Luck of the Irish: Complete Edition (10 page)

“Ouch! That was mean,” he gave her a bright smile trying to lighten the mood.

It worked. Keira smiled back. It was a shy smile as she pushed her glasses up her nose again. She was clearly uncomfortable.

“You can see why I thought so, though, can’t you, Declan?”

“Yes, actually, I can, love,” his charming accent melted the rest of her resistance, but she kept a straight face. “I’d have done exactly the same. No, strike that! I would surely have done worse. I’d have punched the guy until I had rearranged his face.”

Keira’s jaw dropped and she stared at him in horror. “That sounds horrible. How could you attack another person like that?”

Declan regretted his bluster, “I was just saying it, Keira. We, Irish, love to talk like that, but we’re peaceful people. I wouldn’t harm another person. Ever! I saw too many people getting hurt when I was too young to understand anything. I have a deep repulsion for violence, Keira. You’ll understand it once I tell you about my childhood.”

She studied his face and was satisfied with what she saw in his eyes, “I believe you, Declan,” she gave him a sly smile before adding. “So, let me see if I got this right. You invited your ex-girlfriend out to ask advice about me. Is that it?”

He felt his face burn, “It sounds awful when you say it like that, but that was pretty much what I did. Luckily, she gave me very good advice.”

“What did she tell you to do?” Keira laughed for the first time in days.

Declan felt his hopes go up again and smiled at her. His dark green eyes sparkled, taking her breath away. “She told me to stop being an ass and go after the best thing that had ever happened to me.”

“And what was that exactly?”

Keira smiled and the playful glint in her blue eyes made him wish he were there to kiss her until they were both out of breath. His eyes got darker and Keira seemed to read his intentions in their depths because her own eyes got wider and her throat went dry.

“You, Keira. You are the best thing that’s happened to me.”

Keira got embarrassed, looked down, and her cheeks burned. Declan decided to change the subject.

“Enough about me, love,” his million-watt smile made a comeback and Keira’s spine turned to jelly. “How about your trip? Are you having fun?”

“Everything was perfect up until I left Wexford.”

“Why? What happened?”

“Oh, it’s a long story. Forget about it.”

“No, you sounded bummed out. I want to know what happened. Besides, I’ve got absolutely nothing better to do than look into you beautiful face and hear your heavenly voice,” he said with an exaggerated, comical tone.

She rolled her eyes and decided to tell him a short version of what had happened during her trip. She didn’t want to risk losing their newfound peace, even if it meant hiding some details from him, to avoid making him angry.

“Well, the trip to Wexford was quite easy. I stopped there because my great-grandmother was born in Kilmore, a tiny town. By three in the afternoon, I had seen everything, at least twice. People started to eye the car from Dublin with suspicion.”

“That’s never a good sign,” Declan winked at her.

“You bet! I thought they’d send the Garda after me,” Keira’s eyes sparkled with the memories. “After Kilmore, I started out towards Waterford, but, the car broke down.”

“I knew it. I knew something bad had happened to you. I should’ve done something.”

“Declan, you couldn’t have done anything. It was a mechanical problem. The engine sputtered for a mile or so. I crossed my fingers hoping to reach a gas station, but the car went completely dead before I got to one.”

“What did you do? Did you call for help?”

“Well, there weren’t any stores or houses around and the phone wasn’t working.”

“That’s just great. It gets better and better. You shouldn’t be traveling alone, Keira.”

“Oh, you’re starting to sound like my mom. That’s not a compliment, mister!” she tried to joke about it because she didn’t want Declan to get worried.

“I’m sorry, love. It’s just that I’ve felt something was off these last couple of days. It was a strange feeling that I couldn’t shake off and it drove me insane. Now, you tell me you were in danger. I don’t get it. Was it some kind of premonition? It’s never happened to me.”

“I wasn’t in any real danger, Declan. Although, I admit I was a little afraid. I got out of the car and walked to find a spot where I could use my cell phone?

“How long did you walk? It must have been dark. Did you get to a safe place?”

“In fact, a car appeared behind me.”

“You’re kidding me, right? Don’t you know it’s dangerous, Keira?” he sounded really upset and worried, so she decided to sugarcoat the facts.

