Chapter Thirteen
Finn didn’t want this car ride to end.
Every moment he spent with Navi, even while hunting the Landsliders, brought them closer together. He couldn’t push himself to think about what would happen when she left, because after experiencing life with her in it, he didn’t want to return to the hollowness without. Navi brimmed with nerves as she slammed on the gas, enough to make the car rattle. Finn wrestled with tension of his own, because he found it harder and harder to deny the desire warming his blood with every passing minute.
To top it off, he had no idea where she was taking him. Down this direction lay most of the Red Rock territory and they were about to pass his gym—which would be the perfect place to burn off all this unspent energy.
“You can drop me off at my gym,” he said, the familiar turn in the highway coming up.
Navi cast him the side-eye. “Where did you think we were heading?”
Finn’s brows came together in confusion. He didn’t know why the woman remained close-lipped if she’d planned on dumping him off at his work, anyway. She still buzzed with tension, though, and he couldn’t read her. Under the midday sun like this, that was where she glowed. The hint of gold in her tone came out in the rich brown and the thick, glossy strands of her pixie cut were illuminated. She looked like some sort of sun goddess and he wanted to lick every inch of her.
Kelly’s Gym came into view and Navi slowed, pulling onto the beaten earth that constituted his parking lot. However, the lot wasn’t empty. Parked right in front of the gym was a car he’d know anywhere—one he’d last seen bashed in at Jared’s Auto.
“Figured you’d want to see your girl,” Navi said when she put the Plymouth into Park. The hesitation in her voice sounded so different from the Tribe member who barked out orders and struck fear into the common shifter. These moments, the ones where she showed this secret side of herself, were worth fighting for.
He stepped out of the car before striding across the lot to his Challenger. After the way the bear had mauled the frame, the thing would need a lot of work done between replacing the tires, pounding out the dents, repainting and other detailing to buff out the scratches and blemishes that marred her. After all the time and elbow grease he’d put into his girl, watching the bear crush her in front of Jared’s Auto had torn his heart out. Except as he stood before his Challenger, the dents and the scratches were all gone.
Footsteps sounded behind him as Navi approached. He could feel her presence, smell the vanilla and apple scent of her. “With the state she was in, the repairs were a challenge,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest when she stopped beside him. “No pun intended. Never pun intended.”
Finn reached out, running his hand along the smooth surface of his hood. While he knew his car well enough to notice the slight shifts in the paint where a fresh coat had been added on, the repair job was amazing. His throat tightened as overwhelming gratitude swept over him. Last night or this morning, she must have worked hours on this. He knew how much time it would have taken because he’d been trying to figure out when the hell he would be able to fix his girl.
She’d done all that—for him. Navi might not gush affection or talk emotion much, but this spoke volumes about the way she felt toward him. The woman had spent all this time and hard work fixing his car. Not out of duty, not out of any sense of guilt, but because she knew how much he loved this thing and she wanted to help. Fuck, if she wasn’t everything he longed for, everything he hoped for, in a partner.
He wanted to kiss her, wanted to sweep her into his arms and make her scream his name. His feelings for Navi had become far too strong to be denied, but if he could take anything from this gesture, words weren’t her forte. Fine then. He’d take a page from her book of actions. The way she glanced to him, the shyness in her glance was so opposite to the sensual, confident woman he’d first met, but the more he’d gotten to know her, the more he understood the vulnerable girl who resided within the fierce Tribe member, one who’d never gotten a childhood.
His palm grew warm from resting it on the hood of his fixed-up Challenger, and the warmth traveled straight to his chest. Finn turned to face Navi, only separated from her by agonizing inches. Desire gleamed in her eyes as she met his gaze, the sort that brought him to his knees. She pursed her full lips together as if she mused on something, but she was always thinking, always worrying. He wanted to take away those worries until she existed in the moment.
He knew why they’d broken off their kiss the other night and why she’d left the party. Because what had developed between them ran much deeper than a one-night stand. The intensity of his feelings for Navi Tremere held the promise to mark him forever. However, even if she left him in the dust, even if this all crashed and burned, he’d forever regret not taking the time while he had the chance.
Finn stepped forward, crossing the space between them. He slipped his hand against her cheek and dipped to press his mouth to hers.
