“You’re ridiculous.”
I grinned and settled back into my seat.
“What can I say? You do it for me.”
Now she was the one blushing.
“Finn, is it weird that I’m staying at your house for Thanksgiving? Liv never told me if you were okay with this?”
I threaded my fingers with hers and kissed the back of her hand. Instead of letting it go, I rested my wrist against the gear shift.
“If I had known your family bailed, I would have already said something.” I gave her a pointed look. “Why didn’t you tell me about your mom?”
She looked out the window. “I just didn’t think anyone cared. It’s really no big deal. She does this all the time.”
“Cora, it is a big deal and you damn well know I would care.” She sighed and continued to stare out the window. “Look at me.”
For a few seconds I thought she might continue to ignore me, but I was relieved when her gorgeous brown, doe eyes met mine.
“I will always take care of you. You should know by now that I’m always going to be there for you. We’ve been friends a long time and I would hope you know me better than that. Sex or no sex, I’m your friend first.” Tears pricked at her eyes and I pulled off the highway so I could really talk to her. “Where’s your head at, Cora? Please talk to me.”
“This is really scary, Finn. I can’t lose you and I’m afraid that if something goes wrong between us, we can’t be friends anymore. We never should have started this. I was fine until you took me on that amazing date because now I know.”
“What do you know, Cora?”
She dipped her head and I reached up to brush a lock of her hair behind her ear. I needed to see her face.
“I got a little taste of what it would actually be like between us if we were a couple. We were supposed to just keep things casual and now things are different. What if you decide that you want to start dating again? We’re just hooking up and that’s not going to be enough forever.”
I was speechless. Cora had always said she wasn’t ready for anything serious between us, but was she changing her mind? I was so sick of hiding how much I actually cared for her, afraid that I might say or do something to scare her off.
“Have you changed your mind about what you want?” I asked softly.
“Yes, no—I don’t know. Things were so simple when it was just sex and now there are emotions and feelings. Finn, I don’t do messy, you know that. One or both of us are going to end up hurt.” Her voice pitched, panic rising with each word and her breaths came in quick pants.
I cupped her face in my hands. “Princess, calm down. You aren’t going to lose me and I’m sure as hell not going to hurt you. This isn’t going to end up being messy because we aren’t going to let it. Yes, all of this scares the hell out of me, but I want to see if there’s more between us than really hot sex. I could see things getting serious between us.” Her eyes snapped up to mine. “The only reason we are keeping it quiet is because of Liv, right? If you want us to make this thing public knowledge, then let’s do it.” She leaned back and cocked her head at me. “Cora, what happened between me dropping you off at the dorms last weekend and now to make you doubt this?”
She looked away and picked at some invisible lint on her sweater. “Nothing really. I guess it just freaked me out because things felt…right. I’m not the dating type. You know how things ended up with Derek. Living with the fact that your boyfriend got thrown in jail because he beat the shit out of you doesn’t exactly inspire you to let anyone close. It also doesn’t make it any easier when the bastard almost got away with it.”
I pulled her into my chest. “You know I will never hurt you, physically or emotionally. So why are you just now mentioning Derek? I didn’t want to be the one to bring him up even though I knew that was what was holding you back. I was there through everything, I know how messed up it got.”
She sighed. “I’m sorry. I just try to pretend that it didn’t happen most of the time. But now we’re doing this and it’s bringing up feelings I haven’t had since before the attack.”
“Princess, I get it, but you know I’m here for you no matter what.”
“I know. I’m just so over being terrified of my own shadow. You were the one that helped me with that. I’m just thankful that you were there for me when I needed it most, and thank you for not telling Liv about it. I know she would have freaked out and she was dealing with the Ellie stuff.”
I pushed a piece of her hair back from her face, staring into her eyes as I did. “I’ll always be here for you. For what it’s worth, I still think you should tell Olivia. She’s your best friend and it can’t be easy keeping a secret this big from her.”
