IRISH (The Trident Series Book 4)

by Jaime Lewis

  She looked around, feeling a little off kilter. Here she stood on the beach with a man she was attracted to, the moon reflecting off the water. It had romance written all over it, but whatever was going on between her and the sexy as sin man standing in front of her with his hands on his hips was anything but romance. What it was, was fucked up.

  “What do you want?” She asked him.

  Expecting to hear some lame excuse, she was jolted when he reached out and grabbed the front of her hoodie and pulled her against him. Their chests collided, and she found herself wrapped up in his warm arms. She tilted her head back and looked up at him. His blue eyes were like ice but seemed to darken a smidge. He appeared calm. She, on the other hand, was a basket of nerves. She felt herself trembling, but she wasn’t sure if it was from the chill outside or from being in the confinement of Irish’s strong, muscular arms. He pressed his warm body against her.

  “Ky, you’re confusing me. I don’t know what you want?” She asked in a pleading voice. She couldn’t go on playing the “does he like me” game.

  She got her answer when she saw his nostrils flare before he leaned down and whispered in a raspy, deep voice, “This.” His lips came crashing down on hers.

  ◆◆◆

  Irish didn’t know what had come over him. One minute, he was ready to explain what had happened, and the next, he was watching her lick her lips, though she probably didn’t mean anything sexual by it, but dammit, he needed her to know that he wanted her. So, he did the first thing that popped into his head. He kissed her. And she was what he was expecting and then some. So sweet and giving as she opened right up for him, letting his tongue slip in for a quick taste. Not wanting to overwhelm her, he slowed it down and pulled back. He wasn’t going to fuck this up.

  He smiled as her eyes fluttered open. They were filled with lust and desire, and he felt he’d accomplished what he’d set out to do.

  “I’ve wanted to kiss you since those eyes of yours looked up at me as you laid in that damn puddle,” he told her, pulling her into a hug and squeezing her tight. He could feel the rapid beat of her heart against his chest. She was special, and he knew his life was about to change.

  He took her hand and started walking down the beach toward her condo. He wasn’t sure which one was hers, but he wasn’t going to let her walk alone.

  ◆◆◆

  Bailey was still in amazement from her mini rendezvous with Irish on the beach. He had walked her to her condo, kissed her one more time on the lips, and told her he would call tomorrow. He even waited until she was safely in the building and saw her get into the elevator. He was a total gentleman, and that impressed her.

  She reached her floor and quickly let herself into the condo, shutting the door behind her. The first thing she did was open the slider to the balcony, letting in the brisk air. Her body was on fire. She heard her phone vibrate against the table by the front door. Looking at it, she saw she had a voicemail. Not bothering to see who it was from, she hit the button and put the phone on speaker to listen. Just as she turned to head into the kitchen to grab a glass of wine, she froze when she heard her mother’s voice.

  “Bailey, this is your mother.” Bailey rolled her eyes. “I just saw Randy at the club, and he was very upset. Something about a friend of yours threatened him. He went out of his way to come and see you to talk some sense into you. You need to get your head out of the clouds and come to your senses. You are an Anderson, for God’s sake. What would your grandfather think of your behavior? Running around with thugs and hoodlums.”

  Bailey grinned. Her beloved Pop would probably be cheering her on. After all, he was the one person who’d encouraged her to follow her dreams and do what made her happy. He would have loved her new friends.

  She heard the phone beep, ending the message. She had missed the last part of her mother’s rant. It was probably another demand to call her. Yeah, fat chance of that happening.

  Her phone beeped again, and she looked down and saw it was a message from Alex.

  “Everything okay? I saw Irish run out after you?”

  She smiled. That was nice of Alex to check on her.

  “All good.”

  “Is Irish still there?”

  “No, he walked me to my condo, then left.”

  “Are you still going to meet me at kickboxing tomorrow?”

  “Yes, I’ll be there.”

  “Awesome! You can fill me in then. Later!”

