Chapter 21
Finn
Violet didn’t respond, she just stared up at him. He hadn’t stepped back after pressing the button, and they were so close he could feel Violet’s body heat.
The old lift creaked, jolted and started to climb.
A wavy strand of Violet’s hair had escaped the others and hung over her cheek.
Finn instinctively lifted his hand and gently brushed it away, his fingertips grazing her cheek.
Violet’s eyes fluttered closed for a split second, and her head turned almost imperceptibly towards his touch.
The tiny movement unlocked something in him, and without hesitating, he closed the remaining distance between them, cupped her face with both hands and covered her mouth with his.
He felt Violet hesitate for a split second, then she responded in kind, tipping her head back to meet the kiss, her lips parting beneath his.
Her hands slid up his chest, over his collar to the back of his neck, threading into his hair, pulling him down to her, deepening the kiss.
He moved his lips over hers, slid his tongue into her mouth, and Violet let out a soft groan.
The sound rippled through him like a shock wave, and he pushed her back hard into the far corner of the lift.
He pressed into her, wanting to taste all of her, sliding his tongue deeper.
Suddenly, he broke the kiss and pulled back, worried he was going too fast. He was breathing heavily as he propped himself up with one forearm against the wall of the lift beside Violet’s head.
Violet’s mouth was pink and swollen from the kiss, her cheeks flushed, her hair even wilder than normal.
Her green eyes were lit up, and he couldn’t stop staring into them. He was utterly under her spell.
‘I’ve wanted to do that for weeks,’ he whispered into her mouth, his lips brushing against hers, not breaking eye contact.
As he fought for control and breath, Violet’s eyes flashed, and she tilted her hips into him, pressing into his groin.
‘I wanted you to,’ she whispered over his lips.
A guttural sound escaped from deep inside him, and he grabbed her wrists and pinned them above her head with one hand and with the other, he stroked his fingers down her throat.
Violet opened like her flower namesake, tipping her head back and pushing her chest forward so he could get better access.
He trailed his lips down her throat and through the opening at the neck of her shirt, kissing and nipping at the delicate skin, before returning to her mouth.
Her lips were full and soft, and her tongue met his, hot breath mingling. Her breasts pushed into his chest, and her hips tilted harder into his groin. Finn hadn’t felt this out of control since his first sexual encounter when he was seventeen.
Somewhere on the edges of his consciousness, there was a ding noise. Finn couldn’t think of anything except Violet’s lips and hips and her hands pinned under his.
Then the lift jerked to a stop. Second Floor, came the robotic lift announcement. The doors began to crank slowly open.
Violet and Finn sprang apart, both breathing hard. Finn crashed into the other side of the lift and tried to rearrange his trousers to look decent, and Violet straightened her shirt and dragged a hand across her mouth. The lift doors clunked as they reached their fully open position.
There was no one waiting on the second floor. The corridor was quiet and empty, just a wide expanse of heavily patterned red carpet and a narrow console table with local magazines and sightseeing leaflets fanned out on it.
Finn glanced over at Violet. She started laughing and clamped a hand over her mouth.
Bending double and resting his hands on his knees, Finn blew out hard, then started to laugh too.
The lift, assuming its second-floor passengers were now aboard, slowly started to close the doors.
Violet stopped laughing and stared at him. In one stride, she crossed the lift and pushed him back against the metal wall, pulling his head down towards her. He instinctively wrapped his arms tightly around her, and she responded by jumping up and wrapping her legs around him.
‘Hold the lift!’ came a faint call from somewhere on the second floor.
Finn lifted his lips from Violet’s and glanced up. The lift doors were halfway closed. Launching himself across the lift, Violet still wrapped around him, Finn stabbed desperately at the door close button even as Violet’s fingers dug into his shoulders and her lips dragged hot kisses down his neck.
The doors were nearly all the way closed, and Finn could see the shadow of a person in the corridor closing in on the lift through the slim gap that was left, as he jabbed wildly at the close button.
Violet, seemingly finally aware that things weren’t proceeding as she might have expected, tried to slide down his body, but he caught her, cupping her bottom and holding her to him. If the doors opened now, and if it was a crew member on the other side, so be it. He couldn’t let go of her.
