Red-Hot Honeymoon: The Honeymoon Arrangement / Marriage in Name Only? / The Honeymoon That Wasn't. Debbi Rawlins
her, aftershocks still skittering through her body. The fact that they—two people who’d been around the block, the world—had no ‘off’ button when they touched was a huge warning that they should keep their distance.
She couldn’t handle him—this. This nuclear reaction couldn’t be controlled so it should be contained, and the only way to contain it was not to light the fuse.
She needed control. Control made her feel safe and secure. Control meant that her mind and emotions could stand apart and let her body have its fun. If all three got in on the action, as they had minutes before, then she was toast.
Finn quickly shucked his underwear, giving her a quick peek at a black thatch of hair and his still mostly erect penis. He swore as he used his underwear to clean up. ‘That was not supposed to happen.’
‘I don’t think any of it was,’ Callie said, closing her eyes.
She heard him stepping into his jeans, the rasp of the zip, a long sigh.
‘Are you okay?’
Callie opened her eyes and stepped away from the mirror. She smoothed down her skirt as Finn pulled on his T-shirt.
Finn sent her a long, concerned look as he repeated his question. ‘Callie, talk to me. Are you okay?’
Callie looked up at the ceiling. ‘Yeah. Wow. Yes. But I think that we should get going. They’re going to come looking for us soon.’
On cue, Annie’s hesitant voice drifted from the entrance of the fitting rooms. ‘Callie? Everything all right?’
Callie’s lips twitched as she replied. ‘We’re coming!’
Finn started to grin. and Callie slapped his shoulder in warning. ‘If you say Been there, done that I swear I will slap you!’
FINN STEERED HIS SUV into the empty parking space in front of Callie’s front door and frowned when he saw the tall blond guy sitting on her front step.
‘I thought you said you were single,’ he said to her bent head. He didn’t like the fact that white-hot jealousy speared through him. The thought of any other man having her, being with her, while the delicious scent of her was still on his fingers, the memory of her falling apart in his arms was still so fresh, made him feel ill.
Callie picked up her head and frowned. ‘I am. Why?’
He glared at the man—who just looked at them, waiting for them to leave the car. ‘Pissed off male sitting on your steps.’
Callie looked out through the front windshield and pursed her lips. ‘Older brother.’
Ah. Relief—which was bizarre, because he had no claim to this woman. ‘Can he wait five minutes? We need to talk.’
Callie sat back and nodded. Finn ignored her brother’s thundercloud face and turned in his seat to face her, making sure that the windows were up so no part of this conversation could leak from the car.
He thought about how to start, what exactly he wanted to say. They hadn’t spoken since leaving the shopping mall and he thought that they needed to clear the air before this went any further.
‘So, a little chemistry, huh?’
Callie broke the tense silence, verbalising his thoughts. How did she manage to do that?
‘If you can call that explosion “a little chemistry”,’ Finn muttered, wanting to bang his forehead against the steering wheel. ‘That was crazy. I’ve never …’ Finn swallowed his embarrassment. ‘Never lost it like that before. We had hot sex in a changing room, Callie!’
‘Well, it wasn’t really …’ Callie blew air into her cheeks. ‘Yeah.’
Callie’s tongue touched the centre of her top lip and he held back his groan and cursed the stirring in his pants.
‘This was supposed to be a simple arrangement!’ he muttered, more to himself than to her.
‘It’s still simple,’ Callie argued. ‘We’re going on holiday together, I’m going to pretend to be your wife, and we’re going to end up in bed sooner or later. And, judging by that craziness, probably sooner.’
‘I’m old enough to know that explosive sex has a way of making stuff extraordinarily complicated.’
‘We’re also old enough to work our way around that,’ she said.
Finn frowned at her as he stared at her profile. ‘Whoah … Let me get this straight. Are you saying that you are happy to have sex? You said you wanted to take it day by day.’
Callie blushed and threw her hands up in the air. ‘I don’t know what to think! I’m still in orgasm land! And I’m still wrapping my head around the fact that we did that, in a semi-public place, at noon, in a busy shop where I know the sales ladies.’
She buried her face in her hands.
‘I’m never going to be able to go back in there. They knew, Finn!’ Callie pushed her fingers into her hair as she lifted her head. ‘We didn’t give where we were and what we were doing a moment’s thought, Finn. Hell, we didn’t think at all!’
We didn’t think at all … Her words made him push back into the seat, his breath hitching. That was it—exactly it. The biggest problem he had around this woman was that he didn’t think. He just had to put his hands on that warm skin, had to kiss that luscious mouth, and his freaking brain switched off.
And he needed to think—needed time not only to work through the runaway fire that was currently his life but also why she had the ability to short circuit his thought processes. He needed to think about how he was going to handle this craziness between them so that neither of them ended up scalded.
Callie stared out of the window. ‘Would you prefer that I didn’t come with you?
‘No! Where the hell did that come from?’ Finn shot back, panicked at the thought of her backing out. And not only because he needed a ‘wife’ so he could do his job.
Finn let out a long stream of air. Dammit, it was his turn to be sensible, to take a step back from the situation and use his brain. His big brain.
He needed some distance from her; his body needed to get closer but he needed space to think.
‘Maybe we should just get through the next couple of days, get on the road and, as you said, see what happens—okay?’
Since Callie looked relieved at this reprieve, he knew that it was the right decision, that he was on the right track.
‘Okay.’
Callie nodded, but her next words surprised the hell out of him. Whatever else he’d expected her to say it wasn’t this:
‘And still no hearts and flowers at the end?’
Finn nodded his agreement. ‘Definitely not.’ He gestured to her brother, whose look had now passed pissed off and was on its way to furious. ‘You’d better go—he’s been waiting long enough.’
Callie wrinkled her nose. ‘Yeah.’ She opened the door and swung her legs out of the car. ‘Hey, Seb.’
‘Callie. Is that who you’re running away with? Want to introduce us?’
Finn heard the whipped out words before Callie slammed the door behind her. Hitting the button to take down his electric window, he made a production of putting his seat belt on before starting the car.
‘No, I am not going to introduce you. Why are you here?’
‘We need to talk about Laura and why you’re running off with