He sorted quietly through the supplies scattered on the floor from his pack, taking stock of what kind of food remained and how long it would last them. At least water wouldn’t be a problem with all the snow outside. Bathing could take foreveror be really fucking cold, and he didn’t have that many baby wipes left. His leg still ached and the scars, despite being pink and healed over, remained thin and sensitive. He couldn’t stress the wounds too much or he’d end up with another open cut and more gnarly markings. Not that it mattered; he would just get another tattoo to cover it all up. Or he’d live with it, because it reminded him of the best day of his life: when he met Lauren.
Finn rolled his eyes at his own ridiculousness. If Simon or Ethan said anything so fucking sappy, Finn wouldn’t have let them live it down, ever.Ever. He could not have imagined feeling that way about anyone or anything. Even if Franny gave him a run for the money. Still, it wasn’t even a question of whether his life meant more after meeting Lauren. It just did. Everything before her, before that awful moment being trapped in metal jaws and hearing her whisper not to eat her, felt dull and gray and silent. Lacking any life or passion, any emotion. It was his past and his history, and he’d remember it for the lessons it taught him and the things he’d survived, but what mattered most was what stood in front of him: his future with Lauren.Thatwas important. Everything else…was just bullshit.
He checked the sat phone and scrolled through a couple of messages from Simon and Shotgun. The rest of the world waited to make trouble for him and Lauren both, and it was just a matter of time until the real world intruded on the cabin. The only question was what disturbed them first. Simon and the bears, Shotgun and his cowboys, or a bunch of gun-happy drug smugglers. Maybe even a bounty hunter or two thrown in, if Lauren was right that the bail bondsman might be looking for her. He shook his head and looked around for a way to put together breakfast. They’d eat, then plan. Then they could get on with life together.
LAUREN
She didn’t dream, which was a miracle. Ever since being arrested and going on the run, she’d been plagued with nightmares of being pursued and arrested again and ending up in solitary confinement forever. Being alone with just her thoughts would have been the kind of torture that was outlawed under international law.
Lauren woke up and felt almost drunk on being too well-rested. When was the last time that happened? She couldn’t remember, even before she’d fallen in with the activists and cryptozoologists. There hadn’t really been a time that she slept well, not when she had to worry about whether her mother was overdosing or one of Mom’s boyfriends might want to steal something or creep into her room. So she’d learned to only sleep a little at a time, keeping an ear tuned to any unfamiliar noises. She’d barely gotten used to sleeping in the cabin and the noises of the forest when she had to start lighting the fire and barring the door against the strong winds, and other things that kept disturbing her.
She figured with Finn there, breathing and moving and snoring a little, that she wouldn’t have slept a wink. It was too strange to have someone on the mattress next to her, and hesmelled different, and moved around, and took up more room than anyone she remembered sleeping next to. He should have kept her up and on-edge, waiting for trouble. And yet…he didn’t.
Lauren rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and took in the cheerily dancing fire as she tried to put the night back together. Her abs ached pleasantly, and even though chilly air worked its way into the sleep bag to caress her naked skin, she stretched out so she felt every inch of her body moving. Wow.
Finn had been an enormous, warm mountain next to her all night. She vaguely remembered waking up once or twice but always he was there. He’d patted whatever part of her was closest and usually snuggled her tight to his chest with one of those bear-y grumbles and some murmured nonsense. And it worked. Each time, it worked, and she went back to sleep confident that nothing was wrong, everything was okay, and she was safe.
What kind of insanity was that? She’d known him probably three days, and learned he was some kind of half-bear man, and not only did she have sex with him, she was on the verge of following him home and shacking up the rest of their lives. She pushed up on her elbows to peer around the room, searching for a hint of where Finn had gone. The room was too warm for him to have gone out the front door, so he had to still be in the almost-falling-down structure.
Before she wondered more than a second, Finn appeared from the back rooms, arms full of random supplies. He smiled when he saw her awake, and her stomach squirmed with nerves and anticipation. Damn. How could the man affect her so easily, so completely? She wanted to hide under the covers and throw them back so he saw all of her, all at the same time.
His grin didn’t slip as he dumped the pile of stuff onto an existing pile of stuff near the little kitchenette, then sauntered over to the mattress like he stalked her through the forest again.She shivered, but not in the same way she had fleeing the day before. Lauren couldn’t help but bite her thumb to keep from saying something ridiculous about the way his hips moved or the way his hair was shaggy enough she had something to hold on to when it really mattered. “Good morning.”
