Series: Woodlands #4
Genres: Contemporary, Family & Relationships, Fiction, General, Love & Romance, Multicultural & Interracial, New Adult, Romance
Published by Jen Frederick Publication Date: April 13th 2015
Pages: 300
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Find on: Goodreads
Winter Donovan loves two things: her sister and her sister's ex boyfriend. She's spent her whole life doing the right thing except that one time, that night when Finn O'Malley looked hollowed out by his father's death. Then she did something very wrong that felt terribly right.Finn can't stop thinking about Winter and the night and he'll do anything to make her a permanent part of his life, even if it means separating Winter from the only family she has.Β Their love was supposed to be unrequited but one grief stricken guy and one girl with too big of a heart results in disastrous consequences.
Shannon’s Thoughts
Jen Fredericks does it again, absolutely blowing me away with Finn and Winter’s story.
Finn’s been a character that, if you’ve read the Woodlands series, we’re used to seeing in the background as his best friends and roommates find their HEA. Β So I was wondering how this laid back guy was going to fall….and fall he did.
Winter and Finn have history. Β Winter’s sister was Finn’s high school girlfriend, but Winter always had a bit of a crush on him. Β So when she runs into him soon after his father passed away, she gives into that crush and spends a night with Finn that would ruin her for other men. Β But Winter deals with a lot of guilt from her night of passion with Finn because of her sister and her shaky sobriety. Β Regardless of what her sister says, she uses Winter’s guilt to try and control her. Β It works for a while, but Winter soon realizes that she needs to live her own life and let her sister figure out how to live her own life and deal with her poor choices. Β It’s not easy for her, but in the end she makes the right choice.
Finn. Β Finn. Β Finn. Β It was hard not to love him. Β Mistakes and all, the man was just dreamy and made it easy to forgive anything he might say or do. Β I loved how he was willing to fight for Winter, even when she was buried under guilt piled on by her sister. Β He also supported her, making sure she knew he would always be there for her. It was exactly what she needed and gave Finn someone to believe and to believe in him.
I think this was my favorite of the Woodland series. Β Each of the couples had something special that drew readers to them, but I think Finn and Winter’s story, their history and the lengths he’d go for her made them my favorite.
CHAPTER ONE
March
WINTER
I didn’t know which one of us looked more surprised when Finn OβMalley walked into the Riverside CafΓ© at about ten minutes before midnight. Β The cafΓ© was experiencing a lull in the post-late night, pre-bar closings time period, and there were only two customers: myself and a man in his fifties over by the counter.
And now Finn.
βWinter,β he said, his tone a cross between disappointment and disbelief which I understood immediately. Heβd come to this run down cafΓ©βfar from where he lived and workedβtoβ¦well, I wasnβt sure what heβd want other than get away from anyone who might know him.
And there I sat. The girl whoβd had an enormous, unrequited crush on her older sisterβs high school boyfriend. And said older sister might have been the worst girlfriend heβd ever had. If my speeding heart was any indication, my crush was far from dead.
βFinn. Good to see you.β He looked terribleβor as terrible as Finn could ever look. Tall with dark hair set against ivory skin and the lean, muscular build of someone who did manual labor for a living. Finn would never look bad.
But grief had hollowed out his cheeks, and his shocking blue eyes were bloodshot. His inky black hair stood in clumps around his head as if heβd run his fingers through it multiple times. He wore a gray T-shirt that hugged his strong frame but had dirt smudges all over it. His worn jeans displayed dust and grime.
He worked in constructionβor more accurately, he flipped houses, the last Iβd heard. Not that I kept up on the doings of Finn OβMalley that much.
His eyes shifted around the restaurant, as he probably wondered how he could take a seat away from me and not appear too rude. I solved his dilemma by grabbing my purse and library book and sliding out of the booth.
βI was just going,β I said.
