Page 19
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN-KOA
I pull alongside the RV, and just like we discussed, I spot a couple of bags—hers—at the rear of it.
That’s all Coach. I grin as I grab the suitcases and load them into the back.
Then I turn as the sound of women chattering reaches my ears.
Carolina sees me first, and she’s grinning.
Then Finley does, and she isn’t smiling.
But I have plans to change that.
“Oh, um. Catch you later, Fin,” she says, and glares at me, “You better not fuck this up.”
Scary woman.
“What, um, what’re you doing here?”
“Why’d you run from me, Red?”
She bites her lip and looks down at her trainer clad feet.
Finley is the only redhead I’ve ever known with such an affinity for pink.
It looks great on her. I mean, she’s so goddamn adorable. Utterly precious and feminine, while maintaining a badass persona that makes me hard and leaves me panting.
So fucking cute.
“I didn’t, okay, fine. I kinda did. But only because I had a sort of epiphany,” she starts, and I step closer, unable to resist the draw of her fresh, sweet scent.
“What epiphany?”
“I just, I don’t do casual affairs,” she murmurs, voice quiet but steady.
Like she’s warning me. Testing me.
But all it does is set fire to every part of me.
I meet her gaze, fierce and unwavering.
I want her to see it—that this isn’t a fucking fling.
This isn’t temporary. Not for me.
“Good,” I say, my voice low, rough. “Because I’m not fucking casual, Red. Not with you.”
And then, because I can’t resist the pull any longer, because I am two fucking ticks of the clock from a full on breakdown, I kiss her.
Hard. Deep. Like I need her to feel it in her soul, in her marrow.
My hand cradles the back of her head as I angle her mouth beneath mine. Her lips are soft, sweet, but her tongue?
Bold. Demanding.
So good. So mine.
She kisses me like she’s been missing me, and it gives me hope. She clings to me like I’m the only thing that can satisfy the ache inside her.
And I am. I am her salvation.
Just like she is mine.
She tastes like heat and honey and something I can’t name but already know I’ll never get enough of.
I kiss her like I’m claiming her.
Because once more, I am.
When I finally pull back— barely, just enough to breathe —she’s panting, her cheeks flushed, lips kiss-bitten and swollen.
Wrecked. Perfect.
Exactly how I want her.
“I want more,” I rasp, barely able to speak around the need choking me. My voice is wrecked, my restraint thinner than fucking paper.
“I want you. Naked. Under me. Screaming my name.”
She whimpers. Actually whimpers. And fuck, my cock throbs so hard I have to grit my teeth to stay still.
“Get in the truck, Red.”
“What?”
“I’ve had enough of waiting. Of wanting you and not knowing how you feel. But I know now. You want me, Red.”
“Cocky much?”
“Where you’re concerned? Fuck yeah. Now, get in the truck.”
“Why?”
“Because we are going back to Consequence together. And when we get there, I bet you, you can’t walk away from me ever again.”
“Oh, yeah? Why’s that?”
Her eyes are sparking green fire. Her chest rises and falls as she sucks in air.
I mean, the woman is spitting mad, and fuck me, she is so beautiful it hurts.
I move closer, erasing the space between us.
“Because, Red, I plan on fucking you ten ways till Sunday. By the time I’m done with you, you’ll know exactly how not casual this is.”
Finley looks up at me— eyes glassy, pupils blown, pink lips parted —and I know.
She wants it just as bad.
I grin.
Slow. Sure.
Yeah, I’m cocky as fuck.
Because I am going to have her.
All of her.
And when I do?
She’ll never doubt for a second that she’s mine.