Intractable Souls : Book 1 of the Bound for Ireland Series

by Tricia Daniels

  “I tried, but I threw them up.” Her voice is nothing but a whisper. Moaning as if she’s in a lot of pain, she closes her eyes again. “I dreamed Ethan was here. It was a nice dream.”

  The sound of running water stops and Ethan re-appears downstairs.

  Rachel glances over at him. “She woke up for a few moments. She said she tried to take the meds but she kept throwing them back up.”

  Ethan frowns. “That means the infection is getting worse.”

  “What do we do?” Rachel asks, panicked.

  “I want to get this fever down first, and then I’ll get the meds into her.” He walks over to the couch where she’s laying in nothing but her underwear. Any other time he would be aroused to see her almost naked but it’s agony for him to see her in this frail condition. He scoops his arms underneath her and lifts her into his arms. As he carries her up the stairs her eyes open and she stares at him and smiles. “You’re here? My prince... you’ve come to rescue me.” Ethan smiles in amusement and glances over at Rachel.

  “Hallucinations from the fever, obviously. I can honestly say I’ve never been called a prince before.”

  Rachel starts to laugh as she follows him up the stairs. He pushes through the bathroom door with Olivia still in his arms but the small space forces Rachel to stand in the doorway. When Ethan attempts to lower Olivia into the bathtub, he’s halted by her sudden high-pitched squeal, as she wraps her arms around his neck in a death grip! She’s holding so tight that he can’t breathe and his eyes open wide with the lack of oxygen. “It’s ok, Olivia. It’s just a bath.” He tries to loosen her grip. “Olivia, let go.”

  “Put me down!” She screams. “Put me down!” Needing air, Ethan reluctantly complies. Her feet hit the floor and her weak legs do their best to support her as she finally releases her grip from around his neck.

  “Olivia, we need to get your fever down. Please get into the bathtub.” Rachel pleads from the doorway.

  Beads of perspiration run down the sides of her temples and Ethan wipes them away with a gentle hand. She wobbles as if she’s had too much to drink and he reaches for her trying to give her some support. She giggles when she sees her reflection in the mirror. “Where are my clothes?” Tipping forward, she lands against him, her hands rubbing across his chest in a teasing manner. “Is my handsome prince going to join me in the bathtub?”

  Rachel is shocked and her mouth falls open. “Olivia! Geez!”

  Ethan takes both her hands in his and moves them from his chest. Holding them up to his mouth he gives them a little kiss.

  “Perhaps another time, princess. Let’s get you in the water and get that fever down.”

  “No No No No No” She shakes her head. I’m not getting in there unless you get in there with me.”

  “Olivia, stop being difficult.” He’s getting frustrated now and glances over at Rachel standing in the doorway. “Help me out here would you, Rachel?”

  Rachel thinks about it for a moment and then with her hand on the doorknob she shakes her head. “I don’t care what it takes Ireland. Do whatever you’ve got to do to get her in that bathtub.” With that, she slams the door closed, leaving them alone.

  Ethan is stunned at what Rachel is suggesting and looks down at Olivia, who is now tugging at his shirt trying to rid him of it. Rachel is right. The only thing that’s important right now is getting her into that bathtub and getting the fever down. He shakes his head and rubs his hand against his jaw, not believing what he’s about to do. He wants Olivia in the worst way. He’s spent hours fantasizing about all the things he wants to do to her… but never in a million years did he think he’d find himself in this situation. He could never take advantage of her, not like this.

  Before he changes his mind, he lifts his arms over his head, allowing her to pull his shirt off and leaving him bare-chested, the jet-black tattoo on his left shoulder now exposed. She smiles at her victory and admires the dark ink by brushing her fingertips over it, tracing the intricate Celtic design intertwined with a classic tribal look. “I like this.” She whispers. His muscles flex beneath her touch and he can feel his erection start to press against the fabric of his pants.

  She turns her attention to silver chain that hangs around his neck and at the bottom of it; a masculine silver cross sitting just above his well-defined pectorals. He rarely takes it off; it was a gift from his mother, reminding him that he was raised to be a good Irish Catholic boy. A fact that he’s seriously struggling with right now.

