Chapter Twenty
I woke up the next day feeling stiff and in a bit of pain and slightly unsure of where the hell I was. It sunk in quickly as I suddenly felt a foreign presence in my personal space. Shifting my head around, I saw Finn, curled into a ball and leaning into my back. He was beautiful while awake and living in this world, but while he slept, he looked positively angelic. There was something about the peace that claimed him in this state. When he was awake, he always seemed anxious and a bit on edge. While sleeping, it was as if all the daily issues and duties that claimed him melted away and he could just be Finn. My Finn if I was going to let myself believe his words.
He did follow those words up with actions last night. After our heavy make out session, he had gently and carefully lifted me up and carried me to bed. He had arranged my pillows and then promptly tucked himself in behind me and we spent a long time getting to know each other, verbally.
While being extremely sexually frustrated, it was amazing to finally get to know the back story behind the public person I thought I knew.
He was an only child, raised by a single mom in a rough part of LA. His mom struggled to make ends meet and eventually turned to drugs and alcohol to ease her loneliness. Finn spent his childhood and teenaged years fighting and figuring out ways to feed himself. I nearly wept for that poor little boy. He decided around fifteen that he needed out when he it became clear he was going down the same path as his mom. Deep down he knew it was time to break the cycle and so he just walked out on his mom one day and never came back. She passed away a few years later. He sold her house and took that money and enrolled in acting classes while working at serving jobs until he got his first gig and the second half of his life began. When he made enough money, he bought the farm and had been renovating it for what felt like forever to him. He loved animals and in his barn there were horses, a couple of dogs, cats and some chickens. He had a property manager who came most days to tend to the animals and daily when he was away from home. He loved his job but could do without the constant paparazzi and personal questions and found that he had become a very private person since getting into acting. He loved working with his hands and loved to build things and he loved things that went fast. Cars, motorcycles, even golf carts.
We drifted off to sleep somewhere in the middle of the night to the sound of complete silence outside and I wasn’t sure when the last time was that I had felt so at peace. The nightmares that usually plagued me didn’t come and when I woke, I felt rested, a little achy but content. I knew we still had a lot of things to work through and I knew without a doubt that the working through was mostly for me. I still had a lot of reservations about this relationship and what it was and where it would go, but that was for me to work out, not for me to dump on him. I also knew that we would eventually get around to why I had these issues and what we were going to do to get around them. For now, we were just going to explore this day by day.
When I let myself think about it from a completely different perspective I got a major case of the butterflies in my stomach. Finn freaking Lowry was lying nearly naked, in his boxers beside me with his arm draped across my stomach. Holy shit Sherlock. I peeked around the covers super slow at him so as not to wake him.
Long lashes, high cheekbones, long, elegant nose with his signature scruff on his jaw and upper lip. Beautiful brown hair, styled just a bit longish on top and kept short at the sides, was now sticking up in all directions giving him the aura of a little boy lost. Following his jawline down his neck lead me to the good part. Defined chest with a generous sprinkling of hair, all pointing downwards in an alluring and sexy map to the treasured goods. And right now, the goods were standing at nearly full attention and they were mighty impressive.
I let out a deep sigh and tried to plan my escape from the bed. I had to use the bathroom and then thought I would check my messages, then maybe curl up with a coffee and a book?
I ever so slowly shifted towards the edge of the bed and was relieved to have made it to the side quite easily. I shifted my legs out over the side and propelled myself up to sitting in a matter of seconds.
I gave my brain some time to quell the dizzy spell I was currently under and then lifted myself up and started the slow, agonizing shuffle towards the bathroom. Once I had used the facilities, I shuffled back across the room towards my purse. I found my phone and turned it on finding myself with a flood of inbox messages that included a ton of text messages as seemed the way things were going for me these days.
I sifted through them and left most to deal with later as they were from my editor and friends wishing me well. I grabbed my mini laptop from my purse and decided to attempt an escape out the door in order to sit outside and get some writing in. I couldn’t waste the inspiration this amazing cabin and location was giving me.
It took me nearly forever, but I finally made it outside and had even dragged a chair along with me. I set it down in the spot where I felt I had the best view and began to write.
I completely lost track of time. About what must have been two hours later, I was startled as Finn snuck up behind my chair and scared the shit out of me.
I screamed a loud scream that seemed to echo on forever and disturbed most of the animals going on about their daily business.
“Sorry babe.” He leaned over and whispered in my ear. “I didn’t mean to give you cardiac arrest. The same cardiac arrest I just endured when I woke up to an empty bed and then upon searching, couldn’t find you fucking anywhere. You really need to stop wandering away from the places we discuss you need to stay at.”