“It isn’t, but I don’t want to keep dragging it back up. What happened is in the past and I’m not going to let it rule my life.”
Except she was. I wasn’t going to tell her that, but every time she pulled away from me, she was letting that douchebag win.
“Can we just take things slow? Give me some time to get used to everything before we tell everyone. Is that okay?”
I kissed her forehead. “We’ll keep going slow. Let’s just worry about getting through the holidays and then we can talk about our relationship status.”
She nodded and I could see the relief in her eyes. Not exactly what you want to see when you’re falling hard and fast for the girl sitting right in front of you. I took a deep breath and put the car into drive. We drove the last twenty minutes in silence, each of us lost in our own thoughts.
____
My parents weren’t home when we pulled up to the house. Cora followed me into the kitchen and sat her bag down on the floor. Nothing looked different from the last time I came home, and I couldn’t decide if it was a good thing or a bad thing. The place was huge and cold. I never wanted to live in a house like this again. When I finally moved out of the frat house, I wanted something warm and inviting. I might be quiet and broody, but I liked having people around me to pull me out of my own head sometimes.
Cora sat down at the table while I rummaged through the cabinets for a snack.
“What are you doing this week?” Her voice sounded muffled from inside the pantry. “I can stay out of your way if you already have plans.”
I stuck my head out and looked at her in confusion. “What the hell do you mean that you can stay out of the way? You’re acting like we’re on another planet, not in the town that we both grew up in. We have all the same friends.”
“I just didn’t know if you were going to meet up with someone, an ex or something.”
I made a face at her. “Are you insane? Kelsey is the last person I want to see this week. I was thrilled when she decided to go to North Carolina for college. That girl is her own kind of crazy. Plus, aren’t we going to be hanging out?”
Cora started giggling. “Remember when she snuck into the guy’s locker room so she could wish you luck? Oh god, that was hysterical.”
I made a face. That shit wasn’t funny. “It’s not my fault that she came all the way into the showers and saw everyone’s cocks.”
“She talked about it for months, and she really enjoyed comparing yours to—”
“Don’t remind me,” I growled.
Cora had tears rolling down her face she was laughing so hard. “It made it even better that she stole all of your clothes when you ran her out of there.”
“Can we stop? She was insane and I hope that I never see her again.” She wiped at her face and snorted back another laugh. I shot her a look and it started her giggles all over again. “I’ll tickle you if you don’t stop.”
She held up her hands, but still couldn’t stop laughing. I crossed the room in two strides, picked her up, digging my fingers into her ribs, tickling her mercilessly. Her body arched and bucked against mine as she tried to get away. With each move of her hips and ass against me, I felt my cock growing harder in my jeans. Slowly, I pulled my fingers from her sides. She looped her arms
around my neck and her lips met mine hungrily.
Her kiss was urgent and hurried. I gripped her ass to pick her up and she wrapped her legs around my waist obediently. We made our way down the hall to my bedroom, bumping into walls and knocking things to the floor as we went. Neither of us cared that we were wrecking my parents’ hallway.
As soon as the door closed behind us, we stripped off our clothes, tossing them around the room in our frenzy to find skin. Somehow we ended up on our knees, facing one another as we kneeled on the bed and kissing just as deeply as we had been on our way down the hall. I cupped her face in my hands and her fingers trailed up and down my back. She pulled back, sucking in a much needed breath. I moved down to her nipple, my tongue teasing the tip as she tugged on my hair.
Her hands reached between us and she freed my cock from my boxers. A deep groan escaped me as she worked her hand up and down my length. Our mouths met again and we stayed that way for long minutes. Her hands on me, me cupping her face, silently telling her she was my entire fucking world. She gasped when I pushed her back on the bed. I grinned down at her and tugged off my boxers quickly.
I spread her legs and kissed my way up her thighs, running my tongue over her clit once before positioning myself at her center.
“Condom,” she whispered.
