in front of her, though he had a feeling she wasn’t actually seeing it. “I don’t really have that many friends. Any, really. I’ve been on my own a long time.”
He slid one hand along her jaw until he cupped her face in his palm. “Well, you have me now.”
Her lips parted and she raised her eyes to his. “I do, don’t I?” A slight smile crinkled the corners of her eyes. “And you know you can count on me, too, right?”
“I do.”
Her smile widened. She gave his hand a quick squeeze and moved on to the next display of her work.
Feeling the need to appreciate beauty of a different kind, Finn watched Keira, enjoying the way the lighting, strategized to enhance the art, played off her dark red hair. As she scrutinized the painting she chewed on her lower lip. The longer she did it, the more he wanted to be the one to nibble on that plump lip. And he wouldn’t contain himself any longer.
With a low growl, he took her arm and guided her to an alcove a few feet away. The atmosphere and contents of the art gallery might be calming to him, but this woman fired him up like no other. “I’ve wanted to do this since that damned slow dance at the club the other night.”
She looked at him, startled, but he saw no alarm in her eyes. Then humor replaced the surprise. He wasn’t discomfited by it because she always seemed to find something about him that struck her funny bone. Which was all right by Finn. He could laugh at himself, too.
“Someone might come in,” she whispered. She stroked her fingers down his cheek, letting her thumb play across his mouth. He assumed she wasn’t overly concerned by the possibility of being interrupted.
He took a moment to listen to the sounds in the gallery. He couldn’t hear anything but the music and the faint sound of their breaths. He pressed a kiss to the pad of her thumb. “Other than Rudi, we’re the only two in here right now,” he murmured back. “And he’s not going to bother us.”
She looped her arms around his neck, her hands cradling his skull. Her eyes were as blue as he’d ever seen them. “Well, then,” she said with a delectable lilt in her sultry voice, “let’s not waste any time.”
He bent his head and set his mouth on hers. The feel of her lips beneath his was as arousing as the first time he’d kissed her. Giving a low groan, he closed his eyes and pressed her deeper into the alcove, enticing her to part for the sweep of his tongue into her mouth. God, she tasted good. Fresh and sweet with a hint of tartness.
Finn left her lips to explore her jaw, the slope of her neck, the hollow of her throat. Keira shifted, slowly rocking her hips against his, the slide of her body making him hard all over. His muscles tensed, his hands tightened around her waist, pulling her closer. He went back to her lips, determined to make a meal of the honeyed depths of her mouth.
When she sighed, he drank down her breath like it was the finest of wines. She tightened her fingers in his hair, Keira’s mouth becoming more demanding.
After a few minutes he drew back and rested his forehead against hers. She was breathing as harshly as he was, and once he had enough breath to talk he said, “You’re addictive, you know that?”
“No more than you are.” She lifted her head. Looking into his eyes, she said, “Why am I so drawn to you?”
To Finn she sounded like she was trying to work through a particularly knotty problem. “Because I’m so good-looking? And charming. And smart. And—”
“And so obviously modest, too.” She grinned, making the smallest of dimples flash near the left corner of her mouth.
“You didn’t let me finish.” He leaned down and brushed his lips against hers. “And a fantastic lover.”
Keira’s expression went serious. “That you are.” She reached up and pushed her fingers through his hair, the tips sliding against his scalp in a caress that made him tilt his head into her touch. “I’m not sure you’re good for me.”
He knew he wasn’t. He was the son of a ruthless demon, and he’d done things he wasn’t proud of. Things that had needed to be done, but still, his past wasn’t something to be gloated over. He wished he could have met