“You didn’t hang up because of me, did you?” Macy asked, pushing a lock of hair behind her ear. “If you need privacy I can go back inside.”
“I’m fine,” Finn snapped. He sat there, not knowing what to say or how to even broach the subject of her not really being married. Was it true? It had to be.
Here he had been worried about asking her if she was on the pill. Now, in addition to that worry, he had a whole barrage of questions for her. No wonder she had inadvertently called her made-up husband Anthony rather than Antonio. And no wonder Luke Remington wasn’t able to dig up any information on Antonio Cavoletti. There was no such person.
Finn was seething inside. She had played him. Played him well. Probably went to sleep at night laughing about it too.
“Dev left,” she said, interrupting his thoughts.
He nodded, continued to sulk while she sat there smiling at absolutely nothing. The wind ruffled her hair and she pushed it out of her face. She was the most beautiful woman he’d ever met, and he felt as if he had fallen head first for her. So why did he want to wring her pretty little neck right now?
He should be ecstatic that she was single. And yet he wasn’t. Probably because he didn’t trust her. She was a damn liar! Or was he angry because she didn’t trust him? Didn’t trust him with her secret. Yet she trusted him to protect her.
“Do you want more coffee?”
“No.”
“Hmm.” She raised her brows and studied him. “You sound a little cranky. Maybe you could use another cup.”
He sighed loudly. “I said no.”
She was quiet for a moment then cleared her throat. “So, what do you want to do today, Finn?”
“Do you want me to be honest? I know how you like to be honest.”
“Of course.”
“I’d like to spend the day fucking you. How’s that for brutal honesty, baby?”
Her eyes grew wide and she blinked. But after a moment, she said, “Okay.”
Okay? Okay? He tried not to act excited about her answer or surprised.
“Yeah? How about we do it out here on the patio? Did you and your husband ever fuck on the patio? In broad daylight?”
Her face hardened. “What I did with my husband, or with anyone else for that matter, is none of your damn business.”
So she was still playing the married card. “I’ll take that as a yes. Did you ever do the whipped cream thing with him?”
She swung her legs over the side of the chair and sat up straight, glaring at him. “What is wrong with you?”
“I’m just curious.”
“Well, stop it. Whatever the hell you think you know about me, you’re wrong.”
“Am I?”
“Yes.”
“Then tell me this. What are your thoughts about having a baby?”
Her mouth fell open. “A . . . baby? What does that have to do with anything?”
“I didn’t use a condom last night.”
He watched as she bit nervously at her lip. She looked out at the ocean then back at him. “I know.”
“You didn’t say anything.”
“I know.”
“Why?”
She gave a half shrug. “Maybe because I wanted to feel you inside me with no barriers. Maybe I wanted the same thing as you.”
Jeezus. She made it awfully difficult to be mad at her. “Won’t that be a little awkward if you were to get pregnant while you’re still married to what’s-his-name? What is it? Antonio or Anthony?”
She didn’t say anything as she looked down at her feet.
Why was he being such a prick? Hadn’t he lied to her as well? Making her believe they’d had sex when they hadn’t? But somehow what she was doing was different. He had maintained his charade because he knew once he’d told her the truth he might lose her. She hadn’t told him the truth because she didn’t trust him. Funny, she trusted him with her life, but not with her secrets. What the fuck!
After a period of strained silence she stood, dropped her robe over her shoulders and lifted her tank top over her head. Her breasts bounced with her movements. She wasn’t wearing a bra. Her nipples hardened into pebbles with the breeze.
“What are you doing?” Finn asked just as she lowered her boxers to the ground and stepped out of them. She was totally naked and so damn sexy hot. His cock sprang instantly to life. God how he wanted her.
“You said you wanted to fuck me on the patio.”
“Macy,” he said in a near whisper.
She spread her arms wide. “Well, go ahead and fuck me, Finn. And then maybe when you’re done you’ll stop acting like such a prick.”
Macy didn’t know what his problem was. He was such an enigma. Never in her life had she met a man who could infuriate her and turn her on at the same time. Or maybe she was just so desperate for love she was willing to let him push her buttons. Was that it? How pathetic was she?
