Worcester Nights - The Boxed Set (7 page)

I kissed the top of his head. My voice was a mere whisper. “Be safe. Come home to me.”

He reached up to gently take my hand, then he turned it as he brought it around to his lips. He pressed the softest of kisses against the inner part of my wrist. I could feel it course through me, down to my very toes.

When he rose again, his eyes were steady and firm.

Pride shone within me. If anybody could get through what was to come, he would.

Seamus climbed up onto a chair by the TV, hitting the wall with his fist a few times to get the room to settle down. He drew his eyes around the crowd.

“You know what to do. Now let’s go do it. Nobody disrespects us in our own place. Nobody.”

The men growled in agreement, and the stream began moving out the door. Jimmy came by the front of the bar, glanced at his wife, and kept walking, with Seamus close behind.

Sean held my gaze for a long moment, and I stepped back. I wrapped my arms around each other and gave him a small smile. I would be right here until he returned to me.

He nodded, turned, and then he was lost in the crowd.

When the room cleared there were the six regulars along with two stout men in their forties. The newcomers took seats right by the door.

Mrs. O’Malley nudged a head at them as she went around to gather up glasses. “They’ll keep an eye on us here, just in case,” she commented to me. “But we won’t need them. Seamus will teach those bastards a lesson. Nobody messes with our family and gets away with it.”

It seemed I couldn’t go sixty seconds without glancing over at the door, but Kelley square swirled on in its maddeningly complex dance of slammed-on brakes and screeching tires. An ambulance screamed through, delving across the center of the chaos like a surgeon’s blade through a cancerous tumor.

And still the door remained motionless.

I went out to wipe down the tables, to refill Joey’s Bushmills, and it was maddening, maddening. How could I be cutting up limes, as if nothing at all were happening, when somewhere out there Sean was diving into Hell? Where were they? What were they doing? What kind of a place were they going to assault – and who was there to fight back?

Mrs. O’Malley shook her head. “Lass, you’re going to have a nervous breakdown at the rate you’re going,” she warned me. “Take deep breaths. Here, have some Redbreast. It settles the nerves.” She poured me a shot.

I took the glass without hesitation and downed it in one smooth swallow. It hit me hard; I leant against the bar for a moment, but I welcomed the distraction. And she was right. The chaotic thoughts eased up, if only for a bit.

“They’ll be fine,” she calmly assured me. “Seamus knows what he’s doing. Done this many times, back home.”

I looked over at her, at her deep brown eyes heavily lined with mascara. “How about Jimmy?”

She snorted, glancing at the gold wedding ring on her finger. “It should’ve been Liam, his brother,” she murmured. “Now
there
was a man. He was Seamus’s partner, you know. You had the two of them side by side, and nothing could stand in their way. We were engaged, once.”

I could hear the ache of longing in her voice.

“What happened to him?”

Her eyes grew cold. “The British bastards,” she snapped. “Shot him six times. In the back.” Her eyes swung to the door. “My brother would have gone up to take them all on, but I managed to convince him to come with me to the states instead, to get Jimmy out of harm’s way. Things were tense back then.”

She shrugged. “Jimmy was a miserable failure as a soldier, but he was a sweet talker, and somehow I gave in to him. I thought that he might grow into his brother’s shoes.” She snorted. “He never did.”

“Still, you two seem to love each other,” I offered.

She snorted again. “That bastard would stick his cock into a tub of ice cream, if it had a hole in it,” she snapped. “But a vow’s a vow, and he’s not a mean drunk. We have our separate worlds, and he makes sure the bills are paid. So that’s life.”

I pressed my lips together. That didn’t sound like much of a life at all. I wondered how people got themselves into these situations, got so used to misery that they began to think of it as normal and even something to hold onto.

Sean’s face came into my mind, and with it a longing which nearly toppled me. There was a man worth loving, worth risking all for. At every turn he’d defended those he cared for. His mother, his friends, me.