He licked his upper lip and I about died on the spot. But I was an adult now. All of twenty-two years. Crushes might have made my heart squeeze and my knees shake, but they didnβt paralyze me. Giving him a tight smile, I walked toward the door. He didnβt move, and unless I was going to walk around a table or two, Iβd have to brush by him.
So I did.
And smelled him.
And suddenly I couldnβt leave.
The sour, sweet stench of alcohol was so strong I wondered if heβd poured a bottle of vodka over his head. It was a familiar fragrance because my sister had been wearing it regularly for the past ten years. Her alcohol addiction, among other things, was a reason Finn and she were exes when many people had thought theyβd get married out of high school.
I backed up. βDid you drive here?β
The side of his mouth quirked upβnot quite a smile, more of a wry acknowledgment of my thought process. βIβm not drunk,β he said. βIβ¦itβs a long story.β
βIβve got time.β I started back toward the booth. βCome sit with me. My book was boring anyway.β
Good manners drove him to follow even if he didnβt want to. He dropped into the opposite bench, and I pushed my water glass toward him.
βThanks.β He drained it in three gulps. I was way too fascinated with the motion of his throat and the way that his Adamβs apple signaled every gulp. He set the glass down carefully as if almost surprised by his own sudden thirstiness.
Due to his long arms, his folded hands reached halfway across the table. I kept my arms locked by my side so I wouldnβt accidentally on purpose touch him.
My role was friend, not girlfriend, no matter how many inappropriate fantasies Iβd dreamed up when I was a girl.
The waitress came out and delivered another glass of water and refilled my now empty one.
βIβll have a burger. Plain. Order of fries,β Finn rattled off without looking at the menu. He pointed at me. βYou want anything?β
I shook my head. βIβm good.β
The waitress left, and Finn stretched his long legs out and leaned back into the booth, looking completely wiped. If I moved my legs, even a little, Iβd brush against him. I stayed still because I wasnβt sure what I would do if I touched him. Something embarrassing, no doubt.
βWhat are you doing here?β
Clearing my throat, I managed to form a coherent answer. βI just got off work. Closed tonight.β
Surprised, his eyebrows shot into his forehead. βWhat are you doing that has you working until midnight?β
βI work at Atra, the ink shop two doors down.β
βOh,β he started and then stopped. βI thought you were working at a marketing firm.β
A tendril of pleasure sprang to life at the idea of Finn keeping track of me. We may have been friends once, but my sister was the connecting thread. And when sheβd snapped their tie, Finn and I had drifted apart like florets from a blown dandelion.
Heβd floated one way and Iβd floated another. Weβd lived in the same city going on three years nowβsince he got back from attending an out of town universityβbut the first time Iβd seen him since he and Ivy had broken up had been at his fatherβs funeral a month ago.
βNo, I was downsized but I still do freelance design work for them and a couple other companies, but my primary job is commissioned artwork at Atra. I also help around the shop, doing bookings and stuff. Tonight I had a late consultation with a friend of Tuckerβs. He owns the shop,β I explained and then shut up, not wanting to ramble.
Finn nodded as if he found this interesting. βSounds like you are putting your talent to good use. I always thought your work was tremendous.β
βThanks. So what brings you here?β
He looked around. The man hunched over his coffee at the counter hadnβt moved. βI just got off work too.β
βI thought you were flipping houses?β
βLike you, I had a change in jobs.β His voice was grim. It didnβt take a genius to guess the change wasnβt a good one like mine was. Or maybe he was just angry about life right now, which he had every right to be.
βI know this sounds like a stupid Hallmark card, but it does get better.β I couldnβt hold myself back any longer. I placed my hand over his folded ones. βI promise.β
He tilted his head back, and his eyes fluttered closed, his ridiculously long lashes feathering across the top of his cheeks. Was he shutting out the pain or me? Or everything?