And yet no one had ever made her feel the way Finn did. All womanly, sexy, wanton and uninhibited. Why else would she be standing naked on her patio in broad daylight and urging him to fuck her?
He had yet to move, just continued to stare at her nakedness, his gaze traveling slowly up and down her body. “Macy,” he said again, his eyes locking with hers now.
At times he could be so gentle, so caring and thoughtful. Like now. Even after he’d made his inclinations extremely clear. He wanted her, and she had seen the evidence growing beneath his shorts. But now, for some reason, he refused to make a move.
Lifting her chin, she inched toward him, standing directly above him. All he had to do was hold out a hand, touch her, say the right thing, and she would melt. He could do whatever he wanted to her, take her in any way he preferred, and she would never try to stop him. So why wasn’t he taking advantage of her? What more did he want from her?
With barely a thought she dropped to her knees and started working the zipper on his shorts, feeling him growing harder with her moves. She reached between the fly of his boxers, found his throbbing erection and pulled it free. Then she lowered her head and took him into her mouth.
“Baby,” he whispered, letting his head loll to the side. “Don’t stop.”
It was all the encouragement she needed.
Finn didn’t deserve this from Macy. He didn’t deserve her. The way he’d treated her, he was surprised she was even speaking to him let alone sucking his cock. Anyone could walk along the beach and see what they were doing and yet he didn’t give a fuck. He didn’t want this moment to end. Besides he had yet to see anyone on that beach since they’d been here.
He dragged his hands through her hair and guided her mouth along the length of him. Her tongue swirled and tasted, driving him absolutely wild. He sucked in a noisy breath. Fuck the whipped cream. They didn’t need it. “Oh, baby, you’re amazing.”
“You like this?” she breathed.
“You’re kidding, right? I love it. I love you.” Only after the words had escaped his mouth did he realize what he had said. He’d told her he loved her. Did he mean that? It was too late to take it back. He’d spoken so quietly maybe she hadn’t even heard him say it. And didn’t all guys say stuff like that when a woman did something this amazing? The words were no big deal.
But then something changed. Macy looked up at him with not only lust and need in her eyes as he continued to fuck her mouth but there was something else present in those baby blues. Something he couldn’t describe. Endearment maybe? Tenderness? Passion? So she had heard him say that he loved her. Oh well. He wasn’t going to dwell on it now.
He took her hand, showed her how to please him. He gasped aloud when the intensity built. She was driving him absolutely insane.
Suddenly, he steadied her with his hands. “You may want to stop now or else I’m going to come soon.”
Ignoring his warning she kept on pleasuring him until he could no longer hold back. “Fuck, yes!” he shouted as he went over the edge.
Macy rested her head on Finn’s hard abs and listened to his breathing and rapid pulse. She couldn’t believe what she had just done. On her patio, no less. Finn stroked her hair, her neck, riding out the waves of pleasure.
He’d said he loved her. Did he mean it? Or had he just been caught up in a moment of passion? It wouldn’t be the first time a man had said those words to her and hadn’t really meant them. Men were such pigs sometimes. When it came to sex, especially oral sex, they would probably say anything they thought the woman wanted to hear.
Yet she could hardly ask him if he was being sincere. What was he supposed to say? Of course I didn’t mean it. I just wanted a blowjob, baby.
Not wanting to feel like a fool she decided she would keep her feelings for him to herself. Unless he said he loved her again. Then, and only then, would she tell him she loved him too.
Finn began to stir. “We should probably go inside.”
She nodded and then felt herself being scooped up into his strong arms. He carried her into the house, down the hall to her bedroom and placed her gently on the bed.
“I was serious about wanting to spend the day fucking you.”
She didn’t know why but she started laughing.
“What’s so funny?”
“I don’t know. What just happened on the patio was so far out of my comfort zone. And yet with you it seemed totally natural.”
He grinned and climbed onto the bed to lie beside her. “Yeah?”
“Yes.” She rolled over and faced him fully then slid the eye patch up over his forehead. She lowered her head and planted a tiny kiss on a scar next to his eye. “I want to spend the day fucking you too.”
