CHAPTER 21

MAGGIE

“We’re going to the Pocono Mountains?” How was that a special wedding destination? Everyone went there.

Finn followed me down the steps of the plane, dragging two large suitcases that had appeared out of nowhere.

“Where did you get luggage?”

He heaved them onto the ground when he reached the bottom step. “We got luggage. I still have a few tricks up my sleeve. Yes, we’re staying in the Poconos for as long as you want.” He pointed to a black car parked near the tarmac. “I rented a car during the flight.”

That didn’t add up. “I don’t think you can rent a car without showing up in person.”

He opened the unlocked trunk and placed the bags inside. Finn put his hands on my shoulders and kissed my forehead. “Maggie, my love, it’s best if I protect you from any potential liability. You should probably not ask any more questions about the particulars of this trip.”

I had a tiny appreciation for how Cici felt when I asked her to trust me. “One more question. When did you make reservations? The Poconos can book up months in advance.” Fall was high season for that area. The colors of the trees were stunning.

He opened the passenger door for me. “We don’t need reservations for where we’re going.”

I did not enjoy my one camping experience. Neither of the suitcases looked big enough for a tent, so I prayed he didn’t have any plans that involved nature.

We drove in the dark for what seemed like an eternity before Finn turned onto a small, dark street. This looked nature-y. I couldn’t see signs of civilization anywhere. The headlights flashed across a sign that read Penn Hills Resort. It looked decades old. This felt like the opening of a teen horror movie.

He parked the car facing a giant building and left the headlights on. The building appeared to have not seen a human since before Watergate. Finn jumped out of the car, jogging around to the hood. He opened his arms wide to showcase the dilapidated hotel. “Ta-da! It’s the Penn Hills Resort. It went out of business years ago, and no one has ever bought it. Everything is vintage from the 70s. There’s no power or running water, but we have the whole place to ourselves.” His smile was brighter than the headlights.

I got out of the car, taking a few tentative steps forward. “You brought me to an old, abandoned hotel in the middle of the woods?” I didn’t know anyone who would think of doing that.

He put his arms back to his sides. “You hate it. I’m sorry. We can drive back and see if we can get reservations at one of the other resorts with amenities.”

I jumped up, wrapping my arms and legs around him. He stumbled back a couple of steps before catching his balance. “Are you kidding? It’s perfect! I love it so much! Do you think it’s haunted? I hope it’s haunted.”

Finn kissed my cheeks, forehead, and lips. “I knew you would like it! Let me get the bags and we can explore.”

He rolled both of our luggage through the crumbling lobby. Everything was frozen in time. The décor reminded me of Graceland. A thick layer of dust covered all the surfaces. Foliage crept in through the doors and window. The lounge area was still set up, as if waiting for guests to return.

I used the flashlight to navigate down the hallways. Finn opened the first door with a room number. A bird flew out, causing both of us to scream. “Not that room.” He slammed the door shut.

He walked down two more doors and motioned for me to stay back. He cracked the door open. When nothing attacked, he opened it all the way. “I think this one will do just fine.” Without warning, he scooped me up and carried me through the door.

After setting me back down on the ground, I used the flashlight to look around. A round bed with a faded red blanket sat in the middle of the room. A mirror hung on the ceiling above it. The dresser was covered in so much dust it was hard to tell its original color.

Finn pulled his shirt over his nose and mouth while stripping the bed. I watched while he set up small lanterns around the room. The two suitcases held all kinds of magic. They produced a new sheet set and thick blankets. Fluffy pillows went on the bed next. Champagne and glasses emerged. Some plastic bags of fruits and snacks came out next.

“There. That’s homier.” He stood in front of me, rubbing my arms. I hadn’t even realized I was shivering.

“Finn, this is like a fairy tale. I can’t believe you planned all this.” I had never seen anything so perfect and romantic.

He tipped my chin up with his finger. “I told you to trust me.”

He was full of surprises. “Do you own this place?”

Finn kissed the top of my head and hugged me tighter. “Not at all. We’re totally trespassing.”

I expected nothing less. “I can live with that.”

A weird feeling settled into my stomach. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but it might have been nervousness. I knew my way around the bedroom. I had no reason to be insecure. But this was Finn. This was the guy I had been banging in my dreams for years. What if it wasn’t everything I imagined it could be?

Finn ran his hands down my back, over my ass, and then under my skirt. He put his lips to my ear. “Maggie, I wanted our first time to be slow, but my dick has been hard since Saturday. I had to bring you somewhere secluded because I’m going to fuck you until your voice is raw from screaming.”

