“Where are we going?” Anna asked, even though she already knew he was going to tell her it was a surprise.
“It’s a surprise.” When she opened her mouth to ask another question, he shook his head. “No, you can’t get a hint.”
She laughed and looked out her window, catching glimpses of the lake through the passing trees. He’d borrowed his dad’s truck because there was a chance of rain and while they’d had their first kiss while soaked with cold water, neither of them wanted to see that become a tradition. She’d walked out to the entrance to the campground to meet him, carrying what looked like a beach bag but was doubling as her overnight bag.
Not that she would be gone overnight. When he’d called her and told her he had a plan, but it involved a cancellation and it had to be tonight even though they had to work in the morning, she hadn’t even hesitated. She wanted to be with him, even if it was only for a few hours.
Eventually they arrived in another town, though she’d missed the name, and he pulled into the parking lot of a plain-looking motel. “I’ll be right back.”
By the time he came back with a key and parked in the assigned parking space, she couldn’t hold back the laughter anymore.
“Now I know why you wouldn’t tell me where we were going,” she explained.
“Okay, I know it doesn’t look like much, but it’s better than a blanket out in the woods. The mosquitoes are rough this time of year.”
“I’m just trying to imagine what the desk attendant thinks of me after you said you only need the room for a few hours.”
“Confession time. I worked here for a while when I was in high school and I’ve always kept in touch with the owner. This is a favor for me and I might not have mentioned you. I might have mentioned renovation and Gram and just needing a few hours to get a report finished.”
She grabbed her bag and they went up the exterior stairs. She managed to be quiet until he’d closed the door behind them, but then she was laughing again. “A report?”
“I knew I shouldn’t have told you that.”
Anna grabbed the front of his T-shirt and yanked him toward her. “Actually, I find the lengths you’re willing to go to in order to be alone with me very sexy.”
“Do you?” He grinned. “I tried to rent an apartment that Reyna owns, but I was a few days too late.”
“You didn’t.” When he nodded, she laughed again. “I don’t think I’ve ever felt so desired in all my life.”
“I don’t think it’s possible for a woman to be desired more than I desire you, Anna. Not without some kind of spontaneous combustion happening.” He looked around the room and then back at her. “This isn’t a room service kind of place, but I think there’s a vending machine if you want anything.”
Finn was nervous, she thought. He was worried about making sure everything was okay, when all she wanted was him. She slid her hand over his shoulder and then buried her fingers in his hair. “I’m not here for the snacks.”
He kissed her then as if she was the snack he’d been craving—devouring her with his mouth until she was panting with need for him. Her body arched against his, yearning for more.
Finally, Finn pulled away just enough to lift her shirt up and over her head and then slid his hands up to cup her breasts. “I’ve imagined touching you like this every night since I met you.”
“And I’ve imagined being touched by you like this every night.”
“It makes it hard to sleep, to be honest.”
She laughed. “Worth it, though.”
When he pushed down her bra and ran his thumbs over her nipples, she stopped laughing and sucked in a breath. She definitely liked the reality of being touched by him.
She liked it even more when he bent his mouth first to one breast, then the other. Sliding her fingers into his hair, she held him there, wanting more, before deciding to be more proactive.
She managed to get her bra off and her jeans unfastened, but he grabbed her wrist with one hand to stop her from shoving them down. The other hand, he slid over her stomach and under the waistband of her underwear.
He stroked her while she kissed him, until she whimpered and backed away. She appreciated that he wanted to take his time, but she’d been waiting too long for this. “I want you to be naked now.”
“We do think alike,” he said, grinning. “Because some time in the very near future, I want to take my time getting you out of your clothes. Right now, I just want you to be naked, too.”
It was less than a minute before their clothes were in a heap on the floor and, after tossing a wrapped condom on the bedside table, he covered her body with his so he could kiss her some more.
