Fighting Redemption (11 page)

Fin felt him come up behind her and she shivered. He reached around, grabbed the shirt from her hands and tossed it on the floor. Suddenly breathless, she looked at it, then at his hands where they came to rest on her stomach.

He was an asshole for doing this to her, but her door was ajar. When Ryan heard her voice and saw her lying on her bed in nothing but lacy pink underwear, he couldn’t stop himself. How did she manage to look so innocent and so sexy all at the same time?

His lids lowered as he looked down over her shoulder, watching his hands as they skimmed up the smooth, taut skin of her belly to cup her breasts firmly.

Her body trembled as he rubbed his thumbs across her nipples. He felt them harden beneath the flimsy lace of her bra.

“Fin,” he breathed, running one hand down along the inner edges of her tanned thigh. Fuck. Her legs were smooth and warm, and he wanted them wrapped around him as he sank himself deep inside her.

Burying his head in her neck, Ryan shifted his hand to cup the pretty lace panties between her thighs and took a deep, shuddering breath. God, he shook with the need to taste her.

“Ryan,” she moaned.

With his other hand, he fisted the soft strands of her hair and yanked her head back, exposing the line of her throat, and he fell on it—sucking and biting the sweet skin until he was unbearably hard.

A tap came at the bedroom door and they both froze. “Fin? Are you heading out soon or eating here first?” Jake called out.

“I-I’ll be right out,” she stammered and took a step forward out of Ryan’s arms. She turned around, meeting his eyes.

“Okay,” Jake called back.

Ryan’s blood pulsed so hard it was a roar in his ears as they stared at each other wordlessly. After a beat of silence, she tore her eyes away and opened the wardrobe door.

“Are you happy now?” she hissed as she grabbed a pair of jeans from the shelves.

His eyes on her ass, he muttered, “What?”

She threw the jeans at him and he caught them when they hit him square in the chest. “This. Us. Yes, okay? I want you. Is that what you want to hear? That I dream of you too?” she choked out. “Your hands on me, inside of me, and I ache too.”

Ryan took a step towards her.

“Don’t.” She snatched the jeans out of his hands and tugged them on.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured.

Fin turned, rummaging for a top. She pulled one off a hanger and tugged it on furiously. “You’re sorry. I’m sorry. Everybody’s sorry. Well it’s just one sad, fucking sorry situation, isn’t it?”

Christ, Fin was a fiery inferno when she was mad, and it had his dick swelling even harder. “Fin, I—”

“Enough!” She jabbed a finger in his chest. “There’s hurt in there. I know it. You know it, but you’re not going to move on from it until you let that shit out. Whatever you’re doing now isn’t working. Own it, Ryan. Stop letting it own you.” With that she brushed passed him and opened the bedroom door. She looked at him over her shoulder before stalking away.

“Sizzler?” Fin moaned as Jake pulled into the restaurant car park an hour later.

Pulling the key out of the ignition, he turned in his seat and grinned at her. “That’s what you get for a last minute date with the two of us, right, Kendall?”

Ryan chuckled from the front passenger seat. “Right.”

Fin eyed the two of them flatly and reached for the door handle. She sighed as she opened the car door. “Let’s get this over with.”

“Don’t be like that, Fin,” Ryan called out as they got out of the car behind her and Jake beeped the locks. “It’s all you can eat. What could be better than that?”

She shivered at the wicked gleam in his eyes and strode briskly towards the restaurant door.

“I’ll tell you what’s better than that—if it was full of women instead of food,” Jake told him. “An all you can eat women buffet.”

Ryan said something she didn’t catch, and Jake burst out laughing. She rolled her eyes, shoving open the door.

Twenty minutes later Fin sat down at their table with a small pile of salad. Jake and Ryan followed soon after, sitting opposite her with plates piled high. Did they leave any food for anyone else?

She eyed them both in turn and then pointed her fork at their enormous food mountains. “That’s a heart attack on a plate.”

Ryan laughed and Jake grinned at her. “We work our asses off to eat like this.”

“And this is only round one,” Ryan told her.

Jake looked down at her modest salad with disgust. “Seriously, Fin. You don’t come to an all you can eat restaurant for the rabbit food.”

Her stomach flipped over when she met Ryan’s eyes. He was looking at her like she was a frosty ice cream and he’d just escaped the burning fires of Hell. She’d be lucky to choke down a piece of lettuce at this rate. “I’m not that hungry,” she muttered.

Jake shrugged. “So what movie are we supposed to be seeing?”

Fin finished chewing the dull tasting piece of tomato and after swallowing told him the title of the movie.

He shook his head. “Not happening.”