There was a shudder, and the lift started its ascent to the third floor.
Finn leaned back against the wall of the lift, lifting Violet higher on his hips. She wrapped her arms around his neck, their kisses deepening and slowing. He wanted every part of his body to be in contact with every part of her body.
Suddenly, Violet pulled back, pressing a hand into his chest between them.
‘Finn, what are we doing? We can’t. This is unprofessional.’
She wiggled, trying to slide down to the floor.
‘Well, I wasn’t planning on doing this at work.’
‘We practically are at work,’ Violet protested feebly. ‘This is work accommodation.’
‘Okay,’ he said in a voice that sounded far more reasonable than he felt. ‘Tell me to stop.’
He turned, so that she was pressed against the back of the lift, legs spread open and wrapped around him. He lowered her slightly so she could feel the hardness between his legs. His teeth nipped at her collarbone, and she gasped.
‘I’ll do what you tell me,’ he muttered, pushing his hips up into her. He could feel her heat through her jeans. Violet’s fingernails bit into his back.
‘Tell me to go away,’ Finn growled into her ear, his breath fanning the hairs at the back of her neck.
She quivered against him.
‘Tell me to stop,’ he murmured.
‘I…’ she whimpered.
It was more a sound than a word.
‘You … what?’
Pinning her in place, he cupped her left breast through her shirt, his thumb rubbing over her nipple.
She gasped.
‘Tell me to stop, Violet. If that’s what you want.’
She gave a tiny shake of the head. Nothing.
‘So unlike you,’ he murmured. ‘To have so little to say.’
He pulled at her shirt, tugging open the top two buttons, exposing the swell of her breasts in a black lacy bra. He swallowed.
Ding.
The lift juddered to a stop.
Finn hung his head, panting.
Third Floor came the tinny robot voice.
Finn glanced over his shoulder as the doors slowly opened. The third floor was quiet. He pushed himself slowly away from Violet, letting her slide down the wall and set her feet on the floor. Gently, he closed over her shirt. He dropped a soft kiss on her mouth.
‘This is our stop.’ He reached out a hand, and Violet took it.
The lift had felt like its own world, where nothing and no one else existed or mattered. Now, on the third-floor corridor, it felt all too real.
They reached a fork in the corridor, rooms to the left and the right, and paused. He hooked a thumb over his shoulder. ‘My suite is this way.’
‘Of course,’ Violet said with a crooked smile, as she tried with unsteady hands to do up the buttons on her shirt. ‘You have a suite. Fancy.’
‘It has a balcony, too. Want to come and see my balcony?’
‘It’s probably not a good idea,’ she said.
Her eyes were overly bright, and her breathing was a little fast as she gazed at him.
‘Or maybe,’ he said quietly, ‘it’s the best idea we’ve had in a long time.’
He wasn’t about to persuade her. If she wanted to do this, she had to decide it for herself. But if he had to walk away from her now, if that was what she wanted, it would be the hardest thing he could remember doing.
He pulled his key card from his pocket and rolled it in his fingers.
Violet stood silently. She was beautiful.
In the past few weeks, he had, by degrees, seen beneath the tough and determined exterior and past their old animosity.
In this moment, all the toughness had vanished.
She looked wanton and vulnerable, and he ached for her to choose him now, but she gave no sign, made no move.
They were barely two feet apart, but in that moment, it might as well have been twenty.
He waited for her to say something or give some sign.
Somewhere in the distance, a door banged shut.
Finn stared at Violet, who gazed back, giving nothing away.
He felt her make the decision even though she didn’t say anything.
Nodding goodnight, he turned to go, his legs like lead.
Not so long ago, he would have happily run in the opposite direction to avoid Violet.
Now, walking away from her like this was hard work, as he concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other.
He had taken four heavy steps when he felt her hand slip into his.
‘Let me see that balcony,’ she whispered.
They staggered into the room, pulling at each other’s clothing.
A lamp in the far corner was on, faintly illuminating the bed neatly made up by housekeeping.
Finn was fumbling with the buttons on Violet’s shirt again and swearing under his breath when she pushed him back and yanked it over her head in one move.
Finn stopped, taking in the swell of her breasts, the curve and dip of her waist.
‘Oh fuck,’ he breathed.