“I’m fine, aren’t I? Nothing happened, Declan. Besides, there was this very nice couple in a pickup truck who helped me. No need to worry,” she smiled reassuringly. “They took me to their farm. I called the rental company and they sent a tow truck. The driver was very polite and he took me to Waterford in no time.”

She couldn’t pinpoint why she felt she should hide parts of the story from Declan. Maybe she didn’t want to upset him. He was already quite agitated.

“Is that all, Keira? What aren’t you telling me?”

“That’s all. I got to the hotel too tired to call anybody. This morning, I took a tour I had booked in advance. Did you know St. Declan founded a monastery in Waterford? He may have preached in Ireland before St. Patrick!”

“Yes, I’ve heard these old tales,” he laughed at her enthusiasm. “But, I’m no saint, love,” he winked. “You must be exhausted, though.”

“I am,” she was surprised to see it was past eleven. “We’ve been talking for more than two hours. We’d better hang up.”

“Yeah, we should.”

“Good night, Declan.”

“Good night, gorgeous. Call you tomorrow.”

“Okay.”

When neither ended the call, Keira smiled. “Aren’t you going to hang up?”

“I was waiting for you to do it.”

“Are you blushing, Declan Slane?”

“I feel like a teen again. It’s embarrassing.”

“Don’t be embarrassed, Declan. It’s adorable.”

“Adorable is for puppies. I’m a twenty-six-year-old man,” his face grew redder.

“Fine, I won’t embarrass you any further,” she winked. “Talk to you tomorrow.”

“Sweet dreams, Keira. I know I’ll have them. I’ll dream of you,” he said and it was her turn to blush.

After having called Declan, her doubts about the mysterious gorgeous woman had disappeared. She felt hopeful again and she looked forward to going back to Dublin and spending time with Declan. Those were her last thoughts before she fell asleep.

Keira dreamed of Declan. In her dream, she was back in Dublin, they went out to a fancy restaurant for dinner. She had the best time. He was a perfect gentleman and treated her like a delicate porcelain doll. At least, until they got back to her hotel room. When they got inside her room, he kissed her, and she melted in his arms. He wasn’t such a gentleman anymore, but Keira didn’t want him to be one.

The best part of a dream is that the person can be anything. In Keira’s, she was a bold woman who knew exactly what she wanted and how to get it. She wanted him to make her feel on fire again. She wanted his urgency, his desire. She lured him to the bed, crooking her hand in front of his nose. They laughed and kissed again as they tumbled together on the bed. Everything was perfect and Declan was a generous lover who took her to places she had never imagined existed.

After hanging up, Declan stared at the phone for a while. He had worried about Keira for the last couple of days. Surely, that was why he still felt uneasy after their phone call. He shook his head to clear it of those gloomy thoughts and went to bed.

I’m overreacting. I don’t like the idea of Keira being alone out there, but there is nothing I can do about it. I’ve got to let it go
.

It took him a while to fall asleep and when he did, his sleep was restless. He woke up early feeling as tired as the night before. It was like he hadn’t slept at all. He jogged, worked out and thought about Keira every second. By lunchtime, he missed her so much he decided to text her.

“Hey, love. What are you up to today? Visiting more of my namesakes?”

Keira answered, “Not even close but having a great time. Call you later?”

They texted back and forth for the rest of the day. The messages were short. Sometimes they were sweet, sometimes they were sarcastic, but always funny. She spent the day sightseeing. There were many interesting places to see and she visited as many as she could. In a way, it seemed like Declan was there with her because she shared all those visits with him through their messages.

True to her word, Keira called him when she got back to the B&B. He picked up the first time the phone rang, “Hi, love. I missed you!” his Irish accent melted her bones.

“Hey, Declan. Are you at work? I don’t want to cause you any problems.”

“No, it’s fine. I’m home. It’s my day off,” he answered, then, added in a mockingly seductive way. “What are you wearing?”

Keira laughed, accepting his challenge, “Nothing special, just my usual silk slip.”

“Hmm, I bet it’s soft and cool to the touch.”

“As a matter of fact, it is,” Keira giggled as she ran a hand over her old flannel PJs.

“Is it long or short?”

“Very short,” she answered. This time, her voice was little more than a whisper.