Stabbing at a piece of lettuce, she raised her brows and looked at him. “Fine. You don’t have to come.”

“It’s girly fluff, Fin. At least choose something we can all watch.”

Her lips twitching, she tossed a piece of lettuce at him. “What? You don’t like girly fluff?”

Jake used his fork to flick away the piece of lettuce contaminating his plate. “Not that kind,” he grumbled.

Later that evening, Ryan bought the tickets for the movie and Jake loaded them all down with popcorn.

“Haven’t you eaten enough?” she mumbled as the crowds of people swarmed around her. Getting jostled, she clutched the popcorn to her chest, watching some of it spill over and scatter carelessly on the carpeted floor.

Ryan looked down at her. “How can you go to the movies and not get popcorn?”

With Jake in front of her and Ryan behind, they walked up the dark cinema steps as a movie trailer blared wildly on the giant screen. She stumbled and Ryan grabbed her elbow to steady her.

Flustered, she murmured, “Thanks.”

Her heart pounded when his large, warm hand reached out and took hold of hers. She should’ve tugged it free, especially in light of her earlier anger, but the brief contact felt so good. He gave it a squeeze as Jake guided them into a row of seats, and Fin forced herself to let go when they sat down.

As wild gunfire and ominous music exploded in the background, Jake leaned in and grinned. “Now aren’t you glad I chose something we can all watch?”

Frankly, she didn’t care all that much what they saw. With Ryan sitting next to her, she’d be lucky to remember what the name of the movie was.

Torture. Sitting next to Fin in the dark cinema was complete and utter torture. Since arriving at the cottage, his desire for her had reignited and it had been snowballing ever since, growing wild and out of control until his hands, now fisted on his lap, shook from it.

Eventually the movie finished, and as they stood, he stretched slightly, the pull on his aching muscles from the morning’s workout easing some of his tension.

As they made their way back to the car, he hoped like hell Jake didn’t talk about the movie on the way home. He couldn’t remember any of it.

Jake glanced at Fin in the rear view mirror as he pulled out of the car park and asked her where Ian was tonight. Ryan felt like growling at the mention of his name.

“Long shift tonight at work, but he’s taking me out tomorrow night, and then he’ll be at the party.”

The farewell party. Ryan felt a dull ache pound through his temples as he stared at his reflection in the car window. Two more days of Fin and most of it belonged to Ian.

Whose fault is that, you dumb fuck?

He shook his head. Fin was right. He was still carrying around a load of hurt and he couldn’t let go of it. It
did
own him—that deep shaft of guilt, the pain that had caused his family to implode—had him in its grip. And until he owned it, just like she said, he could never be the man she needed—only the man who wanted her with every burning fibre of his body. The only question was how would he let go of the secret he’d kept hidden from the one person who meant more to him than anyone else? His Mum and Dad had turned their back on him and Ryan couldn’t blame them. What if Fin did too? He wouldn’t survive it.

He
r
cousin, Laura, sidled up next to Fin and muttered, “Smile, Fin. It’s your farewell party, not your funeral.”

Fin tore her eyes away from where Ryan stood across the room—so unbelievably handsome in his military dress uniform—and smiled at Laura.

A passing waiter paused in front of her, and she plucked a glass of champagne from his tray with a murmured thank you.

Her previous farewell party had been more of an impromptu barbecue in the backyard, but with both Jake and Ryan at home this time, her mother had gone all out.

Now here they stood under glittering lights, black tie and evening gowns, drinking and eating finger food while her stomach tied itself in knots.

“Fin?”

Fin sipped at her champagne. “Hmm?”

“Where’s Ian?”

She thought back to the conversation she had with Ian last night and swallowed the bitterness.

“It’s probably a good idea I’m not there,”
he’d told her.

“But…it’s my farewell party. I’ll be gone early the next morning.”

He shook his head.
“I don’t think I’m up for celebrating you leaving, baby.”

Rachael bumped her shoulder. “Earth to Fin?” She ran her eyes over Fin’s low cut, shimmery gold dress with admiration. “Glad you retired the sweatpants for the evening,” she joked.

“Ian couldn’t make it,” she blurted out.

Her champagne glass held aloft, Rachael raised a brow at her. “Why not?”

“Work,” Fin lied and tossed back the rest of her drink. The bubbles fizzed going down her throat, and she scrunched her nose.

“That’s a bit rich,” Rachael muttered.

Taking a deep breath, Fin plastered a smile on her face and nudged Rachael. “So where’s this so-called
best present that ever lived
?”

Rachael nodded towards Laura. “It’s from the both of us, and Laura’s already had Jake put it in the car for you.”