“Good. It looks amazing.” He stopped at my kneecap, trilling his fingers over my knee that was just above the water’s surface. It reminded me that I was naked, and this was more than a simple bath. He carefully rested my foot in the water and moved to the other, starting at my toes as he examined the tops from every angle.
“I’ve never seen anyone so fascinated with my feet before.”
“Wait till you come to Dagat. They’ll be fighting to get at you. Lady Mariang won’t travel there anymore.”
“Seriously? I guess I never thought much about my feet before, other than the usual grossness factor.”
“See this?” He traced a small line atop my foot. “What is that?”
“It’s the tarsal. You have one, too.”
“What about this one?”
I took my time naming every bone in my foot for him, leaning forward to point out each part. It turned the sexy bath time into a medical lesson. What can I say? I have a gift.
Finn massaged and lathered until I was a puddle of limbs. He even stuck his finger in the water every now and then to reheat it for me. It was luxury smack in the middle of the rural setting, and I lapped it up like a glutton. My eyes were closed as he rubbed my calf. My heel was looped on his shoulder as he kneaded my sore muscles that now felt weightless and unbearably sexy. I didn’t often feel sexy. I’d prided myself on my shapeless scrubs and my who-cares-what-I-look-like daywear. Now I was naked in a tub while a military captain worked my legs. I don’t totally know how I ended up here, but man, the massage felt amazing.
A tiny gasp escaped me when Finn brought the sole of my foot to his mouth and kissed it. “Is that okay?” he asked, his eyes lidded.
My heart started beating faster as I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Um, I think so.”
His full lips brushed over each of my toes several times before he licked my big toe, causing me to jerk my foot out of his grip. “Sorry,” he murmured, clearly embarrassed.
“It’s fine, but that’s where I get off the train. Thanks for the massage. Sincerely. Hands down, best massage of my life. If that whole second in command thing doesn’t work out for you, you should totally become a masseur.”
“I’ll keep that in mind, if you can keep this to yourself.”
“You overestimate how many friends I have.”
“Your Reapers wouldn’t approve of… Well, any of this.”
I shot him a baleful look. “Hello, Mason and Von aren’t my parents. I went here without them, didn’t I? But your secret fetish is safe with me. Everyone’s got a weird sex thing. It’s nothing to be embarrassed about. I’ve got a thing for Mr. Brady from the Brady Bunch, so no judgment here. Towel?”
I expected him to put it in my outstretched hand, but he opened it and turned his head. I dunked myself under one more time before getting out. The heat from our close proximity warmed my skin when Finn wrap me in the towel. He rubbed the material into my flesh as he pulled me forward to lean into him. He held me against his bare chest, my hair dripping down on his arms that were banded around me. Just as I’d suspected, I’d become a contact junky, which was completely the fault of Von and Mason.
“October?” he said softly as he rubbed my lower back.
“Yeah, Finn?” I pried my face from his chest and looked up into his earnest expression. His face was lit only by the errant flicker of the candle on the other side of the room. He was handsome in that I-just-killed-a-zombie way.
His right hand came up between us as he held me with his left. His thumb and forefinger spread out to make a V on my chin. His slight squeeze had the note of a command to it as he held my face just how he liked to. “Kiss me.”
16
Inches from Regret
It wasn’t a request, and I wasn’t sure. I didn’t know what I was doing anymore. I was seduced and curious and very, very tired. I leaned into his hand, letting him guide my face closer to his until our lips met in a gentle thrum of confusion and desire. The rain pelted the roof to warn us that the danger was inside the candlelit room, and I’d walked smack into it.
Something that smelled like green flooded my nose as Finn parted my lips. His eyes fluttered shut as we took each other down into the abyss of the psychedelic kiss. “Something’s happening!” he whispered, half in the throes of desire, and half in distress.
