Ian, along with his six brothers and his father, were part of an elite off-the-books team. Each of them had done time as SEALS, and some had black ops experience as well. They all had their special skills, and were called upon when needed – unofficially, of course. He felt their relief at his safe return in their handshakes and clasps on the back, saw it in their eyes. That was all he needed.
It felt good to be home. On paper, Jake was the official owner of the Pub, but it belonged to all of them. For the most part, he and Jake ran the place, and all but the eldest, Kane, lived above the public area on the second and third floors of the nearly three hundred year old building, which dated back before the Civil War. Three centuries of Irish fighting men had lived and worked here, and as always, it gave him great comfort to be among them and their memories.
All around him, friends and family spoke respectfully of the funeral arrangements and the reception afterwards that was to be held at the Pub. Ian tried to listen, but his mind kept wandering back to the young woman he’d left at the Carlisle. She had captured his interest and then some. It had been a long time since any woman had warranted more than a second thought in his mind, beyond the obvious. The fact that he couldn’t seem to think about anything but her was a little disconcerting.
A hot shower and a bed, she had said. He conjured up ideas of her in both. Found both extremely pleasing. He glanced at his wristwatch and frowned. Nearly thirty minutes had passed since he had left her. Was that all? It felt like so much longer than that.
Did she head right into the shower the moment she got into her room, he wondered? Or maybe she took some time to unpack first, unwind a bit. Was she in the shower now?
He tipped his head back and let the Guinness glide down his throat as he considered the possibilities. How long was her hair? He’d only caught fleeting glimpses of shining gold peeking out from beneath that damn little hood. And what about her eyes? What color were they? It was probably his imagination, but he could have sworn he saw bright flashes through the dark lenses when she looked directly at him.
Her features – at least the ones he’d been able to discern – were decidedly feminine. Even the loose cotton hoodie couldn’t completely conceal an ample chest; her faded Levis gave stunning testimony to a shapely behind that he just knew would feel amazing beneath his large palms. She was on the short side; the top of her head had barely reached his chin. A small flutter in his chest gave him pause as he imagined tucking her into him, sensing that despite their size differences, she would fit perfectly against him.
The small flutter grew into an insistent knocking. He looked around, certain that someone must surely have heard it, but everyone else seemed otherwise occupied. He checked his watch again. Yeah, enough time had passed. He’d made his appearance, said his hellos. After being out of country for a couple of weeks, no one would bat an eye if he didn’t stick around tonight.
Downing the last of his beer, Ian excused himself and ran upstairs to get his own shower. Hell, he shaved while he was at it, too. She was worth it.
“Off again so soon?” his brother Jake said quietly, catching Ian as he tried to slip out the back without being noticed. “Anyone I know?”
Ian grinned. Jake knew him better than anyone. “Not even someone I know,” he said cryptically. “Met her on the bus. Asked her to dinner, but she shot me down.”
“A woman of class, then.”
Ian snorted, but Jake was right. Despite the casual clothing and her choice of transportation, there was something about the woman that suggested she was well above the wild ones he usually went after.
“So you’re going back... why?”
Ian shrugged. “I owe her.” At Jake’s questioning look he added, “She saved me from a very unpleasant woman on the trip.”
“Mm-hm,” Jake mumbled. “So to repay her for her kindness you’re going to ignore her wishes and go after her anyway?”
“Yeah, something like that,” Ian agreed happily as he strode out the door. “No good deed goes unpunished.”
Chapter Four
In snug, worn blue jeans – clean ones – and a white shirt rolled up to the elbows, Ian stood outside room 333 of the Carlisle Hotel, registered to one Alexis Kattapoulos. He could hear the muted sounds of the local hard rock radio station through the door.
It was not what he would have expected. He would have guessed she was the easy listening type, but then again, he had thought the same thing about Jake’s wife Taryn at first, and she turned out to be the biggest female head-banger he’d ever met.
He smiled. This was just getting better and better.
