Intractable Souls : Book 1 of the Bound for Ireland Series (32 page)

“Why are you so convinced that he’s going to
leave you? And don’t even try to give me that nonsense about him
not being the kind of guy that can commit to one girl. Guys that
are only interested in one night stands don’t spend 3 days
nurturing sick girls back to health.”

Olivia puts her thumb to her mouth and
nervously chews on the nail “I’ve thought about that.”

Rachel tries to put her at ease.
“Sweetheart, I’ve seen the way he looks at you. Trust me; he’s in
it for the long haul.”

Olivia’s voice cracks. “I just don’t get
what he sees in me. How could I possibly keep him interested for
any length of time?”

“Now I know you’re nuts. You’re a bright,
beautiful, sexy woman.”

Olivia squirms uncomfortably and shakes her
head, still not convinced.

“I know it’s scary, especially after Sam.
Life doesn’t always bring us relationships that end in “happily
ever after”. Don’t deny yourself the love of a man who obviously
has feelings for you… even if it’s only for a little while. If
things don’t work out with Ethan, someone else will come along. I
promise.”

Ethan arrives back at work after failing to
save the Anderson account. His office door is closed and he can see
through the side window that John is sitting with his back to him,
still on the conference call with Shannon Quinn. Turning the knob
quietly, he pushes the door open so as not to disrupt them. He’s so
quiet that John doesn’t hear him come in. As Ethan slowly steps
into the room he raises a quizzical brow when he notices that
Shannon’s voice is unusually casual. He curiously pays attention to
the conversation, careful not to alert John of his presence.

“When will you be home?” She asks.

“I don’t know. There are a lot of things
here to look after. Ethan will be home at the end of the month but
he hasn’t told me yet if I’m to accompany him.”

“I hope so. I miss you.” Her voice is soft
and sincere, almost sensual. What exactly is going on here? Ethan
wonders.

“I miss you too. I’ll get home to you just
as soon as I can. I promise.”

Ethan stands silently at the door not
wanting to interrupt the obviously personal and intimate
conversation.

“I should go now.” John glances at his
watch. “He sent a text a short while ago saying he was on his way
back to the office.”

Shannon looks disappointed. “Ok, will you
call me before you go to bed?”

John smiles. “As always, I wouldn’t be able
to sleep if I didn’t.”

“Good bye then.” Her voice is sad.

As John ends the call Ethan pushes the door
the rest of the way closed making it click as it latches. John
turns around to find him standing there staring at him with his
eyebrows raised. “You and Miss Quinn?”

Extremely uncomfortable, John tries to
explain. “Yes, I’m sorry. We shouldn’t have been talking about
personal things.”

Ethan holds up his hand to halt him. “It’s
Ok John. I shouldn’t have sneaked in.” Ethan makes his way to his
desk. “Nice catch old man.” He glances over at him trying to make
him feel at ease. “How the hell did you manage that?”

“I have no idea. I guess she’s defenseless
against my charm.” A grin forms on his lips as he glances a
contented look Ethan’s way.

“No doubt.” Ethan agrees. “Now get out. Take
the rest of the day off. This day just needs to end.”

John grabs his stuff. “You don’t have to
tell me twice.” Stopping as he reaches the door, he turns back to
Ethan. “Call me if there is anything you need.”

Ethan looks up at him annoyed. “Have I ever
not?”

John nods. As the door closes, Ethan pours
himself a glass of water and walks over to the window. The overcast
sky makes the city look dark and miserable, a perfect reflection of
his day. His shoulders and neck are stiff and sore from the tension
still lingering there. Swirling his glass, the lemons swish around
the edge, reminding him of Olivia’s visit the day they went
shopping for the Challenger. She was very playful in his office
that day and thoughts of her teasing brings a smile to his face for
the first time today. Making his way to his desk, he dials the
phone. There is only one thing that is going to make him feel
better.

Olivia and Rachel are still talking when the
phone rings. Olivia gets nervous as she looks at the display. “It’s
Ethan.”

Rachel gets excited. “Put him on speaker
phone!”

“NO!”

“Come on, put him on speaker.”

