Page 126 of Manacled Hearts

I imagine him looking like a god as he walks out of the sea, ripped lean muscles all over his arms and powerful, long legs, dripping wet. So, so wet. And that’s not the only thing long about him. I shake my head, squeezing my thighs together at the mental image.

“Are you okay?” he asks.

We’ve stopped at some traffic lights and he’s watching me, but I’ve lost myself in the image of him naked. His gaze travels down my body, to my joined thighs still tightly pressed together.

“Yes. Sorry, I was just—”

“Imagining me swimming?” he interrupts and heat flares over my cheeks.

“No, of course not! I was just thinking…”

“Thinking. Right.” a devastating dimple appears in his right cheek and my god, I want to lean over and kiss it. No, I want to lick it. All of him. Top to bottom.

Jesus Christ, Evelyn!

This is why I’m in this situation. This didn’t happen because of my selfishness, but my damn hormones. I let them take over, and now I’m worried his leather seat is going to have a damp spot on it. I always seem to worry about that. I have a problem.

“What else do you think about, Evie darling?”

My gaze whips to him, the change of tone, filled with innuendos, hitting a nerve deep in my core.

“What do you mean?” my voice staggers.

“When it comes to me, what crosses that dirty little mind of yours?”

“What makes you think it’s dirty?” I ask, half confused, half intrigued.

He sighs, chewing on his lip for a moment, then wraps his large hand around my thigh, as he starts driving again. The gesture startles me, but I’m sinking into the warmth either way.

“I have a confession to make.” He glances over for a second, before turning his gaze on the road, and continues when I don’t say anything. “I overheard—purely accidentally—a conversation you were having with Morrigan.”

“Umm… what conversation?”

“At Vin’s house. I was going to the bathroom and the window on the corridor was open. You were somewhere on the other side of it.” He says, squeezing my thigh, the gesture both reassuring and sensual.

“Okay…” This isn’t helping.

“You were confessing your fantasy about… control. Or the loss of. Being taken…”

My jaw drops, eyes widening as I attempt to turn in my seat to look at him, gripping the sides. “Oh my god! Finnigan!”

When the ball drops, I’m both mortified and furious, my nails digging into the leather of the seats, and an ache takes root in my temples. I was talking about my dubious consent fantasies.

“How much did you hear?”

“Enough…” He chews on his bottom lip again, turning his gaze on me.

I hate that my core is responding to the roguish look in his eyes, though my heart does too.

“You stayed through it all, didn’t you?” I say in disbelief. “You bastard! That was a private conversation!”

“It was and I am sorry. I walked past just as you said something that caught my attention and… I couldn’t help myself.”

“Oh my god, I can’t believe you—”

“I know, it was wrong of me. I honestly admit it. I admitted it then too. Though…”

“What?!” I snap at him.

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