Worcester Nights - The Boxed Set (33 page)

His eyes shone with desire. “You weren’t a slow simmer that night I took you from behind at the overlook at the Tower Hill Botanical Garden. You were a goddess come to life, filled with passion and desire.”

Heat built up between my legs, and my hand slid down his hip of its own accord. “All right, then,” I amended. “I have many facets, and for this moment of steam and soap, you’ll just have to tease out the simmering version of me.”

He drew his eyes down my body, gently caressing my peaked nipples, sliding down to the black lace panties which still shielded my soft curls. “Oh, I think I can do that,” he murmured.

He knelt in front of me, and the swirl of desire in my sex deepened, thickened, and the feel of his fingers on either side of my hips sent waves of longing through me. I could feel every inch of movement as they eased my panties down my legs, resting for just a moment against my knees before carrying down to my ankles.

His hands caressed me as he slid his way back up my body to standing, and he brushed his lips against mine, soft, tantalizing. Then he turned me in place, so I stood between him and the stream of water. The gentle pulsing landed on my chest, and I felt the warmth of it course into my heart, spread out through every aspect of me.

He wrapped an arm around my waist, supporting me with his sturdy chest, and rocked back and left.

The stream moved, slid, and then tickled the edge of my right nipple.

I sighed in pleasure, closing my eyes, and the feeling was indescribable. His firm muscles behind me, his steady arm holding me up, and all I had to do was float, breathe, absorb the delicious sensations which coursed through me. He drifted me in slow circles, the stream changing its angle, its target, and my breast glowed with pleasure.

A gentle movement, a shifting, and then the circle of attention slid, drifted, and the left nipple came barely into the stream. My moan was deeper now, and I could feel my juices easing from me, mixing with the water that trailed down my stomach, my back, the length of my legs. Both of my breasts were full to bursting now, fragrant with desire, taut with need. His hand at my waist slid in a caress against my skin, and my whole body pulsed with a sense of anticipation.

Then he lifted me so I was barely on my toes, and he stepped back. The water drifted lower … lower … desire bubbled higher within me, expanding all of my senses, filling all of my thoughts, until there was only the motion of the water, the feeling of his body everywhere, and the steam filling my lungs, filling my ears, filling me …

The water made contact.

I was there. I shuddered, gently, completely, slipping over a line into a world of utter joy and serenity and fulfillment. Sean was here. Sean was all-encompassing. I was his, and I let everything else go.

Chapter 6

A
ll eyes turned as Sean carried me, clothed in soft fabrics, glowing in contentment, down the long flight of stairs. Bridgit nudged Seamus with a grin. “The oldest medicine in the world,” she teased. “Does wonders.” She waved a hand to the spread of soda bread, herbed butter, a plate of various cheeses, and another with cold cuts. “Sit down and eat up. You must be starving after all that … medicinal activity.”

My stomach growled in response, and Sean smiled as he deposited me down on the couch. As I took in the wealth of options, I looked at the meats in confusion. “Are these fresh?”

Bridgit nodded. “We were planning on coming out here for the holidays, and I have a local woman handle the cleaning and shopping for us. The phone’s not turned on, and there’s barely cell service out here, but we have everything else one could need. The house is fully stocked. So eat up – we have plenty more.”

Seamus’s brow creased. “Speaking of which …” He held out his hand.

Sean held his gaze for a moment, then nodded, reaching into his back pocket and bringing out his phone. He handed it over.

Seamus flipped through the screens for a moment, then nodded in satisfaction. “Your usage is flat for the past twenty-four hours. No calls, texts, or messages. It’s good to know I can trust in you, Sean.” He flipped the phone and popped out the battery. “It’ll take that parole officer of yours a day or two to sort through the mess and think to follow that signal. By then we’ll be long gone. For now, we heal up and grab rest while we can.”

His gaze moved up to Sean’s eyes. “That Taurus still on you?”

Sean nodded, but his hand didn’t move toward the back of his waist, where I could see its outline beneath his t-shirt.

