Page 71 of Shattered Hearts
His sorrow-filled eyes find mine. “You know how to drive?”
“Of course I can drive. Shut up and give me the keys.”
Our cousins taught Harper and me how to drive when we were teenagers. The entirety of my experience involves steering one of my cousin’s pickup trucks through abandoned parking lots in New Jersey exurbia, but I keep that information to myself.
Getting behind the wheel of an Audi A4 is a bit daunting, especially when Finn slides into the passenger seat like a ghost, silent as the grave. Though worried, I do my best to focus on the road.
Pedestrians abound. Dozens of street lights, confusing road signs, the ever present honking…the volume of stimuli on any given New York City street boggles the mind. Driving commands most of my attention, but even so, by the time we’re about halfway home, I’ve worked up the courage to speak.
“So…those were your late wife’s parents?”
I still barely know anything about the woman, but what I do know is more tragic and horrible than I ever imagined.
Someone butchered her. Chopped her into pieces.
How does someone cope with that kind of grief without going insane? How has Finn managed it all this time, all alone?
Finn doesn’t answer. Instead, he curls his hand around my right thigh.
It takes everything in me not to react. How can he make me giddy with one simple touch?
When we return to the estate, the mansion is awake. Maybe we can manage to give the impression of newlyweds who had a fun night out.
As soon as I navigate to the garage and park, relief floods my system.
Within seconds, Finn bursts from the car.
I fill my cheeks with air and blow, battling my disappointment.
That’s okay. He just needs some time alone to process his emotions.
The driver’s door opens, and Finn reaches inside.
Without a word, he grabs my good hand and helps me out of the car. He leads me through the garage, down the bustling main hall of the first floor, up six flights of the grand staircase to the third floor, all the way to his suite.
We’re five steps through the door when he whirls. His dark gaze blazes, and he grabs my forearms as if he’s afraid I might run.
A little voice inside me wonders if I should.
My insides tremble, triggering an avalanche of lust all through my body.
The blatant desire on his face says he wants me too.
Finn pushes me backward until my spine hits the wall beside his front door. The woodsy musk of his skin intoxicates me. Anticipation sizzles through my veins.
His mouth devours mine, and it’s the sexiest thing that’s ever happened to me. He guides my arms up and around his neck, pancaking his body against me with so much force that, if the wall weren’t there, we’d be on the floor in the hallway.
His hands roam all over my body. My waist, my ass, my arms, my neck, my hair.
Finn wants me. Not my sister. Not anyone else. Me.
The idea both intoxicates and terrifies me. Touching him is sweeter than any dream, but I can’t help the panic gathering in the back of my skull.
What a terrible time to be on the verge of a flashback.
Finn likes me now, but what about later?Troy’s face flares behind my eyes. He said he liked me too. Then I didn’t give him what he wanted, and he beat the shit out of me.
What if deep down, Finn thinks I’m a traitor just like Dad and everyone else?