Something told me my worries were unfounded. I jumped up and wrapped my legs around his waist. He squeezed my ass as he walked us toward the bed. He laid me down, sliding his body down mine. Pushing my dress up to my waist, he settled his face between my legs.

“I’ll be back for you in a minute,” he whispered. I felt his teeth graze the front of my panties. He pulled my shoes off and dropped them to the floor. I sat up halfway when I felt him suck one of my big toes into his mouth.

I wanted him to hurry and slow down at the same time. I wanted to feel him inside me, but I wrestled with not wanting this simple intimate connection to end. He released my toe and kissed across the top of my foot. He locked eyes with me and I watched him rip my panties down my legs.

The cool air hitting that area sent a shiver up my spine. This was too good to be true. “Finn, please talk to me so I know this is real.” He never talked in my dreams. I had to know this was real.

He leaned back on his knees to take off his suit jacket and tie. Those were tossed to the ground as well. “Oh, it’s real, Maggie.” He looked over my body. “You’re like a goddamned masterpiece.”

He pushed my knees up as he leaned back down into the mattress. He ran his index finger across me. That one touch erased everything but him. All of my senses were focused on Finn. I couldn’t remember needing anything more than I needed his touch. He rubbed his index finger across my bottom lip. I tasted the wetness he left behind.

Finn moved upward to cover my mouth with his. He moaned into my mouth, and I could feel it all the way down to my toes. It was like standing in a cathedral with a booming organ shaking the foundation. Finn moved back down until his face disappeared between my thighs. The warmth of his tongue against my chilled skin made me scream immediately.

He lifted his head to look at me. “Scream all you want, Maggie. I’m going to taste all of you.”

His tongue went back to work. I had one hand fisted in the sheets and the other in his hair. I didn’t mean to be so rough with him, but I realized he moaned every time I pulled his hair. The vibration made my legs quiver.

Finn grabbed each of my legs and laid them over his shoulders. He tilted his head to a slight angle, and I thought I was going to levitate. I arched my back off the bed, curled my toes, and screamed his name as I came.

I tugged on his hair. “Come back up here with me,” I panted. I needed to feel his body against mine.

He crawled back up my body, covering it with his. I grabbed his face, pulling it down to mine. I sucked his bottom lip into my mouth and bit down.

He yelped and pulled back. Finn ran his hand over his lips, noticing the tiny bit of blood. “You’re a bad girl, Maggie Vincent. A very bad girl.”

I scooted out from under him, pushing on his shoulders until he lay on his back. “You have no idea.” I could be whatever kind of girl Finn wanted me to be in bed. I pulled out his shirt from his pants and then tugged at the collar as hard as I could. The top few buttons popped off, bouncing across the ground.

I stopped when I saw what was under his shirt. “Holy fucking fuck. What the hell is this?” I pointed at his whole torso.

He leaned up on his elbows, looking confused. “What is what?”

“This!” I pointed back to his chest. Every inch that I could see was covered in ink. “You have got to be kidding me.” I ran my hands over each one that bled into the next. He was like the Sistine Chapel.

“Oh, yeah. I have some tattoos.” I couldn’t read his expression.

“Some?”

“I have a lot of tattoos. Is that a problem?” The feral look in his eyes was gone and I hated that. He had the same look as when he told me about his transplant. I never wanted to see that look again.

“A problem? That’s like asking if having too many celebrity hair clippings is a problem. This is sexy as hell. How many do you have?” I unbuttoned the rest of his shirt, eager to take it off.

He thought about it before answering. “I’m not really sure. I started getting them when I was eighteen to distract from my surgery scar. I kept thinking of ideas for new designs, and I didn’t know when to stop.”

“Don’t ever stop. Jesus. Never stop. These are incredible.” I was close to orgasming again just looking at them. I traced the art that continued down his arms. On his left bicep, I found an image of Luke, Leia, Han Solo, and Chewbacca inside the trash compactor from Star Wars: Episode IV.

He looked at his arm when he noticed my hands stopped moving. “That one’s for you.” He pulled my fingers to his mouth and kissed them. “I always remembered your costume from Comic-Con when we met. I knew no artist could do your beauty justice, so I went with something more abstract.”

“You got a tattoo for me?” I swallowed the lump in my throat.

He brushed my hair behind my ear. “I told you already—it was always you.”

I pushed him back flat on the bed to pull off his pants, socks, and shoes. “Oh, I’m going to fuck the hell out of you. I love you so damn much.”

