Chapter 42
Forty-Two
Rhodes
The hotel room is small.
European-small.
Which would probably be annoying if I were here for literally any other reason.
As it is, I barely notice.
Because Finn is here.
In my arms.
In my bed.
I kiss her slowly, kiss her with everything that I’m feeling—big and small, hopeful and fearful, needy and content.
It’s leisurely, exploratory, savoring everything I almost lost.
Her moans on my tongue, the soft plushness of her curves beneath me as I trail my hands over her body, as I touch her silky skin, as I drift my fingers down her torso and slip them between her legs.
“Rhodes,” she murmurs, her head dropping back, her hair spread out on the pillow beneath her.
“So beautiful,” I murmur as I kiss along the path my fingers took—tasting her inch by inch. Flush skin and the soft musk of her desire and the tartness of her pleasure on my tongue.
Slick and hot and mine.
I nuzzle at her, stroking her most sensitive spots, sucking at the others that bring her pleasure, using the flat of my tongue on her clit until she’s writhing beneath me.
But when I go to send her over the edge, she grabs my shoulders. “No,” she whispers.
“Baby?”
“Together.”
And I can’t argue that.
Slowly, I crawl up her body, gently slip inside, and—
We both groan.
“Perfect,” I say as I draw out, as I slide in, as I start us on a lazy rhythm that will oh so gently coax us up and over the edge.
“No.” She smiles. “Not perfect. Just…us being brave.”
“God, I love you,” I whisper.
She touches my jaw. “I love you too.”
And the sound of those words…they unravel my control.
Suddenly, we’re moving faster, more urgently, seeking out the peak rather than letting it come to us…
And maybe it’s not perfect exactly. But it’s more than I ever dreamed possible.
Watching her face as pleasure overtakes her, feeling the tight clasp of her around me, hearing my name on her tongue, and—
Having her hold me close when my own orgasm sends me over the edge.
Afterward, neither of us moves for long moments.
Or maybe it’s that neither of us has the strength to move.
She lies sprawled against my side, her legs tangled with mine, while the city hums softly beyond the window.
I trace my finger over her shoulder, her arm, along the back of her hand, lacing her fingers with mine.
I don’t want to break the peace we’ve managed to claw back.
But I have to.
“I need to head home tomorrow,” I say carefully. “I can stay tonight, but I have to get back to Chloe. And the season.”
She’s quiet for a beat. Then another. And I brace.
For her to tell me she loves me but this isn’t the right time.
For her to say she loves me but she still doesn’t trust me to take care of her.
For her to admit that she loves me but that it may not be enough.
And I wouldn’t blame her for any of it.
Instead, she lifts her head and looks at me with tender hazel eyes. “I’ll go with you.”
The words knock the air—no, the fear—right out of me.
I stare at her. “Wh-what?”
She smiles a little, a bit nervous around the edges, but more certain beneath. “I’ll go back with you.”
My chest tightens so hard it almost hurts.
“Finn.” I cup her cheek. “I don’t want you to give up your dreams, baby.”
She leans into my palm. “I’m not.”
“But—”
“I’ve had fun,” she says softly. “I have. But a lot of the time I’ve been pretending.”
“Pretending what?”
“That this is what I want, that this is what I dreamed of. And it is…kind of.”
“I’m not sure I understand, baby.”
“Something is missing.” She shakes her head. “No. You’re missing. Chloe’s missing. I keep doing all the things I’ve fantasized about, visiting all the places I’ve imagined—and I never stop looking around, hoping to find you both next to me.”
“You do that?”
She covers my hand with hers. “Yeah, honey, I do. Because I’ve realized my dreams are so much brighter with you and Chloe in them.”
Everything inside me goes still.
Then I’m rolling her over to her back and kissing her with every bit of love I have for her—and it’s a fuck-ton.
I didn’t know I’d find love a second time.
Didn’t know I’d be so damned lucky to find it in someone like Finn.
“I will never make you feel like that again,” I croak out, tears slipping from my eyes, sliding down my cheeks.
“Never make you feel like less, like you’re not the woman I would pick over and over again.
You’re the person I dream of, the future I’m never letting go.
You own me, Stitch, heart and soul and every piece in between. ”
Her eyes are damp, but they don’t spill over as she leans up and kisses away my tears. “Now how am I supposed to follow that?”
I laugh and it’s wet.
But it makes her smile, so I can’t find a fuck to give.
“You don’t, baby. You just let me love you. Just let time sew us back together.”
“That sounds nice,” she whispers.
“It sounds perfect.”
“No,” she says again. “It sounds brave.”
I rest my forehead against hers and let myself say what’s been living in me ever since she told it to Chloe all those months ago.
“If every square is a piece of something special—”
Her face goes soft, a tear escaping, and I take my turn to kiss it away.
“—when you put them all together, you get something even better than you planned,” I finish, sliding my hand up, pressing it lightly to the spot over her heart.
“Rhodes,” she whispers.
“Something even better than anything I could have ever planned for.”
She kisses me then, and it’s slow and sweet.
And a promise.
A promise we explore in great detail.
And much, much later—after she falls asleep tucked close to my side—I lie there staring into the dark and thinking about home.
About Chloe.
About the life waiting for us there.
It’ll be messy and complicated and full of a million details I’ve yet to figure out.
But I won’t be alone.
And I won’t be scared.
Because the women in my life need me to be brave.
Because I need me to be brave.
Because…
The future isn’t guaranteed.
But it sure is beautiful.