The Domville 6 (The Domville #6) (6 page)

‘Give me two minutes. I’m sticky with that champagne you
threw over me, so I need to have a quick shower.’

I grinned when she giggled and scrunched up her nose in
an adorable way, the way she’d always done. I quickly poured her a glass of
water and put it at her bedside, then hurried into the en-suite and stripped
off. I left the door slightly ajar so I could hear if she was sick again. I
resisted the urge to deal with my erection as I soaped up, sporting a
ridiculous grin. I felt young again, but young with the added benefit that came
with the wisdom of age. Christ, I really had missed her.

Toni

I was fighting sleep. Part of me was desperately tired
after throwing up, part of me was still so confused over what was happening,
but part of me was thrilled. Finian was back, he wasn’t married and he seemed
so attentive and concerned about me. Best of all, I was in his bed, in his
shirt and he was only a few feet away in the shower. Naked. The thought made me
dizzy and lightheaded again. What was he doing back? What was he doing kissing
my neck the way that he’d done in the bathroom? That wasn’t his usual friendly
kiss. That was a sexual kiss, I was sure of it. Well, it felt it from my point
of view anyway. Christ, my insides had almost liquefied to feel the heat of his
breath, the warmth of those soft lips and his irresistible aroma filling my
nostrils. Why the hell had I got so drunk?

I wanted answers, but I needed sleep.

My eyes closed a little more.

I wanted food, but I needed sleep.

They closed further still.

I wanted Finian.

Blackout.

Toni

I woke up with a start to feel a warm, hard body
pressed up against my back and an arm wrapped tightly
around my waist. What was going on? It took a moment for me to remember
where I was, why I was here. The reunion last night. I’d been sick. I was in
Finian’s bed. Shit, I was holding his hand and our fingers were interwoven
against my stomach. I went to pull my hand away, but was overcome with a wave
of nostalgia. This is how we’d often woken up in the morning. I smiled, then
tensed up. Hang on a minute, I never remembered waking up  feeling an erection
against my backside. Holy shit, that was new. I tried to keep really still as I
attempted to control my breathing. My eyes started to water as my chest rose
and fell. How many times had I dreamed of this? I thought about last night,
about how sweet he’d been with me and some of our conversations kept drifting
back to me. He wasn’t married, he was back for a fresh start, but what did that
mean?

He stirred behind me, his arm tightening, pulling me
further back against his body and I bit my lip to stop myself from letting out
a moan as he nuzzled into my neck. My skin prickled as a happy buzz seemed to
wake my body. My breasts felt sore, my nipples had hardened and I could feel an
intense throbbing between my legs. Damn him, I was so turned on. What was this?
Did he know it was me, or was he dreaming and I could just be any of his
conquests? It wasn’t like he didn’t have a lot of choice to pick from when he
was fantasising. Had he ever fantasised about me? I desperately needed a drink,
my mouth felt parched. I grimaced as I remembered throwing up in the toilet
last night, with him holding me and rubbing my back.
Way to make a great
first impression after so long, Toni
, I scolded myself. I fought a raging
battle in my head. Part of me just wanted to lie here, to imagine that he was
here because he wanted me, that his considerable erection was for my benefit.
The other part of me told me not to be so ridiculous, that he was going to
break my heart all over again. I carefully tried to inch away from him and
uncouple our fingers, but I was immediately yanked back.

‘Freckles. You’re awake,’ came his husky rasp. My God,
his voice just dripped sex and that
accent.

‘Ermmm, yes and I need to pee,’ I replied, quickly
screwing up my face in a grimace.
“I need to pee
?!” So not the
expression to act cool and sexy.

‘Hmmmm, not quite the visual I had in mind when I
imagined waking up with you,’ he chuckled, not releasing his hold. An intense
shiver ran all the way down my spine and ignited my core when his lips met the
back of my neck. Such a delicate kiss, but it held such power that the effect
on my mind and body was incredible. My eyes went wide as I felt him shift his
hips, grinding that erection against my backside. Was he trying to signal
something to me?

