Lured In (15 page)

Then up she came, bursting out of the water, gasping for air as Finn pulled her against him and moved them both to shallower water where she could stand on her own.

Only she didn't.

Instead, she monkey-hugged him, buried her face against the side of his neck, and clung there, shivering and fighting to breathe.

Finn wrapped his arms around her and held on as tight as he dared, hoping it would help her through the nightmare and somehow make her feel safe again. If it did, she had one hell of a strange way of showing it.

“I hate you,” she choked. “I hate you so much right now.”

“I know.” That shouldn't make him smile, but it did because he was so damn proud of her. He pressed a kiss against the side of her head and squeezed her even tighter. “You did it, Jess. You did it!”

She didn't say anything, just locked her ankles together against his lower back and gave in to the short, convulsive shudders that wracked her whole body.

God, he hated it when she cried, hated that he couldn't do anything to lighten the weight of her fear, and hated that each one of her sobs vibrated inside his chest so hard it felt as if he were the one crying.

He started for the shore and their towels but Jess shook her head against him. “D-do it again.”

“No. You don't—”

“If I…if I get out n-now, I won't ev-ver get b-back in. I m-mean it.”

Could he put her through that again? God knew he didn't want to, but did he have a choice?

“Okay,” he finally growled. “One more time.”

“Uh-uh.” Still trembling, she shook her head again. “I have to k-keep doing it till I don't s-see her anymore.”

“Jess, this is too much. Maybe you should—”

“No. I h-have to.”

He started to argue again, but she won with two simple words.

“Please, Finn.”

Well, fuck
.

“Fine,” he grumbled. “But only if you promise to never say you hate me again.”

Her nod was quick and sharp, just like her laugh.

He walked them back out to where they'd been, but he couldn't bring himself to peel her off him. She might want to do it again and again, but he'd be a hell of lot happier with her staying right where she was because as far as he was concerned, she had nothing left to prove.

It took her a long time to uncurl herself and then longer to actually let him go again, but she did it. And then she was gone, sinking under the water, her hair floating out around her exactly the same way she'd described her sister's, until she hit the bottom and came shooting straight back up again.

Finn caught her just as he'd done the first time, walked them back to where she could touch, then let her hang on to him and cry as long as she needed. When she gathered herself together, she nodded briefly and they did it all over again.

He didn't know where her strength came from, but there seemed to be a well of it somewhere inside her. The time between dunks grew shorter, but every time she came up for air, she clung to him as hard as she had the first time. Finn had never had anyone hold him that tight before; never had anyone put that much faith in the fact he'd be there for them. And the truth was, he'd never wanted to be held that tight, never wanted to be the person anyone put their faith in, because it would mean he'd have to put his faith in them, too, and he'd never been able to do that.

Until now.

After the eighth time, Jess wrapped herself around him and didn't let go again. So neither did Finn—partly because he needed her to feel completely safe again and partly because, in all his life, nothing had ever felt as good as having her in his arms, with her soft lips fluttering lightly against his neck every time she gasped in a breath.

He never moved, just synced his breathing with hers and then slowed them both down, bit by bit, until she was no longer gasping or gulping, until her chest stopped heaving and she loosened her choke hold around his neck.

He had no idea how long they stood there, but somewhere between her last gulping breath and the moment when she lifted her head off his shoulder, something changed.

The air shifted between them, crackled almost, and the breath she'd worked so hard to catch was now soft and trembling when her cheek, so close to his, scraped against the stubble he was now kicking himself for not shaving off.

God help him if she turned even a fraction of an inch, her mouth would be…
oh shit
.

What the fuck was he supposed to do now? How was he supposed to
not
kiss her when she was right there, her eyes so wide and filled with the same confusion, heat, and longing that had been crashing through him for the last month or so?

How was he supposed to stop wanting to taste those lips when she kept sliding her tongue over them like that?

It wasn't too late. He hadn't done anything yet, and if he took her back to shore right then and there, they'd still be safe; nothing would have changed.

But he didn't want to take her back to shore, he didn't want to be safe, and the longer they stood there like that, the more he wanted every single thing in his life to change.

It wasn't up to him, though.

All she'd have to do is pull away from him, turn her head or loosen her hold, and it would be over.

But she didn't do any of those things; she just kept looking at him with those velvety brown eyes as though she was searching for some kind of answer. And after what felt like a couple of hundred thousand years, she finally tipped her face closer to his, blinked through her uncertainty, and brushed her unbelievably soft mouth against his.

And
holy fuck
was it worth the wait.

Through that first touch, then another, slower, softer, and sweeter than hell, Finn held it together—barely—right up until she locked her wide eyes onto his and smiled.

And that was all he needed.

Sliding his right hand around the side of her neck, he stroked his thumb along the curve of her jaw and held her as he took over and kissed her exactly the way he'd been wanting to for so many weeks. Years, if he was being honest.

Long, slow, and deep.

Everything about it was better than perfect, from the way she responded—surprised, unguarded, and eager—to the way she still clung to him, not with the panicked frenzy of earlier but with a trembling need he only recognized because he was trembling the exact same way, even after the kiss ended.

“Ohhh.” Her quiet, slightly strained sigh danced across his mouth, tempting him back to her for one more taste.

Somewhere in Finn's head, Liam's voice screamed on repeat, telling him not to do anything stupid, but Finn shut that voice down, because kissing Jess wasn't stupid.

It was the smartest thing he'd ever done.

And he didn't care one fuckin' bit that he had no idea what to do next. The only thing he cared about right then was that Jess had tucked herself up against him and was smiling against his neck.

“Um…” Her nervous laugh had him chuckling, too, as he stumbled back through the water.

“What are you…Don't—!”