“Hang on,” she called in response to his knock. He shifted his weight, feeling more like a seventeen year-old boy than a twenty-seven year old ex-SEAL. What was it about this woman?
The look on her face was priceless when she opened the door. The look on his was probably even better.
“Ian!” she said, stepping back in surprise.
Ian might have responded, had his brain not gone into sudden lockdown. His body, however, seemed more alert than ever, standing at attention for her and her alone (some parts decidedly more erect and eager to please than others).
No longer restricted by the hoodie, her hair fell down below her ample breasts, now damp and curling into waves. He’d only caught a glimpse of the blonde strands before, but now he saw that her hair really wasn’t blonde at all. It was made up of dark red, bronze, gold, and platinum, like some kind of living fire, wrapping her upper body in silken heat.
Instead of concealing jeans and a hoodie, she wore low-rise Capri sweats, a short white tank, and, Lord help him, no bra. Her skin was unmarred, a perfect light bronze, glistening like brushed satin. A golden chain, so finely linked it looked like it could have been made by mythical elves, draped across her abdomen, resting lazily upon her lush hips.
If the sight of her wasn’t enough, the scent of her nearly had him on his ass. Sweet, fresh, citrusy. Refreshing and warm at the same time. Suddenly his mouth was watering.
“Hey,” he managed roughly, but just barely. “I, uh, thought maybe, ...” Hell, he sounded like a moron, incapable of stringing a few words together to form a coherent sentence. Where had all of those smooth lines he’d been running through his mind gone? Oh, yeah. They probably all rushed down into his groin along with all of his blood.
She didn’t seem to notice his floundering (or if she did, she was too kind to say so). Her surprise at seeing him changed to curiosity as her gaze landed on the aromatic bag he held limply in his hands. “Food?”
Shit, she was talking to him. At least he thought she was. He was having trouble breaking away from the hypnotizing sparkle of her eyes. Eyes that were like polished amber, fathoms deep, and glowing. This wasn’t a girl. This was a freaking goddess. “Um, yeah, I –“
Taking pity on him, she gently relieved him of the bag and opened it up, leaning in to sniff the contents. The look on her face was one of such elation that Ian almost groaned out loud. “Oh my God. How did you know?”
How did he know? How did he know what? He couldn’t even remember his own name.
“Burgers!” she was saying as she took the bag over to the little table in her room and began to unpack the contents. “Real, honest-to-goodness American beef!” Her grin grew even wider as she pulled out another package. “And fries! Good Lord, I hope they’ve been deep-fried in the real stuff...”
She pulled one out and put it between her lips. Ian swore that she orgasmed in that moment; the pure ecstasy on her face was so beautiful it made his cock throb.
“Oh, God, they are!”
She hadn’t officially invited him in, but given the rapturous attention she was giving to the simple take-out he’d brought, he figured she wouldn’t mind too much. He stepped into the room, closing the door softly behind him.
“You haven’t eaten, then?” he said with a little smile as he tried to recover. She waved him into the chair across from her, shaking her head.
“
No, I was just about to order room service.” She took another bite and studied him carefully. “Are you psychic or something?”
He chuckled at her question. Psychic, no. One step away from spontaneously combusting, absolutely. “No, why?”
“Dragonfire burgers are only my most favorite meal in the world. Haven’t had one in ages.”
He shrugged nonchalantly, but inwardly he was doing fist pumps. “This isn’t your first time in town, then.”
While her attention was focused on the food, he looked casually around her room. He hid a grin when he spotted a paperback novel about Navy SEALs written by a well-known erotic author on the nightstand, right next to a velvety black bag. If his guess was right, and he was sure it was, that little bag contained a feminine tool geared toward self-pleasure. He forced his eyes away, shifting in his seat in a futile attempt to relieve some of the building pressure in his groin. On the bed was a notebook computer. From the looks of things, she’d been checking email.
“No,” she agreed in between bites, but she didn’t elaborate. Instead, she closed her eyes in rapture, only to open them again slowly and fix them on him.
