“I just picked up Shea at the center and was heading home to get her dinner. Just wanted to drop these off as a little way of saying thank you to Dee for the gown for this Saturday. It’s not much, I know.” Fiona felt heat rising to her cheeks. “It seemed like the least I could do.”
“Oh, Dee is going to love them!” Casey leaned over them and took a deep sniff, sighing with contentment. “She’s finishing up some papers back in the office. She loves flowers brightening things up back there. I do, too. We don’t usually put them up here because this place is all testosterone.”
“That’s perfect. I’m just so grateful for all she’s done for Shea and me.” Fiona hugged Shea slightly to her side. The young girl bristled and pulled away.
Casey grinned at them as she and Fiona exchanged wry smiles. “Kieran’s going to be grateful when he sees you in that dress.”
Fiona felt the crimson flush over her skin as she blushed at the thought, remembering what it had felt like a few days ago to have him pressed against her. To have him inside her.
“He’s here, you know.” Casey wiggled her brows suggestively.
Fiona glanced back toward the gym. “He is?”
Casey waved her off. “Go say hi. I’ll watch Shea for a few minutes.”
“If you insist,” Fiona replied, a little quicker than she’d intended, before turning to her sister. “Shea, stay with Casey, okay?”
Shea nodded, walked around the counter, and sat on a chair before putting her nose back in her book. Casey shrugged at her and Fiona smiled before turning to head deeper into the gym.
As she entered the main room, she felt out of place in her dark blue jeans and flowing lavender blouse. Her brown hair cascaded down her shoulders, and she was wearing only a hint of makeup, just enough to make her look as if she’d had her coffee that morning. Everyone around her was wearing shorts or spandex and appeared sweaty and red-faced.
“Fi!” Kieran called out to her, and she turned to see him in an octagon to one side of the room. Kane was behind him, hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath; they’d apparently just been sparring.
Fiona headed in their direction, trying her best not to be too obvious about ogling him. It was hard to stay calm because every single muscle in his body was prominently on display, and a sheen of sweat made his whole body glisten. She felt herself heating up just at the thought of running her tongue over his perfect, ridged abs.
As soon as she was within arm’s length, Kieran grabbed her by her elbows and lifted her hands to reach around his neck. Her fingers laced through his sweaty hair, and he kissed her deeply, leaving enough room between their bodies to avoid soaking her clothes.
“You guys look like you’re having fun,” she said loud enough for Kane to hear her as well when she finally came up for air.
“Mblrgfh…” Kane said, completely unintelligibly, as he waved one hand, then moved to the edge of the ring to lean against the rope.
“What’s wrong with him?” she asked Kieran, her brows scrunched together.
Kieran shrugged, but a mischievous grin spread over his face. “I got a good hook right in his stomach. He probably can’t breathe yet.”
“Oh, that’s normal.” Sarcasm laced her words and Kieran laughed.
“He’ll be fine. This is what we do. He’s in training for the state championships. Less than two months away.” Kieran waved goofily at his brother, who just flipped him his middle finger in response.
Fiona chuckled and turned back to the handsome fighter in front of her. “And what do you do besides beat the shit out of him? Are you in training, too?”
“Nah, not me.” He began leading her back the way she’d come, clutching her hand in his. “I’m just having fun. Keeping in shape.”
“You used to fight professionally, though, didn’t you?” she asked, stepping over a stray dumbbell someone had left out.
“Yeah, briefly. I never reached Rory’s level or anything, but I did get to the National Championship.” He paused in front of the men’s locker room and ran his hands up and down her arms as they spoke.
She shivered under the motion but didn’t want him to stop. “Did you win?”
He shook his head, a look of sadness on his face. “Never actually competed. Some stuff happened, and I ended up never going.”
“What happened?” she asked further, feeling as if she was probably prying. “Sorry if I’m being too nosy.”
“You’re never nosy.” He kissed her forehead. “I just want to shower so I can leave here with you. Wait for me up front?”