He tasted like the rain and green mixed with silver. His voice sounded like a lusty heartbeat as he deepened the kiss. The V on my face migrated to the back of my head as our passion for fighting with each other mutated into something far more treacherous that would surely take us both under. Glittering green swirls started dancing around us, enticing me to follow the silver and green swells off into the bliss that beckoned me deeper, always deeper.
I heard nothing but Finn’s panting and the rain as he began moving us toward the bed, breaking the earthshattering kiss only when I toppled backward onto the straw mattress. His eyes were wide, his pupils dilated as he tried to make sense of the colors and the music. “It’s never felt like this before. Are you doing something to me?”
“I’m about to,” I admitted. I grabbed him and pulled him down atop me, biting his lip just so I could suck on it and keep it as my treasure. We’d just been through a battle, and I was drunk on the victory. The room seemed to darken with the flickering shadows. The green kept glittering as trumpets announced a song that was only ours. He tasted like the ocean and somehow delicious. My heart raced with adrenaline and conquest as his fingers laced through mine. He played with the top of my towel when we both knew he shouldn’t.
“I want you,” Finn growled into my mouth, turning from soldier to a veteran of taking foreign women to bed. He ripped my arms over my head, his eyes widening and the spell lifting when he took in my unexpected scream.
“My shoulder!” I explained, the memory of the hot steel slicing me afresh.
His hands quaked as he rubbed my bicep, rolling off me and laying at my side on the bed while we caught our breath, staring guiltily at the wooden ceiling. “Are you alright? I didn’t mean to hurt you. I forgot about your shoulder. I think I forgot my own name for a second there.”
My hand went to my chest to steady my rapidly beating heart. “No, no. It was the wakeup call we both needed. Nothing good could’ve come from that. Holy Ian Somerhalder, Batman. That was amazing.”
“You’re telling me. That’s what it’s like to kiss an Omen? That’s what Danny’s been keeping to himself all these years?”
“It would’ve been even crazier if we were in love. Apparently you see visions and hallucinate even more when that happens. That’s why Mason and I stopped things.”
Finn was still catching his breath. “Because you started seeing visions?”
“Not me. Him.” My elation darkened as reality started pulling me back down to earth. Or, well, to Terraway. “He had visions of his late wife whenever he kissed me, but I didn’t know. It got to be to where he started kissing me so he could see her again. Then he started falling in love with her all over again, which made him fall out of love with me. He got frustrated when the visions stopped and he couldn’t see her anymore. It was pretty messed up.” I pressed my fist to my forehead. “I told myself I wouldn’t kiss anyone else. I can’t believe I already slipped up. Only kissed one other guy my whole life, and now it’s like I can’t keep it under control.”
Finn let out a low whistle. “I knew things were weird between the three of you, but I never would’ve guessed all that. No wonder you wanted to run away.”
“It’s fine, but I have to be careful about who I kiss. Sorry for letting it get so crazy. That foot massage really scrambled my brains.”
Finn laced his fingers through mine, still breathless. “Then let me suck on your toes for a while. We’re doing that again. That was the best kiss of my life. Deserves a replay.”
“No, no. We can’t. It gets out of hand really quick, and I don’t want that. My life’s complicated enough.”
“What about Von?”
“Did he hallucinate? Did you?”
I turned my head to look at him. “Now it’s your brains that’re scrambled. Von and I are friends. We’ve never kissed.”
“Fine, keep your secrets. I’m too overstimulated to care right now. It’s like your lips are everywhere still.” He hmmed with his eyes closed, still enjoying the heady sensation.
“Yours, too.”
Finn turned on his side and carefully rolled atop me, his knees on either side of my thighs. “If I promise not to fall in love with you, can we do that again?”
I leaned up and pecked his cheek. “Not a chance. But thanks for the promise not to fall in love with me. Maybe the worst come-on I’ve ever gotten, and I’ve had a fair few sour ones.”
Finn deflated and rolled off of me, giving us both a few more seconds to calm down from the huge mistake that luckily hadn’t gone past the point of no return. “Well, then let me take a look at your shoulder. I’ll get the sewing kit.”