“Absolutely not!” On the third ring she
answers it and when she fails to put it on speaker Rachel rounds
the desk and sticks her head against Olivia so she can hear. Olivia
rolls her eyes and stops fighting her, turning the phone slightly
so they can both hear.

“Hi!” She says enthusiastically.

“Hello, beautiful.” Ethan’s voice is
seriously sexy but when he unleashes his full Irish accent, it’s
almost panty melting. “I’ve been thinking about you all day.”

Olivia takes a deep breath and tries to let
it out without it sounding like she’s breathing hard. “I was
thinking about you too.” She elbows Rachel who is squirming in
closer trying to hear. “How’s your day been?” She asks
politely.

There is a short silence before he answers.
“Actually, it’s been a very stressful day.”

She senses the distress in his voice and it
upsets her. “Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that. Is there anything I can
do?”

He gets right to the point. “I was wondering
if I can see you tonight?”

The reminder that her period is starting
immediately dampens her excitement. “Oh, well Ethan I don’t know if
that’s a good idea.”

Immediately Rachel throws her hand over the
mouthpiece of the phone and pulls it away from her face. “Are you
insane?” She whispers.

“I’m going to start my period.” She says as
she grabs the phone back.

Ethan closes his eyes and clarifies his
intentions. “Olivia, I don’t want anything from you tonight.” He
sighs heavily. “It’s just been such a crap day and… well… being
around you seems to calm my inner turmoil. Let me take you to
dinner, coffee… whatever you have time for.” His voice is
desperate. ”I just need to be with you tonight.”

Rachel leans away from the phone so she can
see Olivia’s face. Olivia puts her hand over the phone again and
looks at Rachel in a panic and whispers. “How do I say no to
that?”

Rachel shakes her head. “You don’t.”

Olivia turns her attention back to Ethan.
“Ok, why don’t you come by my place after work? I’m making
spaghetti for dinner tonight. Then we can watch a movie and chill
for a bit.”

Ethan’s shoulders relax as relief washes
over him. “I think that sounds wonderful. Is 6pm ok?”

“That’s fine, I’ll see you then.” She hangs
up the phone, panic still evident on her face.

Rachel finds it humorous. “Oh my God, he’s
so adorable. You calm his inner turmoil?”

Olivia rolls her eyes. “You wouldn’t believe
some of the things he says. Sometimes I want to pinch him to see if
he’s real.”

“And this is the man that you don’t want to
kiss?” Rachel shakes her head in disgust.

Olivia flashes her an angry look. “Stop
giving me a hard time. I’m just trying to figure things out.”

“Fine, but it seems to me that kissing is
the best way to calm a man’s inner turmoil.”

Olivia stares at her, not amused “Go away.”
She points at the door.

“Ok, I’m going. But you don’t have to worry
about him putting the moves on you tonight. I’ve seen you eat
spaghetti and it’s definitely not a turn on.” She smiles as she
closes the door behind her and Olivia groans realizing that she’s
right. She has yet to have a spaghetti dinner that she didn’t
manage to get all over herself.

Feeling a little bloated, Olivia decides to
change into something casual and comfortable once she gets home. A
pair of athletic shorts and a bright red T-Shirt, in hopes to
disguise any spaghetti sauce she might slop on herself. Bare footed
she heads to the kitchen to start the sauce and boil a pot of water
for the pasta.

When Ethan arrives she opens the door to
find him standing there, smoking hot and smelling extremely
fuckable. Blushing, she remembers every hard line and edge to the
muscles on his chest and the dark ink of his tattoo. She tries to
smile but his presence makes her feel nervous. It’s an odd reaction
since this is a man she has already been extremely intimate with.
Why does he make her feel so off-balance?

“Hey. Dinner smells great!” He hands her a
bottle of red wine, which she immediately opens and pours, hoping
it will help calm her nerves. “What can I help with?” He follows
her into the kitchen.

“Nothing, dinner is ready, the table is set…
we can dish up. She hands him a plate and dishes up a hearty
helping, having been told by Rachel that he has a voracious
appetite. She’s pretty sure that doesn’t just apply to meals.

Following him to the table, she sits across
from him, giving herself some space and hoping that she stops
thinking about his hard body pressed against her and the feel of
his strong warm hands on her skin.