As he kissed her—so deeply and thoroughly she felt it in her soul—they explored each other’s bodies with their hands. Touching. Gliding. Grasping. His skin was hot under her fingertips, and she lost herself in the sensations of his hands on her breasts and her stomach and between her thighs until she couldn’t take it anymore.
“I want you now,” she whispered.
He made a sound against her taut nipple that sounded like agreement, but when he only sucked harder, she gasped. Then she reached out and snagged the wrapped condom.
He chuckled when she slapped it against his chest, but after a short, hard kiss, he took the hint and rolled the condom on. As he settled himself between her thighs, he smiled down at her.
“Have I told you how incredibly beautiful you are?” He ran his thumb over her bottom lip. “Especially your smile. And not your pretty television smile for the cameras. When something makes you happy or you’re trying not to laugh, your smile’s a little crooked and your eyes crinkle and it lights up your whole face.”
“Do not make me cry during sex, Finn Weaver,” she warned, her voice thick with emotion.
“How about making you cry out? Like my name. Can I do that?”
She grinned and scraped her fingernails down his biceps. “You can try.”
With a devilish grin that promised his best effort, Finn reached between their bodies and guided himself into her. Her fingertips bit into his back as he slowly pushed and then pulled back until he filled her completely.
She trailed her fingernails over his back, and they bit into his skin as he started thrusting deeply. His gaze locked with hers and she could see what he was feeling in his eyes. Not only heat and pleasure, but happiness. And she felt the same as she buried her fingers in his hair and dragged him down for a hot, messy kiss.
Then he moved faster and she stopped thinking about what he was feeling and lost herself in the pleasure rippling through her body. He watched her, noting what made her gasp, and it wasn’t long before the orgasm swept over her. She grasped his shoulders as she came, holding on to him as her body trembled.
He thrust deeper and faster until his muscles tensed under her hands. As his orgasm faded, he lowered himself onto her and his breath was hot and ragged in her hair. She wrapped her arms around him and held him close.
“I’m pretty sure I made you cry out,” he whispered when he’d caught his breath.
She chuckled against his neck. “But was it your name?”
“Maybe.” He stroked his hand up her side, making her shiver. “You weren’t exactly enunciating clearly.”
She would have been content to stay the way they were for the rest of the night, but he gently rolled off her. “I’ll be right back.”
When he disappeared into the bathroom, she rolled onto her stomach and grabbed one of the pillows to support her head. They’d pretty much wrecked the neatly made bed, with the bedspread all crumpled and sideways, and the pillows strewn about. Considering he was supposed to be alone and working, the sight made her chuckle.
“What’s so funny?” Finn asked as he slid back onto the bed.
“The owner’s going to wonder what kind of report you had to write that involved rolling around on the bed.”
He was almost asleep—even though he hadn’t intended to nod off since he had to drive them back to town—when Anna asked a question that had him wide awake again in a hurry.
“Where do you disappear to?”
He opened his mouth, but at the last second, he realized telling her where he actually went could blow up in his face. Or even worse, in Gram’s face. Having to think about every single word he said before he said it was the hardest part of this crazy charade. “What do you mean? I took a long lunch break because I had some errands to run.”
“And you took yesterday off. You weren’t here at all, and that night at The Dock, I hadn’t seen you in a week. Tess said you were handling some stuff for your dad, but your dad said you were helping a friend move. Plus, I had walked downtown for a muffin one day and saw you go by on your bike, heading out of town. You seem to randomly disappear.”
“It’s cute that you think Blackberry Bay actually has a downtown,” he said to buy himself a few seconds to think. If he told the truth—that he had business to take care of—she was probably going to wonder what kind of business the handyman for a decrepit fake inn would conduct out of town. Since he was on his Harley, he couldn’t even claim he’d gone on a supply run.
“Technically that part of town is a downhill walk from the campground, so it works for me.”
“Doesn’t it get old, staying in a camper all the time?” It was a pretty slick change of subject, if he did say so himself.