“Please, don’t go Neanderthal on me. I just thought me being inside making these small writing noises would disturb you and you looked so peaceful and in such a deep, needed sleep that I decided it was high time I got a little exercise and decided not to waste an amazing setting such as this. I will admit, once I got into this chair, I was feeling like I ran a marathon, but you’re here now and I’m fine so help me up and we can go back inside and have coffee.
He gave me a look like he was about to press his point when I raised a finger to his lips. “Shhh, it’s fine. I’m fine. The doctor said I needed to get moving or everything will seize up, right? You were there when she said it. It’s good for me to challenge myself.”
He gave me his famous stare down, seeming to hold an internal debate of some sort. I saw his eyes change and knew I had won this round when suddenly, he opened his mouth and took my finger into it, and held it between his teeth. His tongue then proceeded to circle slow, lazy swirls around this finger and then began to gently suck on the end of it.
I think I soiled my panties in an instant and leaned into him, so intense was the longing that I was hit with. This man had the ability to reduce me to a puddle of goo with just his tongue and one finger of mine.
He saw that in actual fact, he had won and reached down to pick me up and carry me back inside, once again, depositing me onto that amazing bed.
“When did the doctor say you were ready for more vigorous exercise?” He grinned his sex God grin that did some very delicious things to my body and I smiled back, trying my best to be oh so sexy and trying hard not to burst out laughing. “She said it would be a self-assessment program.”
He raised an eyebrow and I wasn’t sure if he could get any cuter. His morning hair was sticking up all over the place, his eyes had a sleepy, lazy feel to them and the three day growth on his chin was begging for me to run my hands through it. “She did, did she?”
I smiled a shy smile and nodded my head.
He growled a low, sexy growl and shifted to hover just above me. “Not just yet baby. When it happens, I want you in competition shape, ‘cause I’m gonna wear you out.”
“Promise?”
He slowly lowered his face until we were basically exchanging air. “I promise” he whispered so softly and so earnestly that I could feel all the promises those two words held.
Just as he was about to give me a pre-show, his cell phone started ringing.
“Fuck me”
I smiled and raised both my eyebrows.
He grinned, “yes, the irony isn’t lost on me darling.”
He reached over across me to grab his phone, checked the caller id and swore again.
He answered it with such an angry scowl and voice that I felt sorry for whoever was on the receiving end. But not for long.
I listened to his one sided conversation with a feeling of anxiousness as I knew what was coming when he hung up. I knew in my heart this would become a recurring theme if I continued exploring a relationship with him.
He had to go. He had been hiding out with me off and on for a week now and this was apparently the final straw for whoever it was on the other end of the line.
His body became tense, still hovering above me. I needed to take some time exploring the contours of his amazing upper body. It was all hard muscle and inviting dips that culminated in the most amazing cut out V leading down to the area I had only felt but never had the chance to fully discover. I broke out of my sweat inducing daydream when he shifted and threw his phone at the end of the bed. Our moment was gone but he was trying hard to ease me out of it, instead of just running full steam into anger mode.
I reached up and touched his face and he closed his eyes. “I have to go for a while and I am so totally sorry. I will be back and it would be amazing if you were here waiting for me. I can also take you to the main house or drop you off at home, but I really hope you can stay. Please?”
I ran all the ways this relationship was going to go wrong but found that my mind kept getting stuck on the possibility of it going right. I took a deep breath and decided to push those fears aside for a moment and just try to let some light into my life.
“I’ll be here Finn.”
“I love hearing you say my name George.” The next sentence he whispered in his deep voice directly into my ear. “And I can’t wait to hear you scream my name while I am busy exercising you.”
I smiled and was pretty much unable to speak for fear of embarrassing myself with professions of that dangerous emotion, love. But damn, I would take the lust I was feeling right now any day.
“I’ve got a ton of editing I need to do and I can’t think of a more perfect spot to do it. I’ll be fine here for the day.”
“I’ll be back well before the day is done, but I need to get on set for some retakes and I’m not sure how long it will take. I had the kitchen fully stocked and I programed my property manager’s number into your phone if there’s anything else you need. I will check in every hour or more to make sure you’re ok. There’s lots to do around here to keep you busy but promise me you won’t go wandering into the woods? Babe, I won’t be able to focus if I keep thinking about you potentially hurt out there.”
He got his serious Finn face out and scowled at me a bit. “Don’t try to use that intimidation face on me buddy.”
He didn’t budge. His phone chirped. He ignored it and stayed staring me down.
His phone chirped again. I was getting anxious for him. “Fine, I won’t go walking in the woods. Happy now?”
“Not in the least and I want to murder a few select people who seem intent on keeping me away from you, but for now, this will have to do.”
He scooted up off the bed. Ran his hand through his hair, pulled on some pants and a shirt then came around to me to give me a kiss goodbye.
That kiss held a ton of promise and it was pretty hard to let him go but the chirping phone was determined to pull us apart.
“Later, babe.”