Well, of course he knew. He’d done this often enough.
Stop thinking about it, Lyse.
She couldn’t hold things he’d done before he was with her against him. Well, she could, but that wasn’t who she wanted to be. Who she wanted them to be. She had a past too, albeit nothing to do with sex—much worse, she’d almost gotten him blown up. She didn’t want him holding that against her, and she needed to do the same.
But right now she needed to hurry. There were things to do. Important things.
The scent of her shampoo hit her at the same time as the click of the lid on the bottle. “Tilt your head back for me,” Fionn said. His voice was rough after sleep, gravelly, like he’d used it all night—or like he’d been growling and groaning and calling her name. And he had. She shivered at the memories even as she obeyed him.
No one had ever washed her hair but the corner hairdresser, and since she had straight, long hair, she didn’t even do that very often. Fionn’s thick fingers massaged the soap along her scalp, just like he’d massaged her hips and thighs, working the soap through her hair. When he took the weight of her head in his hands and dug his fingers in, she couldn’t hold back a moan.
“Feels good, yeah?” he asked. “One day I’ll let you wash mine.”
Her heart skipped a beat. One day… One day was in the future. She’d known he enjoyed last night, but he was talking about a future. For them. Holy—
Breathe, Lyse. Breathe.
Turning her around, Fionn began to rinse the soap from her hair. She kept her eyes tightly closed for protection…and to hide the sheer giddy excitement rising inside her. A future. She and Fionn, together.
“Now what’s that grin about?”
She wiped the water from her eyes, then looked up at him. Were there hearts in her eyes? She felt like there must be. “Nothing.” Moving close, she dared to place a kiss on his pec, right next to a taut nipple. “I’ll wash your hair anytime.”
There came that growl again. She was still grinning when Fionn grabbed her face and held her still for his kiss—a thorough kiss that had her up on tiptoe, trying to get closer, grabbing on tight so she wouldn’t fall. Their slick bodies slid together, taking her breath almost as much as his kiss. By the time he let her go, she was aching for totally different reasons.
Given the fact that he was hard, she’d say he felt the same.
A wet smack landed on her ass cheek. “Hey!”
Fionn smirked. “People are waiting. Stop distracting me.”
She reached for the soap. “You’re the one who came in here.”
“I’ll do it again too.” He poured shampoo into his hand. “Got a problem with that?”
Hell no. But she turned herself into the water for a quick rinse to hide the grin taking her over from the inside out.
Dinner was landing on the table as she and Fionn walked into the kitchen a few minutes later. Guilt that Siobhan was doing almost all the cooking ate at Lyse, but total honesty—she wasn’t a great cook. She did a few things well but had a tendency to burn food when her mind got distracted with whatever project she was working on. She hadn’t set her kitchen on fire yet, so she was one up on most of the computer nerds she knew, but…yeah, she’d come close a couple times.
Tonight she was surprised to see the enigmatic King with an apron around his waist, settling a plate of burgers on the table. She’d never have guessed the man could cook, but the scent of meat and potatoes filled the room, and she heard more than one stomach growl as they all sat down. King came last, met with a chorus of appreciation as each of them bit into the juicy hamburgers.
“I’ve got a location for us to be checking tonight,” Mack said, getting right down to business. The words put a knot in Lyse’s stomach. Checking out meant scouting, and there shouldn’t be any contact, but there wasn’t a lot of distance between shouldn’t and couldn’t. As the men discussed logistics, Lyse dared a glance at Siobhan, seeing her worry reflected on the older woman’s face. This time she would insist on two-way communication. Fionn hadn’t been going into danger last night, or at least they hadn’t thought he was, and still Lyse had barely managed to endure his little jaunt. She wouldn’t put Siobhan through that, not with her lover and son both going.
After dinner Lyse stayed behind to help clean up while mission prep was started. She and Siobhan stood side by side, doing the dishes, the moment quiet except for the clink of silverware and plates in the sink.
“You’ve done this a good bit, haven’t you?” Siobhan asked finally. Lyse could hear the strain in her words.
“Often enough.” She ran the sponge carefully over the glass in her hand. “Most of what I monitor is stateside. When the teams are out of the country, they only have each other to rely on. I’m better at hacking and programming anyway.” She watched the soap suds trickle along the clear glass. “Fionn knows what he’s doing.”
She’d had to trust in that more times than she could count, for every team, but Fionn’s had been the hardest.
Siobhan took the rinsed glass when Lyse passed it over. “You’ve been caring about him a long time.”
Lyse met her eyes. No anger, no concern. Siobhan had always accepted her, and in that look she could see the older woman knew something had changed between Lyse and Fionn. Likely the entire house knew something had