  Bailey shook her head and laughed. She needed to get a shower, then get some sleep. Tomorrow was going to be a long day. There was a hurricane spinning out in the Atlantic, and the forecast had it coming extremely close to the Virginia coastline. The meteorologists were saying the storm could go either way. It could skirt the coastline and take a sharp right turn out to sea, or if the jet stream lifted, there was the potential of a direct hit. The city wasn’t taking any chances. After tomorrow, they were going to close the schools. Being from Alabama, she’d experienced hurricanes. Some were bad, but she believed she would be okay to ride the storm out in her condo. She hadn’t heard anything about any mandatory evacuations, so as of now, she would hunker down and hope the storm went out to sea.

  Her mind then steered toward Irish, and she wondered if he had to report to base as the storm hit or would they have to leave the area. She hadn’t a clue how the military stuff worked when it came to that. Reading and studying it was completely different from seeing and living it.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Irish and Ace were walking out to their cars when Irish turned toward Ace. “Is Alex home?

  Ace raised one of his eyebrows up. “No, why?”

  Irish chuckled to himself. “I wanted to see if she could give me one of those massages of hers. I’m feeling kinda tight in my shoulders, and her hands are amazing.” Irish looked over and knew his friend was seconds away from punching him. Irish had a habit of messing with Ace, Potter, and Frost. He’d playfully flirt with Alex, Tenley, and Autumn just to get a rile out of them. They all knew he was joking; however, they were also very protective of their women.

  He shot Ace a grin. “I’m just messing with you. It’s too fun and too easy not to. But all joking aside, I do need to talk to her. I’m kind of in a bind tomorrow with Sienna.”

  With the hurricane approaching closer to the US mainland, the base, along with the rest of the town, were preparing and bracing for the worst. Though it was only a category one storm, it still had the potential to do damage. Flooding was the main concern. The front of the storm is expected to hit the area late Tuesday night, and then it is predicted to take a turn to the northeast and skirt the coast before heading back out to sea.

  Ace stopped walking and crossed his arms across his chest. “What’s going on?”

  “Well, since we have to report to base tomorrow and finish preparations, I need someone to watch Sienna.”

  “Derek thinks we should be done by the time school lets out. Unless the guys tonight don’t get their shit done, then we could be later.”

  “Nope, the county already announced this morning that they are closing schools tomorrow and Wednesday.”

  Ace furrowed his eyebrows and crossed his arms across his chest. “I don’t know what she had planned for tomorrow. She did mention she had to go by the office to make sure the staff of volunteers took care of the preparations there. She’s at her kickboxing class right now at Murphy’s place. Why don’t we drive over there now and ask her?” He glanced down at his watch. “She should be finishing up in a few minutes, and it’s on our way home.”

  ◆◆◆

  Irish pulled into the parking lot of the gym and dojo that their buddy Murphy owned. Murphy was a former SEAL himself, but a bullet to the lung forced him into early retirement. After about a year and a half of battling depression and PTSD, Murphy found the best way to keep himself grounded was to help people. He taught people to defend themselves as well as keeping healthy and fit. When in the SEALs, Murphy was one of the best when it came t
o hand-to-hand combat. He knew several variations of martial arts. When a storefront just outside of the base became available, he scooped it up and opened his own gym and dojo. He taught most of the classes himself.

  Irish got out and started walking toward the building when Ace waved him over. He was looking into the front window.

  “You got to check this out. Typical Murph, he’s got a woman on the ground. But this one seems to be putting up a decent fight.”

  Irish wasn’t surprised to see Murphy rolling around on the mat with a woman. He was lying on top of her, covering her body. The woman looked tiny under him. Murphy was a beast and a mean motherfucker when he wanted to be. But he also had a way with the ladies.