  “And I like you.” She continues as she picks up the shiny pendant and runs her fingers over the raised pattern before letting it go. Leaning into his chest, she rests her cheek against his skin and with a deep sigh. Skimming her hands down his sides and then rubbing over his hardening shaft, she moves them across the front of his pants and starts to undo his belt buckle.

  Ethan jumps and grabs her hands. “Jesus! Woman!” He growls. He’s never going to be able to keep his shit together if she’s going to be doing stuff like that.

  Pouting at him, her eyes close as her weak knees finally surrender. He grabs her just in time and lifts her into his arms. Once again she lays her head against his chest and whispers. “Please.” He can feel the heat from the fever burning against his bare skin. She’s on fire!

  Closing his eyes, he lets out a loud sigh, acknowledging what he has to do. “Olivia I’m going to put you down in the water and then I’m going to get in behind you.” She doesn’t make a sound as he lowers her into the tub.

  “How did I get myself into this?” He groans out loud to himself. “McCabe would definitely NOT approve.” Undoing his pants, he steps out of them, and then steps into the tub behind her still wearing his boxers. As soon as he’s seated, she wastes no time wiggling back so that she’s between his legs and fully resting on his chest.

  Arching her back slightly, she reaches behind to unlatch her bra and in one swift movement removes it, tossing it to the bathroom floor. Taking his hands from his side she intertwines her fingers with his, pulling his arms around her waist, wrapping him completely around her body. He closes his eyes and tries to calm his thoughts in an attempt to stop his semi hard-on from becoming a full-blown erection.

  He steadies his movements and tries to regain his composure. Looking up at the ceiling, he whispers. “Lord, you have an awful lot of faith in me… and a very cruel sense of humor.” Taking a deep breath in, he reaches for a cloth and uses it to wash the tepid water over the parts of her body that aren’t immersed. When she rubs her hands up and down his thighs, he tries to ignore the feelings that start to stir inside him. In the past few days, he has often thought about how it would feel to have her hands on him. He’s getting hard thinking about it now as he moves the cloth over her arms and legs repeating his movements and making small waves in the water that splash up against her stomach and chest. She coos… enjoying his touch.

  Being this close to her slowly dissolves his self-control and as he moves the cloth gently across her stomach his thumbs brush across her breasts making her nipples become hard and responsive. She lets her knees fall to the side allowing him access to her inner thighs and after his first pass over them she takes the cloth out of his hand and tosses it into the corner. He knows she’s not of sound enough mind when she grabs his hand and pushes it forward, steering it down between her legs. In this very intimate moment, she moans and he holds his breath, unable to prevent his already rigid shaft from thickening further.

  Lying beneath her, he can feel her heart start to race and the quickening of her breath, indicating that she too, is aroused. His hands are soft from being in the water and they skim across the material of her panties as she encourages him further. Ethan can’t ignore his arousal anymore as his raging hard-on presses against her back. Forgetting why he’s there, he slowly draws his hand back towards her stomach moving her panties ever so slightly, to the side, so that his fingers tease across her as he goes.

  When he moves his hand away from her, it leaves her wan
ting and without hesitation, she pushes his hand back down between her legs, this time sliding underneath the waistband of her panties and across her clean-shaven pussy. It feels smooth and soft under his touch and he groaning his approval, grazing his fingertips along the outer folds. Consenting to his advances, she lifts her hips pressing her clit against the palm of his hand encouraging him to take action as she nuzzles her cheek against his chest and moans. “This is the best dream ever.”

  Her words jolt him back to reality like a slap across the face. This is wrong. Very wrong. Cursing, he stops his hand abruptly before it reaches the spot she’s longing for him to touch. “Please.” She whispers, her tone desperate and pleading as she tries to push him forward.