“Oh.” She glanced back toward where she’d left her sister. “I just stopped by for a minute to drop something off for Dee. I have to get back to Shea.”
“Fi, you’ve been working so hard. You need a break.” He dropped his lips to her ears in a whisper. “And I need you.”
Fiona blushed at his words, leaning into his side. His offer was tempting…so tempting. But she wasn’t often away from Shea at bedtime, and the thought immediately worried her. Fiona nibbled her bottom lip as she wondered if it was possible.
Kieran’s hooded eyes darkened as he stared at her mouth. “Fi, if you keep doing that, I’m going to drag you into the men’s locker room to shower with me.”
Fiona giggled and smacked his chest. “Kieran!”
He caught her hand in his and kissed the inside of her wrist gently. “Come home with me, Fi. Say yes.”
“No.” She stood on the tips of her toes and kissed him on the cheek. “You come home with me, and after Shea goes to sleep, then we can do whatever you want. I’ve asked too much of your mom already, and I need to be there to help Shea through her bedtime routine.”
“Deal.” Kieran stepped closer and lowered his voice, a wicked grin on his face. “But after bedtime, we’re leaving and you’re all mine. I have plans for you tonight, flower girl, and it doesn’t involve being under my parents’ roof.”
“What kind of plans?” she asked breathlessly, leaning into him as his musky scent invaded her. His abs were bare and glistening before her, his arms thick and strong. All she wanted to do was run her hands over him, and then maybe her tongue.
“The kind that involve more sweat, more skin, and more showers.” He caught her lips with his as she tilted her head back to take all he was offering.
“Okay,” she squeaked out finally as he pulled away and walked back into the locker room. She smoothed her hands down over her shirt, trying to recover from the nerve endings tingling all over her body.
That man sure knew how to excite a woman.
Chapter 16
“You don’t want to eat in the kitchen or something?”
“When I could have you in bed? Never.” Kieran grinned back at her as he handed her two to-go boxes of sushi they’d picked up from a Japanese restaurant along with a movie rental from a local kiosk.
“Just because it’s in bed doesn’t make it sexy. It’s still raw fish in a box,” she teased back.
“Everything you do is sexy.”
They were standing in his bedroom in Kane’s apartment, the door closed to give them some privacy. They had headed to his house after they had both put Shea to bed at his parents’. Casey was only one bedroom over from Shea, and she had agreed to help if Shea got up during the night. Fiona even had the alarm on her phone set for early the next morning so she’d be home before Shea woke up.
She was so glad she’d insisted on putting Shea to bed, because having Kieran join her had been everything she could have hoped for. Watching him read to Shea, seeing her sister hang on to his every word as he adopted different voices for the characters in the biography she was reading—it filled her heart with hope. She could see a future.
Fiona could see them being a family. She wanted that, and she wanted him.
“Get comfy, flower girl.” He kissed her before moving around the room, grabbing some of the pillows at the top of the bed and a throw blanket off a chair. He motioned for her to hop onto the bed after he’d l
ined the headboard with soft pillows for them to lean back against.
After placing the boxes on one of the nightstands, Fiona crawled into the middle of the bed and pulled her legs underneath her, sitting cross-legged as she watched him grab the movie rental box and flip it open. She glanced around the space, impressed by how large and nicely decorated the room was. Everything was toned in soft navy-blue shades, with gray accents. It was striking and masculine, fitting Kieran perfectly, even if it wasn’t technically his bedroom.
She didn’t see a television anywhere in the room, but to her surprise, he walked over to the wall across from the bed, where there hung a framed photograph of an ocean scene, then pressed something on the side of the frame. The watery scene disappeared and the screen turned black, then switched on.
“What the hell?” Fiona gaped.
He looked back at her, obviously amused by her dumbfounded look. “Like that? This is one of my favorite things in here. It’s a hidden television disguised as a photograph.”