‘Shit, I
really
need to pee,’ I squeaked,
wriggling in his arms. I was suddenly scared. What if he was just desperate for
sex and I was an easy option? Had I said something last night while I was drunk
to divulge my real feelings for him? To give him the green light to add me to
his endless list of conquests that were discarded when he got bored of them?

‘Go pee and freshen up then,’ he sighed, slowly releasing my hand. ‘I’ll
order room service, then we’re going to have that talk.’

‘Ok,’ I confirmed as I quickly scrambled out of the warm bed. I stubbed
my toe on the bedside table and cursed, before flicking on the light to see
where I was going. It was pitch black in here.

‘Are you ok?’ His voice sounded concerned. I looked over my shoulder and
felt my whole body hum with need. He was lying on his side, propping his head
up on one hand, the sheet pooled around his waist. My God, his body was buffed
perfection and that half-dazed look, when he’d just woken up, had only improved
with time as well. I dragged my eyes off his six pack and back up to his face,
to see his sexy ruffled bed hair and a dusting of stubble on his strong
jawline. His intense blue eyes were studying me, the corners of his lips curled
up in a smirk.

‘Just stubbed my toe, I’m fine,’ I nodded, breaking his gaze and praying
my cheeks hadn’t just flushed bright pink. I stood up and failed miserably to
walk as sexily as possible over to the en-suite. It ended up more of a hobble
by someone with an arthritic hip. Damn it. I was so conscious that I was
wearing one of his shirts. My legs, and quite possibly the cheeks of my fat
arse, were on full display.

‘No need to be embarrassed that you were checking me out just now,’ he
called. ‘I told you that your arse looked mighty sexy last night, but I need to
revise that now I’ve seen you in one of my shirts. It’s my new favourite look
on you.’

I didn’t reply, but quickly shut the bathroom door, then locked it and
leaned back on it. I let out a breath that I didn’t even know I was holding.
What
the hell was going on?

Finian

I chuckled as she locked the bathroom door. She was
fighting her feelings for me, trying to hide them, but they were obvious to me
now. I threw myself onto my back and let out a heavy sigh. Not only were her
feelings of desire for me obvious, so was the hurt in her eyes. It hadn’t
exactly been easy for me to stay away from her for all those years, but I did
it with the full knowledge of why I had. She seemed to have no idea, so God
only knows how much harder it had been for her not to have heard from me. I
reached down to grip my erection and squeezed tightly to try and relieve some
of the throbbing. Jaysis, waking up with her, feeling her warm body tucked
under my arm, hearing her out of control breathing, smelling that honey based
shampoo she’d used forever … she was lucky I’d let her out of bed at all.
Fifteen feckin’ years of wanting to fuck her, and trying to deny that, making
sure I held back each time the urge struck me, was the very definition of
self-restraint. I heard the shower turn on and groaned. She was in there naked.
I should be in there naked with her. To think in all that time I’d never even
seen her with no clothes on. I checked my watch. It was only just after 3 a.m.,
but neither of us had eaten dinner last night.

I dialled room service and placed an order, offering a
substantial tip for a fast turnaround. When I heard the shower turn off, I
quickly raked my fingers through my hair and lay back down on my side, facing
the bathroom door, making sure the sheet was low enough for her to see how much
effort I put into keeping in shape. I had a feeling I was going to need every
advantage I could get. I waited patiently as I listened to her brushing her
teeth again, then the sound of the hairdryer, then … silence. I frowned as I
waited. What was she doing in there? A few minutes later, I still hadn’t heard
a sound and I suddenly panicked. What if she’d passed out? I leapt out of bed,
making short work of the distance to the door and hammered on it.

‘Freckles, talk to me, are you alive in there?’

‘I’m fine,’ came her quiet voice.

‘What are you doing?’

‘Nothing.’

‘Are you having a morning after, blow out toilet
situation?’

‘Fin!’ she retorted, her voice full of annoyance and
embarrassment. ‘No, I’m not.’

‘Then what?’

‘I don’t know,’ she groaned. ‘I’m sitting on the edge of
the bath thinking. I’m confused.’

‘Open the door.’

‘I need a bit of time.’