After long moments of silence, so long and so quiet that I could hear the hum of the refrigeration unit that held bottles of soda and beer behind the cash register, he spoke. βWhen I was thirteen, my dog Hunter died. Dad and I had bought him when I was four. Heβd developed some kind of doggy liver disease, and we had to put him down. That was the worst kind of pain, I thought. But that was like a pin prick, while Dadβs death is like a dull knife dragging itself across my body one painful inch at a time.β
I bit down on my lip so I didnβt cry in front of him. I remembered that pain, and hated that someone I cared about had to suffer it too. βIβm not going to say itβs easy to get over a loss like that; only that it does happenβeventually.β
He snorted, a rough and unhappy sound. βI have been drinking. Not going to lie about that.β His eyes opened halfway, which was probably for the best. The piercing blue came off as too beautiful to be real and too mesmerizing to look away. βBut not tonight. Tonight I decided to throw my bottles against the wall instead of drinking them, and because Iβm a stupid fuck, I failed to realize I was standing in the splash zone.β
The food arrived before I could respond. He pulled a napkin from the tabletop dispenser and shoved half his fries onto it. βEat or I wonβt be able to.β
Obediently I put a fry into my mouth and watched him dig in. Grief or no grief, he was still eating, which was a good sign. And he didnβt seem drunk. No slurred words, no inappropriate comments.
βSorry I jumped to conclusions,β I said after polishing off another fry.
βDonβt be. With your past, I can see why youβd be concerned,β he said between bites. My past. He was referring to dealing with my sisterβs addictions, which had spiraled out of control after our parents died when she was nineteen.
βSheβs better now,β I said. βIf you were wondering.β
βReally?β Disbelief was clear in every long drawn-out letter.
βReally. She hit a bad place shortly after her release, but sheβs been clean forβ¦β I counted in my head, βalmost thirty days.β
βThatβs good. Good for her and for you.β He popped the rest of the burger into his mouth and washed it down with the entire glass of water.
βDid you chew that or inhale it?β I laughed, remembering the days heβd linger in our kitchen eating anything and everything Mom would cook.
βI havenβt eaten since noon so if I could have just pressed it into my face and absorbed it via osmosis, I would have.β We shared a laugh, just a small one, but I was breathless by the end. His smile was too much for me, and it was the first one Iβd seen from him for so long. It lit up his eyes and revealed the deep creases on the corners of his mouth and his even, perfect white teeth.
βNo burgers on the west side of the city?β I joked to disguise my growing and uncomfortable desire for him. Now was not the time nor the place. He was not ever to be mine.
His grin grew wider. βWhy do you think Iβm here? Trying to avoid being seen by my roommates. I donβt know if you met them at the funeral?β I shook my head. Iβd only had eyes for Finn. βI live with four of them. Adam Rees is one.β Adam was a friend of Finnβs from high school. He had a famous father. That was about all I remembered, but I nodded anyway, and he continued. βTheir idea of helping me cope is to get me involved in increasingly dangerous activities.β
βWhat have your roommates made you do?β
βWhat haven’t they made me do is the question. I’ve been to strip clubs, paintballing, ATVing, a firing range, rock climbing, fishing.” Finn tapped a finger on the table to punctuate each activity. βI’ve got two former Marines living with me, and I think theyβre planning to push me out of an airplane. So I can’t go home.”
βYou can stay with me,β I said with a nonchalant shrug.
His eyes drifted around my face, lingering on my lips and then dropping lower. I could feel my unbound breasts tighten under the cotton of my T-shirt. I hated bras and was small and perky enough I could get away without wearing them. The only problem was I had fat, eraser-sized nipples, and right now they were pointing directly at Finn. He stared at them for what seemed like an eternity.
βIs that right?β His voice was husky.
The air in the room disappeared, and I barely had enough breath to croak out, βNo, Ivyβs there. She and I live together now. Have forββ I paused, not wanting to bring up her recent incarceration, ββfor a couple of months,β I finished awkwardly.