“I’m sorry about before,” she said. “But in my defense, I didn’t realize you were talking Dragonfire’s.”
“You’re feeling better now, I take it?”
“Much. Amazing what a hot shower and a few bottles of body wash can do for a girl’s attitude.”
Ian’s eyes flicked to the nightstand, and saw the instant blush adorn her cheeks. Oh yeah, he’d been right about that. And if there was a God she was thinking of him while she’d “adjusted her attitude”.
They ate in silence. She finished about half of hers before giving it to him to finish, picking up an orange from the complimentary fruit basket (a gift of the hotel) and peeling it. He was already associating the sweet, citrusy scent with her.
“So... how long are you in town?” he asked, his voice rich and warm. While his body was still taut with awareness, she seemed to have put the rest of him at ease. No one had ever done that before. “I grew up here, I can show you around if you’d like.”
She studied him carefully before answering. He had the vague impression she was disappointed by his words, but he couldn’t imagine why. What he did know was that sadness had no place on that beautiful face.
Lexi pulled off a section of orange and offered it to him, taking one for herself. When she spoke, she did so slowly, as if choosing her words carefully. “That’s very kind of you, Ian. But...”
“Thanks, but no thanks?” he guessed.
She seemed genuinely sorry. “I’m only here for a few days, and I’m afraid most of my time is already planned out for me.”
“I see.” He tried not to think too much about the rush of disappointment he felt at her words, because it made no sense whatsoever. He’d met this girl on a bus only a few hours earlier. Why should the thought of her leaving in a few days bother him so much? This was just supposed to be a one-time hook-up, right? A chance to satisfy his curiosity and move on.
Clearly he was having issues. Maybe his older brother Kane would let him hang up at the mountain cabin till he could get his shit together, because this whole unexpected connection just wasn’t sitting well.
* * *
Lexi watched his reaction. He seemed genuinely disappointed that she had turned him down again. Come tomorrow, he would understand. But for tonight, he was still clueless. Tonight, she was a mysterious woman he never thought he would be seeing again.
Her heart began to pound faster against the walls of her chest as she considered the possibilities of such a scenario. Dare she? There’d be hell to pay tomorrow, no doubt about it, but she was looking straight down the sights of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity here.
“But... I am free tonight.”
Ian’s eyes snapped to hers, the deep blue instantly heating, becoming molten, liquid pools of blue fire. “What exactly did you have in mind?”
Lexi felt the heat rush into her cheeks. As many times as she had fine-tuned this fantasy in her mind, she was no smooth seductress. “I’m open for suggestions.”
A slow, sexy grin began to curve his mouth. “Are you, now?” His voice was soft, low, infinitely dangerous for the effect it was having on her, stroking against nerves she didn’t even know she had.
Lexi stood up, stuffing the remnants of their meal into the bag. Her hands shook as the implications of what she’d just offered him sunk in. Ian Callaghan was not a man you played with lightly. Would she have the courage to back it up? And what if he rejected her?
Before she had a chance to fully analyze that, Ian was behind her. She could feel his warmth, his presence, as it wrapped around her. With a gentle motion he pushed her hair back over one shoulder, baring the back and side of her neck to him.
“Are you sure?” he whispered, his warm breath fluttering across her skin, making her shudder and giving her goose bumps. Her nipples hardened instantly; even the feel of the lightweight tank against them was sending bolts of sensation through her core and into her toes.
“I’ll take good care of you,” he promised.
It’s now or never, Lexi, she told herself. She had dreamed about this – fantasized about it her whole life. Well, at least since she started thinking about sex, anyway. Ian Callaghan had been her first love, though he never knew it. He had unwittingly ruined everything for her. There was no man smart enough, sexy enough, or gorgeous enough to make her forget the way she felt about him. Neither time nor distance had done anything to lessen the desire, either. On the contrary, it had only made her burn hotter. And if she didn’t do something soon, the flames might just consume her from the inside out.
