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“Come on up. It’s 308.”
My heart is still hammering in my chest when I knock on her door. I’m halfway through the second knock when it opens, leaving my fist in mid-air, and the sight of her is enough to knock the wind out of me. She’s wearing leggings and a loose tank top and no makeup, her hair up in a high ponytail, but she looks every bit as stunning as she always does to me. It’s all I can do not to grab her and kiss her, devouring her mouth the way I’ve been dreaming of for two nights now.
“Finn?” Her voice is soft, questioning. I can’t tell if there’s hope or caution in it or both. “Are you coming in?”
I nod, stepping inside as she shuts the door behind me. She doesn’t move to walk further into the apartment, and we just stand there for a moment, looking at each other as if wondering who will be the first to speak.
Her mouth starts to open just as I do, but it’s too late for me to stop now.
“I love you.” I see her eyes go wide as I say it, the words spilling out before I can think if that’s what I want to lead with or not. “I love you, Felicity. I can’t tell you exactly what moment that happened, but it’s been a while now. Even with all the things I’ve lived through in my life, seeing you hurt was the worst thing that’s ever happened to me. Thinking that I’d lost you—” I swallow hard, feeling the thud of my pulse, seeing the way she’s looking at me, as if she doesn’t know what to make of the man standing in front of her.
I feel certain that my heart is about to be shattered, but I can’t stop now that I’ve started. I reach into my jacket, pulling out the small velvet box, and her eyes go wider than I’ve ever seen.
“Finn, I—”
“Let me finish.” I reach for her hand, pulling her closer to me, and she comes willingly, her gaze searching mine as if desperately trying to understand what’s happening at this moment. “I want to spend my life with you, Felicity. You don’t have to say yes right now—I understand if you don’t. I know this is quick, and you might say you want to think about it, and that’s okay—but I’ll do whatever I need to in order to make you happy, lass. I’ll even try to be okay with you working at the club—”
Her eyes go a touch wider, just for a moment, and then she bursts out laughing, a sort of shocked laugh that makes me step back for a moment, equally startled.
“This wasn’t necessarily the reaction I wanted—”
“I’m sorry.” She catches her breath as I look down at her, and as I open my mouth to say something else, she reaches up and puts her fingers over my lips.
The touch sends a shock through me, down my spine, a reminder of every moment I spent in that safehouse buried inside of her, and every moment I dreamed about doing it again in the future. I want to grab her, kiss her, devour her, and my hand tightens around the small velvet box that I haven’t even gotten a chance to open yet.
“I already quit, Finn,” she says softly, and it takes me a moment to register what it is that she’s saying.
“You—”
“I quit the Ashen Rose. Two nights ago,” she clarifies. “I was—”
Her teeth sink into her lower lip, and she looks away for a moment. “I was planning to leave next week,” she says quietly. “Planning to leave Chicago, like I said. But now—”
Her gaze flicks back to mine, and I see hope in it—the same hope I know is reflected in my face. “I’m glad,” I whisper softly, reaching up to touch her cheek. The hope flares brighter when she doesn’t pull away. “I don’t know how I would have ever been able to stand the thought of another man’s hands on you ever again. I would have tried to, for you—but I—”
“I know.” Felicity reaches up, her hand covering mine, pressing it against her face. “I wouldn’t let any other man tell me that I was only his. But with you—it’s different.”
Slowly, she turns her face, pressing her lips against my palm. “Everything is different with you,” she whispers. “And I want to prove it to you.”
The desperate thudding of my heart suddenly goes still in my chest. “What do you mean?”
She leans into me, her hand against my chest, her chin tipped up as she looks into my eyes. Her mouth is so close to mine, almost close enough for a kiss, and that quick pace of my heartbeat picks up again. “You can do anything you want with me,” she whispers. “Whatever your fantasy is, you can have it.”
I don’t know why it catches me off guard. Knowing her, it shouldn’t have. A throb of desire pulses through me as the words settle in, the enormity of what she’s offering—a blank check to do whatever I please.
“What I want isn’t all that inventive,” I murmur, stroking my knuckles against her cheekbone, brushing a loose piece of hair out of her face. “I don’t want you to be disappointed.”
“Nothing you do could ever disappoint me.” Her voice goes breathy and soft, a sound that I know now means desire for her. I know if I slipped my hand inside of her leggings, I’d find her wet for me, and the thought has me rock-hard in an instant, the need for her alive and well and pounding inside my veins.
“We’ll start with this.” I turn her, backing her against the wall, my body pressed flush to hers as I tip her chin up and let my lips hover just above her mouth. “Do you want me to kiss you, Felicity?”
“Yes,” she breathes, and I can’t wait a second longer.
Her mouth is as full and soft as I remember, plush under mine, the taste of her as sweet as it was before. I want to be inside of her more than I want to breathe, but I want this too, licking and nipping at her bottom lip, sucking it into my mouth, hearing her catch her breath and whimper as I do. I feel her arch against me, feel her hands sliding under my shirt, wanting bare skin against hers. When her hand drops between us to slide over the straining ridge of my cock, I wonder if I’m going to have the discipline to draw this out the way I want to.
“In such a hurry?” My fingers close around her wrist, moving her hand away. “It seems like you want to be punished, lass.”
“Oh?” Her eyes go wide and round, her lips parting, and I reach for her, lifting her into my arms and heading in the direction that I desperately hope leads to the bedroom. One door proves to be the wrong one. Her hands find my face, dragging my mouth to hers so urgently that we bump into the wall, teetering on the edge of tumbling to the floor as her tongue seeks out mine, her moan vibrating against my lips.
