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“You are stunning,” he whispered into her ear, wrapping his arms around her once more and pulling her close.
Tilting her head forward so her brow rested on his chest, she breathed in the scent of him.
The sounds of the outback night just outside the tent walls were familiar and peaceful, the smell of the country air like a balm to her soul.
Finn tilted her chin up so he could stare into her eyes. “I meant it,” he said. “You are a stunning woman. And I’m one lucky man.” He kissed her, mouth melding with hers, becoming more demanding as their thighs entwined, and her wandering hands smoothed down his strong back and over his muscular buttocks.
They needed somewhere to get comfy, and her camp bed just wouldn’t cut it, it wasn’t nearly big enough for what she had planned. But the blanket from her camp bedwasjust what they needed. Breaking their kiss, she ripped it off the bed and lay iton the tent floor, getting down onto her knees and dragging him with her.
Needing no further encouragement, he lay her gently on her back and then his body covered hers. The heavy weight of him setting her heart pounding. Her lips found his, and this time he didn’t hold back, his hands were all over her body, squeezing her breasts, rolling her nipples between his thumb and forefinger. She couldn’t get enough of his warm skin beneath her palms. Her belly began to quake and a growing heat crept lower down her thighs. Her hand crept between their bodies, to find the velvet steel of his cock pressing into her stomach. She stroked it and delighted in the way he sucked in a sharp breath at her touch. Which reminded her…
Without telling him what she was doing, she crawled over to her bag on the floor and rifled through it until she came up with her prize. Then she crawled back and pressed the silver package into his palm. Protection was important to her; she needed to know she wasn’t going to get pregnant. Not after what happened with Patrick. Safety was a priority, now. She had a whole packet of them back at the lodge, but this one would have to do for tonight.
“Oh, good,” he said, giving her a sheepish smile. “I hate to say it, but I didn’t come prepared. I never thought…”
She covered his mouth with her own to stop his words. It was a sign of his decency that he’d never even considered having sex with someone while he was undercover. It was a sign that this thing between them had come as much of a shock to him as it had to her. A sign that perhaps he hadn’t slept with anyone since his wife had left him. But she didn’t want to think about any of that right now.
Instead, she rocked back on her heels and watched, unabashed, as he sheathed himself. She only had one condom,so they’d better make this good. But somehow, she knew already this was going to be better than good.
Slowly, tantalizingly, she lay back on the blanket, drawing him with her. Staring deep into his eyes, as he hovered above her, she wanted to tell him to hurry up. She wanted him inside her, could feel his cock resting at the entrance to her core.
“Finn, I need you,” she whispered.
It was all the encouragement he required as he slipped inside her and Indy drowned in the sweet feeling of having a man making love to her. Oh, so good. The world seemed to blur around the edges, and there were only her and Finn, together. Nothing else mattered. No one else mattered. They moved to a rhythm immemorial, his thrusts becoming harder and deeper as she rose to meet him. It didn’t take long for Indy’s blood to sing through her veins.
“I’m close,” he said, as they rocked back and forth, hips grinding, the sweet ecstasy building inside her. “But I need you to come with me.”
Oh, yes, she was so close, too. She moved with him, accepted him even deeper, and then suddenly the wave built until it could no longer be contained. She couldn’t help it, she cried out as her nails raked down his back. He called her name a split second later, as they both finally let go.
He lay on top of her, panting for many minutes, until his breathing returned to almost normal. Without letting go of her, he rolled to the side, and rid himself of the condom, then gathered her back into his arms. They lay together; him spooning her from behind, his warm breath on her neck, arms enfolding her in a cocoon of pure bliss. There was no need to speak. His touch said it all. The slow rhythmic beating of his heart against her back.
She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt so…cherished. As if Finn had branded her as his own with every single kiss.Certainly not with Patrick. And not with any of her previous boyfriends, either. Finn was different. Special. When she was with him, she felt like the only one who truly mattered to him.
“I want to stay here with you,” he muttered dreamily, breaking their cloak of delicious silence. “But I need to get back to my tent.”
