Where the Streets have no Name (11 page)

“Trust me,” Gabby giggled. “Once you get that part out of the way, it’s all good. I mean, as long as the guy knows what he’s doing.”

Daniel definitely knew what he was doing with his hands and mouth…

“You like him.” It wasn’t a question.

“I…” She did. “I don’t know much about him, but yeah, I like him.”

“So? What’s the issue then?”

Amelia thought for a moment. Technically no issue existed, aside from fear. But fear of what?

“Tell you what you should do,” Gabby continued. “Put on a movie. Have a few beers or whatever. Snuggle up. And then, make a move.”

“Make a move? Your big advice is to just…make a move.
Like I even know how to make a move. What does that even mean, anyway?”

“This is exactly why I love you! You’re so innocent, Ames!”

“I am not.”
I so am.
Amelia pushed her free hand to her forehead. “Tell me what to do.”

Gabby laughed. “Kiss him. If he’s got a button-down shirt on, start undoing the buttons.”

“And if there’s no buttons?” Amelia sighed. “Right, I know, just take his shirt off. This is so not helping me. At. All.”

“
Trust me,” Gabby said, laughing. “You’ll figure it out. If anyone can do whatever she sets her mind to, it’s you, Amelia. If you like him, just go for it. Don’t think. Just feel.”

The water shut off.
Her heart worked in triple-time.

“Gabs, I have to go. But I’ll call you. Or text you.”

“Have fun!” Gabby sang, singing off.

Make a move. Have fun. Those were Gabby’s big
ideas. The great advice she had to offer Amelia in these wild circumstances. A phone call meant to deter further thoughts of doing anything even partially nude with Daniel turned into a conversation about how to get him naked and do bad things with him.

Very bad things. Delicious things.

“You taste so good.”

The mere memory
of his head between her thighs had her clenching her legs together, wanting him. Needing him.

“So sweet.”

He enjoyed it. She enjoyed it. Now all she had to do was get over the fear of sex and try to get Daniel on board.

The drive to Dubli
n took less than twenty minutes, including the stop at a small park overlooking jagged cliffs where she spread a little more of Poppa’s ashes. Daniel held the urn for her, and he kept her from falling apart completely.

“There are a few places we could go,” Daniel said, parking the rental
at the back of St. Andrews Church in the heart of Dublin. “Castles, Trinity College Library, Phoenix Park, Kilmainham Gaol…”

The last suggestion hung in the air, thick
with reminders Daniel probably didn’t want to relive. His jaw was tight. Daniel unbuckled his seatbelt, staring directly ahead.

“Why don’t we go inside the visitor’s centre and see what they suggest?”

“Aye, good thinking.”

She hated that he had to go through what he had. Even worse, the memories haunting him now would always be there. This country took a
carefree boy and moulded him into a hard, distrusting man.

Amelia slid her hand into his, pushing her fingers between each of his fingers,
linking their hands together. She squeezed, looking up, smiling. His answering half-grin and accompanying wink felt like the sun coming up after years of storms.

They walked hand in hand into the
information centre. Well, Daniel walked. She hobbled next to him.

Inside, the
y stood by a shelving unit filled with hundreds of brochures, eying them uncertainly. She felt overwhelmed by the number of choices, most of which required a lot of walking and almost an entire day. Though she planned on staying in the country after she finished Amelia sought solace at the end of her journey and the hustle and bustle of Dublin didn’t fit the bill.

“Hello there!” A stout woman walked around them, standing next to Amelia
. “Welcome to Dublin! Did you have any plans in mind?”

“Um, well, I’m kind of hoping we can pack as much in one day as we can,” Amelia answered, hoping Daniel took her cue and wouldn’t say anything.
“We don’t know when we’ll be back in Dublin.” She pressed a hand to her lower abdomen, smiling – she hoped – like a woman in love and expecting a child.

If the woman thought they were both foreign, he had less chance of being recognised.

She hoped.

“Oh, well!
” The woman leaned over the brochures and picked three. “The most popular short tours are The Guinness Storehouse, The National Leprechaun Museum, and, if you don’t mind a little fright, The Dublin Ghostbus Tour.”

Amelia grinned.
All three sounded perfect.

“What do you think?” she asked Daniel, careful not to use his name in public, just in case.
“Little green men, apparitions, and alcohol?”

Daniel’s eyes shot wide. His lips parted. Then he laughed and the sound warmed her soul.
“Sure, lass. Guinness, ghosts, and goblins sounds grand.”

Though wary of Daniel, the woman smiled and accepted Amelia’s credit card
to pay for the three activities. Leaning into the solid muscle of his shoulder, Amelia smiled sweetly, pretending to all the world she and Daniel were a couple. The woman looked like she’d burst from wanting to say something, but kept her mouth shut. If she’d mentioned Daniel’s name or the false convictions, Amelia might have gone wild.

She felt protective of him
, but more than that, Amelia cared.