He made a noise in the back of his throat, one I couldnβt decipher. βSo have you been seeing anyone?β
I didnβt know what to make of that. Β Why was he at all remotely interested in my love life?
βNo, not recently. Not sinceββββ I broke off again.
βNot since Ivy got out of prison,β he said dryly.
βYou heard?β
βI heard.β He was done with the subject of Ivy and that was okay with me. It made me uncomfortable to talk about her while I was perving on her ex-boyfriend.
Anxious to change the subject, I asked, βWhat about you?β
βI donβt think what Iβve been doing constitutes as seeing anyone. Not since my dad died. Not feeling it.β Β His blue gaze pinned me against the booth. I heard what he wasnβt saying out loud. He had been sleeping around and from the interested way he was eyeing me, the suggestion was I could be next. βIβve been trying not to feel for a while but tonight? Maybe tonight should be different.β
It wasnβt a question; it was an invitation. And all the teenage feelings of longing and lust rushed over me until I was dry mouthed and full of want.
He looked out the window, considering something, and then back toward me. βYou had a crush on me for a long time. Am I taking advantage of you?β
I didnβt pretend I was confused about what he was asking, even though it was a bit mortifying to be confronted by my unreciprocated feelings. I shook my head. βNo. I think itβs the other way around.β
βItβs not. Why donβt we get out of this place?β He stood and threw two twenties on the table and waited for me to lead the way out.
I was acutely aware of his large frame behind me as I walked carefully across the tiled floor to the entrance. The heat of his body nearly burned me as he pressed against my back to reach around me with a large, work-roughened hand to push the glass door open.
He placed a hand on my lower back and guided me to his truck. It was a monster of a thing with big black tires and a menacing silver grill.
βYou really expect me to climb into this thing?β
He opened the door and in one swift motion lifted me onto the seat. βI forgot what a bitty thing you are.β
βIβm not small. Youβre just very tall. With a very large truck.β
His hands didnβt release my waist; instead, he moved closer. I opened my legs to make space for him.
βDonβt worry, Winter. Everythingβs going to fit fine.β With a firm hand on my neck, he drew my face down to his. I heard his lips part before I felt them press against mine.
A thousand thoughts tumbled in my head. Would Ivy be okay with this? Should I really be taking advantage of a grief-stricken man? How were his lips soft and firm at the same time? Could I have an orgasm from just kissing? Was this what love felt like?
His mouth took mine in a firm possessionβno hesitation. He wanted this if not me. And I took what he gave me because when did a girl ever get to kiss the boy sheβd crushed over for years? Hardly ever.
Only in the movies.
I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and dug my hands into his hair, giving into every desperate desire Iβd always tried to stomp down.
He groaned and pulled me tighter to him, the seat somehow perfectly situated at groin level so I felt the strong, heated evidence of his desire through our jeans. He rubbed his tongue along the edges of mine. He outlined my lips and then stroked the flat of his tongue against the roof of my mouth.
Even if I hadnβt had a crush on him, I would have been weak-kneed. Finn OβMalley knew how to kiss. He wasnβt just thrusting his tongue into me, he was exploring me, learning me, tasting me.
A large hand cupped one breast and squeezed it tightly. I cried out, part in pleasure and part in surprise at how the slight pain felt so good.
βToo rough?β he asked, pulling away.
I shook my head. He gave a half smile and yanked down the vee of my T-shirt until my bare breast popped out. The overhead light had gone off in the truck, but there was enough moonlight that anyone coming out of the cafΓ© could probably see what we were doing.
But any concern I had ended when he placed his mouth over my ripe nipple. With the same lavish care he took kissing me, he explored every inch of my breast. The top received a dozen wet kisses and tiny nips. The areola he licked thoroughly, and the nipple was sucked on so hard and with such long draws that I felt as if a string connected my nipples to my pussy. A string I hadnβt known existed.
