Killian
When we pulled into her driveway, I was telling her the story about when me da and Uncle Seamus tried to milk a random cow in some old farmer’s field. I had her laughing so hard she was holding her sides, but as we quieted I realized I didn’t give myself enough time to figure out how to properly end the evening with her.
“You’ll come in for a drink?”
It jolted me. Along with the devilish glint in her eyes. Should I? I wanted to take things slow with her. Work her into it. From some of the comments she’d made, I got the sense she didn’t have much experience in the relationship department. She was a hard worker, me Jo, and left precious little time for dalliances.
But she had this other side. An almost wanton, brazen hussy of a girl who made me dream of doing all kinds of things with her I hadn’t done with other women. That’s who was sitting in the passenger’s seat beside me right now, seducing with simply the way she was looking at me.
Then, to the careful observer, which I was, a third side to the multi-faceted woman who was Josephine Compton existed, and I think that was the side I most yearned for. The one who was careful with whom she showed her inner self. Burn away all the rest and she was someone whose heart was full of love she was ready to give, but she hadn’t had a chance to share it with anyone yet. This was the lonely girl who protected herself because she had no one else to protect her. And no one else to love her properly. She deserved this and so much more. In some ways I felt unworthy of her, but…everyone has their weaknesses, and she was mine.
“Or…if you’d rather not….” She was getting out of the car.
I grabbed her arm. “No. I want to….”
She smiled. “Well, then, come on in.”
I switched off the engine. It appeared as if I was going in.
She unlocked the door, strode in, deposited her purse and coat on a hook beside the door, and held out her hand for mine.
“Oh.” I slipped out of it and handed it to her with a smile.
“Do you want to keep your hat on?”
“Oh.” I swiped it off and hung it on top of the coat. Why did I feel like an awkward teenager all of a sudden?
She turned and I followed her into a wide, sunny kitchen.
“So…your dad and Seamus weren’t hurt, were they?”
“Nah. But they both decided that night to never be bullfighters.”
She laughed. Opening cabinets and closing them again.
“I have to say…” I looked around. “Your house isn’t what I expected.”
She spun around, scrutinizing me. “Annnd what do you mean by that?”
I leaned against the center island, hands stuffed in my pockets. “I…. I expected something more modern. Straight lines. Blacks and whites, and maybe a few reds.”
“Oh.” Her gaze traveled the room and her face fell.
“No. No. I like this better.” I clutched her hips. Strangely, I was better when I was touching her. “This is my soft, warm Josie. The one she doesn’t show to many.”
She looked around again. “Yes. I suppose that’s true.” She sighed. “Besides repairmen, I don’t think anyone else has ever seen the inside of my house.”
This shocked me. “Well. And I guess I’m sort of a repairman, too.”
“No.” She undid a button on my vest. “To me, you’re much more than that.” She undid the rest and slid her hands around my waist. “I don’t have any alcohol.”
I smiled. “You knew that, didn’t you?”
She nodded, biting her bottom lip and looking into my eyes with that same naughty twinkle in hers I’d seen in the car. Captivating.
“Well,” she brought her hands out, though I still held her, and played with my tie. “I did think I had a bottle of some kind of watermelon vodka I’d gotten on a particularly hard day…actually, I got it on my twenty-first birthday for myself. Took a couple of swigs, and threw up. Turned out I had the flu.” She frowned, and looked at the cabinets behind me she hadn’t tried yet. “I think I may have gotten rid of it the last time I checked expiration dates.”
“They have those?”
She laughed. “Yes. Remind me never to eat at your house.”
I looked at her, turning serious. She struck a chord in my heart, she did. “I don’t need any alcohol, Jo.”
The corners of her mouth lifted and she slowly slid her hands around my neck. Her gaze dropped to my lips. “Me, neither.”
I tilted my head and lowered it, an inch at a time, enjoying the anticipation of kissing her. Her mouth was warm and inviting, and offered me a plethora of pleasurable sensations. What began mildly picked up speed at a tumultuous pace, like a train leaving a station. She jerked my shirttails out, her hands stealing along me chest, across my skin. And I’ll admit to suckin’ in me gut to make a good impression. She moaned into my kiss.
I guess a good impression was made.