“It's okay.” he said, kissing the wrinkles of her frown. “I just…jeez, woman…”

He didn't even finish, just dropped cross-legged in the shallow water and caught her squeal with another kiss.

“I gotcha,” he murmured, smoothing his hand across her back. “You okay?”

Her nod was too fast, her gaze too jittery, darting all around them, until Finn tipped her chin up so she had to look at him again.

“I gotcha,” he repeated, slower this time. Then, smiling over a low growl, he brushed her wet hair over her shoulder. “It was either get back here so I could sit down or stand out there and have a heart attack.”

That did it; any lingering nerves she might have had melted into a slow smile that shot straight to his crotch.

Fuck
.

They'd already risked enough for one day; he sure as hell didn't need Jess knowing how hard he got every time she smiled at him like that. With her still wrapped around him, he shifted his butt a little, doing his level best to keep her backside as far away from the trouble area as he could, because if she so much as brushed up against him…

Yeah, that'd be bad
.

Great plan, except that in his rush to adjust, he ground his butt cheek into the sharpest fuckin' rock in the lake, and it was taking all his focus not to let out the string of curses building on his tongue.

No; pain was good. If anything could squelch a hard-on, it was pain. So why the hell wasn't it working this time? And—wait—where was Jess going?

“Oh my God, what are we doing?” She unlocked her ankles and scrambled off him, slapping his hand away when he tried to reach for her.

She didn't go far, just sat down in the water beside him (more progress!), but since she wasn't sitting on him anymore, it felt like she was a hundred miles away.

“I don't know about you, but I think I'm”—reaching under his butt, Finn wrenched out the offending rock, grinned awkwardly, and held it up for her to see—“bleeding.”

“Really? You think this is funny?” Fingers splayed, she shook her hands out before smacking them against the water. “Because I'm, like…freaking out right now!”

“Why's that?” He opened his eyes wide, smirked, then blew out a hard breath.

Not even the Olympic gymnastics' team was flipping as hard or as fast as Finn's heart and brain right then, but he couldn't let Jess know that, because he was supposed to be the one making her feel safe, not giving her more reason to freak out.

Jess knew him well enough to know he was kidding, but her response still surprised him.

“Oh God, this is bad. This is really really bad.”

“Thanks,” he muttered. “My ego loves it when you stroke it like that.”

“Not funny.” She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, shaking her head the whole time. “I shouldn't have…I'm sorry…I should never have done that.”

“You're right; you shouldn't have.” He nodded solemnly, loving the way her mouth fell open and expelled a soft breath of disbelief. “It should've been me.”

A normal girl would have smiled sweetly, maybe blushed a little. Jess did neither. Instead, she clicked her tongue and whapped his shoulder with the back of her hand.

“Well, what the hell were you waiting for—an engraved invitation or something?”

“Wha—?” His choked surprise morphed into a defensive chuckle. “Seriously? And risk having you punch my teeth down my throat? No thanks.”

He had to give her credit for trying, but it didn't seem to matter how hard she chewed that bottom lip; she couldn't hold back her smile forever.

“Oh God, Finn, what are we going to do now?” she asked, her voice barely a whisper as she pressed her hands against the side of her head and groaned. “I mean…
shit
.”

Maybe he shouldn't say anything; maybe he should leave it at the one kiss and be done with it. Or…since they'd already done it once, how much damage could one more kiss do? He was even willing to lose a few teeth if that was the price.

“Well,” he said slowly. “The way I look at it, we have two choices.”

“Do tell.”

“We could get up out of this water and carry on like nothing happened. Just chalk it up to a momentary lapse of sanity on your part.”

“
My
part? What about you?”

“Hey—you started it.”

He was kidding, but instead of laughing, she puckered her brow, ever so slightly.

“What's the second choice?”

“You could kiss me again,” he deadpanned. “Not because I
really really
want you to or anything like that, but because it'll show us if that first one was just a one-off. Or…not.”

He lifted his hands palms up and twisted them around as if weighing out the options.

Jess held her silence for a few seconds, then snorted out a harsh laugh and buried her face in her hands. It wasn't a yes, but it wasn't a no, either, so Finn scooted around until he was crouched in front of her.

“This is
such
a bad idea,” she muttered.

“The worst.”

Dropping her hands, she huffed out a sigh, lifted her chin, and looked up at him almost impatiently, as if she wasn't wholly convinced this was the right thing to do but if it would shut him up…

“Fine,” she said. “Just do it.”

“Uh…” Kidding or not, that wasn't even close to the reaction he was hoping for, but as he started to retreat, she reached toward him and curled her index finger around the collar of his T-shirt, her perfect mouth tipped up into a slow, teasing smile.

Taking both her hands in his, he slid them up around his neck, then leaned closer and whispered against her mouth.

“Hold on.”

He let her go, then braced his hands on the bottom of the lake, one on either side of her, and traced the soft curve of her lips with his tongue, savoring every moment and loving the way she didn't hesitate when he moved over her, leaning her into the water just enough that it tickled the back of her head.

She didn't panic, she didn't even squirm, she just held on a little tighter.

Trust. Who knew it was such an amazing thing?

But part of that trust was him not pushing her too far too fast, so he eased her up, wrapped his hands around her waist, and shifted them around until he'd maneuvered her back onto his lap.

She came willingly, nestled her butt into the cradle his crossed legs made, and sat facing him.

“Whew,” she breathed. “Who knew you were such a good kisser?”

“Uh…” With no idea how to respond, he chuckled quietly. “Thank you?”

Wrong answer. Jess pulled way back, her face beet red, and covered her mouth with both of her hands.

“Sorry,” she said, half-mumbling. “Did that make it weird? It sort of slipped out before I could stop it and—”