Seamus held his gaze for a long moment, and at last he nodded. “You keep that. There could still be some trouble, and I could use you at my side, until we finally part ways.”

His mouth curved into a smile. “But, for now, we drink, we eat, and we celebrate being alive.” He turned to me. “Especially you, lass.” He leant forward, filling my glass to the brim with Redbreast. “Have some of this. It’ll help, in ways other than Bridgit’s ointments.”

I nodded, taking up the whiskey and swallowing a long draw. A soothing warmth spread within me, and I leant against Sean with a sigh. He took up a slice of the soda bread, slathered it with butter, then put it on a plate and handed it over. He broke off a corner and popped it into his mouth as he did so. His eyes lit up.

“Oh, that’s good. Just like mom used to make.”

Bridgit nodded. “There’s a woman in town who bakes it fresh. Spectacular stuff. She hails from Kerry.”

I took a bite, and satisfaction eased through me. It was, indeed delicious. The slice was gone before I knew it, and Sean grinned as he prepared a second for me.

Jimmy nudged Eileen, who sat alongside him. “Drink up, Eileen. You haven’t even touched your whiskey! You used to down this stuff like it was water. Could almost keep up with Bridgit here.”

Eileen’s cheeks tinted. “Actually, I am pretty thirsty,” she admitted. “Maybe I could just have some milk?”

Jimmy looked at her as if she’d grown a third eye in the middle of her forehead. “Jesus Christ, you’re kidding, right?”

Bridgit stared at Eileen for a long moment, her gaze trailing down her breasts to rest on her abdomen. The corners of her mouth turned down, and she crossed her arms across her chest.

The words came out in a low mutter. “The girl’s breeding.”

Jimmy froze, his eyes widening, and for a long moment his mouth hung open. Then the warmth of joy suffused his face, and he leant forward, his lips widening into an incredulous grin. “Is it true? Is it really true, Eileen?”

She hesitated, biting her lower lip, then nodded.

He swept her up into a hug, spinning around in a circle with her, laughter bubbling up out of him like water from a spring. “I’m going to be a daddy! I’m going to be a daddy!”

Seamus slowly drew to his feet, a dark frown on his face. “God damnit, Jimmy, don’t you think you should –”

Bridgit put a hand on his arm, and he stopped, looking down at her.

She slowly shook her head, her eyes holding acceptance, and I thought I saw a tinge of regret in there. “Let him go, Seamus. He’s not Liam. He never will be. He needs to … he needs to just be himself.”

Seamus lay his fingers against his sister’s cheek. “Are you sure, Bridge?”

She nodded, her shoulders slumping. “I should have known years ago. It’ll be better. For all of us.”

Jimmy had his fingers laced into Eileen’s hair, holding her head to his chest, and he looked over at his wife. His eyes shone with jubilation. “Thank you, Bridgit. Thank you.”

She nodded. “Guess you and your knocked-up girl can take one of the other guest rooms, then. Seamus and I will share the master bedroom.” She gave Seamus a wry smile. “It’ll be like when we were kids, sharing a bed.”

He topped off her glass, and raised it to her. “
Cha d’dhùin doras nach d’fhosgail doras
.”

She nodded. “No door ever closed, but another one opened. We’ll be fine.”

She drank down half her glass, then turned with an amused smile to Evan and Jessica. “Guess that means you two share the last room.”

Evan nodded evenly, glancing at Jessica. “We’ll be all right.” His gaze turned to Seamus. “So you mean for us to spend the night?”

Seamus waved a hand at the darkening world through the large windows. “We’re all exhausted, and night’s nearly here anyway. You swore you wouldn’t do anything to impede us, while we’re all together, and I trust your word on that.” He gave a wry smile. “However, I’m not stupid enough to test it past your limits.”

He gave a long stretch. “Tomorrow I take me, Bridgit, and the two dopes over there out of here. I’ll have time by then to set up a fresh car and get my money transferred. We’ll leave you here to fend with the turkey and bears.”

