re wickedly funny. Where on this fucking planet would I ever find another you?”
“Finn…”
“Don’t argue with me on this, Aubrey. I know how I feel, and if it makes you laugh, or brush me off, that’s fine—hell, maybe that’s better—but I couldn’t leave without you knowing it, without you knowing how I—”
She cut his rant off with a kiss, and he took control in the next breath. Tilting her head, scalding her lips, crushing her body to his like he could somehow memorize every single detail about her, but she was trying to do the same thing. All his words had only amplified her own fears, the terrifying realization that for the rest of her life every man would be compared to Prince Finn, and fall short.
There was a moment when the world was gloriously suspended, painted in the most vibrant shades, and all she could feel was Finn—all she could taste, smell, hear, see—he filled her world to the edges and instead of feeling trapped… she felt free.
His phone was buzzing in his pants, not the first time she’d felt it since they’d been on the beach together, but this time he reached into his pocket and tossed it away into the sand, pulling her back into the kiss. It wasn’t enough, and she climbed onto his lap, nipping his lip as he lay back so she would follow him down, her hair a cocoon around them that trapped the scent of salt and sea with them.
Sitting up on his hips, she couldn’t help but smile at the wide grin on his face, reflecting the strange, humming in her veins. It was a giddy feeling, which only grew when he lifted a hand to twine a curl around his finger. “I had this fantasy, but I have to say the reality is better.”
“What fantasy?” she laughed when he released the curl and pushed himself up on an elbow.
“You on top of me, glowing in the sun. It’s what I was thinking of when you called the day of the party.”
“So that’s why you wanted me to masturbate in my office?”
Finn let out a low groan, squeezing a hand on her ass to rock her hips against the growing steel behind his jeans. “Aubrey, I would listen to you masturbate all day, every day. Hell, I’d even be patient enough to watch.”
“You’d never be that patient.”
“Maybe not,” he spoke low, growling when she rolled her hips on top of him. “I don’t feel very fucking patient right now.”
“Then maybe you should—” She was just about to suggest him losing his clothes, the amber light of the sun promising twilight soon, but there were people coming off the bottom of the trail, shading their eyes against the sunset. “Looks like we have company. Maybe we should move this to my car?”
“God, I have no idea where you’ve been all my life.” Finn lifted her off his hips without preamble, climbing to his feet as they both grinned, laughing while they did their best to dust most of the sand away.
“In Los Angeles, obviously.” She melted when he kissed her again, the flick of his tongue against hers only stoking the fire between her thighs. Once more, twice more, she was never going to get enough of Prince fucking Finn.
“Come on,” he said through a laugh, tugging her back towards the trail where the other people were still staring off at the ocean, but suddenly Finn’s confident steps faltered... and then he tugged her to a stop completely. “Stay here.”
The oddly cold tone in his voice was almost as shocking as the way he pulled his hand from hers, marching ahead just as one of the men at the trail started forward—and that’s when she recognized him. Just as he passed the cliff edge and the fading sunlight caught his hair in the same golden tones of Finn’s.
No. Fucking. Way.
She could hear them shouting as she started forward, Finn gesturing wide, but her temper was building, all of that heat pouring into her bloodstream like a poison. It was rage, and it didn’t even matter that she couldn’t understand a word either of them were shouting at each other, she could hear the tone in the older man’s voice. The disdain, the disgust, the disappointment.
“Jeg vil ikke gå hjem med deg!” Finn snapped, pointing back towards the trail. “Bare dra, du vil jo ikke ha meg nær deg, uansett.”
“Finn,” she spoke softly and he turned towards her, anger and pain warring in his eyes, before his father scoffed.
“Ønsker du å bo med et ludder?”
“She’s not a whore!” Finn stepped towards his father like he might hit him, every muscle in his body rigid, and tense. “And why the fuck would I want to go back where I’m not wanted?”
Aubrey stepped forward, reaching for his arm, and he almost jerked away from her, but instead he grabbed onto her hand, holding tight, those incredible green eyes meeting hers for a moment. “I’m here, Finn. I’m not leaving.”
Not this time.
The low laugh of his father made both of them tense. “Oh, that is where you are wrong. You will leave, and I will take my son home.”
“No!” Finn shouted, his grip on her hand bordering painful. “You can’t order me around like a child, not anymore.”
