So instead I shook my head sadly at Rakesh. “Don’t waste your time. She’s seeing someone.” The lie rolled easily off my tongue. Too easily.
He cast a speculative glance in her direction. “Is it serious?”
“Yeah, seems so. They’re keeping it quiet for now, but she’s really into him.” I was definitely going to hell. No question about it. I’d promised not to interfere in Scarlett’s dating life again and here I was doing it. Worse, I didn’t regret it in the least.
Rakesh sighed. “To be honest, I’ve always had a bit of a crush on Scarlett, but never thought I’d have a chance with her.”
“Seriously?” I’d had no idea. I drank the rest of the beer to give myself some thinking time. What if Rakesh was The One for Scarlett and I’d just ruined it for her? He might be the love of her life. But even the thought of them together made everything inside me tense—I couldn’t do it. Couldn’t tell him she wasn’t seeing anyone. I was a bad, bad person.
He shrugged. “I shouldn’t have waited.”
Scarlett patted the guy from Geology on the side of the face and headed for the drinks table. Rakesh’s words reverberated in my head.
I shouldn’t have waited.
There were a thousand reasons why I couldn’t be that person Scarlett was dating, yet as I watched the black dress pull and glide across her hips with her swaying-to-the-music walk, none of them were worth a damn.
Something inside me snapped. I couldn’t do this anymore. Couldn’t keep waiting.
With no idea what I was doing, I pushed off the wall and headed for Scarlett. She’d just picked up a beer and was taking a long drink. Her throat moved as she swallowed and her lips were pink around the lip of the bottle. I put my empty on the table and leaned in. She lowered the bottle and wiped her mouth. I just about went up in flames.
“Hey, Finn,” she said, smiling at me. “This is a great party. Thanks for letting me come with you.”
I cleared my throat. “I have to tell you something.”
“Okay, spill.”
“Not here.”
Her eyebrows went up in interest. “You want to head home?”
Home? Where the house was full of parents and sisters and dogs? “Nope.”
I put a hand under her elbow and guided her to the door. “We’ll duck into my office.” It was on the same floor but at the other end of the corridor, so we’d have privacy.
She didn’t hesitate to follow, but she turned her head to meet my gaze. “This sounds serious. Is everything okay?”
“I have no idea anymore,” I said, and headed down the hall.
Scarlett
Once we reached his office, Finn pulled me inside and kicked the door closed. There was something very different going on with him. His entire body was tense, wired, as if ready for something.
He left the light off.
“Finn?” I said, tilting my head to try and get a read on him.
“I did it again.”
As my eyes adjusted to the dark, I could see the contours of his face in the moonlight glinting through the windows. He was at once familiar and foreign, and the combination was electric.
“Did what again?” Apart from the muted sounds from the party at the end of the hall, the only sound in the room was his breathing, heavy and rasping.
“Interfered in your love life.” He took a step closer. “I promised not to, so I’m confessing. And apologizing.” He didn’t sound in the least apologetic. He sounded fierce. Primal. I wanted to touch him, to feel all that surging power that was surrounding him like an aura, but I waited.
“How did you interfere?” I whispered.
“Someone wanted to ask you out and I told them not to.” His eyes had no color in the dim light. They were dark, intense, and focused only on me—a heady sensation.
“Who?”
“Wrong question,” he practically growled.
A delicious shiver raced up my spine. “What’s the right question?”
“Ask me why.” He took another step closer, and I could feel the heat emanating from his body, feel his need filling the air around us. “Ask me why I interfered this time, Scarlett.”
“Why?” The word was not much more than a breath escaping, but it was all I could manage. My entire body buzzed with anticipation.
“Because I wanted to be the one to touch you.” Another step, and he gently pressed me back against the wall with his body along mine. “Because I’m the one that can barely sleep at night, knowing you’re just down the hall. In your bed. Practically naked.”
Shit. I might never sleep a wink again knowing he was in his bed thinking of me naked. His hands were still at his sides, the only place we were touching was the light press of his torso against me.
“Finn?” I rested my hands on his arms, felt his biceps clench at the contact.
He drew in a shaky breath. “Yeah?”
“I’m not mad that you interfered.” My hands trailed from his biceps up to his shoulders then down over his back.
“You’re not?” he asked, his voice tight.
“Nope.” My hands reached his butt and I pulled him closer, sighing when I found him already hard. “And you want to know something else?”
“Hell, yes,” he rasped and sucked my earlobe into his mouth, biting down softly. My knees buckled but his weight kept me pinned to the wall. “Tell me.”
“I don’t care who it was.”
His breath was warm at my ear. “And why is that?”
“Because I want it to be you, too.” I lifted his hands and placed them on my breasts, shivering at the contact. “Touching me.”
“Scarlett,” he said, though it sounded more like my name had been wrenched from his throat.
“And there’s nowhere I’d rather be right now than here. With you.”
It was nothing short of the truth. If my fairy godmother appeared and offered to send me anywhere on the planet, this was exactly what I’d choose.
“Here, as in alone in my office?” he said, his thumbs brushing over my breasts. “Or here, as in against the wall?”
“Here, as in pressed up against your body.” I wiggled my hips and he drew in a sharp breath. “Wherever that happens to be.”
He reached down and lifted my leg, and I wrapped it around his waist, arching to find more pressure. We hadn’t even kissed but this was way more intimate than we’d ever been before. It felt vaguely dangerous. I liked it a lot.
Needing to feel skin, I pulled his button-down, pale-blue shirt from his jeans, and once my fingers made contact, I took full advantage. I’d touched his skin before—of course I had—but it had always been hands or forearm, places that were safe. Places that were firmly in the friend zone. Now I was running my fingertips over his lower back, up over muscles that bunched as I stroked them, then back down to his waistband.
This whole thing was wrong on so many levels that it probably wouldn’t happen again, which only gave my questing hands more urgency. I wanted to experience everything I could in this small window of opportunity.
I reached for his belt buckle and his mouth landed on mine, momentarily distracting me. This wasn’t like our other kisses. This one had more…intent. No soft start, no gentle brushing of lips. This kiss began with open mouths and sliding tongues and only became more carnal from there.
My fingers thrust through his hair, gripped, moved around to his neck, searching, wanting more. His teeth closed over my bottom lip and tugged, and I gasped as it triggered a wave of sparks through my body.
“I might die if you do that again,” I whispered, and felt him smile against my mouth.
“I’d better not do it, then.” His voice was ragged, yet still teasing.
“Yeah, but I might die if you don’t do it again.”
He did it again.
If I didn’t survive this, it would be a marvelous way to go.
His hands grabbed the hem of my dress and roughly pushed it up my thighs until it bunched at my waist. Not wanting to risk it falling back, I tucked the edges under the band of my bra, the next best thing to taking it off altogether, but I didn’t want to break contact long enough to do that.