Yesterday had been like a sex marathon. They couldn’t get enough of each other. They’d emerged from the bedroom only twice to get food. Or fuel rather, and only so they could keep going. She’d even used the whipped cream like she had promised while her hands were tied to the bed with the tie from her robe.
No one had ever tied her up. It was the most erotic scene ever. Every time she played it in her head she got turned on all over again. What was most surprising was, according to Finn, the whipped cream and ties had been her idea all those months ago. She didn’t even know where she had come up with that scene. Maybe that fantasy had been something buried deep within her. Hell if she knew.
They’d exhausted themselves and slept wrapped around one another the entire night. But today Finn had promised to take her into town to do something fun. Not that yesterday hadn’t been fun. Macy pulled a striped crop top over her head and stepped into her white mini skirt.
“Whoa!” Finn eyed her up and down. “You’re going to ride a moped in that outfit?”
“We’re riding mopeds?”
“We’re going to do whatever you want to do today. I got to choose yesterday,” he said with an eyebrow waggle.
“I think we both chose the same thing yesterday,” she said, feeling herself blush. “But riding a moped sounds like fun too. Just let me change.” She chose a red romper instead and paired it with strappy wedge shoes. “I hope you’re planning on treating me to lunch because I’m starving.”
“It was the workout you had yesterday.”
She had to agree. She could get used to Finn very easily. He was amazing in bed. And he liked to do fun things. Was he someone who would fit into her life? Would she fit into his? Would he be willing to move to Chicago? Or would she be willing to move wherever his home was?
And just where was his home? She had no idea. Here she was having the most intimate sex of her life and she didn’t even know where the man lived. He’d told her he’d been staying in Ryder’s lake house, but where was his actual home?
He’d asked how she felt about having a baby. She hadn’t given that much thought until he’d brought it up. She had the show. She was entirely too busy to be a mother. Well, she supposed she could be a mother. Any woman could. But not the kind of mother she would want to be. Though she would be willing to give up her career in a heartbeat if she found out she was pregnant.
They’d been careful to use condoms yesterday, and neither had mentioned the night prior when he had slipped into her and come inside her.
How would Finn react if they learned they were going to have a baby? Would he be happy? Would he make a good father? He obviously hadn’t had a very good role model to follow.
Was that why he seemed so moody at times? She still wasn’t sure why he had been so cranky yesterday morning. It had started right after he had disconnected from whoever had been on the phone. If she had to guess, she would say it was John Ryder. But once she had taken her clothes off on the patio and knelt in front of him, his entire mood had changed, as she knew it would. No big surprise there.
“You about ready?” he asked and she nodded. She looped an arm through his and they headed out.
It had taken all of two minutes to make Kat tell him where Macy was. The little slut sold out her friend just so he wouldn’t kill her. But in the end she must have known he’d been lying, that he had no choice but to end her life. She’d put up a good fight, but she was certainly no match for him. And Macy wouldn’t be either.
Although it had been fun strangling Candy it just hadn’t excited him the same way when he’d placed his hands around Kat’s throat. Maybe because he hadn’t really meant to kill his girlfriend. Maybe because she hadn’t believed he would either. He’d choked her plenty of times, came close to killing her twice before eventually letting her go.
But with Kat, they’d both known his intentions the minute he had touched her. It made his dick hard remembering the way her eyes had nearly popped out of her head as she’d struggled to breathe.
Now with his jeans down around his ankles he stroked his hard-on, wondering how it would feel once he got his hands on Macy. This was all her fault. He’d never killed a human before. Well not with his bare hands anyway. He supposed pushing his aunt down the basement stairs and turning on the gas once his mother had gone to bed didn’t count. Those were just little accidents he’d caused even though both women had died. No, he hadn’t killed a human with his bare hands until the day Candy had called the show and gotten advice from that fraud.
Until then it had only been animals. The first time he’d sucked the life out of something was when he was thirteen and had killed a baby bird with his bare hands. His mother had told him to stay away from the nest in the tree out back, but something had drawn him to that bird. The way it had looked at him was as if it had wanted him to kill it. And so he did.