I kneeled on the edge of the bed to admire my husband. He was perfection. His muscles highlighted the ink covering his chest and arms. Symbols bled into landscapes that bled into words. He had a lotus flower next to scrollwork. A flock of birds flew away from a tall tower. I suspected it extended to his back, and I would most certainly be checking that out later. He didn’t know it, but he would be telling me the story of each tattoo in great detail. I had other things that had to be handled first. He had a dick that looked like it wanted to make me do a lot more screaming tonight. I had a feeling it was going to get its wish.

I leaned over him and kissed down the scar that ran most of the length of his chest. It was the place where his vulnerability met his strength. I wrapped my right hand around the base of him, squeezing as I covered the tip with my mouth. He groaned and bucked his hips.

“Oh, fuck yes!” I felt his hand over my head, guiding it up and down.

I gripped his thigh with my other hand and worked my mouth over him in tandem. His hips flexed off the bed, forcing him deeper into my mouth. I loved that he didn’t treat me like I was breakable.

Finn pulled at my hair roughly. “I don’t want to come yet,” he breathed. “I want to be inside you for that.”

I sat back on my heels, admiring his naked body. I still found it hard to believe I would get to look at this every day for the rest of our lives.

Finn sat up and kneeled behind me. He unbuttoned the back of my dress and lifted it over my head. He unhooked my bra, pulling it off my shoulders. He reached around to cover my breasts with his warm hands. “This is better than my dreams, Maggie Vincent.”

I leaned back into his chest, loving the feel of his skin against mine. I never wanted to return to civilization. He nudged me onto the bed, face down. I felt his fingers drawing patterns over my back. He moved over my ribs, down to my lower back, and over my ass. The air in the room was cool, but my skin was on fire.

His touch felt intentional and not random. I turned my head so I could talk to him. “What are you writing?” I asked.

He brushed my hair behind my ear and whispered into it. “My name. I want to be part of you like you’re a part of me.”

I rolled over and placed my hand on his cheek. “You’ve always been a part of me. Trust me.” I pulled his face to mine, hoping to convey it better with a kiss. I would spend the rest of my life showing him how much he was a part of me.

Finn leaned back, taking my ankles and putting them on his shoulders. “I can’t wait any longer. I need to fuck my wife now. Hold onto something.”

I grabbed the edge of the bed behind me. He thrust into me, and I let out a scream that probably sent the area wildlife running.

“That’s it, Maggie. Let me hear you!” He pushed in and out of me like he had something to prove. The bed smacked against the wall, sending dust everywhere. It looked like snow in the dim lantern lights.

Finn kissed my calf as I came apart again. He pumped faster and faster. I thought he might drive the bed into the next room, not that I cared. I was too busy screaming his name around made-up words.

I felt Finn tense up inside me as he joined in my nonsensical yelling.

After a moment, he rolled us both over to our sides and pulled up a blanket to cover our bodies. He ran his hands down my jaw. “Don’t fall asleep yet. We’re going to eat and do that again.”

***

I wanted to stay in our deserted paradise forever, but the lack of running water proved problematic. We packed up all of our fairy-tale items and stashed the suitcases. We had plans to return to our hideaway as often as possible.

We drove back to Manhattan in Finn’s rental car.

“Where do you want to go on our honeymoon?” He reached over and rubbed my knee.

I’d never really thought about a honeymoon. “I’m not sure. I have a list at home of the hair clippings I still need. Maybe we can plan around that.”

He squeezed my knee. “I guess we’re going to your place, then.”

We hadn’t talked about where we would be living or any of the other small details. We had found each other across the country, though. Everything else seemed like the easy part.

I unlocked the door to my apartment and opened it. Finn scooped me up again and carried me over the threshold. He toted me into the living room and came to a sudden stop. I felt the pain in my tailbone before I realized he dropped me.

“What in the . . . You have the Elvis with the light-up belt buckle?” He looked back and forth between me and the painting three times. “Do you have any idea how much I bid for that?”

I rubbed my ass as I climbed off the floor. “Not enough, apparently.”

“Oh, shit! Sorry!” He held out his hand to help me. “I wanted that velvet Elvis so badly. I’ve been looking for another one ever since.”

I smiled at him. “I was determined to win that, and I always get what I want.”

He turned and pulled me into his chest. “Mmm. Sometimes that works out in my favor. I mean, you got me.” Finn kissed the top of my head. “At least I know the Elvis has had a good home. I can stop my search now.”

“When you think about it, you got off easy. I had to face the wrath of my parents for buying that with their money. You just had to marry into it.”

He looked down at me and smiled. “You’re right. It would be half mine now. How about that?”

I laughed until I had to sit down on my couch to catch my breath.

“What’s so funny?”

“My parents were worried about someone wanting to marry me for my money. Wait until I tell them I found someone who wants me for my velvet Elvis.”

THE END