The moment they kissed, everything else melted away. The trucks rumbling along the highway, the birds chirping in the trees—everything grew distant compared to the honeyed taste of her. His lips caressed hers, coaxing her mouth open until he slipped his tongue inside. She twined her arms around him, her nails digging into his back in a possessive way that traveled straight to his cock. He wrapped his hands around her waist, those powerful curves sharpening his desire.
Finn leaned her against the car, needing to feel the heat of her against his skin. She moaned against his mouth as they pressed together, his cock stiffening in his jeans. This wasn’t enough—would never be enough for him. He wanted to taste her, to show gratitude for how she reached him. For the depth of emotion she stirred inside him. Finn grabbed her by the hips until he slid his hands around her ass to lift her against him. She wrapped her thighs around his hips and a low groan slipped from him. The urge to drive into her mounted in both man and wolf until he could barely register more than the deafening roar of his desire.
Finn pulled away from her mouth to look at Navi, her full lips swollen and a dusky flush on her cheeks. “Do or die time, babe,” he murmured against her mouth. “You let this beast off the leash and I’m not going to stop.”
Her mouth curled into a sensual smile, and her hazel eyes glowed with the challenge. “Do your worst, Finn Kelly.”
His name on her lips was like a caress and he couldn’t help how his heart pounded double time. Those words ratcheted his need, driving him to deliriousness. With a few powerful strides, he carried her over to the hood of his Challenger and he lowered her there. Navi propped herself up by the elbows, her brow lifted.
“Here?” she asked. “There’s a highway, right there.”
His lips curled into a smile and his gaze heated with the heady dose of lust rushing through him. “Panties off, now,” he growled.
Her lips pursed and, for a moment, he thought the mighty Tribe member would object at taking the order from him. But she’d been giving orders her entire life, and here and now, he wanted to take the burden from her.
She unsnapped the button of her jean shorts, the snick echoing in the air. He didn’t hesitate, tearing them off her the rest of the way, panties to the ground too. The sun glowed on her ebony skin, bringing out the golden hues, the vanilla scent of her making him want to sink his teeth in. Her Tribe tattoos traveled her muscular legs, drawing his attention up and up.
“Spread your legs,” he ordered, the need to taste her driving him in a fierce way. She complied, desire burning in her eyes. “Good girl,” he murmured, before leaning over the car and situating himself between her legs. Her dark curls were damp and her pussy glistened. God, she was positively fuckable.
He dipped down to take the first taste. The moment he glided his tongue over her clit, she let out a low noise deep in her throat that made his balls ache. He continued to lap at her hot pussy, quickening the rhythm of his tongue to her clit. With each stroke, she bucked forward, responsive, and sexily draped against the hood of his Challenger. Her thighs tightened around his head as he increased his crescendo, and he pulled away for a moment to sink his teeth into the sensitive skin of her inner thigh.
Her back arched at the contact as she thrust her pussy forward for him. He dipped down again, slipping his tongue past her folds and driving it into her center. Her loud cry pierced the air and he continued to fuck her with his mouth, adoring the way she cried out for him, damn the fact that they were out here under the broad sunlight, in front of the highway. The whole experience dizzied him with lust, indulging in fantasies too hot to have imagined.
Finn bit her thigh again, enjoying the way she writhed beneath him while he slipped his fingers into her hot folds. She clenched around his fingers at the contact, and he slid them in and out, faster and faster. Her breathing quickened and sweat beaded her soft-as-silk skin. She bucked beneath him, her palms flat against the hood of his car as her back curved in response to the increased pressure when he finger-fucked her. She was the sort of woman unashamed of her sexuality, bold and brazen as a dream, but watching her moan his name was unforgettable.
Her cries reached a fever pitch and her thighs tightened while he continued to kiss and suck her skin until her legs began to tremble. She arched again, holding it this time as her core clenched around his fingers, the spasms radiating in the aftermath. Slowly, Finn pulled his fingers from her dripping pussy and he prowled up the length of her body to claim her lips. Her kisses in return were slow, sensual and sated.
The pulse of his erection reached a painful point and he couldn’t deny the intense need mounting in him. Navi nipped and sucked at the skin on his neck, the sensation traveling straight south.
“God, I want to be inside you,” he murmured into her ear. She shivered beneath him and he tightened his grip around her hips as he leaned down to suck her earlobe. The following moan made it harder to think straight.
Navi slid off the top of the car, her gaze dusky when she looked at him, tilting her head toward the gym. “Come on then,” she said, the sensuality in her voice a caress. “Let’s get sweaty on the mats.”