Then, when he was fourteen, his mother had caught him in the garage killing a newborn kitten. Their family cat had just given birth to five scraggly, whining felines. That cat certainly wasn’t going to miss one of her ugly kittens. It wasn’t like she could count them or anything. So naturally he hadn’t seen the harm. After all, hadn’t his birth mother given him away? And she probably never had a moment’s regret.
After his mother caught him with the dead kitten in his hands she had cried for days though, couldn’t even stand the sight of him, and eventually had set him up with a damn psychologist for months of therapy sessions. What a waste of time. Of course, he’d told the hideous looking doctor with the nose too small for her fat face that he was sorry. That he hated himself for what he had done. The woman had believed him when he’d said he would never do anything like that again and had eventually told his parents she’d cured their son.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Killing things was fascinating. He just never knew it could be this fascinating. “Thank you, Kat,” he whispered as he stood over her lifeless form. He needed to get rid of her body. That was going to be tricky. There was a man posted in the lobby of Macy’s apartment building. He had to think.
He remembered seeing a large suitcase in the bedroom closet. Kat would certainly fit inside there, wouldn’t she? That way he could transport her to join Candy in his storage unit. Good thing it was winter. Otherwise her body may have started to smell by now.
Soon there would be three females in that unit. Macy was going to be joining them and the thought made him so excited he felt his climax starting to build. He stroked his hard dick some more then released his seed on Kat’s defunct face.
Macy and Finn had stopped in town and picked up some bread, cheese, fruit and a bottle of wine. They rode their mopeds to an isolated area near the ocean and decided to enjoy their lunch picnic style. The sound of the waves slapping against the sand and rocks was relaxing, soothing. Once they had eaten they’d fallen asleep on the thin blanket they’d brought along.
Macy woke first and found herself staring at Finn. She ran a hand over his rough jawline then traced his lips with her fingertip. She loved this man. Which meant she needed to tell him the truth about her fake marriage. But she was still unsure of that decision. The more people who knew the bigger chance there was that she would be ruined. While she was willing to give up the show to be with Finn, she still wasn’t quite ready to admit to the world she had lied. That she was a fraud. That all the advice she had dished out over the last five years meant nothing. That it was all about her being rich and famous. Plus she couldn’t do that to Jeremy Matthews and David Greenberg. They had been good to her. She needed to quit the show first before telling Finn she was never married. Decision made, she felt herself relax a little.
Finn began to stir and opened his eyes to look up at her. He blinked then smiled. “You’re beautiful, Macy.”
“So are you.”
He laughed. “Men don’t really want to be called beautiful, baby.”
“Too bad,” she said with a finger poke to his chest. “Because you are.”
He grinned then frowned.
“What is it?”
“It’ll be dark soon. We should probably get back to your villa.”
“I’m not afraid to be out after dark. Not with you to protect me.”
“You trust me?” he asked.
“Of course.”
He raised his head and propped it up with his elbow. “Then why haven’t you told me your so called marriage was all a sham?”
Macy swallowed hard. How had he found out?
He sat up and implored her with a look. “Macy?”
“Who told you that?”
“It doesn’t matter who told me. What matters is that you’ve been lying to me. If you trust me like you say you do then I would think you would have told me the truth.”
She hung her head for a moment before facing him again. “I lied to get the job. I’m not proud of it. I assumed once I had the job and people liked me they wouldn’t care if I was married or not. But apparently they did care. Letters started pouring in saying they wanted an amazing marriage just like the one I had with Antonio.”
“So who all knows the truth?”
“My parents, Caroline, Jeremy and now you.”
Finn nodded then sat upright. “The show must be extremely important to you. So important you felt the need to live a total lie for the past five years.”
She didn’t have time to clarify as her phone rang. She dug it out of her crossover bag and checked the display. “It’s Jeremy. I should probably take this. It could be about work.”
Finn shrugged and began gathering their things. He didn’t make eye contact with her, which was just as well. That way he couldn’t see the tears that had sprung to her eyes. She wondered how long he had known she was a fraud. Was it before their affair had begun or after?
She swiped the Answer display on her phone. “Hello?”
“Macy,” Jeremy said. “Kat’s missing.”