I found her skin, too, underneath the back of her shirt—petal-soft—and ventured a few inches inside her waist band. I was not taking this any further than she wanted; she had the lead.
She took it, and ran. Feverishly she worked my buttons until she got to me tie, which I think she’d forgotten about. I let her go for a half-second and jerked on it, sliding it over my head. Our lips didn’t like the separation, so they met again. I’d barely brought my hand to the island but she was fidgeting those last buttons open and spreading her hands wide across my chest. Miss Josephine Compton was disrobing me in her kitchen. And I wasn’t putting up much of a fight.
She created some space and dropped her gaze. “Man,” she sucked in a breath, “you’re built. How did you get this body?”
Again, her forthrightness threw me a trifle. I shrugged. “Lifting kegs, I guess.”
“You mean, you don’t work out?”
“If you mean at one of those fancy gyms, nah. I fool around with some free weights, and run, of course. And I have a pullup bar.”
She took a step back and smiled. “Take your shirt off.”
Wow. She was really being a bold one now. I stood straight, slipped out of it and my vest, and laid them on the island. When I turned back the sly vixen was checking out my butt. She giggled and came closer, rubbing her arms across my chest again.
“I love it.”
I took hold of her biceps and yanked her in, her arms between us, and crushed her mouth with mine. Now I was half-clad in her kitchen, I could barely wait for what would come next. We staggered back a few feet till we hit the counter. I brought my hands under her sweet little ass and lifted her onto the counter without breaking our kiss. She spread her legs, her skirt riding to nearly her hip, so I could come closer, then changed her mind and pushed me away. She clasped the hem of her tank. I grabbed her hands and brought them to my shoulders, still kissing her.
“My turn.”
Her eyes flashed. “Okay.”
I tried to whip her top off, but got it caught in the necklace and had to ungracefully wrestle it free. She laughed. Her hair was mussed. I smoothed it, and we quieted. She grasped the countertop on either side of her. I looked her in the eye and held her gaze for a moment. I was filled with a tenderness I’d never known.
“I don’t even have to look to know you are beautiful.”
But I slowly lowered my gaze and—my Gawd—beautiful was not a powerful enough word to describe her. She had on this black, lacy—damn. A man didn’t stand a chance. I looked back up and she must have seen it in my eyes, because there was no hiding it. She put her hands on either side of my face and our mouths came together with a wild intensity. She wrapped her legs around me. I nibbled along her jaw, and down her neck. She arched her back, laying her head against the cabinet door behind her and moaning.
“Oh, Killian.”
My name, spoken like that ’bout set me on fire. I ran my tongue along her collarbone and she groaned some more, bringing a hand behind my head as I worked my way across her skin. I came back up and hit that spot along her neck that thrilled her, then spoke in her ear. I don’t know why I said what I said, but I was compelled to do it. I don’t know if I was asking her permission, ordering her, or giving her a warning. But I was simply stating the facts. “I am going to circle your nipple slowly with my tongue, then suck you into my mouth, and I want you to watch.” Then I did just that.
I yanked her bra out of the way and held her gaze while I did it. Her eyes were wide when I brought my mouth down, but they became hooded and she threw her head back. Perhaps a dash too hard because she hit the cabinet. But she didn’t seem to notice.
“Oh, Killian, yes!”
That last syllable was laced with pleasure, and I didn’t know if I’d ever stop making love to this woman.
“Take me to bed. Take me to bed!”
Before she’d even finished speaking, I scooped her from the counter and moved toward the door. When we reached the open archway, I went in the wrong direction in my haze of lust. She laughed, running her hands through my hair.
“Wrong way.”
“Ahh.” I changed direction, and we stopped kissing for the rest of our journey along the hall and stared into each other’s eyes. I think that was one of the most beautiful moments of my life. What we were about to do was serious, and we were aware of it.
When I arrived at the bedroom, I placed her gently on the mattress of a big four-poster bed. I sat beside her and took a deep breath. “Are you sure you want to do this? There’s no hurry, you know?”
Instead of answering she stroked my face and began to tenderly kiss me. I, in turn, placed my fingers in her hair and brushed my thumb over her cheek. I could have stayed like that forever. The sweetness of it brought tears to my eyes. I don’t know if she felt it, but I knew my life was about to change, and I couldn’t have been happier about that. Until I remembered.
