Christmas Alpha (8 page)

 
The same painful state Finn had been in most of the afternoon.

 
He had almost come in his denims when he instructed Eva to face away from him, up on her hands and knees, and then turn to look over her shoulder at him through the silky curtain of her lashes and hair.

 
If Moira had been lust and debauchery, then Eva was sensuality and desire, the two types of emotions as different from each other as the two women were.

 
It wasn’t what Finn had been looking for at all for his mistress photographs.

 
It was better.
 

 
So much better.

 
So much
more
...

 
“Hah, told you I would make an awful model!” Eva grinned across from him triumphantly at his continued silence.

 
Finn gave a non-committal shrug. “We’ll do better tomorrow.”
 

 
Her grin faded. “Tomorrow...?”

 
“Time for the bra to come off tomorrow, Eva. Oh come on,” he reasoned as her eyes widened. “I’ve already seen what’s under that scrap of lace.”
 

 
“That was completely different.” Eva lowered her lashes so that her emotions were now shielded behind that curtain of black silk.

 
Finn leaned back in his chair and studied her. Her cheeks were flushed, a pulse beating rapidly in that delicate dip in her throat he had explored with his lips earlier, and her breasts were pressed against her t-shirt as she breathed raggedly.
 

 
His gaze returned to the blush in her cheeks. “How was it different, Eva?” he prompted huskily.

 
“You were… We were… I think you’re just trying to distract me so that you win at chess!” she accused irritably.

 
“Oh I’d done that by the time you made your third move.” He made his final move. “Checkmate.”

 
Eva stared down at the board incredulously, shoulders slumping as she saw Finn was right. She’d thought she had a good chance at winning too.

 
Did this man have to be good at everything?

 
And she did mean everything.

 
“And the forfeit is?” She eyed him warily.

 
He smiled slowly. “You just heard it.”

 
“I pose topless?” Eva heard her voice raise a couple of octaves.

 
“Topless,” Finn confirmed with a satisfied nod. “That way I get to at least
look
at your breasts all day. And if I’m very,
very
good, maybe you’ll let me play with them again later too. Did you like having your breasts stroked and pulled, Eva?” His eyes gleamed darkly. “You have such beautiful nipples. I could suck on them all day—”

 
“Stop it, Finn.” Eva put her hands over her ears as if that could block out the way her body had warmed at his words, those nipples he liked so much hardening to twin pebbles beneath her t-shirt. “Just stop it!”

 
Pebbles Finn must surely be able to see pressing against her t-shirt, her arousal obvious.
 

 
“You never did tell me whether or not you have a boyfriend,” he pressed. “Someone who gets to regularly suck on those delicious nipples.”
 

 
“I told you to stop it!” Eva glared at him as she stood up abruptly, almost upsetting the chess table as she did so. “I don’t like playing these sorts of games.”

 
“I don’t play games, Eva.” Finn stood up too, heat radiating off him as he stood just inches away from her. “So just answer the fucking question!”

 
“Finn...” Eva felt weak at the knees just from his proximity.

 
His jaw clenched. “Answer me, damn it!”

 
“Why?”

 
He smiled humorlessly. “Because I don’t fuck women who belong to other men, even as a way of passing the time during a blizzard.”
 

 
Whatever sexual haze had been weakening Eva’s knees and causing her blood to thrum hotly through her veins, it immediately evaporated at the crudeness of Finn’s words. “I have news for you—you aren’t ‘fucking’ me, whether I have a boyfriend or not!” she assured him with a look of disgust.

 
Mission accomplished, Finn acknowledged heavily, knowing he had now thoroughly pissed Eva off.
 

 
But knowing that he had done the right thing didn’t lessen the gnawing disappointment in his gut.

 
Problem was, the later the evening had become the more Finn had sensed Eva’s sexual tension, as if she fully expected him to suggest they share a bed tonight. And she hadn’t decided yet whether or not she was going to say yes.
 

 
Finn would have liked nothing better than to share a bed with Eva. For many nights. Unfortunately his life was fucked up enough already, without dragging Eva into the mess.
 

 
Anymore than she already was, just by being here with him...

 
The last woman Moira had seen him with had ended up at the hospital having stitches put in her temple.
 

 
The last thing he wanted was for Moira to make Eva her next target. And if that meant he had to keep Eva at arms’ length, then so be it.

 
With Moira on the loose and knowing exactly where he was, he had to keep his wits about him.
 

 
He wouldn’t have any wits left at all if he gave in to the increasing hunger he felt to make love to Eva, kissing and suckling those breasts until she came, before burying himself to the balls in her slick, wet heat!
 

 
Many more remarks like his last one and Eva was more likely to stab him with a fork than let him make love to her!

 
“Pity,” he drawled, turning away as if uninterested. “I’d better take you upstairs then and show you which bedroom you’ll be sleeping in tonight.”

 
“At the other end of the house from your own bedroom will suit me just fine.”

 
Finn gave her a mocking glance over his shoulder. “You’re safe enough from me, Eva.”

 
“Oh I don’t need you to tell me that!” Eva glared at the broad width of Finn’s back as she followed him from the room.