“Wow,” she breathed, looking down at her simple shirt and jeans that had the occasional loose thread hanging from the hem. She felt so out of place in all the luxury he lived with on a daily basis. By today’s standards their lifestyle was fairly average, but it still felt more outlandish than she could ever afford. “I didn’t even know something like that existed.”
He didn’t say anything. Instead, he finished putting in the movie through an equally hidden slot in the side of the television and made his way back to her. Standing at the edge of the bed, he reached forward and grabbed her legs, pulling them toward him and causing her to fall back into a lying position.
“You’re quite the romantic,” she teased as she was on her back, looking up at him. She tried her best to keep it light, but all she could remember was how good he felt inside her. Climbing on top of her, he slid an arm under her back and pulled her with him to the middle of the bed.
“I think the best romance happens after the honeymoon phase, Fi. It doesn’t happen on fancy dates with fancy dresses. It happens cuddled on the couch watching trashy TV, walking down the street holding hands, loving a child together, just living life and making the mundane into a dream come true. I don’t want a honeymoon, I want an everyday.” His lips moved against her cheek, down her neck, and back up.
He wasn’t kissing her, just trailing against her skin, causing her to shiver deliciously. She arched her back, pressing against him as she warmed at his words. Despite her fondness for romance novels, she did want a practical relationship. She had a child to care for, and she wanted someone who would be there for her. His constant presence in her life, and the fact that she knew she could trust him to be there tomorrow, was the most romantic thing she’d ever experienced. It was certainly more than she could say for her father, or for any of the men in her past.
“How are you so perfect?” She nibbled gently on his neck in an attempt to quench the pulsing in her core.
“I’m nowhere near perfect, but I’m going to try to be for you.” He kissed her hungrily, and she wrapped her arms around his neck and hooked her legs around his thighs, pulling him against her.
He bit down gently on her lip. “Fi, I promised you a movie, but I also wanted to talk to you about something.”
“We can make our own movie.” She elevated her hips off the bed and pressed them into him. She was barely listening; all she could focus on was how perfect he felt against her.
Kieran’s head snapped up and he searched her eyes, a bewildered look on his face. “Did you just say you want to make a sex tape?”
“What? No!” Fiona blushed so deeply she was sure her skin color was permanently altered. That was definitely not what she’d meant.
“Woman, you are something else.” He laughed deeply, sliding down onto the bed next to her and pulling her toward him. She turned so her back was cuddled against him, his arms wrapped around her.
“I was trying to be sexy.” She pouted, wishing she could rewind a few moments, but also not minding his firm body pressed against her.
“You don’t need to try, flower girl,” he told her before gently swatting her ass. “You just are, and you don’t even know it. It’s insane that you don’t know how desirable you are.”
“Kieran.” His words were the fantasy she’d dreamed of finding, the beauty she’d always wanted to be. Through his eyes, she was everything.
“What? You don’t believe me?”
“Let’s just have dinner.” Her self-consciousness was getting the better of her, so she reached for the takeout.
He grabbed her arm and pulled her back, pinning her to the bed. Flurries of excitement ran through her body as she once again found herself beneath this goliath of a man. “Oh, I plan on eating, flower girl.”
“Wha—” she started, but when he unbuttoned her jeans and yanked them down her legs, she shut her mouth and reminded herself how to breathe.
The scratch of his cheek against her inner thigh caused her hips to jolt off the bed, but his palm landed flat against her pelvis and controlled where she moved. He gripped the elastic of her lace panties and slid them off slowly before tossing them across the room. Pushing her knees up, he hooked them over his shoulders and bowed before her.
“Oh!” she said, and gasped as his mouth landed on her, his tongue perfectly executing small, firm circles over her most sensitive area. Her head fell back and she closed her eyes, moaning under the exquisite pressure of it all. It’d been years since she’d been this intimate with someone, since she’d enjoyed so much. Everything he was doing, and the way he was doing it, made her feel desired and wanted.