“Say that again while you lick your lips,” I teased as I sat up on the bed.
He indulged me, making us both laugh. Finn looked younger when he laughed without cruelty, which didn’t happen very often apart from his time with me. He twisted my hair and draped it over my good shoulder as he sat back down on the bed, situating himself to sit behind me. I wasn’t expecting the kiss to the base of my neck, nor the smile that played on my lips. I warred with the pleasure that rose up inside of me when his affections made my toes curl. I waved off his advance. “Alright, alright. Knock it off. We hate each other, remember? Don’t go getting confused.”
“You’ve never had hate sex?” Finn inquired. “It’s exquisite.”
“I’m a virgin, so no. And my first time’s going to be when I get married. So you know, never.”
Finn chuckled as his lips found the back of my good shoulder just to taunt me with the seduction he knew we both wanted. “You’re young. You’ll make love like a heartbreaker someday. I’m sure of it.”
“Thanks.” Though Finn was sure, I was not. I wanted to hope that someday I’d be happy with a husband and a home far away from the crazy that always managed to track me down, but my experiences thus far didn’t give much credence to that hope.
Finn heard the dubious note in my reply. “You don’t think so? I know so. One day when Von grows up and you stop being so… the way you are, you’ll see.”
I stiffened, and though it was obvious to both of us Finn had said the wrong thing, he was unapologetic. “There’s about eleven things wrong with that statement, chief. Try again.”
His arm wrapped around me, clutching the cinched part of the towel at my breasts. My heart pounded anew and my back arched when his lips dragged to my ear. “I want to get this towel off of you. Just one tug, and I’d get a clear view of everything I pretended I couldn’t see when you were hiding in the water over there.”
I gasped. “Are you serious?”
“I’m Kataw. Of course I can see through water,” he said with a shrug, as if I was an idiot to think otherwise.
I shivered, fishing for a change of subject so my towel remained in place. “Um, I’ve got your dagger over there on the nightstand. Thanks for letting me borrow it. Dead useful. I felt clumsy with the sword, but your knife was way easier to maneuver.”
Finn moved to the nightstand and picked up his knife. He examined the jagged edges and the jade handle as if it was something precious to him. “I want you to keep this. It’s saved my life too many times to count. I’ll sleep better knowing it’s being put to use defending your life.”
I blinked at him, flummoxed. “I… I don’t know what to say to that. Don’t you need it? Isn’t that something that would be better for your country if you had it?”
Finn frowned, confused at his own actions as he rubbed a hand across his chest. “Maybe. Banak gave it to me. Wanted me to use it to defend his throne, but I’ve got plenty of weapons.” He tore his gaze from the blade and met my eyes. “I don’t want to defend his throne anymore. I want this blade to protect all of Terraway, not just one nation.”
I softened at the sweetness. “Finn, you don’t have to do that. I can tell that knife’s important to you.”
“It’s mine, and I’ll do with it as I please. It’s my way of keeping you safe when I’m not around.”
“I mean, that’s real generous of you. Thank you. Are you sure? I don’t exactly know what I’m doing with it.”
“I’m sure.” He rested it back on the nightstand and situated himself behind me on the bed again. “Hold still while I work. I don’t actually do many healer tasks, so now’s a good time not to be annoying.”
“Did anyone ever tell you that you’re a full-on Prince Charming?”
Finn sniggered as he threaded the needle. “You’re the only one who gets to see my charming side. The others get a heavy dose of Captain Finn.”
“Not Captain Finn: Pretty Princess?”
“Nah. He only exists around you.”
I chewed on this a moment, weighing which personality was his real one, and if it even mattered, since he was bent on being a cruel slave trader. “Well, it was a pleasure to meet you, Prince. Even if you’ll have to go away in the morning when other people are around, this was nice. I admit, I don’t much like it when life does its magical disappearing act on the sweeter parts of your personality.”