“When you no longer act like a child, I will no longer need to treat you like one. Until then, kommer du med hjem.”
“He doesn’t have to go with you.” Aubrey summoned all the cold confidence she did at work, proud of the steady tone in her voice as she squeezed Finn’s hand back.
“Again, you are wrong.” There was a sinister tone in his words, a disgusted look in his eyes when he finally turned them on her. “His visa will be revoked in a matter of days, so do not speak of things you don’t understand, grådige ludder.”
“Faen ta deg, pappa! You are never allowed to speak to her like that, do you understand me?” He was shaking with rage, she could feel it through their connection, but the intensity of his defense of her just made her heart ache more. “I don’t know what I did to make you hate me this much, but you can do what you want to me, say what you want to me—but if you call Aubrey that one more time, I will make it my mission to ruin your bullshit reputation back home.”
“What will you do this time, Harald? Throw one of your perverse little parties in Oslo?” He laughed. “You forget just how many people I know at home.”
“How could I forget? It’s why I fucking left.” Finn growled. “Is that how you found me here?”
“Of course. I’ve had people tracking your phone since you disappeared after your tantrum, we found you as soon as you turned it on.” His father shrugged and gestured up the trail, but Aubrey’s stomach twisted with bitter guilt because he’d turned it on for her. “Now, if you’re quite done with this display, we can leave. I’ve already had to cancel the plane once.”
“I’m not leaving.”
“My son, that is not a choice you have.”
Panic was eating away at her insides, like a pit opening up beneath the ache in her chest, growing worse by the moment. She felt helpless, felt worse when Finn spun to face her, his fingers digging into her arms as he shook her. “This isn’t over, Aubrey. I swear it, I just found you, and I don’t know what we could be, but I’m not letting it go. I will figure it out.”
She wanted to speak, wanted to summon words like he always seemed capable, but his lips were on hers again. Too soft, too gentle, too much like a goodbye.
And then he was letting go of her, tracing one hand down her arm to squeeze her hand once more, the same one still tingling from the intensity of their hold.
No. This can’t be it. There has to be something.
Raising her gaze, she blinked past the blur as he took a few backward steps, keeping those Mediterranean Sea pools on her, the dulling glow of the sunset taking the light out of his hair at almost the same speed it was leaving his eyes.
All of the things he’d said to her, all of the things they felt but couldn’t put into the right w
ords—all of it was threatening to disappear. Five thousand miles away, with no real answer as to when, or if, he could ever come back.
She needed him as much as he needed her. Hopelessly addicted, the both of them, one to the other, and just as he finally turned away from her, she screamed, “Finn!”
He froze and faced her, his father and the other man with him stopping as well.
“You are absolutely perfect the way you are. No matter what he says, no matter what he thinks, and I’m not going to let him fuck this up. Not before we even get the chance to fuck it up ourselves.”
“Aubrey, there’s nothing we can—”
“Marry me!” She cut him off, feeling her body shake with the force of the shout, and he jerked back like she’d slapped him.
“WHAT?” he half-yelled the question.
“Marry me,” she repeated, laughing at the sudden giddy euphoria that overwhelmed all of the dark panic and fear.
“You’re crazy.” Finn almost tripped over a hidden rock as he came towards her, his hands cupping her cheeks when he reached her, perfect eyes searching her face, and she couldn’t help but nod.
“Probably. I mean, yeah, I definitely am. I would make a terrible fucking wife, I’m not exactly marriage material, and you know that better than anyo—” Her words were cut off as he kissed her, one hand slipping to the back of her head to hold her to his burning lips for one blissfully perfect, unbelievable moment.
“Yes,” he growled against her mouth as he broke the kiss, and then his grin turned wicked. “Just don’t expect me to behave.”
“As long as you don’t expect me to be monogamous,” she retaliated, grinning back.
“I told you once already, Aubrey Marilyn Dean, I don’t want to control you, I just want to be there to see whatever it is you’re going to do—because it’s going to be incredible.”
“With you? I think it will be.” She kissed him again, grinning as he picked her up, wrapping her legs around his waist.
“This is ridiculous. You will not marry this woman!” His father was storming over, red-faced and fuming. “I forbid it! She just wants your money. She just wants your name!”