“I wish I were there to run my hands up your gorgeous legs. Then, I’d lift the slip up your upper body until I reached your breasts. Would you let me do that, Keira?” his voice was seductive and a little out of breath.

She could easily picture them together since her dreams had been so vivid lately. Her heart beat faster and she felt her throat went dry.

“I guess,” she managed to sigh into the phone.

“I like how you sound. It’s sexy,” he teased her. “I’d cup your breasts and play with them until you sighed like you did just now. I’d catch your sigh with my mouth and kiss you until we couldn’t breathe.”

Declan had started the phone sex as a joke but it had backfired. Big time! His body reacted to the images he was creating too intensely, too fast. He knew Keira could heard his elaborate breathing and hoped she was too innocent to imagine his real situation.

Keira blushed, not from embarrassment, though. Her cheeks were burning hot because Declan’s voice. The visions he wove made her blood boil. She felt like bursting into flames.

She heard his sexy laughter, “Keira, love, I could go on saying things like these all night but I don’t think it would be a good idea. We’d end up frustrated and feeling bad.”

“You’re right. I’m already out of breath.”

“Tell me about your day, then.”

She did and they talked for hours. She told him about the places she had visited and he told her some funny stories about his clients at the bar. His coworkers were also very interesting people and good friends.

“What are you going to do tomorrow, Keira?”

“I’ll go to Cork. It’s not far, only a two-hour drive.”

She tried to hide a yawn and failed.

“I hate to say goodbye, but you need to rest. Call me when you get in tomorrow.”

“Yes, sir!” she laughed.

“Don’t kid like that. I worry about you,” he sounded hurt.

“I know you do, Declan. Sorry. You’re cute for worrying, but I’m fine.”

“I’ll feel better hearing from you, though.”

“Okay. Talk to you tomorrow.”

“Sweet dreams, hon,” he said and hung up.

* * * *

The next couple of days were very busy for Keira. She hired a tour in Cork and visited Blarney Castle on her first day. As she climbed on the bus, she was surprised to see Sylvia and John Burtonderry, the owners of Burtonderry House where she had stayed in Wicklow. And Paul O’Hallon, the tow truck driver.

When she saw the couple, she sat across the aisle from them.

“Hey, good to see you again. What are you doing here?”

“We’re celebrating our wedding anniversary.”

“Good for you.”

“Good morning, Keira,” Paul O’Hallon. “Can I sit here beside you?”

“Absolutely. Paul, these are Sylvia and John Burtonderry. This is Paul O’Hallon.”

Sitting down he told them he was on vacation and the little group of four people spent the day together. The tour was amazing and she was actually glad to see familiar faces and to have people to share those wonderful moments with.

On the second day, Keira had planned a tour to Ring of Kerry. Sylvia, John and Paul took the tour with her and they ended up having another excellent day.

Keira and Declan texted and talked a lot while she toured Cork and the surrounding areas. She had left Dublin nine days before but it felt like an eternity for both of them. Their phone talks were getting hotter and naughtier. She missed Declan like crazy and she wished he were actually there with her, that he could hold her and kiss her. She wanted him.

Declan was also frustrated with their physical distance. If on one hand, the phone calls and the messages had brought them together, letting them know each other better. On the other hand, he felt miserable when they hung up. He wished Keira were back in Dublin. Then, he would take her out, woe her, and make love to her until kingdom come.

After another of their phone calls, Keira went to bed. Unable to sleep, she looked up at the ceiling and counted the cracks. She rolled over and buried her head under the pillow.

This room is too quiet
.

She stretched her arm out and turned on the radio alarm clock. A nice song filled the air. It was one of her favorite songs, about making memories. As the throaty voice of the band’s lead singer invaded her mind, she closed her eyes, getting lost in the images that the lyrics evoked, which lulled her to sleep.

She dreamed she was in her bedroom in Boston. She was alone on her bed. She felt sad and wanted to cry. All of a sudden, as it often happens in dreams, Keira wasn’t in her room anymore. She was at her sister’s house. Megan sat on her couch in the living room, staring into space. She looked sad. She had been crying because her eyes were red and puffy. Keira sat beside her and threw her arm around her older sister’s shoulders.

“What happened, Meg?”