‘Open the door, Freckles, I won’t ask you again,’ I
ordered.

‘Or what? You’ll break it down?’ she scoffed.

‘If I have to, yes. You can’t avoid this. We need to talk
and I’m not doing it with a solid oak door between us.’

‘No different to an ocean, Fin, and you avoided me just
fine with that between us.’ I winced to hear the hurt in her voice.

‘I know I hurt you, but that’s why I’m here. To explain,
to see if we can move past that. Open the door, if not for me, for the tea,
cheese burger, fries and bread and butter pudding that’s on its way up.’

‘Bread and butter pudding?’

‘Yes.’

‘With cream?’ she called, her interest piqued.

‘Of course,’ I grinned, pleased my memory hadn’t failed
me. I waited with baited breath as I heard a noise on the other side of the
door, then the lock click. I leaned against the door frame, one arm propped up
on it above my head. She pulled the door open and looked startled to see me
standing there. Her lips parted as she took in a gasp of air when she saw I was
only wearing my tight black boxer briefs and my erection hadn’t deflated.
‘Screw this,’ I muttered. The sight of her standing there in my black shirt
rolled at the sleeves was too much.

I straightened up and grabbed her, pulling her up against
my chest with my hands on the back of her shoulder blades. She let out a
startled cry, but before she could say anything to object, I took her mouth in
a firm, possessive kiss. Her lips felt soft and warm and they tasted so good,
so much better than I’d ever imagined. She tried to pull away, but I grasped
the nape of her neck, my other hand sliding down to her backside, then up under
my shirt to clasp one of her lace clad buttocks. I tilted my head, testing her
with a tease of my tongue and a groan. Suddenly her lips parted, allowing me to
dip inside her mouth. My fingers tightened on her backside as she tentatively
let her tongue dance with mine. Shite, she could kiss, and the way she kissed
had some fairly indecent images running through my mind of how she’d be between
the sheets. All the blood in my body surged down to my dick and roared in my
ears. I nearly combusted when her hands moved up to clutch my hair, tugging it
as she tried to bring my mouth harder against hers. Christ, her firm tits were
pressed against my bare chest as she stood on her tiptoes, straining to reach
my mouth. I palmed the delicious curve of her arse and hoisted her up my body
as I groaned loudly, lust raging through me as her legs automatically wrapped
around my waist. I broke our lip lock, both of us taking a moment to catch our
breath. I kissed along her jaw, then worked my way up and down her neck,
revelling in her soft breathy moans as I walked back towards the bed. Her whole
body suddenly tensed up in my arms.

‘Stop,’ she whispered.

‘No,’ I mumbled, nipping and nibbling her neck, just
under her ear. She let out another moan of sheer pleasure, then pushed with her
palms against my shoulders.

‘Stop, Fin! You can’t do this to me. You can’t breeze
back into my life, kiss me like that, try to get me into your bed and think
all’s forgiven. I’m not one of your flings. I’m not someone you can fuck
because you’re desperate, then cast aside,’ she cried, her voice full of
anguish. I immediately snapped my head back to catch her gaze.

‘No, you’re not, Freckles. You’re more, you’re …’ I
hesitated. Was I really ready to vocalise this, to make it real? What if she
wasn’t in the same place as me? She had been and I’d walked away. Ten years was
plenty of time to get over someone. I watched the confusion on her face, the
tears stinging her eyes, but her dark pink lips were swollen from our kisses and
her chest was rising and falling as rapidly as mine. I was skilled enough now
to know when someone wanted me. I blinked a few times, trying to catch my
breath and my wandering thoughts.

‘I’m what?’ she asked quietly, her eyes searching mine
for answers as she remained clutching my shoulders.

‘You’re
everything
, Freckles,’ I whispered,
reaching up with one hand to sweep her hair away from her cheek. ‘I’m sorry it
took me so long to realise that, but I’m here now.’

‘What are you trying to say?’

‘I came back for you, to be with you,’ I stated
sincerely.

‘Why me and why now?’

‘Why you? Why the hell not you? You’re my best friend, my
soul mate, the person I’m meant to grow old with.’