He had to come back to me unharmed.

The bell tinkled, and my heart stopped. I gripped the edge of the bar and looked up.

Sean had Jimmy’s arm draped over his shoulder and was half-carrying him in through the door. Jimmy’s right leg had a spreading bloodstain on the front of the calf and he wasn’t putting any weight on it. Sean had a dusky-purple bruise on his temple and his black shirt was torn in several places.

Mrs. O’Malley grabbed up the Redbreast and was around the bar in a heartbeat. For all her talk, her face was filled with concern as she helped her husband into his seat and handed over the bottle. He swigged down a mouthful, returning it to her.

“Tripped over a case of beer,” he growled. “Missed half the fight.”

There was a honk outside, and he looked up. “That’s Seamus. He’ll take me to the hospital.” His eyes turned to Sean. “You lock the place up, and you and Katie get over to our house. The guest room is up the stairs and on the left.” He dug in his back pocket, bringing out a key on a ring. “Lock up after you get in there. Don’t open for nobody until me or Bridgit get home. Understand?”

Mrs. O’Malley put her arm under Jimmy, gently hauling him to his feet. “I got ya.”

Sean opened the door for them, and they walked the few steps to the waiting Escalade. In a moment they were inside and it pulled away from the curb.

The remaining men in the bar didn’t need a word. They filed out into the darkness. Sean set the bolt, flipped the sign to “closed”, and then turned to me.

My breath returned to me. I raced to him, my arms threading within his leather jacket, needing to feel his body against me, his skin, to know he was all right. He groaned in pain as my fingers pressed against his back, but he didn’t pull away – just held me tighter against him. He pushed me back against the bar, and I went willingly, my mouth turning up toward his, my body aching with need for him.

He looked at me, hot with passion, and then he growled with desire. “God, Kay, what you do to me. I have to get you somewhere safe.” He turned with me, moving me in front of him down the back hall. We got out into the parking area, and his Triumph was waiting. We climbed on, put on our helmets, and then we were roaring down the street, deep into the heart of Worcester.

I barely took in the twists and turns before we pulled up in front of a dark blue Colonial house with a two-car garage on the side. The houses on the street were close but not oppressive. He took the bike around the side of the garage, through a gate, and brought it to a stop in the neatly mown back yard. High fence surrounded us on all three sides.

We climbed off the bike and went to the back door. He used the key, pushed it open, and we stepped into the kitchen.

I reached for the light, but he caught my hand in his, shaking his head in the dark. He closed the door behind us, locking it, then led us through the shadows, somehow navigating his way across what must have been a living room. We reached the front door and he guided us up the stairs. The door to the left was open, we went through, and he pushed it closed behind us.

The moonlight streamed in through the open windows, gilding the world with silvery edges. His eyes shone with hot desire and need. His voice was guttural and strained. “Kay – I’ll warn you –”

I threw myself at him, pressing my mouth into his, holding nothing back.

He groaned, his shoulders rippled, and then he was lifting me and carrying me over to the bed. He dropped me on it so my hips were at the lower edge, my legs hanging off the end. His hands popped my jeans button, raked down the zipper, and the fabric ripped off of me, taking my underwear down to my knees at the same time. He yanked them the rest of the way, then his hand drove into his back pocket, coming out with a foil pouch. He had his jeans loose and sliding down to the ground as he latched his fingers on his underwear and sent it in the same direction. His cock throbbed hard, huge, and I gasped at the size of it.

He slid the condom on, my knees came up on either side of me of their own accord, and then he delved into me.

My cry of pleasure echoed throughout the empty house as he filled me, stretched me, plundered me in a way I’d never even imagined possible. The cry became a long, drawn out moan, a song, and he groaned in response, twining his hand into my hair. He pounded into me, harder, harder, and my body arced in response, desperately needing him. My ankles crossed at his waist, pulling him in more deeply, and his breath came in short, urgent gasps.