Megan ignored her and kept looking ahead. Their parents entered the room and hugged Megan but ignored Keira.

“What’s going on here? Why don’t you talk to me, guys?”

She got no answer from any of them.

Again, the scene changed, and she was on a busy street, in a large city she didn’t recognize. It looked European. She walked by a newsstand, and glanced at the newspapers on display, trying to find out where she was. She felt her heart sinking when a headline caught her eyes – “Young American dies in Ireland”. On the front page, right below the headline, there were two pictures: her graduation picture, and one of Declan in handcuffs.

She woke up screaming and sat on the bed, out of breath. It took her a few seconds to recognize the hotel room and figure out she had had a nightmare. She drank some water from the bottle that she kept on the night table and went back to sleep.

* * * *

It had been ten days since Keira had left Dublin and Declan sat on his couch, staring at his phone, trying to decide what to do. He checked his watch.

It’s not even seven in the morning. If I call her again, I’ll seem too needy. I don’t want that. Maybe I should write something clever without showing her that I can’t keep her out of my mind
.”

As he weighed out his options, Jennifer’s picture popped up on his cell phone’s screen. He frowned and picked up the call.

“What’s up, Jenny? Is something wrong? Why are you calling me so early?”

“You tell me if there’s something wrong, mister. You haven’t called since our breakfast two weeks ago. I knew this time of day I’d get you before you went out to work. How did it go with the American? What’s her name? Kim?”

“Keira. Nothing happened, Jen. She’s still traveling. You caused quite an impression on her.”

“Really? How so? We’ve never met.”

“She saw us outside the coffee shop and thought I was cheating on her. She was so pissed off she hung up on me. It took her three days to talk to me again.”

“That’s great news!” Jennifer squeaked.

“Are you kidding me, Jennifer? I totally freaked out and you say it’s good news.”

“It is good news, silly. If she weren’t falling for you, she wouldn’t react like that.”

“Well, you might be right. Can you believe she got a ride with a couple, completely strangers I might add, when her car broke down on the way to Waterford?”

“What happened, exactly?”

Declan told her the part of the story he knew, expecting Jennifer would agree with him that Keira had been reckless. To his surprise, Jennifer didn’t see things the same way.

“What’s the big deal? People do that all the time. There was no cell service. How was she supposed to call for help?”

“Would you have done the same, Jen?”

“I have done that and you know it.”

“Really? When did you do it? I don’t remember.”

“When we were dating, I traveled to Cork for Christmas and you stayed here to work, remember? I had two flat tires on the way. The first one, I changed myself. But, the second one was the problem because I didn’t have another spare tire to replace it. My cell’s battery had gone dead. I got a ride on a motorcycle. The guy dropped me at a gas station and I got somebody to fix the tires.”

“Yeah, right. Now, I remember,” Declan confessed, a little embarrassed. “I don’t know, Jen. That was different. You’re Irish. You know our roads very well. Keira is a foreigner.”

Jennifer laughed at his comment but stopped when she noticed he wasn’t laughing.

“Are you serious, Declan? I’m sorry. I thought you were joking. That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard from you. And that’s saying a lot because you’re always saying stupid things.”

“I’m not! Besides, I don’t see why it’s so funny. She could’ve been attacked or something. There are too many weirdoes out there, you know.”

“It’s funny, my dear blind man, because you can’t see what’s right in front of you. There’s no difference between my story and Keira’s. Except, that you didn’t freak out when I got that ride, even though we were dating at the time.”

She waited for his reply, which never came. She rolled her eyes and sighed.

“Seriously, Declan. Nothing?”

“What do you want me to say? I don’t follow you.”

“Gosh, you’re such a bright guy, except when it comes to love. You didn’t freak out about me because you weren’t head over heels in love with me.”

“Get out of here, Jen.”

“I’m sorry, my friend, it’s official! You’re so overprotective of her because you have feelings for her.”

“I barely know Keira. How can I have feelings for her?”

She didn’t say anything for a while and Declan thought she had hung up. He was about to say something when Jennifer talked again.

“Declan, I’ll state the obvious here, but somebody’s got to do it. We’d known each other forever before we dated, but that didn’t help us fall in love with each other. We love each other, dearly. But, we were never
in love
with each other. Time means nothing when love finds us.”