Fiona felt herself going over the edge as he added his finger a few minutes later, dipping into her. “Oh, Kieran, please—”
“Let go, Fi,” he spoke against her before returning with a fiercer and firmer pressure, which was all she needed to plunge into ecstasy.
She let go, and her body shook as her climax rocked through her. All she could think of was Kieran’s strong, safe hands on her. She’d spent so much of her life pushing men away, not trusting anyone. Yet here was this man who was going out of his way to give to her, to make her happy.
And she was so happy.
—
“Fi?” Kieran lay down next to her and curled her body into him. She buried her face in his chest, and he couldn’t understand why she was hiding her tears from him. Or why she was crying in the first place. He stroked her arm gently, hoping to ease whatever was hurting her and praying it hadn’t been him. “What’s going on?”
“I’m just really happy.” Her blue eyes smiled despite the tears welling in them.
“That’s pretty common when you have an orgasm.” He kissed the top of her nose before using his thumbs to wipe away the neglected teardrops on her cheek. “Crying, not so much.”
“It’s not that,” she said. “Well, that helps. It’s just being with you. It’s completely unexpected. I’ve spent so long wishing for this, but I’ve been so afraid.”
“Why are you afraid?”
“Trust. Trusting anyone. I’ve had to take care of myself for so long. My father left when I was very young; my mother tried, but she was busy with Shea. Then she kind of got burned-out and just gave up on us entirely and focused instead on my stepfather, who treated her like garbage. I was completely on my own and had to fend for myself. Just as I thought I was getting it together and opened my own shop, I needed to become Shea’s guardian. I know I’ve already said all this before, but I want you to know I wouldn’t change any of it, because it led me here.”
Kieran frowned and kissed her forehead. He could tell she had been holding on to so much for so long, that now, in her post-bliss calm, she was eager to let loose. To finally tell him what was going on not only in her mind but also in her heart—something that had been a mystery to him since the day they’d met.
He’d planned to tell her tonight about his past, about prison, but the words froze on his tongue. She’d just poured out her heart
to him, something she’d clearly not done often. Something that took a lot of trust and time for her to do with anyone. He couldn’t destroy this moment for her by telling her of his past.
Tonight should be about her, not him.
He felt a physical pain thinking about everything she was telling him, everything she’d experienced. He wanted to take it all away from her, or erase it so that it had never happened in the first place. “You’re too young to have so much on your shoulders.”
“I have fun with you,” she told him again, but the agony in her eyes was still there.
Exhaling, Kieran rolled back on top of her and slid her shirt up over her torso, leaving her fully naked beneath him. He’d neglected it before, because his main focus had been a lot lower on her body, but now he wanted all of her before him. She grabbed at the hem of his shirt, and he knew she was thinking the same thing. He decided to help her by grabbing the back of his shirt and tugging it over his head. He then reached over to the nightstand and picked up a box of sushi.
“Do you trust me?”
She paused, then nodded. “I think I do.”
“Good, because you deserve some fun.” He grinned mischievously. “And we’re going to have some right now.”
She nodded, squirming beneath him as he towered over her. The sight of her lying naked, open, and willing beneath him was almost enough to make him want to abandon his idea and bury himself inside her instead.
“Stay still, Fi.” He opened the box of sushi.
Opting out of the fish choices, he gently placed a small roll of rice and avocado on both sides of her clavicle, the very tips of her breasts, her stomach, and her upper arms. Frozen, she watched him with interest as he covered her with food and then put the rest back on the nightstand.
“Tell me what to do next, Fi.” He grinned as he straddled her thighs.
“What?”
“You’re in charge, you tell me.”
Fiona bit her lip, clearly considering if she could do this. He needed her to tell him; he needed her to feel in charge. That’s what it was all about with her. It always had been. Life just happened to Fiona, and she reacted the best she could. She’d never had the chance to grab the reins and take control, and he wanted that for her. Finally, she moved just her lower arms to gently touch her stomach. “Here.”
Saving a Legend: A Kavanagh Legends Novel Page 18