“This is delicious.”He twirls his pasta and
gets it to his mouth in an expert manner every time.

Olivia tries to focus on dinner and
nervously tries to eat without making a mess of herself. So far so
good. Finishing her glass of wine, she immediately lifts the bottle
and refills her glass, noticing that he hasn’t touched his at all.
Managing a few more mouthfuls, she starts to get a little buzz and
finally feels a little more relaxed. “So tell me about your
day?”

Ethan swallows and wipes his mouth on a
napkin. “It was miserable really. Are you sure you want to ruin
such a wonderful dinner?”

She smiles. “I’m all ears.” Twirling the
last bit of her spaghetti, she lifts her fork to her mouth and then
feels something warm hit her chest. Looking down, she watches
spaghetti sauce run down between her breasts. Picking up a napkin
she tries to wipe herself off quickly and hopes that he hasn’t
noticed, but when she glances over at Ethan, he’s smirking.

“Would you like me to help you with that?“
He teases.

She considers it for a moment, but if he
touched her right now, even playfully… dinner would be over. She
can’t deny the tingling that’s been rushing through her body since
the moment he stepped through the door. “Thanks, but I’ve got it.
Maybe one day I’ll get through a meal without wearing it.” She
pouts. “Please tell me about your day.”

Having finished with his dinner, Ethan takes
a deep breath and puts his fork down. “Did you ever have one of
those days that’s horrible from the minute you open your eyes?”

Olivia nods. “Unfortunately, yes.”

“Well today was like that for me. It started
off with my disciplinary hearing with the football… err… soccer
association.”

“Because you got a red card for
fighting?”

“Yup.”

“And?”

“I got a three game suspension.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“My own fault. I should have controlled my
temper.” He shrugs. “Then we lost a huge account that I thought we
had in the bag.” Picking up his wine, he takes his first small sip.
“I don’t like losing business.”

“Do you know why you lost it?” She starts to
clear the table while he talks.

“Money. They got a quote from another
company that came in significantly less expensive than ours. We
tried to explain to them that the other company was cutting corners
and under quoting the design charges. We figure that once they’ve
signed on the dotted line they’ll be told that they need more
resources and end up paying additional costs which will put them
well over what our quote is. But we couldn’t convince them.” His
voice gets angry as he talks about it.

“That must be extremely frustrating. I run
into that all the time in our business too. Other companies sell
bare bones software. The Business installs it and finds that it
doesn’t quite fit their needs and then they are charged an arm and
a leg for consultants to come up with solutions and $700 a day for
tech support to install any upgrades or changes they need. We don’t
do that at Dunn and McLennan. Our prices are higher out of the gate
but we provide all the other services free of charge until our
client has a product they’re happy with.” She turns to look at him
and flashes him a cheeky grin. “That’s MY specialty.”

Getting to his feet, he helps clear the
table, following her into the kitchen.

“Then you know how extremely frustrating it
is.” Putting the plug in the sink, he fills it with soapy water and
begins to wash the dishes.

“I’m so sorry, Ethan. Hopefully my spaghetti
dinner and a little red wine helped to ease the pain.”

He rinses the dishes that he just washed and
hands them to her one by one so she can towel dry them and put them
away. “Oh that’s not even the half of it.”

“Oh no! There’s more?” She puts the last
dish in the cupboard and walks over to the table. Picking up both
glasses of wine, she heads to the couch with Ethan following.
Sitting sideways beside her so that he can see her, he takes his
wine out of her hand and takes a sip before placing it down on
coffee table.

“I had to call my father’s office
today.”

Wrinkling her nose, she tries to understand
how that contributed to his bad day. Ethan rubs his hand over his
face, trying to figure out where to begin. “Right, so it’s a long
story but I’ll try to give you short version. I told you that when
I finally started making money I helped my father’s business out
financially.”

She nods her head. “Yes, I remember.” The
wine is going down a little too smoothly now and she’s feeling a
little light headed.

“Well I did that by negotiating a
partnership. I paid him to become part owner of the business. In
doing so I negotiated 51% of the business giving myself controlling
interest.”