Indy wanted him to stay, as well. To lie, legs entangled, enveloped in his arms until the morning light edged the sky. But that wasn’t how this worked, and she knew it as well as he did.
So, instead of asking him to stay, she let him go. Got up and piled her blanket back on her camp bed, then watched him as he dressed. They kissed goodnight, long and deep, and she stood naked and alone as he walked in the bush through the dark night.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
FINN HID A yawn behind the back of his hand as he waited his turn to fill his plate with breakfast. There was a nip in the air this morning and he returned his hand back into the pocket of his sheepskin coat. But no matter how tired he was this morning, it’d all been worth it. He turned to stare at the skyline, where the sun was turning the indigo sky to the palest pink. Those few minutes before the sun rose over the horizon were always the most beautiful, to Finn’s mind. If only he could’ve still been lying in Indy’s arms, watching the sunrise through the open zipper of her tent, it would’ve been the most perfect morning ever.
Indy hadn’t joined the queue yet, and he wondered if she’d struggled to get out of bed as much as he had this morning. He could still hardly believe he and Indy had made love. He’d never really believed that it would happen, even though he’d been fantasizing about it constantly over the past week. Even though the air between them had buzzed with unrequited sexual tension. Even though he dreamed about her every night, and could hardly think of anything else during the day. It still came as a shock to his system. A good shock, but one that he wasn’t sure what to do about now in the cold light of day. Had it been a one-night thing? Their craving for each other too hard to ignore, gratified by one magical night, and then pushed aside because reality kicked in?
Part of him truly hoped for more. Was desperate to be with Indy again. The way she set his body and soul on fire was hard to ignore. The way her fierce independence, and at the same timeher soft vulnerability, called out to the man inside him. Even the smallest things, like the way she tilted her head ever so slightly to the side when something confused her, the way her dark eyes reflected the starlight late at night, as if the stars lived in her very soul, or the way electricity buzzed over his skin when she touched him.
A nagging voice kept asking if he was ready for anything more than one night? He would never tell Indy this, but a small part of him somehow felt like he was betraying his marriage to Chloe. Betraying his connection with his daughter by sleeping with another woman. For so long, his perception of himself as a man had been tied to the fact that he was a husband and a father. Of course, he knew he was lots of other things, as well. A police detective, a brother, a son, a friend, and a bloody good squash player—when he had the time. But once you had a child, they were tied to your heart forever; no matter if you never saw them again, they always lived inside you.
Was he really ready to finally move on? To sign those divorce papers? He would always be Kayleigh’s father, but if he let another woman into his life, how would Kayleigh accept that? Would she reject him? See him as her father no longer? Finn huffed. It was more complicated than he’d first imagined.
Indy suddenly appeared around the edge of the mess tent and he couldn’t help the warm flash of recognition that surged through his chest. She caught his eye and ducked her head. But the soft smile she tried to hide at the sight of him warmed his heart. She was dressed in a warm overcoat, jeans, and boots, hiding all those glorious curves. But he knew they were there, and his cock hardened at the mere thought. Even with all these confusing thoughts going around in his head, he still wanted her.Down, boy.Think about something else; anything else. The last thing he wanted was to scare everyone away from their breakfast with his raging boner. It’d also be a dead giveaway thatsomething was going on between him and Indy. And he needed to keep that quiet. For now. Even though he wanted to shout it to the world, that Indy made him incredibly happy, made him feel like he was invincible. Apart from the fact he was working an undercover case, and he couldn’t risk revealing himself to anyone else but Indy, he also wasn’t ready to do that. He had a lot of shit to sort through, first.
Dale sauntered up to stand beside Bindi, who was behind the table, piling more toast onto a platter and making sure Dave left some of the bacon for the rest of them.
“I need someone to stay back at camp with me today,” Dale said. “One of the bore pumps has broken down over at the north paddock, and I’m sending Mack to fix it. But that means I need another hand to help load the cattle onto the trucks this morning.”
There was silence as people digested Dale’s words, then feet began to shuffle in the dust. No one really wanted to stay back. They would if they had to, but everyone was waiting for someone else to offer first.
