“Okay,” I conceded, my voice decidedly breathy, “that was a pretty good move.”
He chuckled as he gently pinched the peak of each breast. “You’re hard to impress. But I have a couple of other moves up my sleeve.”
His hands left their spot, and I almost whimpered before realizing they were snaking down my body and undoing the button and zipper on my jeans. He pushed them, and my underwear, down over my hips, and I wriggled until they hit the floor, welcoming the cool air as it feathered over my body.
I leaned my head back on his shoulder to steady myself as he stroked up and down my sides, over my abdomen, everywhere he could reach. Slowly. Softly. It was possible I was going to melt right there on the spot.
“How am I doing so far?” he murmured.
I had to moisten my lips before I could get my mouth to cooperate and reply. “Not bad. Perhaps with a little practice, you’d be quite good at this.”
His chest rumbled at my back with his laugh. “I can see I’m going to have to step this up a notch or two.”
Suddenly I was maneuvered around and down onto the bed, Finn looming over me, fully dressed, with a self-satisfied grin stretched across his face.
“You have clothes on,” I said, wriggling to get comfortable on his sheets. “All over your body.”
He climbed onto the bed, prowling until he knelt over me on all fours. “Is that a problem?”
“I like you naked.” He was close, so close, but not touching. Every cell in my body yearned to arch up and make contact with him, but I waited. He obviously had a plan, and I was curious what it was. Even if it was already driving me out of my mind.
“Nothing makes me happier than to hear you say that, but my nakedness is unnecessary right now.”
Unable to wait any longer, I reached up with arms and legs and brought him down on top of me. His mouth captured mine as soon as it was close enough, and I moaned at the glory of kissing Finn. His tongue glided along mine, and it was playful and urgent and wild and everything a great kiss could be. I was burning for him.
When we broke apart for air, I didn’t let him go, still gripping him against me.
“You know,” I said, when I’d caught my breath, “we seem to have different definitions of necessary. I think your nakedness is very necessary right about now.”
He gave me a leisurely smile and broke free of my hold. “Not yet.”
He disappeared from my field of vision. I lifted myself onto my elbows and found him kneeling on the floor at the end of the bed, between my feet.
“What are we waiting for?”
“This,” he said, gripping my ankles and tugging me down the sheets until my butt reached the end.
“Okay,” I said. “That was a pretty smooth move, I’ll admit it.”
He lifted my legs and draped a knee over each of his shoulders, then met my gaze with an arched eyebrow. “You ain’t seen nothing yet.”
Then he leaned forward and put his mouth on me, and my entire body convulsed with the intensity of the touch. He simply held me in place and stroked his tongue over every electric nerve ending I had.
I’d known from that first kissing lesson his mouth was amazing, but its true calling was much further south. My hands grabbed as much of the sheets as they could, trying to anchor myself, because the sensation was almost too much to bear. I was alive, too alive to be still, restless with wanting more, needing everything.
“Finn,” I moaned.
He paused and said, “Louder.”
I opened my mouth to comply, but at that moment his tongue stroked up in an arc so majestic I lost the power of thought. My muscles quivered; my heart beat so hard I could feel it reverberating through my body.
“Louder,” he repeated.
“Finn.” The word felt like it was ripped from my throat—calling, begging, praising all at the same time.
A finger slipped inside me, then another, and I gripped hard as his mouth sucked, taking me outside of time and space, into a world where there was only Finn and me, only pleasure, only this.
My hips bucked and I couldn’t have stopped them if I’d wanted to. My body wasn’t following my commands anymore—it was completely under Finn’s control.
“Again,” he said. “Louder.”
Then his hands and mouth all moved in unison. The world contracted and was tightly bound around me for a suspended moment before exploding out in cascading fireworks while I screamed his name.
When everything came back into focus, I managed to whisper, “Okay, now your nakedness is necessary.”
“Already taken care of,” he said and slid onto the sheets with me. Sure enough, I could feel his warm skin along the length of my body and I rolled into him, wanting to increase the contact.
Finn groaned, but it was a good sound, full of satisfaction and hunger at the same time. He nudged my legs apart and pressed a thigh against my happy place.
“Well done on the not-being-quiet thing, by the way,” he said against my ear.
I snorted. He said it as if I’d had any choice in the matter. “I think any kudos goes to you.”
“How about we see if we can break your noise record?”
I reached between us to find him already sheathed in a condom, and burning hot. Circling my hand around him, I squeezed ever-so-gently, and was pleased when he shuddered in response.
“Oh, I don’t know,” I said, moving my hand up and down, slow and steady. “I was thinking it was time to hear how loud you can shout my name.”
“And how are you going to make that happen?”
I lifted a knee and pulled myself up to straddle him, then rested my hands on his chest and gazed down into his eyes. At some point my glasses had gone missing, so he was a little blurry, but still the best thing I’d ever seen.
“I was thinking I’d see if this worked.” I eased down onto him, loving the feel of him filling me to stretching point, of having Finn surround me and be inside me at the same time. My entire body was tingling, as if my veins had been filled with champagne.
Once I’d taken him all the way, I paused, adjusting, appreciating, but he was clearly impatient. Digging his fingers into the flesh on my hips, he held me exactly where he wanted me as he began thrusting upward. I’d planned on taking control, but was quickly mesmerized by what he was doing, by the sensations building again, by the fire within that threatened to burn me alive, by Finn. Just him.
I leaned down to kiss him, and he released my hips to wrap his arms around me and kiss me back. Maybe it was the freedom we had, not needing to sneak or be quiet, but I felt something pass between us in that moment, in that kiss, and I’d never felt closer to him. Never felt closer to anyone.
“I love you,” I whispered.
He stilled, his eyes blazing. Whether he felt the same, I knew he wouldn’t say it back, couldn’t, but it didn’t matter. I hadn’t said it just to hear it back, I’d said it because he needed to know. In his dark gaze, I could see he was glad I had. The universe felt as if it was in alignment. Was irrefutably right.
Straightening, I moved over him, finding a rhythm he matched. He didn’t try to take control again, instead following my lead, but one of his hands cupped my breast. The other reached down to where we were joined, adding extra sparks through my system.
Everything seemed to move faster—the two of us, even the air around us. Everything was in sync, racing, climbing, reaching. My skin was so hot, I might combust; my breath was coming in pants.
“Scarlett,” he rasped, and it was the last straw. I imploded into wave after wave of almost unbearable sensation, feeling myself clench around him, calling his name, never wanting the moment to end.
He yelled, “Scarlett,” as his body tensed, and it was the loudest, most beautiful noise ever. I lay down over him, resting on his chest, still trying to catch my breath.
“You were louder than me,” I said after my heart rate slowed, my head still on his shoulder.
He smoothed a hand over my hair. “Yeah, but I lasted longer.”
I chuckled, surprised I had the energy, then rolled to the side, leaving one leg draped over him. “How about we call it a draw?”