Bear Trapped (Bear Creek Grizzlies #5)

40. Lauren

LAUREN

L auren still wasn’t sure what she’d heard Finn say, other than his tone meant love and caring and that was fine with her. Whatever he wanted would be better than anything she came up with on her own. Especially when he realized how tired she was, just flat-out exhausted, and somehow managed to make the helicopter bend to his will and produce a reasonable bed. She never would have imagined using the seats to make a place to lay down, but it was Finn. She should have expected him to just make things happen.

Being cuddled up against his chest was almost enough for her to forget they were on a helicopter flying to somewhere unknown, and that Finn had been shot, and a bunch of semi-innocent criminals had died, and the guy Shotgun could possibly be making things worse for her or sending marshals to find her wherever Finn lived. Some of that chaos splintered and marched around in her brain, but the concerns diminished since Finn was there and he would know how to fix everything.

She passed out finally, then sort of woke up as the world bumped and moved and got cold again. Lauren tried to get up but found herself being carried, and Finn murmured, “Go back to sleep, we’re home.”

She should have questioned any number of things, not least of which was how the hell he carried her so soon after being shot and also what the hell did home mean, but instead she just nodded and blacked out again. It had been so long since she could relax, could trust that nothing horrible would happen while she slept. Even before being on the run, she hadn’t trusted where she slept for so long Lauren always woke up a lot to make sure no one surprised her.

Lauren woke up again when clouds surrounded her in fluffy warmth and perfection, and then Finn was there too and he sighed. And they both slept, and for once, she didn’t dream.

She woke up feeling drunk. Literally drunk from being well-rested and comfortable and just…content. Whatever waited outside didn’t matter. What mattered was Finn, still passed out in a huge bed next to her. And the bathroom. She really needed the bathroom.

Lauren only kept one eye open so she could maybe have a chance of falling back asleep after taking care of business, and slowly untangled herself from Finn and the sheets. It was slow going, and he woke up with a snort before she’d even gotten off the mattress. Lauren patted his head, still focused on the increasing emergency in her bladder. “Bathroom.”

He grumbled and got up a lot quicker and more gracefully than she’d managed, and padded across the room to open one of half a dozen doors and flicked on a light. “You hungry?”

She shook her head, focused only on the bathroom, but a stray thought jumped to the front of her brain when she saw inside the swanky bathroom. “Shower.”

“Perfect.” He patted her butt as she walked past, then stood back as she closed the door.

Lauren smiled to herself as she surrendered to the dreamy, half-awake and monosyllabic relationship. It was more comfortable grunting and pointing with Finn than any of the flowery conversations she’d been love-bombed with in the past. When she was done and trying to figure out how to turn on the shower, she opened the door to ask for help and found Finn standing there, completely naked.

She laughed, cheeks heating, and didn’t look away to take him in from head to toe. The wounds from earlier were somehow just angry pink and red marks, no longer actual wounds but new scars, and the rest of him was buff and hairy and perfect. An antsy energy built up at the thought that he was all hers. Every inch of him. It didn’t matter for how long she got him, but at least he meant what he said about staying with her. He’d whispered something about forever in the helicopter, and that was good enough for her.

Finn stalked toward her, carrying big fluffy towels, and paused only to kiss her, hard enough to make her toes curl, and growled against her mouth. “How come I’m the only one naked?”

“How are you so optimistic?” she whispered, laughing more. “Who said you were invited?”

He snorted and smacked her butt again, hanging the towels up on a fancy metal rack before he leaned into the large shower and somehow turned on half a dozen jets from every level and angle, including a massive rainfall kinda thing in the ceiling. “I figured you wanted me to do the work.”

Lauren shivered at his words even with the increasing heat and steam in the bathroom. It had been literally two months, maybe more, since she’d had a hot shower. And she’d never ever seen a shower that nice in real life, only in magazines and in brag rolls on social media. She shimmied out of her clothes, ready to never see the tattered and stained garments again, as she focused on the streams of hot water. No more bucket baths for her, not for a long time.

She wouldn’t stop and question why Finn liked her like he did. She wasn’t going to invite that doubt into the room or the bedroom or the space between them, not yet. Maybe later, once the newness wore off and he got annoyed with how much she talked, but for that moment…she could just enjoy him.

It helped he started growling in a purely animalistic way the second she started undressing, and by the time she was naked, he sounded like a Harley in every breath. Her stomach squirmed as she had to step past him to get into the shower, and she made sure to let her breasts brush against his chest, and every inch of her lit on fire from the barest contact.