“Good mornin’, sugar,” he said, those white teeth flashing as he grinned more. Finn didn’t loom over her for long but went to his knee on the mattress and leaned in to brush his lips to hers. “You hungry?”
“Mmm,” was all she managed after being distracted by his mouth and his hand as it wandered to brace against her side.
When Finn finally pulled away, she tried to collect her scattered thoughts and utterly failed because he didn’t go far. His attention landed on her chest and his hand slid up her ribcage until he caressed her breast. Lauren had to bite her lip to keep from moaning as his thumb passed roughly over her nipple, already hard in the cold air, and his mouth descended to explore in a wet heat that shocked her into silence. Finn grumbled as he switched to the other breast and the cold air chilled the first even more, the skin tightening until Lauren shifted and moved around so she touched it.
Which, of course, made Finn light up like a Christmas tree. He kissed the spot between her breasts, then down her stomach, and murmured, “Touch yourself.”
Lauren hadn’t planned on immediately having sex with him this morning, since she figured morning breath and hunger and sleepiness would get in the way, but the growl in his voice and the way he looked at her… She shivered from head to toe and slowly covered her breasts with her hands, watching him the whole time. Finn grinned and rubbed his bearded chin against her stomach, petting her hip and thigh as he watched.
She squeezed her breasts and sighed, half closing her eyes, and imagined the way he’d loved her the night before. Herfeet moved together in the tangled blankets, and Finn stroked the inside of her knee. His eyes practically glowed. “I’m a little hungry myself.”
Lauren wanted to laugh but a nervous giggle was all that escaped. She could assume what she wanted, but there wasn’t any guarantee that he actually meant what she hoped he meant.
Finn trailed his fingers down her stomach and around her hips to squeeze her ass. “I’d really like to cover you in honey and lick it off you, but I don’t think I brought enough with me and it would get everything sticky.”
“Maybe next time,” she managed to whisper, even as her face caught fire and the rest of her followed suit. She didn’t need the fire to stay warm anymore, she probably could have melted all the snow outside just by opening the door.
“Definitely next time,” he said. His fingers dug in to her butt and she lifted her hips in response, back arching. He nudged her knees apart and nibbled on the inside of her knee before he worked his way closer to the apex of her thighs. “This is way better than the oatmeal I was going to make, though.”
Lauren squeaked and smacked his shoulder, twisting away despite that his massive shoulders kept her knees spread and prevented her from escaping. Finn laughed and said, “I’m kidding,” and she settled down.
Until he added, “I was going to make pancakes.”
She would have objected or at least smacked him, but instead his mouth descended and his tongue swiped across her clit and she forgot everything she meant to say or do.
Lauren lost herself in the unbelievable sensations, the ease of it all. Whatever nerves had plagued her the night before, whatever uncertainty had made her tense up, were gone. Right or wrong, she trusted Finn not to use her for his own selfish needs and then abandon her. At least he’d get her off first.
Her fingers worked into his hair and dug into his scalp as he continued the slow teasing, and he tilted his head so she reached a spot behind his ears. Lauren couldn’t swallow a smile. It must have been the bear side of him that wanted his ears scratched. Her back arched and her heels dug into the mattress as she hovered on the edge of a surprisingly quick climax, one of those shivery ones that snuck up on her and grew into something amazing if she held on and rode through it. Her eyes squeezed shut as she concentrated, breathing deeply and thinking of the night before as they tangled up in front of the fire—skin against skin, the slippery sensation of his body against hers, his mouth on her breasts, his breath in her ear, the way he groaned when he came…
Lauren sucked in a breath, ready to shatter, and a loud, clanging noise filled the cabin. She blinked, grip tightening on his hair, and tried not to lose focus. Finn hesitated but didn’t retreat, then the noise repeated. And again. He muttered, shoulders rigid with annoyance, and finally shoved back. “I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. Just…hold on a sec.”
She lifted her head to watch as he retrieved a complicated looking phone. He cursed the whole time, the sweatpants slung low on one hip and doing nothing to hide his massive hard-on. At least he definitely was just as turned on as she was, and he wasn’t looking for an excuse to break things off early.
Not that it helped her deal with the coitus interruptus.
