Page 57 of Artemis

He pushed it open and his jaw dropped.

CHAPTER15

Artemis feltlike a schoolgirl with a crush as she headed into her bathroom. Her stomach was filled with butterflies, and she couldn’t wipe the giddy grin from her face.

Until she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror and almost shrieked with surprise. The windows in the kitchen had not done the melting of her mascara justice. A wild giggle escaped her lips.

“At least Finley has seen me at my worst,” she told her reflection. “And he loves me.” She wrapped her arms around her body as if she could hold the emotion tight to her heart. “We’re going to be mates!”

She waited for the sinking feeling to seep in, for panic to overwhelm her. Neither happened, and she did a little dance right there in her bathroom before taking a few deep breaths to calm down.

The dried makeup was a pain to clean off, and she had to use a special solution that Hera had mixed up for her to get the last of it off her skin. Artemis splashed her face a few times, sighing with relief at the feeling of clean water on bare skin, before stripping out of her clothes. She dropped her leggings and underwear into the hamper in the bathroom, but left Finley’s shirt on the countertop.

Soap and more water under her arms, wiping away the stress of the day, and then another splash at her more sensitive areas, just to clean things up, since Finley seemed to like eating her out.

Who was she kidding?

She liked it too.

After tidying up the bathroom, she scurried down the hall to her bedroom, Finley’s shirt in her arms, hoping that he wasn’t close to being finished cleaning up downstairs. After closing the door behind her, she found a box of condoms that hadn’t yet expired in her side table and put them on top for easy access, along with a bottle of lube. She put his shirt on the end of the bed and then turned her attention to her own attire.

“Oh my gosh, I have nothing to wear!” she gasped. She felt a little silly; obviously Finley would strip her as soon as possible if she was wearing something, but she wanted to look nice for him. Give him something to unwrap beforehand.

Artemis pulled open her underwear drawer, scowling at the simple panties before digging out her one black thong. She pulled it on, hopping on one leg and then the other.

There wasn’t really anything that she could put on the top half of herself, though. Sighing, she picked out a white camisole and slipped into it. She heard Finley’s heavy tread on the stairs and flung herself onto her bed, arranging her body in what she hoped was a seductive position and glancing at the baby monitor.

Alexander was sound asleep, his face turned toward the camera and his bum up in the air.

The door opened and her attention turned to the man framed in the doorway. He was staring at her like she’d hung the moon.

Which, well... That was fitting.

She ran her fingers up her thigh to her hipbone, playing with the thin strip of material there. “Are you going to come in, or...” She let the question hang in the air between them, his gaze fixed on her moving hand.

Finley gave his head a shake as if dispelling cobwebs and took a couple steps into the room, closing the door behind him. “You are stunning,” he whispered, crawling up her bed between her legs. He dropped kisses along her outer thigh until he reached where she was playing, alternating between kissing the delicate bone of her hip and sucking lightly on her fingers.

Artemis shivered pleasantly, goosebumps erupting, originating from his lips. “Are you going to take off your underwear?” she asked him to distract herself.

His mouth curved in a smile against her skin. “Maybe,” he teased. “I think I want you a little more desperate first.”

She pouted and dragged her foot along his side, hooking her toes in the elastic band at his waist and attempting to tug down.

“Minx,” Finley growled. He gripped the sides of her thong. “Can I rip these off you?”

Artemis hesitated. “They’re my only black pair.”

“I’ll replace them.”

“Okay.” She was surprised by her boldness, and then again by how wet she got from the sound of ripping filling the air. “Oh my God!”

“Not a God, just a dragon shifter,” Finley replied cheekily.

He flipped them over somehow and she belatedly remembered that his real job wasn’t in a daycare, but in a fighting ring. She looked down at him between her legs, and flushed like a teenager when she realized what he was going to do.

He tossed her destroyed thong somewhere and curled his hands possessively around her upper thighs, pulling her down against his mouth.

Her arms shook as she tried to hold herself up, groaning through the onslaught of pleasure that Finley was providing. When her elbows bent, she took the last reserves of her energy and pushed herself up into a sitting position.

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