Page 55 of Artemis

“Pants,” he said urgently, slipping them over her ass as far as he could with her straddling him.

She stood up to obey him, but the doorbell rang before he could strip her. She groaned. “Not now!”

“Could be important,” Finley pointed out. He handed her his shirt and pulled his pants off one foot and then the other. “And it could wake Alexander.”

Artemis yanked on his shirt, which fell to mid-thigh and slipped off one shoulder, with a glare. “I’mgoing!” She stalked over to the front door beside the living room, unlocked it with a quick flick of her wrist, and threw it open. “Mercury!” she gasped. “Did you get everything you needed?”

Mercury’s voice drifted in through the open door, “Yep. This guy is going away for a long time. I wanted to return your phone. Someone named Luna has been calling all day.”

“Oh my god, I completely forgot to let her know we got Alexander back!” Artemis cried, taking her phone. “Thank you so much! Let me get you yours.”

Finley dug through the pockets of his jeans and found the phone Mercury had given them with the tracker. He brought it to the door himself, looming beside Artemis like a naked shadow. “Thanks for your help finding her son today,” he said.

Mercury grinned. “No problem, and you have nothing to worry about here. I was going to go as soon as Artemis checked that all her accounts were in order.” Looking back at her, he added, “I promise I didn’t touch a cent of your money, other than the dollar you gave your permission for me to attach the clone code to. The code has been removed completely, and there is no tracking information or anything else of the sort in your phone. It was as if I was never there. God’s honor.”

Artemis squinted at him. “I know exactly how that kind of honor works.”

“So you know that if I’m lying, I will suffer,” Mercury said solemnly. “I swear it.”

She nodded. “Thank you.”

Mercury turned to leave, but gave Finley one last long look from head to toe. “Oh, and Artemis, don’t impale yourself too hard. Sitting hurts like a bitch after something like that.”

Finley snorted. “Good night.” He closed the door and found Artemis flicking through her text messages on her phone.

“Luna is going to kill me if I don’t call her. I’m a terrible boss and an even worse friend,” Artemis complained.

“So call her. I’m a little hungry. Can I make you something while you’re on the phone?”

“Grilled cheese?”

Finley chuckled. “Sure thing. I’m just going to cover up while doing anything near a stovetop.”

Artemis pouted. “Do you have to?”

“I do if I don’t want burns on a very sensitive area.”

“Ugh, fine!” Artemis replied playfully. “Put on your underwear or something. Hide that beautiful cock away.”

Finley pulled her into his arms. “I’ll hide it away again and again inside your body until you’re incoherent but for my name,” he whispered fervently. “Until then, you must wait.”

She opened and closed her mouth a couple times before a tiny squeak escaped. “Okay.”

“Now, go call Luna.” He slapped her ass playfully. “Reassure her that all is well and you were distracted by your naked boyfriend.”

Her face lit up. “Boyfriend?”

“Call Luna,” he ordered again, as sternly as he was capable when faced with her beauty. He scooped up his underwear and headed for the kitchen and started making the grilled cheese sandwiches. Snippets of Artemis’s conversation with Luna filtered in from the other room; apologies, details of the rescue, his name more than once, as well as sobs and chuckles. It had been a tough day for Artemis. Her emotions were all over the place. Finley made up his mind not to bring up mating again tonight.

It turned out he didn’t have to.

Artemis entered the kitchen without her phone and wrapped her arms around his waist from behind. “You said you wanted to be mates. What does that entail, exactly?”

“It’s a promise. More than marriage, for my people. We pledge ourselves to each other, and I give you a mating bite at the peak of ecstasy.” Finley closed his eyes. “It’s okay. You don’t have to decide tonight. It’s an important decision, and I don’t want you to make it lightly.”

Humming into his bare shoulder blade, Artemis squeezed her arms tighter around his waist. “But you can have sex without being mated, right?”

Finley’s lips quirked up into a smirk, even though she couldn’t see his face. “Is that a roundabout way of asking if I’m a virgin?”

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