“Kay – I – My God – Kay –” and then he was shuddering, exploding, throbbing deep within me. That was all I needed. I shattered, a million crystals rising high into the night sky, reflecting silver light, turning, spiraling.

Then, at last, at long last, I was drifting, falling, settling down into a quiet river.

He lay down on top of me. I relished the weight, the sense of security, the feeling of his cock within me and his strength all around me. I drew both hands around to his back, pulling his shoulder blades in against me.

He turned his head to look at me, and the emotion which shone in his eyes took my breath away. It was all I could do to get his name out.

“Oh, Sean.”

He stilled for a long moment. Then he leant forward to tenderly, gently press his lips against mine.

Within me, I could feel his shaft give a soft but noticeable throb.

I nuzzled against him with my nose. “You sure you aren’t too sore from tonight’s adventures?” I gave a soft tilt with my hips.

His cock twitched again, and a gleam came into his eyes. His mouth came down to mine, gentle at first, then more insistent, and the world fell away.

Chapter 7

T
he mattress beneath me was soft and comfortable, the comforter on top billowy and jasmine-smelling, and I blinked my eyes open in confusion. Golden sunlight streamed across an unfamiliar room, dancing on the royal blue covers and thick cream carpet. The walls held small watercolors of forget-me-nots.

I rolled to my side, but the bed was empty. A single rose lay on the pillow, its crimson petals glistening.

I smiled, taking up the stem and admiring the blossom. Sean was astounding. His body brought me to heights of pleasure I’d never thought possible. And he truly cared about me as well.

For some reason nervousness whirled in the pit of my stomach. It all seemed too good to be true. Something would happen. Surely something awful would happen, to take this all away from me.

I pushed the thought away, climbed out of bed, and gathered up my clothes from where they were scattered around the room. I took a few minutes in the bathroom to freshen myself up, then picked up the rose. There were quiet sounds of movement coming from downstairs, so I headed down the stairs and across the neat living room with its dark green couch and flat-screen TV.

Mrs. O’Malley was in the kitchen amongst her pine cabinets and white marble island. She nodded in welcome as she sliced tomatoes. Sausage and eggs were already frying on the stove, and the aromas sent my stomach grumbling.

“Morning,” she said with a smile. “The boys will be back soon. They’re just off with Seamus to check on things.” She tossed the tomato slices into the pan and shook it around. She nudged her head at one of the stools by the counter. “Take a seat. Coffee? Tea?”

“Tea would be fine,” I responded. In a minute a steaming off-white mug was sitting before me. Next came the plate with the fragrant breakfast. She put hers alongside mine and came around to sit.

I took a bite, soaking in the delicious flavors. “How is Jimmy?”

She drank some of her tea. “He’s an ox – he’s fine. Just twisted something and scraped off a layer of skin; the doc said to take it easy for a few days. There weren’t any serious injuries, thank God.”

She looked over at me. “I might’a been wrong about Sean. I’m woman enough to admit it. Seamus says Sean was a key part of what went down last night. When Jimmy got hurt. Sean was right by his side, holding off three of the Cubes until he got on his feet again. Then Seamus came in with the cavalry. A few of our boys wanted to escalate, but Sean talked them ‘round. He was a good soldier.”

My cheeks warmed. That was my Sean she was talking about. He was a man to be proud of.

And yet that twisting came back into me. He’d just been in a turf war – and this was only going to get worse. A voice in my head said we should run, run, run …

The back door pushed open, and Jimmy came through, then Sean. He wore the same dark brown leather jacket, a dark grey shirt nearly identical to the black one from yesterday, but somehow he seemed even more handsome than the first day I’d seen him. His eyes had richer depths, his shoulders had a stronger set.

He was mine.

The corner of his mouth quirked up into a smile, and he came around to my side, sliding his hand along my waist and giving me a squeeze. His lips met mine for a long kiss. When he drew back, he traced his fingers along my face. “Good morning, beautiful.”