“And you’re kind and helpful,” he went on. “You’re brave. You feel things deeply and you’re not afraid to share that.”
She pressed her lips together and her eyes grew shiny. “Don’t say things like that.”
“Why?”
“Because guys who say shit like that never mean it and I don’t want to find you that you’re like every other…”
Finn groaned and closed his eyes, resting his forehead against hers as she murmured soft, broken words about the many disappointments in her past. He’d meant to reassure her, to promise her he was different, but the torrent of words started and she didn’t pause for breath. She unburdened herself with all those awful lies and smiling insults, and even though it nearly launched the bear into a murderous rage, Finn listened. He heard and absorbed all that grief and anger. He kissed her occasionally, to distract her when she got too caught up, and nuzzled behind her ear.
He would wait until she fell asleep, then crank one out in the back room, then deal with the fire and curl up with her again to get some rest. He didn’t know what the fuck they were goingto do once the blizzard passed. Shotgun might still be barreling toward them without giving a shit about safety, or the drug runners searching for their missing compatriots might stumble across the cabin. It wasn’t exactly hidden, and there weren’t a lot of places the culprits could have gone if they found where he’d killed the two assholes.
Half his mind turned over that problem, debating how best to protect her, while the rest of his attention stayed on Lauren. He’d never been good with emotions or caring about what other people felt and thought, at least until he ended up at the house and little Francine landed in the middle of his life like a frag grenade. She’d taught him about patience and calm, and the difference between hearing something andlistening.
Lauren gave a watery laugh and slid her arm around his neck to bury her face in his shoulder. “I’m sorry, this isn’t what…”
“Don’t apologize,” he said. His fingers worked through her hair to give her a scalp massage, and she went limp and sighing next to him. “I want to hear every word you’ve got in that beautiful head of yours.”
“You say that now.” She laughed again without humor, and stroked the back of his neck. “You’ll get tired of it. Of me. You’ll tell me to shut up because you want to watch something, or that I’m wrong and shouldn’t be talking about shit I don’t understand, or…”
“Darlin’,” he said. Finn wished he could shake some sense into her. Jesus tap-dancing Christ. He was absolutely going to hire a PI to track down every shitbag she mentioned, even in passing, and then he’d come up with some fake fucking charges so Shotgun would go out and kill them. Neat, easy, and his hands were clean. Vengeance done right. “I mean it. I could listen to you read the phonebook.”
She snorted and worked her fingers through his hair, playing and teasing absently as she forgot to be nervous. Finn tiltedhis head into her caress, wanting her to hit that one spot right near his ear that made him grumble in anticipation. Lauren’s thoughts had drifted, though, as she rambled. “You’d be the only one. Even in school the teachers would get mad because I couldn’t ever read out loud when they told me but there were other times I just couldn’t stop talking, and no onelistenedand it didn’t matter how many times I had the right answer, no one ever paid attention and they said I didn’t really know how to do fractions and…”
Finn dropped his head to kiss the side of her neck. “Fractions, hm?”
“Yeah.” She tilted her head to give him better access, or maybe just to stare into the fire, and kept playing with his hair. “You know, three halves times a third. Or something like that.”
“I never liked math,” he said. Finn inhaled her scent and made his way down her throat to her shoulder, down and over to the other side to explore her jaw and earlobe.
“I was good at it,” she said, hauling his head back so he would meet her gaze. Her earnest expression melted his heart. She wanted him toknowthat she’d been able to do the math problems, no matter what anyone else said or thought. “Really. And the times when I did good on the tests they said I cheated off Jeremy Evers, who sat next to me and tried to touch my butt when I sat down.”
“Jeremy Evers?” A growl snuck into his voice. “I’ll take care of that.”
Lauren’s eyes widened. “What…”
“Don’t worry about it.” He’d deal with that little shit. “What kind of math did you like? Just fractions?”
He touched her waist under her sweater and her ribs expanded against his palm as she breathed. Lauren laughed and squirmed as her back arched. “You really want to talk about math?”
“I want to talk about whatever you want to tell me about,” he murmured. Although Finn thought he’d hated math before, if that was what they ended up talking about instead of getting naked, he’d spend a year burning every fucking textbook he could find. “Fractions. Long division. Tangents. Isosceles triangles.”
Lauren giggled and relaxed more, and actually kissed his cheek on her own. Her breath grew short, a little shallow, and her whole face flushed. “What about limits?”
“Limits?” Finn sucked on her neck to give her a hell of a hickey.
“What if,” she whispered, her hands still. “You take me to my limit?”
His ears rang. Finn lifted his head so he could see her expression. “Are we still talking about math?”
Lauren shook her head. The bear started a very cautious celebration in the back of his head, but Finn wasn’t ready to rip his pants off yet. She’d gotten energized before and then shy again. He needed to pace himself. He kissed her again until they were both breathless, and she clung to him like a barnacle. Right. He’d get to find out his own limits, too.
LAUREN
Somehow she started talking about math class and then Finn said something sweet about long division and she couldn’t take it anymore. Even though he didn’t try anything, just the heat and comfort of his weight against her, slightly over her but not intimidating, pushed her to the edge of her sanity. Even if she’d never really enjoyed sex, Finn brought a whole new level of excitement with him.
Somewhere she found the courage to whisper about taking her to the limit, not sure that he would understand, but his eyes gleamed and turned gold, and a soft growl rumbled in his chest. Her heart sped up and her stomach fluttered even as her thighs clenched. Sure, she’d enjoyed grinding on him until little ripples of pleasure ran through her, but instead of just feeling relaxed and going to sleep after he did what he wanted, she felt restless and overheated. Her core felt flushed and heavy, ready for something more, and the second he touched her, he’d realize that her panties were absolutely soaked.
Lauren had never been so embarrassed or turned on in her life.