  He watched as Murphy lifted the woman up in his arms as he stood. The woman struggled, but she didn’t give up, which Irish had to give her some credit for. From the look on Murph’s face, he was having a bit of difficulty. The woman wiggled her body and somehow ended up over Murph’s shoulder, then slinked down his back like a snake winding its body around its prey. Her sneaky but cool move surprised Murph because before he realized what she was doing, she was on the ground and did a leg sweep move, taking out Murph’s legs, sending him onto his ass.

  “Holy shit! That was awesome,” Ace exclaimed as he seemed to be enjoying the show as much as Irish. And Irish had to agree with him. That was a sweet move.

  Alex stood to the side, laughing, which then made Murph laugh. Murphy pushed himself up and helped the woman stand. When she was on her feet, she spun around to grab her water bottle, and all the air rushed out of Irish’s body.

  “Oh shit!” Ace stated. Oh, shit was right, Irish thought. That was his woman.

  ◆◆◆

  Bailey was having a blast. This evening had actually worked out great because of the impending storm; nobody but Alex and she had shown up, so the two of them got a private one-on-one class with Murphy. It was an awesome work-out, and she even learned a few self-defense moves. She’d definitely be returning.

  At first, she was a little intimidated by Murphy, but after spending time with him, she realized under all those frowns and muscles, there was a big teddy bear hidden there. Not that she would ever tell him that. The man was huge. His arms were the size of her thigh.

  At the moment, she was in a predicament. She was on her back with Murphy on top of her and in-between her legs. He was showing her another self-defense move. She couldn’t remember the name of it, but she was having some difficulty getting out of his hold.

  “Move your legs higher against my ribs and squeeze,” he told her, but she was afraid she might hurt him, so she released her legs and sighed.

  “I can’t do this. I’m afraid I might hurt you.”

  “Sweetheart, you aren’t going to hurt me. Let’s do this; imagine me as someone who you despise.” Her mind immediately went to Randy. Murphy smiled. “Good, I can see you already have someone in mind by that look in your eyes. Now imagine that I am that person.”

  As soon as Murphy’s gorgeous face morphed into Randy’s cruel and angry face, her instincts kicked in. She raised her legs and squeezed with all her might. The weight from his body pressed into her made it difficult to breathe, but she was determined. No way in hell would she let Randy overtake her.

  As she was squeezing her legs against his ribs, he made a move that had him standing and lifting her off the ground. She was still wound around him as he squeezed her. As he adjusted his body, his hold on her loosened just a smidge and gave her enough wiggle room to maneuver her body. She used her leg muscles to push herself up and over his shoulder, then slithered down his back and between his legs. When she found herself on her back on the floor, she took out Murph’s legs, and now they were both on the floor.

  Murphy was breathing hard and looked at her. “What in the hell was that?” He barked out.

  She shrugged her shoulders and laughed, still trying to catch her breath. “I honestly don’t know. You told me to think of someone that I despised and wanted to get away from, so I did. I’ll admit I panicked and completely forgot the moves you showed me, but I wasn’t going to give up, so I improvised.”

  “Well, whatever the hell it was, it was fucking awesome.” He stood up and helped her to her feet, and Alex walked over to them.

  “Damn, Bailey, where in the world did you think of that move?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “I need to remember that one.” Alex high-fived her.

  Murph looked at Bailey. “So, will I see you back for classes?”

  If she felt this pumped after every class, then hell yeah, she would be coming back, and she grinned. “Absolutely.”

  Murphy let out a bark of laughter and wrapped her up in a hug and kissed the top of her head. Even though she knew it was a friendly gesture, Alex had already warned her about Murphy and some of the other men that worked out there. She looked up at Murphy. His eyes looked over her body, and she wondered if he was interested in her.

  Murphy motioned toward the big window in the front. “I believe you ladies have an audience.”

  Confused, Bailey spun around and met a pair of eyes that looked to be burning a hole in Murphy. She swallowed…. hard. Oh shit!

  ◆◆◆

  Irish waited patiently while Alex and Bailey finished up inside. It looked like they were registering for some classes. He was happy that Bailey was interested in some self-defense classes. But he wasn’t thrilled about Murphy and some of the other guys who taught the classes. They were worse than him when it came to women. He would make time very soon to talk with Murph and let him know that Bailey was his and off-limits.