The leprechaun museum was first on the list. Amelia enjoyed learning more about her heritage, even if this part fit into the category of myth rather than history. And if his easy, relaxed demeanour told her anything, Daniel enjoyed the first outing too.
He made jokes. Tickled her and even attempted to hide behind one of the wax leprechauns and frighten her.

They left the museum laughing and holding hands, and Amelia wanted nothing more than to pull him to her and kiss him, but what if she read Daniel’s behaviour wrong?

“We have an hour to kill before the next Guinness tour starts,” she said back in the car, clipping her seatbelt. “Anything you need or want to do in the meantime?”

“Not that I can think of. Oh, though it might do some good to find accommodation for the night. That ghost tour runs late.”

“Good thinking.” Amelia fished her tablet from the bag between her feet and began a search for places on the outskirts of town.

“What is that?” Daniel’s fingers came close to touching the device but he pulled them away at the last second.

Amelia gave him a brief description – enough to fill in the blanks without making him feel inadequate or uncomfortable. “And you can zoom in like this.” She grabbed his hand and used his thumb and forefinger to close in on their current location.

“Shite.” He jerked his hand away, eyes glued to the screen. “That’s like something out of a science fiction programme.”

“It is, isn’t it?” She smiled and continued her search.

A few minutes later, Amelia booked them in at a hotel
overlooking St. Stephen’s Green. Two rooms, right next to each other. She couldn’t keep making him share a bed with her if it wasn’t necessary, despite the protests from her heart and body. But maybe a night apart would give them both a chance to work through whatever this thing between them was.

Amelia wanted him. She knew that much. But all the
conversations in the world with Gabby would never prepare her for Daniel. The man possessed so much presence. More than that, he turned a smart woman into a melted puddle of needy teenaged girl who couldn’t function.

And he had his own life to live. Once she finished her trip around the isle and didn’t need help driving
, Daniel would no doubt want to figure out his next move. She checked her email and spotted what she’d been waiting for; the investigator came through. The terrorist behind several similar attacks throughout the republic and Northern Ireland was living free and in the clear after pinning his crimes on dozens of other men. How many of them were innocent too? How many others like Daniel had their lives taken away from them for being in the wrong place at the wrong time?

The growling of her stomach
was so loud it almost echoed in the car’s interior.

Daniel cleared his throat. “Are you hungry, lass?”

Embarrassed, she nodded, hiding her eyes.

Daniel tapped the open page.
“Says here in this brochure they serve meals at the Guinness Storehouse between the hours of noon and four in the afternoon. I mean, if you want.”

“Yeah. Sure.” She put her tablet back inside her bag. “Hotel is booked.”

“Already?”

“Mm-hmm.
I filled out the online reservation form and got the confirmation. It’s all set.”

He paused for a moment, then started up the car, following direction on the
map on the back of the pamphlet, and before long, Daniel parked outside the building. Amelia forced a smile as they went inside and located the restaurant.

She’d been quiet all through lunch and the tour of the Guinness factory. She remained tight-lipped, wearing a fake smile all through the ghost tour. When everyone else jumped, Amelia
sat stock still, staring at some distant point ahead of her.

When they checked into the hotel that night,
Daniel wasn’t shocked to discover Amelia booked them separate rooms. At least he had a nice big corner tub. He spent an age in the water trying to loosen the knots in his muscles only to emerge tenser than when he got in.

He wanted Amelia with a force that shocked and terrified him. He needed her. Needed to feel his hands on her skin. Needed her. Damn it, he needed her and couldn’t hide from the truth
forever. At some point Amelia planned on heading back home, back to her life, and he didn’t figure into those plans.

The next morning they checked
out and stopped for breakfast at a chain restaurant on the road. He drove until Dublin was nothing more than a distant speck in the rear view mirror, glad to leave the city behind. Daniel made certain to stop at a beach so Amelia could spread some more of her grandfather’s ashes. It seemed a little easier each time for her to hide the pain; to keep her hands from trembling; to keep the tears from falling.

Part of him wanted to admit his loss, to tell her he knew how she felt, but it wouldn’t do much good. He’d have to admit everything else to her. The last time Daniel tried that she shot him down with some rubbish about not caring about his past.

He drove all the way down to the south coast and stumbled across a sight unlike any he’d ever witnessed. Daniel parked the car on the side of the road and stepped out, breath catching in his lungs. He’d never seen anything so obtrusive that fit into the surrounding scenery.

“Wow,” Amelia said. “It’s
a wind farm.”

“Wind farm?”

“Yeah. See the three blades turning in the wind?”

He did. “Aye.”

“Well, they collect wind and turn it into energy.” Amelia sighed, curling her arms around one of his, and rested her head on his bicep. “It’s…almost eerily beautiful. Like…something that doesn’t quite belong, but works so well with the surroundings that it fits.” She shook her head. “That was the stupidest thing I’ve ever said aloud.”

