of ecstasy.
Keep it together. Don’t lose it. Don’t you dare.
With one last light squeeze of her breast Finn skimmed up and over her collarbone to rub her bottom lip, back and forth. Then he pushed his index finger inside her hot moist mouth at the same time as he thrust his two fingers deep and thumbed her sweet spot to tease out her pleasure.
Plunge and stroke, here and there, until she writhed and swirled her tongue around his finger. Holy… And when he touched her nipple with a nice long lave of his tongue…
She broke, splintered, shattered, coming long and hard, spasm after spasm racking her body. The walls of her femininity closed in, squeezing his fingers as she flew apart at the seams, clamping violently in a stunning erotic symphony.
Sweat trickled down his spine, making the tight, scarred skin of his back itch. Hold it together. Hold it.
As she tumbled from the heights of bliss, rolling in wonder and passion and exhilaration, Finn leaned his forehead against hers, jaw locked, his total focus on willing the erection bursting out of the top of his jeans to chill out. Willing his body not to come just from watching her orgasm.
He needed air. Now. He was shaking from head to foot and his teeth were clamped so tight he nearly cracked a molar.
‘Finn?’ she breathed.
‘Give me a minute.’ He squeezed his eyes shut.
Her small hand slipped off his shoulder, smoothed down his chest, and didn’t stop until she cupped his erection through his jeans.
He hissed out a choice curse. ‘Careful, beautiful.’ He placed his hand over hers to lift it to his mouth and kiss her palm. ‘This can’t happen between us, Serena. For starters, I haven’t got a condom.’ He sounded a hoarse, desperate man. Very true, that.
‘It’s already started, Finn.’ Back down she went, fingering his jeans. ‘I’m safe. You’re clean, right?’ She began to rip his belt buckle free.
Once more he tugged her hand away, knowing he’d never make it a third time.
‘Serena, I’ve never had sex without a condom in my life.’
This could not happen. He needed a condom. It would be too close. Too intimate. Too everything.
Without a barrier he’d lose it. Lose himself. Inside her. He would mark her. Brand her. Have real trouble letting her go.
‘We’re stopping before we go too far.’ There. That should do it. He sounded forceful and arrogant and domineering. And just so he could cut off the screenplay in his head he hitched up her bra strap and veiled her gorgeous breasts.
‘Don’t you want to sleep with me, Finn? Be inside me?’
He groaned long and low, never having wanted anything more in his entire life. Right now an endless reel played in his head. She was so utterly perfect for him. But he was not the man for her.
In another life he would think he’d finally found The One. If he’d been a different man. If he’d made different choices and hadn’t caused so much pain. Pain he knew he’d eventually cause her again. He was too selfish. Unreliable.
He was also taking too long to answer, because she’d tugged her jeans into place and wriggled back into her T. All the while trying to school an expression made up of dejection and embarrassment.
‘I don’t do it for you, do I?’
Finn cupped her face and kissed her softly on the mouth. ‘One look and you do it for me, beautiful. You always have. But, like I told you before, it’s a bad idea. You’ll wake up in the morning and hate me even more. Regret every minute. Feel only emptiness. It’s a stone-cold feeling, Serena, I promise you.’
She stared into his eyes. ‘So what was that? Friends with benefits?’
‘Sure—why not? You needed me.’
‘You need me too.’ She dipped her head to where he was straining against denim and licked her lips in bashful invitation. ‘At least let me…?’
Finn reared back, creating some space. Hell, no. If she knelt before him, took him into her mouth, he would never get the picture out of his head.
‘I won’t take pleasure from you. That was for you, just this once. Never to be repeated.’
If they reached this point again he’d be powerless to stop.
The only reason he had this encounter under control was because they were in Zane’s office, with no condoms, flanked by secrets and lies.
Here she was, beginning to trust him, and she couldn’t. It was insane. She was forgiving him, tumbling into his arms under the influence of deceit, and he could not sink into her body, look into her eyes as he came inside her, without her knowing the full truth.
‘There are many things I’m not proud of in my life. If I take from you, if I use you, it will be one too many. Do you want a friend, Serena? Or a one-night stand that leaves you frozen? We can’t have both.’
For long moments she stared at her feet, drew patterns with the toe of her boot.
Then she glanced up and gave him a small, indecipherable smile. ‘Then I guess…a friend.’
Finn swallowed. Hard. ‘Good. Friends it is.’
Satisfied he’d taken the hard edge off his need, he grabbed her hand. ‘Come hither, Miss Scott, the night is young.’
Halfway out the door she crashed to a halt, and Finn followed her line of sight to their entwined fingers, dangling between them.
Well, what do you know? He hadn’t even realised. ‘What’s up, baby? You never held hands with someone before?’
Brow nipped, she gave a little shake of her head. ‘No.’
Finn shrugged, made it easy. ‘Me neither.’ And before she could make more of it he hauled her out of the room. ‘Now, let’s get out of here. Don’t know about you, but I’m starving.’
For a woman he could never have.
‘WHAT’S GOING ON?’ Serena tucked her bike helmet under one arm, shook the damp kinks out of her hair with the splayed fingers of her free hand and closed in on the small crowd gathered at the pits. ‘What’s the SL1 doing down here?’
One glance at her big beauty, squatting on the Silverstone circuit, looking every inch the sleek, glorious feline she was, and Serena felt her heart swell up with pride.
It wasn’t until the silence stretched that she realised several pairs of peepers were soaking in the sight of her going all goo-goo—over a car, for heaven’s sake. Sometimes you’re such a girl, Serena.
Tearing her eyes away, she