He glanced at the disassembled phone on the table. “Undoubtedly in a day or two the cops will either have traced that phone’s location, or would have figured out that Liam’s name on this lease connects to us. They’ll stream in like a springtime trout run.”

He grinned. “You have plenty of food to last a week, if not more. And, of course, if you’re feeling energetic, you can always hike the thirty miles into town and call for assistance yourself. Just watch out for the bears and coyotes.”

Evan nodded, his gaze on Seamus. “If you’re planning to leave us behind, I am more than happy to behave while we’re all holed up here. My priority is to have Kay and Jessica to come through this unhurt. They’re innocent in all of this.”

Seamus raised his glass. “Kay’s been a good girl.” He turned to me and Sean. “You know, the offer stands. If you two want to come along with us, you’re welcome to. You’d have to start fresh, though. New name, new identity, no contact at all with the past.”

Evan’s gaze steeled, and Sean shook his head. “I don’t think her family would allow that,” he stated wryly. “And I wouldn’t do that to her. No, I’m afraid that this is where we’ll part company.”

Seamus took a drink of his whiskey. “The roads diverge, and we have to make our choice. I wish you the best of luck. You’re a steady man, Sean.”

Bridgit downed the rest of her drink. “Well, Seamus, we have a lot of planning to get done. Let’s you and I head into the bedroom and get started on it.” She grabbed up the bottle of Redbreast. “With proper fortification, of course.”

Seamus stood with her. He turned to the rest of us. “Stars are gorgeous out here at night, but stay on the porch,” he advised. “I wasn’t kidding about the bears. There are blueberry bushes all along the property, and we have regular visitors. Wouldn’t want one of you to get mauled, just as we’re about to part ways all peaceful-like.”

The two of them turned, and in a moment their door closed behind them.

Jimmy nuzzled at Eileen’s neck, and then swept her up again. “Why don’t we go explore our room, my darling?”

She giggled with glee. “Oh, Jimmy, you’re so romantic!”

He beamed with joy, and then he was carefully negotiating the stairs up. The sound of a solid thud indicated the door was closed, and then there was a high pitched squeal of excitement.

Jessica shook her head. “Why don’t we go out and look at those stars for a while?”

Evan looked over at me. “Are you up to it?”

I nodded, drawing to my feet, Sean’s arm under my good elbow. “I’ll be fine,” I agreed. “Delicious food, fine whiskey, and once I get a solid night’s sleep in me, I’ll be right as rain.”

Some ski parkas were hanging on hooks by the door, and we slipped them on, then stepped out onto the front porch.

Seamus hadn’t been kidding. With the last golden glow of sunset fading in the west, the sky had sprung to life with a glittering of stars that seemed almost supernatural. Growing up in Waterbury, I’d been lucky to see even a handful of stars against the bright lights of the city. Worcester hadn’t been much better. But here, without lights for miles, the night sky had come alive.

Sean brought his hand to the back of his waist for a moment, scanning the woods for motion, then he nodded with his head. We came down off the porch and moved a short distance down the driveway, to the edge of the main clearing. He attentively swept the dark forest, then spoke in a low voice. “We should be all right here.”

I looked between him and Evan. I kept my own voice to a whisper. “What the hell happened at the warehouse?”

Evan shook his head. “We had no idea. I was at the command center a block away from the church parking lot, with our brothers on speakerphone, filling them in. One minute everything was going perfectly. We were staging our teams inside the church. We were going to wait until the dancing began before getting them into the trucks. That way there was as short a window of time as possible for them to be spotted and an alarm raised. We had some remote cameras set up watching the area around the warehouse, but everything seemed quiet.”

His brow creased. “And then, it was like a tsunami. Waves of cars of Cubans came barreling in, out of nowhere. The men raced in through the loading dock. By the time our guys got on the scene, it was nearly over. Most people were dead or wounded. But certain, key people were missing.” His gaze held mine. “Like you.”