  “Hey Irish, what brings you here?” Alex said as she walked over to Ace.

  “Irish said he needed to talk to you,” Ace told her as he wrapped his arm around her waist and kissed her.

  “Me? I thought you came by for another reason.” She smiled and glanced over at Bailey. Irish almost laughed out loud when Bailey’s cheeks turned bright red, and her eyes went wide.

  “Well, that was a bonus seeing that Bailey was here because I actually needed to talk to her too.” Well, that wasn’t exactly true, but it sounded good.

  “Well, what did you need to talk about?”

  “We have to be at the base tomorrow, and I don’t have anybody who can watch Sienna until I get home from work.”

  “Oh, yeah. Bailey mentioned that the schools were closed tomorrow. Any other time you know, I’d take her in a heartbeat, but I have the inspector coming tomorrow to look over the equipment at the clinic. I wanted to get it in before the storm.”

  “No, it’s fine. I’m sure I can find someone else.” He ran his hand through his hair. Shit, he didn’t know what to do now.

  “Ky, I don’t have anything pressing, and since the schools are closed, that means I’m off. I can keep her for the day if you want. I don’t mind. I don’t have much planned except to grab a few boxes from my storage unit in the basement of the building. Then maybe run to the store and pick up a couple of things.”

  He looked at her. “Really? You wouldn’t mind?”

  She smiled. “I wouldn’t have offered if I minded. She’s a good kid. She can be my helper. I have some coloring books and stuff I can keep her occupied with.”

  “How about this? Why don’t I give you a key to my place, and when you are finished up at your condo, you can take Sienna back to the house. That way, she’ll have her toys and stuff there that will keep her occupied. Shit….”

  “What?”

  “Sorry, nothing for you to worry about. I just have a couple of things I wanted to get done before the storm, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to.”

  “Like what? Depending on what it is, maybe Sienna and I can help after we’re done at my place.”

  He must have had a funny look on his face because Bailey laughed. “Look, why don’t you make a list of things that she and I can take care of while you’re at work. You can drop her off on your way to the base. I’ll fix us breakfast, a
nd she and I can get the stuff done around my condo, and then we can run any errands you need, then we’ll go back to your house until you get home.”

  “I don’t know when we’ll be done, though. It could be late by the time I can get home.”

  “Speaking of the storm, where are you staying?” Alex asked Bailey. Shit, Irish felt like a tool for not asking her that.

  Bailey scrunched her eyebrows together. “What do you mean…I’m staying at my condo.”

  Alex shook her head. “You can’t stay there. It’s right on the beach. If the storm hits the way the forecasters think it will, your street will flood. It floods just from heavy rains. The tidal surge will flood that area. Though your condo should be okay since you are high enough, you, on the other hand, will be stuck until the water recedes. These storms can be so unpredictable, and the slightest movement could be good or could spell disaster for the area.

  “She’s right, Bailey. You can stay with us. We have plenty of room,” Ace told her, but Irish didn’t miss the look he was giving him—kind of like wake up and get with the show. Ace was literally giving Irish an opportunity here.

  “Well, you guys know the area, so I’ll take your word for it. I definitely do not want to be stuck in my condo.” She looked over at Irish. “How far is your place from theirs?” She asked.

  “About five to ten minutes, depending on traffic,” he told her.

  “Well, since your place isn’t that far, once you get home, I’ll drive over to their house since it seems I’m staying there.” She grinned at Alex, who gave her a wink.

  “Or you could just stay at our place.” Holy shit, he couldn’t believe he just blurted that out. He heard Alex snicker, and Ace grinned.

  He could tell he had shocked her. She was nibbling on her lower lip and was looking to Alex for her to give her some help. He needed to sell her on it. “Come on; Sienna would love if you stayed over. I’ll even be a gentleman and give up my bed and sleep on the couch.”