“Yes.” The single word affirmation was more breath than voice. As she had rehearsed in her mind for years, she turned into him, placing her palm against his hard chest. Hesitating only a moment, she let it trail slowly southward, raking her nails lightly against him through the cotton fabric, until she turned her fingers downward and cupped the proof of his interest through his jeans.
* * *
Ah, fuck! His mind screamed as she placed her hand on him, catching him off guard. No subtle seduction there. He fought hard to regain some form of reasonable thought, which was nearly impossible with her small hand making light, rhythmic strokes up and down the length of him through his clothing.
He had planned on seducing her slowly. Now she was throwing all of his plans right out the window. But hey, he’d been a SEAL, trained to make the most of any situation. He was nothing if not flexible.
He groaned, placing his hands on her shoulders and lowering his head for a kiss. He found her lips wet and waiting, softer than he could have possibly imagined beneath his harder, more demanding ones. She instantly obeyed his unspoken request, opening for him.
Ian groaned again as he drank in the taste of her. So sweet, like oranges and vanilla. He deepened the kiss, sweeping her mouth with his tongue, fearing with sudden desperation that he would never be able to get enough.
As delicious as she was, his conscience poked at him. Things were moving swiftly, but this woman was no player. As much as he wanted her – and holy hell, did he want her – he still had some honor in him.
“Sweetheart,” he said breathlessly, breaking the kiss to lean his forehead against hers and cup her flushed face. “Last chance to say no here.”
Her hands snaked up around his neck. “I’m saying yes, Ian.”
Yes! Ian did a mental fist-pump. Satisfied that he had given her ample opportunity to say no, thrilled that she hadn’t, his hands pulled her closer to him. His earlier assessment had been spot-on; her body molded to his perfectly, every soft dip and curve aligning themselves along his much harder planes.
His hands caressed her shoulders, her arms, her back. He couldn’t touch her enough, and the layers of clothes between them were really starting to become irksome. Within seconds he was lifting the tank over her head, baring her upper body.
Ian sucked in
a breath – she was even lovelier than he’d imagined – and sank back onto the bed. He pulled Lexi between his legs to bury his face in her lush, full breasts. Her hand wound into his hair, holding him to her as she arched into him. Desperate for a taste, he nipped her delicate skin, then eased the sting with skilled licks that had her sagging against him.
Before long, he came to the realization that there was so much more he could be doing with his hands. And the way she was responding to him, he was going to put every one of them into action. With a swift tug he twisted and pulled her onto the bed. One hand slipped down her abdomen and beneath her low-riding pants. He hissed in unexpected pleasure as his fingers met bare, waxed flesh, soft and silky and moist.
“Ah, baby,” he moaned against her breast. “You’re so wet for me.”
* * *
Only you, she amended in her mind. No man had ever elicited these kinds of feelings, the all-consuming desire that Ian did. Lexi moaned in response to the feel of his skilled fingers sliding along her slick folds, biting her lip as she lifted her hips to feel more of him.
“Easy,” he cautioned, cupping her sex, but there was nothing easy about it. It was as complex as anything she had ever encountered. Every stroke, every kiss, every heated breath against her bare skin heightened her senses. Starbursts of sensation erupted from each point of contact, crushing any last vestiges of doubt or resistance. Lexi couldn’t remember a time when she had desired anything quite so badly, and she wanted to savor every moment of it.
Ian was addictive. She had known it then, but not as well as she knew it now. Every slight caress, every lick, every nip was skillfully applied, inflaming her further. She gripped at his hard body, loving the feel of his corded muscles beneath his skin. She drew his clean, male scent into her lungs with deep breaths, imprinting it there forever. She tasted his lips, salty and sweet and softer than she would have believed.
One long finger penetrated her and her entire body shuddered in response. He swore softly; it was music to her ears. Hopefully, it meant he was every bit as affected as she was. Forget slow and easy. She needed him now. He could try for slow and gentle later, maybe, but not now. Hoping to convey that message, she ground herself against his hand as she curled her fingernails into his upper arms.
First and Only: Callaghan Brothers, Book 2 Page 3