While he sucked, he made low growls of delight that fueled my lust. I squeezed my legs around his hips, drawing him closer, drawing him inside where only he could relieve the painful ache between my legs.
βFuck,β he rasped, breaking our connection and backing away. The cool spring air made my taut nipple tighten even more. βNot here.β He gently straightened my T-shirt and then tucked me inside the truck.
We drove a short distance to a chain link fence that opened upon a press of a remote.
βWhat is this place?β I tried to catch my breath. Peering out the window into the dimly lit night, there appeared to be nothing but bare land filled with machinery and surrounded by fences. Beyond it was the river.
βMy new job. Left to me courtesy of Mr. Sean OβMalley.β There was a faint twinge of bitterness. βDad wanted to stamp his signature on the city and chose this downtown revitalization project. But then he died and left it to me, so I donβt know whether to love or hate him.β
βItβs okay to feel both. Love and hate,β I clarified unnecessarily.
βI suppose youβre right.β He stopped the truck in front of a trailer.
βYou can cry you know. I did a lot of that.β
βI like to have my emotional release come a different way.β
βLike what?β
He shifted in the truck seat to look at me. His hand reached out to cup my face. βYouβve grown into a very beautiful woman. Iβd very much like to take you inside the trailer and fuck you against the wall.β
βThatβs kind of a coarse invitation.β
His thumb ran over my lower lip, using some of the moisture of my mouth to wet my lip. I shivered, and a grim but knowing smile spread across his face.
βItβs the only kind Iβve got in me. All the tender emotion has been eaten up by my dadβs death. I want to lose myself in you, Winter.β
He got out of the truck and opened my door, giving me an expectant look. Was I in or out?
I knew what he was saying. It wasnβt that he loved me, wanted to date me, or wanted me to be his girlfriend. Heβd probably be disappointed if he saw me next to him tomorrow morning. Heβd lie awake wondering if he had to chew off his own arm to escape. He was offering a hard fuck in his trailer, not lovemaking in his bed.
I knew all of this and still wanted him.
Maybe the sex would burn away his mystery, and I wouldn’t internally sigh when I heard his name. Maybe it wouldn’t. But it was a risk worth taking, and I planned to get my money’s worth.
βHow many condoms do you have?β I answered boldly.
His eyes glittered in the moonlight. βHow many do I need?β
βDepends on your stamina and recovery time.β
βHoney, you’re going to have a hard time walking out of the trailer when we’re done.β
My heart ached at his words, but I took his hand and followed him inside.
Woodland Series Reading Order
Β
Undeclared (Book One) FREE
Amazon: http://amzn.to/1aeqWFk
Barnes & Noble:http://tinyurl.com/mtpmpk5
Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/undeclared
iBooks: http://apple.co/1Gj2D6V
Β
Undressed (Book 1.5) ONLY $0.99
Amazon: http://amzn.to/1CLb1Ft
Barnes & Noble:http://bit.ly/1OpOAho
Kobo: http://bit.ly/1O4G0m7
Β
Unspoken (Book Two) ONLY $0.99
Amazon: http://amzn.to/17XQcLb
Barnes & Noble: http://tinyurl.com/mwenc94
Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/unspoken-14
iBooks: http://apple.co/1xZBPpo
Β
Unraveled (Book Three) ONLY $1.99
Amazon Β http://amzn.to/19FKYqY
BN: Β http://bit.ly/1dKox3H
Kobo: Β http://bit.ly/LhUSUB
iBooks: http://apple.co/1Im0XKF
About the Author:
Jen Frederick lives with her husband, child, and one rambunctious dog. Β She’s been reading stories all her life but never imagined writing one of her own. Jen loves to hear from readers so drop her a line at jensfrederick@gmail.com.
Website: http://jenfrederick.com/blog/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorJenFrederick
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jensfred
Goodreads: http://tinyurl.com/p3ptasx
Β
Signed Set of The Woodlands Series
$50 Amex Gift Card
Shannon
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