“No.” He pulled her into his arms, surrounding her slight form. She was the softness he lacked. “No,” he repeated. “It wasn’t stupid. Never stupid.”

Kiss her, you eejit!

When a man’
s conscience demanded he kiss a beautiful lass, his brain ceased to function. Daniel sought out her lips and covered them with his, tasting sugar on her tongue from the caramel coffee she bought a short while ago. And then his brain stopped working completely. He dropped to his arse on the dewy grass, pulling Amelia with him, spreading her thighs on either side of his hips.

Sweet scents of grass and wildflowers and fresh rain filled his senses. The sounds of the sea crashing against
jagged rocks played nature’s melody. And Amelia, oh lord above, Amelia… Her hands clutched at the lapels of his jacket, as if letting go of him meant certain death, and she’d give up anything for another minute here with him.

Right there in the field of emerald green, with a giant white tri-blade windmill spinning above them, Daniel laid Amelia down on the grass, covering her body with his. The feel of her beneath him made him dizzy with wanting her. The stiff peaks of her nipples found his palms, or his palms found those sweet, soft mounds. He couldn’t know for certain.

Daniel kissed her, cupping her intimate flesh through layers of clothing, wishing he had magic to send these layers away. She didn’t stop him though – Amelia seemed to welcome his advances, thrusting the most feminine part of her against the stiff ridge of his cock. Torture. The lass tortured him, made him ache.

So he didn’t crush her, Daniel rolled onto his back, pulling Amelia with him, keeping her mouth secured to his. The erotic duel of her tongue with his fanned the flames in his gut, close to burning out of control.
Desire clenched his muscles, threatening to unravel them both.

One of them had to pull away first. Tearing his lips from hers felt like a crime punishable by death. “We should–”

“Yeah.” Amelia rolled to the side, onto her back, staring up at the blue sky. Her breaths were heavy.

“If you were wearing a skirt right now, we might be arrested for public indecency,” he admitted on a shaky laugh.

Then he slammed his eyes shut. What the bloody hell had he just admitted?

“Really?”

Surprised to hear shock in her voice, Daniel turned to his side, studying her expression. A storm of unease churned in her blue eyes. Then admitting how much he wanted her didn’t seem like such a horrid idea. “Really.”

He swore her eyes darkened a shade or two.

Amelia sat up and prodded him in the ribs. “Get up. Let’s find a place to stay for the night.”

Now
he wore the shocked expression. Daniel did as she bid him and helped her up and back to the car. They stopped at a small inn further up the road. Neither spoke a word on the way inside and up to the front desk where they were welcomed by a woman in her late forties.

“
Welcome! How may I help you?”

“We’d like a room for the night,” Amelia said.

“Certainly.” The woman tapped away at her computer for a second or two, through it felt like an hour. “We’ve got a few rooms available; some overlooking St. George’s Channel–”

“Just one is fine.” Amelia thrust
her card at the woman, ending the debate.

Jaysus, this had to be a sign. Didn’t it?
She wanted him, much as he wanted her. Didn’t she?

Daniel shoved a nervous hand through his hair.
Damn, but he hadn’t a bloody clue what to think or do here. So he did what he knew, what he’d been doing since the moment he got into Amelia’s car; he helped her. Helped her up the narrow stairway to their room.

His palms were sweaty. Pulse rampant.
He didn’t even think about his erection straining against the fly of his jeans but thanked the fates he had Amelia in front of him blocking the older woman’s view of his arousal.

“Can we have dinner delivered to the room?” Amelia asked when they reached the door.

“Er, I suppose, if you ring the desk in about…” She glanced at her watch “…two and a half hours.”

“Perfect,” Amelia said.
“We’ll call then. Thank you.”

The door shut, leaving them alone.
She gave him a look; one single flash of those deep blue eyes and all of the fight went out of him then. He surrendered to the inevitable. No mind that he spent half his life locked away, or that she was so perfect his soul would spend a thousand years begging just for one last kiss.

There was only Amelia. He saw only her. Felt only her. The warmth emanating from her body. The scent of
apples and honey and wildflowers teasing his senses.

No more resisting. No need to
resist.

Daniel ceased to think.

He took Amelia in his grip, holding her body flush to his. Her arms were around his neck before he took his next breath. His lips came down on hers forcefully and he invaded the warmth of her mouth with no attempt at gentleness or finesse. He wanted to see how she’d react, to see if she needed him in the same raw and overwhelming way he needed her. If she didn’t, he meant to frighten her off.

Amelia’s hands grabbed at his shoulders,
clutching, fumbling for more, like she couldn’t get enough of him. Her tongue met his thrust for thrust and she moaned, the sound vibrating through him, shooing a punch of desire to his cock so strong he didn’t know if he’d survive this. The kiss went from zero to sixty in less than a split second. She made him powerless to anything but to accept what they had and give in to desire.