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“How’s Finley?”
“Obstinate, as always, but she’s fine. Upstairs, looking for her vibrator if I were to guess.”
“What?”
Cash laughed and explained their interaction, where he promised to spank her.
Levi shook his head. “She’s not into that.”
“I’d argue that point. I think you aren’t into it, but she is very definitely intrigued, at least.”
“She’s going to lay you out one day, man.”
Cash chuckled. “Probably, but then I’ll have a reason to lay my hands on that luscious ass.”
Levi groaned. “Finley isn’t like that.”
“We’ll see. I think you’d be surprised at what she likes. I think she will be too.”
He had a love/hate relationship surrounding Ryker when he’d found his forever because not only did it highlight that Levi was the last man standing, but it also emphasized the fact that he had been using Ryker as a counterbalance with Finley. No more advance than Ryker made, but just enough to keep things even. With Ryker off the playing field, things were left wide open for Levi, and that scared the hell out of him. And still, he couldn’t keep his distance from her. Cash had seemed to be a balancer of a different kind.
He hung up with Cash and hit the shower. He’d done some reps while waiting for the police and keeping an eye on the building he lived in. Time to sleep. Tomorrow would come early, and it would likely be a very long day.
The next morning, after doing a quick check-in with Cash, he headed to Jac’s place after changing his tire. While he drove over to Jac’s, his mind returned to the thoughts of his relationship with Finley. If he made his relationship known, at least the women would leave him alone.
He’d tried to offset the women’s need to get him settled down by spending more time with Finley. She was the only other single woman associated with Jac’s inner circle and a Marine to boot, so it seemed natural to gravitate toward her. He counterbalanced the gut twist every time he saw the others enjoy their couple time with Finley when she was available and whenshe was open to sharing her free time, which had turned out to be often.
As he began to hang out more with Fin, those thoughts and feelings of staying single all the way morphed slowly. In fact, the change was so incremental that he had not yet identified it until Cash had pointed that out. He’d disregarded his observation. The event a few weeks ago had changed all of that. Their connection went so much past both being Marines and even past the connection with Cash and Jac and Sharlee with little Storm. When shit hit the fan last night, he realized he felt things for Finley Royer.
Without realizing it, he had begun to listen for her laugh. A full, throaty sound that invigorated him when he heard it. The trio had begun to communicate through non-verbal messages more often, finding the other’s eyes on Finley or hers on them and erupting little squabbles of disagreement that excited him, not irritated him. Levi acknowledged that he must have been lonelier than he’d thought.
He never felt the pull he saw the other guys deal with when it came to their women. Watching the other guys give in to their women, cater to their needs and wants, and put their lives on the line for them had previously instilled fear, not warm fuzzies. And one by one, he’d watched them fall. Not too long ago, he had thanked God no woman had ever had that kind of power over his emotions. Yet.
Finley was all woman, but she tried to hide that fact behind a solid Oorah, but it didn’t fool Levi. He knew that while Finley showed signs of being rough around the edges and on the cool, calculating side, it wasn’t true. She was soft and vulnerable in the shadows. Cash had told her she was, but he had to witness for himself.
She’d gotten word that their family dog had passed away of old age after living a full life. Finley had been devastated, andLevi was glad to have witnessed the soft inner center of the woman he had grown very fond of. It was the one and only time he’d seen her cry, and he was glad he did. The thing was, he didn’t know what to do about vulnerable Finley. Cash had.
Comforting wasn’t his forte normally, but this woman seemed to bring out parts of him he hadn’t experienced in years. And thankfully, Cash was all in on the softer side of love. It taught Levi he could have deep compassion and a connection with a woman. Feelings that were previously foreign, but seemed to settle his inner restlessness now. He didn’t worry that he couldn’t meet that part of Finley, because Cash did. He could be the competitive, motivational one, and Cash could be the disciplinarian and the comforter.
He was glad that Cash had been with her when shots were fired at them. It had been hard enough to have her so far from him when he was overcome with the urge to get to her and protect her. Levi knew that if he couldn’t be there, he was thankful Cash was.
Pulling in front of the gate, security checked his trunk and the inside of his car before letting him enter the estate. Levi appreciated the step up in security for Finley and the other’s sake. Time to figure this mess out and put an end to the game others were playing. Cash met him at the door.
“You good?” asked Levi as the men slapped each other’s back in an aggressive male hug.
“Yep. Fin is grumpy, but that’s to be expected. She didn’t get a real dinner, and I told her she couldn’t have her way a couple of times. She’s punishing me by ignoring me this morning.”
“That’s her chosen response. She’ll get over it.”
Cash shrugged. “Her safety comes first. You’re the first. Grab some coffee.”
Finley was a woman who loved her solitude, but not as much as she might have let on. Levi had watched her as she began tocome out of her shell and connect with the team’s women. She seemed to enjoy it, and while it appeared to lighten her mood, she was always behind one or two steel protective shields of her own creation. He suddenly wanted to get through those self-imposed barriers.
When had he wanted to slay dragons for her or any woman? Finley was more than capable of slaying her own demons, and he loved that, but he could acknowledge in himself that he wanted to slay those enemies with her. That wasn’t affection. That was admiration and comradery. It was some kind of fucked up that his analogy didn’t sit as well as it should.
Ryker had spent long hours with Finley. Sometimes, they would all three go places together, and Levi had wondered if Ryker, who seemed very inclusive, was looking for a threesome. He didn’t. He later pulled Levi aside to tell him a few home truths that Levi needed to hear.
“Finley doesn’t care about those things many women do. Not the money, the prestige, the nice manners or anything else that impresses her. I’m coffee with cream, and she is dark silk, straight up. I can be as down in the dirt as I need to be, but I won’t enjoy it the same as she does. She is a little rough around the edges, and she cultivates that. The bad girl persona isn’t who she is. It’s the mask she slips on to cover up her more vulnerable center mass.”