Fuck. I had never forgotten protection. Ever. Something about Cora made me lose my mind. I cursed and fished around on the floor trying to find my pants. She giggled when I pulled the condom out of my wallet and rushed to put it on. I scowled at her playfully.
“You’re going to get it, Donovan.”
She smirked. “I certainly hope so.”
I growled at her and lunged, pushing her back into the pillows. My cock slid a few inches inside her and she moaned in pleasure.
“Want more?” I taunted.
Her fingers clutched at my shoulders, there would be nail marks up and down my back. I thrust until I was fully seated inside her. She tried to move her hips, but I pinned them in place. Her big doe eyes met mine and I grinned wickedly.
“You’re evil, Finn.”
I ground my hips down against her clit and she whimpered.
“Evil?”
“Please,” she begged.
“Please what?”
God, I loved when she made those little growly sounds in the back of her throat.
“Please fuck me.”
I pulled out, teasing her with just the head of my cock and she grasped my back harder. My hoarse laughter filled the room when she pinched my ass trying to rush me into fucking her. Her body writhed underneath mine and finally I couldn’t hold back any longer. I thrust inside her. Our moans bounced off the walls, echoing throughout the room.
One of her hands rested on my ass and the other roamed my back as I moved. Her body was splayed out to me. My lips roamed over her neck and with each suck, nip and lick of my tongue her body tightened. She was so close. I thrust into her faster and harder. The headboard crashed into the wall in a rhythmic dull thudding sound each time we moved.
Her scream caught me off guard because she was normally quiet while we fucked, or maybe it was because we had to be quiet every other time we had sex. Either way I fucking loved it. As she tightened around me, I knew I couldn’t hold off my own orgasm much longer. Her fingernails dug into my back and with one final thrust I came harder than I ever had in my life. Stars flashed in front of my vision. I locked my arms as I held myself inside her, bracing myself so I wouldn’t drop all of my weight onto her. We both gasped for air as we tried to catch our breaths.
I kissed her and moved onto my side. Her arm curled around mine, running her fingers up and down my tattoos, tracing the designs absentmindedly.
“What was that?” I asked, shell shocked from how amazing it had been.
“I don’t know,” she giggled. “But I want to do it again soon.”
I laughed. “Me too. I’m pretty sure you took half the skin off my back, but it was worth it.” She blushed and tried to press her face into my neck. I kissed her head.
I threw the condom into the trash can next to my bed and pulled Cora into my arms. Grabbing the covers, I tugged them up over us. We laid in the silence, just staring at each other, unable or unwilling to form words to explain what we were feeling. I didn’t know what the fuck was going on, but I knew it was getting harder and harder to hide my feelings from everyone around us. Something was going to have to give soon.
We walked into the little gastropub that we were meeting our friends at and looked around the dark room. Finn’s hand rested lightly at the small of my back, giving me the strength I needed to continue. He smiled at our friend Daniel and did that bro hug thing that all guys seemed to know. Daniel pulled me into a hug and swung me around in a circle. I laughed as he set me back down on the ground. His eyes shined with amusement. We’d spent a lot of time hanging out after everything happened. For weeks I was stuck laying around because it hurt too bad to move, but Finn and Daniel had made sure to come over every day. Finn practically lived at my house for the first week after I was out of the hospital. He wouldn’t leave each night until I pushed him out the door.
“Cora, you look amazing as always.” I blushed lightly and smacked at his arm. Finn stepped closer and slung an arm over my shoulder. Dan’s eyes bugged out. “Are you two—are you together?”
I shook my head and laughed. “Nope, we’re still just friends. Finn took pity on me because my Mom bailed to Nassau for Thanksgiving, so I’m hanging out with him and his parents for the week.”
Finn’s jaw set in a hard line and gave me a weird look before nodding at Daniel. “Yep, still just best friends.”
His words were clipped and it bugged me.