Finn paused his needle midair. “You’ve got quite the mouth on you.”
“I happen to think you like me that way.”
He leaned in, banding one arm around my middle and pressing his lips to a sensitive spot behind my ear. “I very much do.”
I shivered at the kiss and the seduction from the man I knew I could never trust. No matter what happened with the stone, I couldn’t allow myself to be alone with Finn much longer if I wanted to respect myself in the morning.
17
Mason’s Rude Awakening
Morning came too early for my liking, and once again I awoke to Finn’s hand cupping my breast. I didn’t punch him this time, but I did slide his arm down so his hand was around my stomach. The pink quilted comforter was warm and soft, cocooning us in a hazy bliss that felt like a luxury we both craved. I wasn’t sure how long we’d slept, but it felt like a solid day and night of no one bugging us.
When a knock sounded impatiently on the door, I realized it might not have been Finn’s hand that had woken me. I had gone to sleep in Finn’s white palace shirt that fit me like a party dress I’d never had the guts to wear.
When I sat up, Finn moaned. “I’ll get it. You don’t answer doors here. One wrong move, and the kingdom goes up in flames.” He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and sat up, his full lips even puffier in the morning before he’d properly awoken. He brushed his hand down my thigh and kissed my knee, giving us both the guilty shivers before he got out of bed, opening the door in only his trousers. I watched his shoulders tense and the veil of d-bag Finn slide into place. “I was wondering when you’d find us. October? You’ve got a visitor.”
“Huh?” was all I worked out before Mason barreled into the room and took a swing at Finn. Finn dodged and grabbed at Mason’s arm, but Mason was used to fighting janky zombies, so he was pretty much prepared for any kind of attack. The two were evenly matched, so the only thing that ended the escalating brawl was me running in between them, placing a hand on either man’s chest. Mason seethed while Finn snarled. “Knock it off, both of you! Mason, how’d you find us?”
“How’d I find you?” Mason reared back, affronted. He was soaking wet in his t-shirt, jeans and sturdy black boots. “That’s quite a thing to say to me after you ran out on us! We’ve been looking everywhere. Everywhere! How could you run away like that?” He was shouting, which didn’t ever go over well with me. He looked down at my bare legs and cast aside any pretense at playing nice. “Put on some clothes!
” He pointed to Finn with too much purpose. “You and I are settling this outside.”
“Fine by me. It’s been a while since I kicked your hairy butt.”
I clapped my hands to stop the posturing and yelling. “Enough! Now sit down, both of you.” I waited until they complied, both leaning forward on opposite ends of the side of the bed while I dug in my pack for a pair of shorts. I slid them on and glared at the two. “We’re not going to get anywhere fighting like this. Mason, I can’t believe you’re surprised I ran away. The only shocking thing about it is that I didn’t do it the second after you and I imploded.”
“That’s got nothing to do with this! That was weeks ago.”
“Well, it’s done. I would’ve gone off by myself, but I didn’t know the way, so I made Finn take me here. We fixed Kabayo’s land with the stone, and that’s that.”
“Are you kidding me with this? ‘That’s that’? You ran away! You have responsibilities, October. You can’t just leave the group, act without council approval and go off without your Pullers! Do you understand that if Sama’s army had found you, you could’ve died? Then where would Terraway be? We’ve been driving ourselves crazy looking for you. Then I find you in bed with Finn? Finn?!”
“Hey!” Finn groused. “She could do a lot worse.”
“Watch yourself,” Mason warned, jabbing his finger toward Finn to punctuate this threat. “I raced across Silo on a horse, and I haven’t slept in a long time. I can’t make any guarantees I won’t slit your gills just to shut you up.”
Finn’s evil tease was back with the squint of his eye at Mason. “You’re tired? Lay down in our bed. October warmed me up nice and good last night. Though I’m not sure she’d be open to doing the same for you.”
Tempt (Terraway Book 4) Page 9