I jumped to my feet. “Damn.” I put a hand in my pocket, although I knew what I was searching for was not there. “Damn!” I checked each pocket, then checked again—I don’t know—in case they magically appeared. Placed by the condom fairy, I supposed. “Damn! Damn! I don’t have a—” I looked at her. She held a condom package between two fingers. A bedside table drawer was open.
A grin split my face. “You’re brilliant.” Of course Josephine would be prepared. But the next moment, my heart sank a fraction.
She must be experienced. She’s not as innocent as she appears.
I don’t know why it should have mattered to me. I wasn’t as pure as a newborn babe. Why should she be? Wouldn’t be having some experience be a good thing? Again, I put a hand behind her hair and ran a thumb along her jawline. I had no right to ask, but I did.
“You’ve…done this, before?”
She dropped her head, then shook it and looked into my face, wincing.
“I’m…sorry.”
Gawd, she was beautiful.
I put my other hand on the opposite cheek. “No. No. Don’t be.” I breathed in and out slowly. “I have to ask again, are you sure?”
She put a hand on top of one of mine. “I want you to be my first.”
My heart swelled. Well, honey…I want to be your first, and last, and only. It was a selfish thought, but I thought it all the same. I leaned in and kissed her, then laid her gently back, stretching out beside her. Our kisses were long, deep, and steady. I made love to her, and it was incredible. Unlike anything I’d ever done before. The care I took heightened the pleasure, and I vowed we must do it again that way. And again. And again. I wanted to tell her I loved her. I wanted to scream, “I love you!” But…I was afraid. Afraid it might scare her. Afraid she wouldn’t feel quite the same. I was a damned coward. Right before I climaxed I pulled away to look into her face, because we’d left the lights on.
I panted afterwards. “Oh, Josephine.” Then she did the most delightful thing. She giggled like a naughty school girl, and I joined in, falling to the side. I turned my head on my pillow and looked at her. I took her hand. I needed to stay connected to her. “You’re okay?”
A smile stretched across her face. “I’m more than okay.”
Again, I wanted to tell her I loved her. But—for now—my actions needed to speak for themselves. She lifted her head and laid it on my chest and I circled her with my arm, stroking hers, silently. I stared at the ceiling and replayed each moment we’d spent together since the first time she entered the door of Paddy’s.
I loved her. I wanted to be the man she deserved.
When I woke, the room was still dark. Bath water was running. I raised up to look at the clock. Five a.m. Had she set an alarm? I didn’t think I’d heard one. I laid back, my eyes open and I smiled the smile of a happy man. I jumped out of bed, slid on my jeans, and crept along the hallway.
I paused outside the bathroom doorway, realizing for the first time the door had been removed. I knocked on the frame.
“So now he knocks.”
I stuck me noggin around the corner. “Good morning.”
The smile on her face grew slowly. Bubbles were covering that wicked body of hers, and a saying of me da’s floated to mind.
If it’s drowning you’re after, Killian, don’t torment yourself with shallow water.
Or, as me American friends would say, “Go big or go home.” So I did what any sane man would do. I stepped into the tub, with my jeans and all, and laid over her, kissing her face.
“Killian!” She laughed and put two wet hands on me cheeks. “You’re crazy!”
“That I am.” Crazy about you. “And here’s another crazy idea. How about I take you out tonight on a real, bona fide, genuine, certifiable date?”
Her eyes widened. “Really?” I couldn’t read her expression.
“Now, I know you’re a thinker, Miss Josie. So don’t answer now. If the idea is pleasing to you, meet me at Paddy’s at five. I promise I’ll take you somewhere with more privacy and less…characters…Actually, the place I’m thinking will probably have more characters, but we can disappear better. Would five work, timewise?”
She nodded but seemed struck dumb.
“Just think about it. If you’re agreeable, show up at five. If it doesn’t suit you, I’ll know when you don’t show.” I kissed her again. “You know, you’re mighty tempting naked, lying under me.”
She smiled. “You may have to take those jeans off and put them in my dryer. Then you’ll be naked, and we may have to find something to do while we wait for them to dry.”
I kissed her, and she slid under the water for a moment. Her laughter when she rose was like the song of the sirens.