“So I guess that means you’re free to have dinner with me one day this week?” Daniel asked with a hopeful smile. I bit down on my bottom lip, trying to buy a second to figure out how to say no. Luckily we were interrupted by our friend Emily. When she saw me, she squealed and shoved Dan and Finn out of the way to hug me and launch into a series of rapid fire questions that made me laugh.
She tugged me over to the table that our group was sitting at and continued talking my ear off, leaving the guys standing behind us still at the bar. I shot Finn a look over my shoulder and he stood there frozen. The expression on his face was hurt and disappointment and something else, maybe jealousy. Was Finn jealous?
There were seven of us all crammed into a table in the back. Each round of drinks made our group noisier and more obnoxious than the last. Finn made several trips to the bar, coming back with a new drink for me each time. I could feel the alcohol coursing its way through my veins and my lips became a little looser. Two more of our friends joined us, making us all crowd in even closer.
I gasped when Finn picked me up out of my chair and plopped me down on his lap. His fingers splayed across my stomach under the table, out of sight from prying eyes. My body shivered at the contact. Dan leaned across the table and put his hand on mine to get my attention.
“So you never answered my question. Will you go out to dinner with me?”
I felt Finn tense underneath me. “Um…Dan, I’m kind of seeing someone back at school.”
Disappointment flashed across his face, but he masked it quickly.
“You can’t blame a guy for trying. You’re an awesome girl, Cora. Any guy would be lucky to have you. I hope he treats you well.” He gave Finn a pointed look. “Make sure he does.”
Finn nodded once and took a long drink of his beer. What the hell was that? Did Daniel know something? Had Finn told him? I started to say something, but Finn leaned forward, brushing his lips along the shell my ear.
“Quit fidgeting or I’m going to take you to the bathroom and spank you. If you make me hard in front of all of our friends, the cat will be out of the bag.” Heat coursed its way through my body. I shifted again and his hand clamped down on my thigh. “Cora,” he drawled in warning.
“I can’t help it.”
“What
are you two whispering about over there?” Emily slurred. God, I hoped she wasn’t driving because she was two sheets to the wind and we’d only been here an hour. “You know, I always thought you two would make a cute couple.”
I blanched. Finn was quicker than me and tried to play it off. “Why do you say that, Emily?”
“The two of you are always touchy feely and flirty. Everyone thought you were sleeping together in high school, but then you both started dating other people. That’s one reason why Kelsey was so possessive of you, Finn.”
“You mean fucking crazy,” he mumbled under his breath.
“She’s supposed to be here later.”
The color drained from his face.
“What? What do you mean she’s going to be here?”
I started laughing and he shot me a nasty look. “Guess what? I changed my mind. Cora you are my girlfriend and you love the shit out of me if she walks in that door. Got it?” The terror on his face made me laugh even harder. Emily and a few other people started laughing. Finn looked at me. “I’m serious my tongue will be down your throat if she takes two steps in my direction. There’s no telling what she’ll do if she thinks I’m single.”
“Fine, Finnius. I’ll pretend to be your girlfriend and you can try to convince her that we have wild, dirty sex in your room every night. I’ll talk about how amazing your cock is and that I’ve never seen anything bigger in my life.”
He pinched my ass and I shrieked. “Don’t be such a smart ass, and don’t be so sarcastic about my cock. You’ll hurt his feelings.”
Everyone cracked up. We were doing our bit like normal, acting like an old married couple. Except now, we were talking about things that were actually happening between us and it was turning me on. Finn flinched every time the door opened, terrified that his crazy ex-girlfriend would walk in the door at any second.
I was caught off guard when Finn’s hand came around my neck and he clamped his mouth down on mine. My fingers threaded in his hair and he coaxed my lips to open to him. A low groan filled the air, his or mine I couldn’t tell. When we pulled apart the first thing I saw was Kelsey standing with her hands on her hips staring daggers at us. Our friends stared at us in varying degrees of confusion.
Waiting to Fall: Book Two of the Waiting Duet Page 14