Page 100 of Better Luck Next Time

He got off the bed, slowly advancing toward her as though she were his prey. “It’s more than okay. Do you have any idea how sexy you are right now?”

“What?” she asked, trying to sound offended. “I wasn’t sexy in my I Love New York T-shirt and fanny pack?”

“Addy, you’d look sexy in a chicken suit.” He wrapped an arm around her lower back and tugged her to his chest. “That wasn’t a challenge, by the way.”

She laughed. “Are you sure?”

“Definitely.” He lowered his mouth to her neck, kissing his way down her chest to where the shirt gaped. “In fact, if you never wore anything but this shirt, I’d be a very happy and very turned-on man.”

Closing her eyes, she released a contented sigh. Finn had a way of making her feel like the most beautiful woman in the world. But when she opened her eyes, she saw her painting on the wall. She’d been caught off guard when she’d walked in and seen it hanging on the light gray wall next to the window, and then Finn had kept her distracted. But now it was there, right in front of her.

He’d found a way to repair it, and seeing it now, whole again, she was taken aback by the fury in the strokes and colors. It felt like she’d painted it years ago. Had it really only been a little over a week? She vaguely remembered telling him it was his, but she’d presumed he’d throw it away. Not piece it back together. Definitely not hang it up on his wall. His bedroom wall.

“Why did you keep it?” she asked, her voice strained.

He lifted his head, standing upright, the look in his eyes telling her he not only knew what she was talking about, but was terrified to tell her. It took him a few seconds to finally answer. “Because it’s beautiful, and it’s part of you. I couldn’t bear to throw it away.”

It was the perfect answer, only he’d barely known her then. So why had hereallykept it? She started to ask him, but then Tyrion started barking and Jezebel released a screech.

“Oh crap,” she said, then bolted down the stairs.

Tyrion barked at Jezebel as she attacked one of the sofa pillows, which was now on the floor and in shreds. The cat continued to attack it with a vindictive fury, as if it were stuffed with mice, ignoring Tyrion, who was circling her like a distressed schoolteacher would a disobedient student.

Finn was seconds behind her, wearing the boxer briefs she’d stripped off him less than an hour before.

“Jezebel!” she shouted, clapping her hands at the cat, but Tyrion’s barking drowned her out.

“Maybe you should take Tyrion and I’ll take Jezebel,” he said as he stood behind her, lowering his hands onto her upper arms.

She glanced over her shoulder at him. “And ruin that gorgeous body? You don’t have any clothes on! She’d skin you alive! At least I’m partially covered.”

He glanced down, looking into her eyes. “Who knows what offense that pillow caused her. No way am I risking that she takes offense to your beautiful legs. Besides, Tyrion needsyou,not me.”

The cat was still attacking the pillow, batting it across the room into the kitchen. Good. There wasn’t much in there to damage.

“Let me try to settle Tyrion down first,” she said. “Then we’ll address Jezebel.”

“Okay.”

Adalia squatted next to the husky and wrapped her arms around his neck, burying her face into his fur. “Tyrion. You can stop barking. You’re okay, and Jezebel’s fine too.”

The dog stopped barking and licked her cheek, his eyes so soulful they almost looked human.

“Good boy,” she said, squeezing him tighter, then loosening her hold. She stood and caught Finn watching her with a lust-filled gaze. The back of her shirt had hiked up, she realized, giving him a view of most of her bare butt.

“Focus, Finn,” she teased as she leaned to the side and kept her hand on Tyrion’s head.

“You make it damn near impossible,” he said, his boxer briefs not hiding his arousal. He took a step toward her.

But Jezebel’s hissing redirected their attention.

The cat had shoved the remains of the pillow against the sliding glass door, and was now attacking her own reflection in the glass.

“What do you want to do about her?” Finn asked.

“My magic touch with beasts stops with Tyrion and you,” she teased. “Jack’s the one who’s good with Jezebel.”

Jezebel was launching into full-on attack mode on the glass, getting progressively more pissed that the other black cat was still fighting her.

---