Finn squeezed her ass and pretended to help shoo her under the steamy water, but pure need thrilled through her as his strong hands moved to her waist. There was suddenly an overwhelming number of sensations—the water splashing her skin and head, the hissing sound, his breathing and touching and her own body telling her…everything…

Lauren tilted her head back and closed her eyes under the pounding water, struggling to process everything, and froze when something cool hit her hair.

“Keep your eyes closed,” Finn said, and his enormous hands began to massage her head. Her head? He moved her hair around and the scent of citrus and rosemary filled the ceramic and glass enclosure. “Head back, babe.”

It was a good thing the water splashed across her cheeks, too, because otherwise he would have realized she’d started crying. Why had she expected him to want sex right away? The possibility he might want to wash her hair and help her clean up before doing anything never occurred to her.

And yet that was what he did, without needing to be asked or even getting a hint. He just did it. Her hair was lathered to within an inch of its life, and at least twice Lauren almost collapsed from the absolute heaven of his fingers working out knots in her neck and shoulders. Both times he laughed and caught her, holding her easily as soapy hands went all over each other. She could have stood there forever, even worrying about when the water would cool and leave them hollering to get out.

Then he ducked so she could wash his hair, laughing because he had to hold her waist and distracted himself with her breasts as she tried to focus enough to not get soap and water in his face. Finn nibbled on her stomach, then her nipples, as Lauren worked her fingers through his hair and almost collapsed again. She breathed harder, wanting more, and lathered up his hair while keeping his head close so he kept up that sharp-edged magic with his mouth.

Lauren retreated from the overwhelming spray of water to a small bench inside the shower, breathing hard, and took a moment to admire Finn as he finished rinsing his hair under the big showerhead. He looked like one of those pagan gods, made of muscle and looking real and hardened from a lifetime of work, rising out of the ocean to bring vengeance. Her thighs clenched together at the thought, as well as the vision of his hard-on showing just how much he liked being in there with her. She wanted to touch him, and for him to touch her, but getting from the bench to the next step suddenly seemed really far.

Finn turned to her and chuckled, holding up a washcloth he’d gotten from…somewhere? He rubbed it slowly in his hands and worked up a thick lather, then crooked a finger at her. “I have plans for you, darlin’.”

Lauren laughed, a little nervous, and didn’t trust her legs to hold her up. Instead, she leaned and slowly wrapped her hand around his cock, drawing him closer so she didn’t have to get up. Finn didn’t resist, instead groaning as she stroked him slowly, the washcloth dangling from his hand. Lauren’s heart beat faster as he got closer, and she wanted to jump up and rub all over him, to feel his arms around her, to feel the way he loved her and put her first. It was his turn. She didn’t know how else to thank him for being so careful with her.

She kissed the head of his cock and slowly licked the crown, looking up to watch for his reaction. Her whole body caught fire when she found him watching her, his own eyes burning with desire, and she moaned a little as she took more of him in her mouth.

Finn’s voice went rocky and rough, and one hand stroked her hair. “You don’t have to, babe.”

She retreated enough to murmur, “I want to,” and surprised herself by realizing it was true. It wasn’t a chore to pleasure him, it was…a gift? He’d return it, and more, and she wanted him to feel good. She wanted him to enjoy it as much as she knew she’d enjoy being with him.

She ran her nails down his thighs as she took him deeper, and Finn groaned in a guttural sound that almost made her come just sitting there. He dropped the washcloth and his fingers worked against her scalp again, encouraging but not forcing. She hummed, enjoying the taste and sensation of his heavy heat against her tongue. She sucked but he was too large to really take all of him like she wanted. Maybe that was a future goal…

Lauren settled for focusing her attention on the sensitive crown and the underside, using her hand for an extra stroke and twist, and it seemed like he immediately began to move his hips in response. Finn groaned again, whispering to himself and to her, and he held her head gently but with an insistent urgency that left her breathless and touching herself. God, everything he did was sexy. She almost stopped to jump up and wrap her legs around his waist to take him deep, but his grip tightened and he gasped, “Just like that, babe, I’m going to?—”

He finished in her mouth with a long, low groan. His hips jerked three or four times as he still held her head, and Lauren swallowed as fast as she could to keep up a gentle pressure until the breath hissed in his teeth and he eased away. Her heart raced and she squeezed her thighs together to relieve some of the insistent need at her core.

Finn staggered to sit on the bench next to her, his head falling back against the tile wall. He still panted a little, eyes closed. “That was amazing. Thank you.”

She wanted to laugh, even though she was so overwhelmed she almost cried again. He thanked her? Lauren petted his stomach, already looking forward to what he had planned for that discarded washcloth, and eyed his half-hard cock as it remained within reach. “What do you want to do next?”

A dark chuckle and the mischievous smile on his face, almost hidden by the beard, made her stomach squirm. Maybe she wasn’t ready for the washcloth after all.