Chapter 7 Finnegan
seven
Finnegan
Larkspur Settlement is exactly as bad as I calculated.
Forty-three people in a space designed for far less. Noise from every direction: conversations overlapping, children shouting, metal clanging from the workshop. Movement I can't track. Inputs I can't filter.
Kate's hand on my arm is the only consistent data point.
"I'll handle the conversations. You just need to stand there."
She's narrating. Giving me information I can process. It helps more than she probably knows.
The families collide with Kate in a wave of grief and questions. I step back and position myself near the trading post where I can observe without being observed.
That night, Kate and I stay in a guesthouse room—small, private, away from the communal areas that made my skin feel too tight. She closes the door and the silence is so sudden it almost hurts.
"You did well," she says. "Six hours in a crowd. You handled it."
"I had you. That made it manageable."
"We make a good team." She crosses to me, slides her arms around my neck. "Now I want to show you how much I appreciate you coming here with me."
"Show me how?"
"By letting you do whatever you want to my body." She pulls back enough to meet my eyes. "No rules tonight except red for stop. I trust you. Whatever you've been thinking about, whatever you want to try—this is permission."
I've been thinking about her body for hours. Even in the chaos of the settlement, part of my brain was running calculations. The curve of her waist. The sounds she makes when I touch certain spots. The way her face changes when she comes.
I strip her clothes off. I've learned the fastest way now, the order of clasps and buttons that minimizes fumbling. Then I strip myself and guide her to the bed.
Tonight I want data. Thorough, comprehensive data.
I start with her throat. Kiss along the tendon where her pulse beats. Down to her breasts—highly responsive, especially the left nipple, which hardens faster than the right.
"Harder?" I check.
"Yes. Use your teeth."
I bite down gently, then harder when she gasps. Hard enough to leave marks. She arches into my mouth with a moan that goes straight to my cock.
I continue my survey. Her ribs are ticklish. She pushes my head away, so I avoid that area. Her stomach is neutral until I reach the soft skin below her navel, where kisses make her squirm. But her hipbones…
"Fuck!"
Very responsive. I spend time there, alternating bites with soothing licks, until she's writhing and grabbing at my shoulders.
"Finn. Lower. I need your mouth."
I spread her thighs and study her cunt. Swollen, wet, the little bundle of her clit peeking out from its hood. I know what she likes from our previous encounters. Tonight I want to push boundaries.
"I'm going to try something new," I tell her. I seal my mouth over her clit and suck—hard, harder than before. She cries out. I slide two fingers inside, curl them up, and suck again while I fuck her with my hand.
"Oh god, Finn, don't stop!"
I don't stop. I add a third finger, stretching her, and she keens. I fuck her hard and fast while my tongue works her clit, relentless, precise. Her thighs start shaking. Her hands fist in my hair.
"I'm gonna come, fuck, I'm gonna!"
I suck harder and thrust my fingers deep, and she screams. Her whole body locks up, pussy clenching so tight around my fingers I can barely move them. I work her through it until she's twitching, oversensitive, pushing at my head.
"Too much, too much!"
I ease off. Kiss her inner thigh. Wait for her breathing to slow.
"I'm not done."
"What?"
I crawl up her body, my cock dragging against her wet slit. "I want you to come again. On my cock. Then again after that if you can. I want to see how many times I can make you fall apart."
I push inside her in one long stroke. She's so wet there's no resistance, just tight heat gripping me. I groan against her neck.
"You feel perfect," I tell her. "Every time. Perfect."
I start to move. Not slow—I'm past slow. I fuck her with deep, hard strokes that make the bed frame slam against the wall. She wraps her legs around me and takes it, nails digging into my back.
"Harder," she demands.
I brace my hands on either side of her head and give her harder. Pound into her so hard she slides up the mattress with each thrust. The wet sounds of fucking fill the room, mixed with her moans and my grunts.
"Touch yourself," I manage. "I want to watch you."
Her hand slides between us. She circles her clit while I fuck her, and the sight of her fingers working herself while I'm buried inside her, makes my balls tighten.
"Close," she gasps.
"Come on my cock. Let me feel it."
She does. I feel every ripple, every clench, and I have to stop moving entirely to keep from losing it. Wait for her orgasm to fade. Then I flip us over.
"Ride me."
She plants her hands on my chest and sinks down, taking me deep. The angle is different like this and I can see everything. Her tits bouncing as she moves. Her stomach clenching. Her face slack with pleasure.
"You're beautiful," I tell her. "The most beautiful thing I've ever tracked."
She laughs, breathless. "That's so fucking weird and so fucking hot."
"I know." I grip her hips, guide her rhythm. "Faster. Take what you need."
She rides me harder. I slide a thumb over her clit. She's swollen and sensitive now, and the touch makes her whimper. She's getting close again, I can feel it in the way she clenches.
"One more," I tell her. "Give me one more."
"I can't!"
"You can. You're almost there." I rub her clit in tight circles while she grinds on my cock. "Let go, Kate. Come for me."
She comes with a sob. I feel her pussy milking me and I stop holding back. I thrust up into her and empty myself in deep pulses that seem to last forever.
She collapses on my chest. We're both sweating, breathing hard, and I feel something close to peace.
"Three," she murmurs. "That's a new record."
"I want to beat it."
She laughs weakly. "Give me an hour."
I hold her while her breathing evens out. This small room, this borrowed bed, feels less temporary than anything has in years.
"I'm scared," I admit. The words come easier in the dark. "Of wanting this. Of what happens if it ends."
"Me too." Her hand finds mine. "But that's not a reason to stop."
"I know." I press my lips to her hair. "I'm learning."