“They’re nice campers, we get to see a lot of really pretty parts of New England, and we don’t actually spend all that much time in them.” She smiled. “So, why don’t you want to tell me where you disappear to?”
Maybe not so slick a change of subject, then. He’d assumed she’d be more comfortable talking about herself, but she wasn’t going to let it go. Unfortunately, he had to lie to her, but maybe he could give her small bits of the truth.
“I help Gram keep up the property.” That wasn’t a lie at all. He’d been doing odd jobs—including mowing the lawn, trimming hedges and snow blowing—for as long as he could remember. But it lacked enough of the truth to let him look her in the eye as he said it, so he had to give her a little more. “I do have an actual job so I can pay actual bills.”
“I figured you either had a job outside of the inn or you stole that Harley.”
He laughed with her, even as guilt gnawed at his gut. He hated not being totally honest with her, even if it was for Gram’s sake. But maybe he could be a little bit honest with her. In this moment, with her cuddled against his side in bed, it mattered to him.
“When Gram told you I’m the handyman, she meant more of a part-time handyman. I’m her grandson. I’ve been doing chores for her since I could walk. I think she was afraid you would hold her age against her if you thought she didn’t have help and pass over her application, so she might have promoted me from unpaid grandson to unpaid handyman.”
“So what do you do when you’re not being handy around the house?”
“I’m a financial manager. My business partner and I help people with enough money to need help managing it, but not enough money to have one of the big firms handle it. It’s a modest little company, but we do okay.”
She pushed herself up to her elbow so she could look down at him. “A financial manager? Really? How have you spent so much time at the house?”
“I sneak away and answer emails and return calls. And I do a lot of work after we’re done filming for the day.”
Her brow furrowed and he had a moment of fear that he’d blown it. That learning that Gram had claimed her financial manager grandson was the inn’s handyman might make her question other things, as well.
“You must be exhausted,” she said. “How come your grandmother doesn’t have other help? That’s a lot to handle alone.”
He was going to point out that she’d seen the condition of the house, so maybe handling it alone was a bit of a stretch. But he realized just in time she wasn’t talking about Gram handling a large house. She wanted to know how Gram managed a large inn by herself.
“She’s a pretty stubborn woman,” he said, and she dropped her head back as she chuckled. “And it’s easy to find cheap, seasonal help in a tourism-driven town.”
That wasn’t a lie. There were always teenagers looking for temporary jobs during the busy seasons. Not that Gram actually hired any of them, but they were out there.
“We should get dressed,” Anna said, sounding sleepy. “If we don’t we’re going to be doing the walk of shame tomorrow.”
“I wish we could stay.” He kissed the top of her head. “I like being here with you.”
“I like it, too.” She stroked her fingertip across his bottom lip. “Maybe next time.”
Next time. “You know, anybody who’s spent time with my mother and grandmother recently would find it totally believable I’d rent a camper just to get away from them.”
She laughed and pushed him toward the edge of the bed, forcing him to get up. “I told you what happened to Eryn and the sneezing. You might not know this about yourself, but you’re not very quiet.”
“Me?” He scoffed and threw her the bra, which had ended up on top of his pants somehow.
“I happen to have a key to the Bayview Inn,” she said. “It’s closed for renovations, but a thick sleeping bag and a few pillows...”
“That had crossed my mind, but it’s my grandmother’s house,” he said, wrinkling his nose. But he wasn’t a man with a lot of options, and Gram technically wasn’t living there right now. “I’ll think about it.”
“I never really understood people who have sex in public places, but we’re going to end up in the alley behind the bookstore at the rate we’re going.”
“I don’t think Carly and Zoe would appreciate that,” he said, even though he was fairly sure she was joking. When he picked up his phone to slide it into his pocket, he winced. “It’s later than I thought.”
“I’m almost ready. Tomorrow’s going to be a rough day.”
He reached out and snagged her hand, pulling her close. “Worth it?”
She lifted onto her toes to kiss him. “So worth it.”