“Talk?” Yeah, he’d sworn to do whatever necessary to get into her pants again, but, hell, she was hot against his palm and he just wanted to get her naked. “Talk about what?”
She cleared her throat, looked up, down, back at his hand. “I don’t know. Tell me about…about Tanner.”
“Tanner?”
She shrugged. “He’s an old friend. And I-”
“How well did you know him?” Finn had never considered it before, but Tanner Hart and Bailey Sullivan were two golden peas in the beachside pod of Coronado. Heat shot up his spine to pool at the base of his skull. “Damn it, did you date him when I wasn’t here?”
“Why are we talking about dating?”
He ground his back teeth. Tried convincing himself he shouldn’t yank her off that ladder, yank down her pants, thrust himself inside to make clear whom she belonged to. But he wasn’t that kind of bad ass anymore. And she wasn’t “his” in any long-term kind of way either. He’d never trust in that stupid idea again.
“You wanted to talk,” Finn muttered. “You brought up Tanner.”
“I’m wondering how the two of you connected, that’s all. I wouldn’t have said you had a lot in common.”
He laughed, and it released some of the tension in his neck. “Ah, but you didn’t see me that summer, did you? I’d cut my hair. Passed the GED and even had one semester of community college under my belt-all A’s.”
“You’re kidding.”
He dropped his hand from her leg and took a moment to send some sympathy to the poor lovesick sap he’d been. “I wanted to surprise someone.” He’d wanted to impress Bailey.
“Finn…”
The note in her voice had the coils tightening again, and he couldn’t have that. “Now don’t go feeling sorry for me, GND. Wanting to be more your style and speed got me out of the gutter, and just that was worth the price of admission, okay?”
“Still, I’m sorry.”
He leaned over to drop the bakery box on a nearby table. He hated the fucking pity in her voice. He had to find a way to get rid of it.
“You want to make it up to me, GND?” His voice was dark and his fingers cupped the inside of her ankle to travel slowly up her inner thigh. “Because I have some suggestions.”
She froze as the blade of his hand found the intersection of seams on her jeans. It was hot there. He pressed closer. Damp. She moaned.
He rubbed his cheek against her hip as one hand unfastened her jeans.
“Finn…”
“Shhh.”
Her body trembled as he slid down the zipper. A triangle of red panties showed in the now-open vee and he bent his head to press his mouth right
Her fingers slid through his hair. “Oh, Finn,” she said in a throaty voice.
His skin rippled over his muscles as his pulse started to drum in his ears, at his groin, in the tips of the fingers that curled in denim to yank her pants past her knees. The beat sounded so loud in his head that he couldn’t hear if she protested when he sent her panties in the same direction. He stepped closer, then kissed the sweet, soft hair at the juncture of her thighs.
Her nails bit into his scalp.
He groaned against her, greed, need, want flaring.
The constricting clothes at her ankles didn’t afford complete movement, but it was enough. He lifted one leg, separating it from the other, so he could prop her knee on his shoulder. Then he opened her with his thumbs, pushing against the soft, swollen folds to see her secret flesh glistening. For him.
His sixth sense kicked in, trying to sneak a warning through his haze of lust, but Finn knew one sure way to shut up that irritating voice. Leaning forward, he buried his mouth in Bailey’s wet flesh.
She shuddered. Her nails bit again. That voice inside him tried speaking louder.
None of it deterred him. Instead he flattened his tongue and took in all the sweet tastes and slick surfaces that he could reach. His fingers held her open still, not letting her hide behind even her own flesh.
He strung kisses along the crease of her thigh and pelvis. Made matching bites on the high inside of her thighs and then licked the sting away. He latched on to the hard center of her sweet, delicious flower and sucked until she bucked against his mouth.
And he still wanted more.
He pulled her off the stepladder and laid her under the sparkling tree. Then he threw off his clothes, his heart slamming as he watched her struggle out of her own. Bailey, going naked for him.
It turned him on so much he had to taste her again. This time he pushed her thighs wide, his palms just above the new marks he’d made on her flesh, and watched her sex unfurl for him. Then he dove down to accept her erotic invitation. Her body arched upward as he descended and he filled her with his tongue, trying to get to the very center of her. She cried out, the passionate sound piercing him to the gut.
He glanced up and saw that she was wide open to him, her legs splayed, her arms spread wide, her eyes not squeezed tight, but open too, trained on Finn. On Finn pleasing her.
Bailey, vulnerable, open, giving him everything. Trusting.
His heart hammering against his chest, he reached up to squeeze her breasts and thrust his tongue once more toward her heart.
She screamed, climaxing against his mouth.
Gratified, satisfied, feeling pretty damn puffed-up even with his cock cryin’ the my-turn blues, Finn slid up Bailey’s still-trembling body. Soft, wet, her body took him in like a key sliding into a lock. He groaned into her ear.
She let out another small scream.
He lifted his head. “Christ, I must be better than I thought. Again already?”
“S-Santa. Santa’s watching.”
“Huh?”
“Finn, do something.”
He followed her pointing finger. In the doorway stood her two red-robed gatekeepers. While Santa appeared benignly interested in the sight before him, Finn had to admit that Mrs. Claus wore a pinched look of disapproval behind her wire-rimmed granny glasses. Glancing back at Bailey, he surrendered to the inevitable and clambered to his feet.
When he got close, Mrs. C tried to wave him off.
“Prude,” he muttered, then relocated the figurines out of sight. In a flash he was back to the naked woman who was his ticket to paradise.
Naked, donut-stealing woman.
“It’s not refreshment time,” he scolded, staring her down. Sitting up, she had a powdered sugar treat in one hand and was rummaging through the box with the other. “We’re not done yet, lady.”
She smiled and held out the half-eaten donut. “I’ll share.”
“Damn straight you will.” Lying back beside her, he shoved the pink box out the way, then pushed her down to make his place between her legs again. He bent his head to lick up the powder that had fallen onto her breasts.
“Mmm,” she said. “Maybe I don’t need a donut after all. Maybe I’m hungry for something else.”
Finn’s head shot up. His gaze jumped to her flushed face.
Her knees clamped his hips. He let them sink lower to find her and slide into her again, once more trying to plumb her depths. The donut fell from her hand and her damp nipples rubbed against his chest.