 
How long had she known this man? It seemed more like a lifetime than just hours.
 

 
He was just so much larger than life, so...imposing, it was impossible for her not to be aware of him. To want him.

 
Minutes ago her nipples had ached, and between her thighs had felt hot and slick again with the need to have Finn touch her.

 
He had certainly thrown a bucket of ice-cold water on that need.

 
Eva wasn’t a prude by any means, and she had cared about the two men she had slept with, but she drew the line at being any man’s ‘fuck to pass the time away during a blizzard’!

 
It was bloody insulting—

 
Eva froze as all the lights in the house went out.

Chapter 8

“What happened?” Eva didn’t dare to move, could only continue to stand frozen partway up the stairs, having absolutely no sense of her bearings, without the lights to see by, in this unfamiliar house.

 
“I would have thought that was perfectly obvious,” Finn muttered distractedly.

 
“Do you think it’s because of the storm?”

 
Finn certainly hoped it wasn’t anything more sinister than that. The problem was he didn’t know. Not for certain. Not until he’d had a chance to check the fuse box, and if necessary, call the electric company.

 
If it was a power outage then all was well and good.

 
But if it was something else...

 
He frowned grimly as he thought of the footprints he had seen outside earlier, and the fact that Moira knew where he was. “Wait here while I go and get the flashlight from the kitchen.”

 
“I’m coming with you!” Eva reached out to grab hold of him. “Oops! Sorry.” She quickly released him as she realized exactly
where
she had grabbed him.
 

 
“You certainly choose your moments, Miss Shaw.” Finn was deliberately flippant; there was still no point in alarming Eva until, or unless, he absolutely had to. And he was hoping he wouldn’t have to.

 
“It was an accident,” Eva defended indignantly.

 
“Of course it was.”

 
She gave an audible sigh of impatience. “Could you just get over yourself long enough for us to do something about this situation?”
 

 
“Such as one of us going downstairs for a flashlight?”

 
“Ha ha, you are such a comedian!”
 

 
“I aim to please.” Complete silence followed this last, even more flippant remark, and without visibility to aid him, Finn had absolutely no idea what Eva was thinking or feeling at that moment. “Eva...?” he finally prompted sharply.

 
“It’s so quiet when everything electrical just all goes off at once,” she spoke in hushed tones. “Spooky.”

 
Just what Finn needed to hear, when he still had no idea if this was a general power cut or if someone, Moira, had somehow physically turned the power off.
 

 
It all seemed a bit coincidental after Eva’s claim of having seen someone outside, along with those footprints Finn had seen in the snow, confirming that someone was watching the two of them.

 
He really wished he’d heard back from Lucien about when or if he could get some of his security people out here; he wasn’t worried for himself, but it really wasn’t fair for Eva to be dragged into the mess his life had become because of his stalker ex-girlfriend.
 

 
“The blanket of snow outside just adds to the eeriness,” Eva spoke softly again into that black silence.

 
Finn gave a disgusted snort. “I bet you were one of those kids who liked to hear ghost stories before bedtime, and then spent the rest of the night listening for strange noises, with your head under the bed sheets, too afraid to sleep.”

 
She gave a husky chuckle. “Strangely enough...”

 
Finn’s eyesight had now adjusted a little to the sudden blackness, and he could see shadowy outlines with the help of the light from the reflection of the moon upon the snow outside. “As both of us appear to be going down to the kitchen for the flashlight, it would probably be a good idea for you to take my hand.”

 
Eva accepted it was the sensible thing to do as she fumbled about in the dark for a hold on Finn’s much larger hand.
 

 
It also felt strangely intimate as his much longer, much warmer fingers curled about hers so that he could help her to navigate back down the stairs. More so, in some ways, than what had happened between them in the studio earlier. A connection, flesh against flesh, that while not in the least sexual, nevertheless possessed an unsettling intensity of feeling.
 

“I hope you thanked your friend for me too?” Eva murmured half an hour later as the two of them once again sat at the kitchen table drinking steaming mugs of tea.

 
Finn had lit some of the candles he had found in the cupboard under the sink before checking the fuse-box and then telephoning the electric company once he found that everything there was still working. A recorded message had informed him that this whole area was affected, and power would be resumed as soon as possible. After which he had telephoned Lucien again.

 
According to the other man it was quite usual to have power outages in this area, even without the snow, and so the other man had brought in a generator not long after he bought the house. Big enough that it could keep the rooms on the ground floor of the house, as well as the alarm system, powered and running. With the help of the wood-burning stove, and the fire in the sitting room, the two of them could at least keep warm and prepare hot food and drinks.

 
The news wasn’t so positive on the arrival of Lucien’s security guys; the snow really had blanketed the whole of the country and was causing chaos everywhere. Most of the roads were now impassable. Lucien was looking to get a couple of his men to Wales in a helicopter, but for the moment not much was getting off the ground except for emergency vehicles.
 

 
Just to complicate matters, Finn and Eva would now need to sleep in the same room tonight. In fact the two of them had already brought the duvets and pillows down from upstairs and placed them in front of the fire in the sitting room before coming back to the kitchen to drink the tea.