  Ethan somehow finds the strength to pull his hand away. “Sorry, love. Not today.” He presses his lips against the back of her head in a kiss and in an effort to put some distance between their bodies he forces her to sit up. Using the cloth to wet her hair, he rings out the water so that it trickles down her back. One day soon he will make her beg him to touch her again. Now that he knows that she feels the same way about him he won’t stop until she submits.

  The water is cool now and as he washes it up and onto her shoulders she gets goose bumps. Ethan lets out a sigh of relief, eager to get out of this situation while he’s still able to control himself. “OK princess, bath time is over.” When Olivia starts to shiver, Ethan quickly gets out, grabbing the towel that he left on the counter and wrapping it around himself.

  Rachel knocks on the door. “You ok in there?”

  “Yes, just getting out. Can you take Olivia and get her dressed?”

  Rachel pushes the door open an inch and tries to peek in. “Are you decent?”

  “Yes, I’m good.” Reaching down, he puts his arms around Olivia and helps her to her feet. Wrapping a towel around her, he lifts her out of the tub then steers her towards Rachel who is waiting at the door and staring at Olivia’s discarded bra on the floor. She crosses her arms and squints her eyes at him in an icy glare. Ethan puts his hands up in the air in a convincing confession. “I was a perfect gentleman. Honest.”

  The cool air has made Olivia a little more lucid as she walks to her room to get dressed. Ethan runs downstairs, grabs his gym bag, and takes out his grey sweat pants. There are no boxers in there so he’ll just go without. Nipping into the main floor bathroom he closes the door, taking off his wet boxers and toweling himself dry so he can dress quickly. He can hear arguing upstairs and the sound of the hair dryer followed by dresser drawers being slammed closed.

  Heading upstairs commando style, he checks on Rachel’s progress, or lack there of. Rachel has managed to dress Olivia in pajama pants. The same pink pajama bottoms she was wearing Friday night when she picked them up from the Headwaters bar. Standing in the doorway, he smiles as he watches Rachel trying to wrestle a t-shirt on over her head with no success. Olivia is fighting her for some reason. “I want to go back downstairs.” She yells as she slaps at Rachel’s hands.

  Rachel throws her hands up in the air out of frustration. “Fine! I give up.” She throws the t-shirt onto the bed and turns to walk away. She glares at Ethan standing there chuckling.

  “She’s all yours!” She snarls as she pushes past him into the hallway. He can’t hear everything that she’s ranting about as she stomps down the stairs. Except the words “stubborn” and “impossible”. Those words are crystal clear. He looks over at Olivia, who is sitting quite placidly at the moment, her face down, looking at the floor. Walking towards her, he squats down in front of her, trying to ignore the fact that he is a short distance from her bare breasts. He imagines just how delicious they would taste and thinks about sucking one of those beautiful pink nipples into his mouth. He has always been a breast man and hers are the most beautiful he’s seen. Large, soft and curvy. There goes his dick again. He growls in frustration.

  “What’s the matter, Olivia?” He tries to push his desires to the back of his mind.

  “I don’t like this room. Bad things happened and I don’t want to stay here.”

  He wonders what has happened to her here. Is that the reason she’s been so closed off to him? He’s intrigued. “What happened to you here, princess?”

  When she doesn’t answer he lets it go, not wanting to take advantage of her condition, weakened from the fever. John would agree that it would be wrong for him to get information that way. She remains still as he brushes her hair out of her eyes and frowns. Standing up, he picks up the shirt that Rachel had abandoned on the side of the bed. “Put on your shirt and I’ll take you downstairs.” She grabs it from him, finds the bottom and pulls it over her head. “That’s a good girl.” He rubs his hand along the side of her cheek. “Can you walk?”

  “I don’t feel very good.” Putting her hands over her face, she tries to hide the tears in her eyes. His heart feels heavy and he wishes he could make her forget all about the bad things that happened here. If she would give him a chance he would do everything he could to heal her body, heart and soul. He’s only known her a few days but she’s been in his dreams for as long as he can remember and he just knows somehow, that he’s the man that’s meant to take care of her. When she fails to get to her feet, he leans over, picks her up and carries her back downstairs to the couch.

  Rachel is sitting, eating her dinner at the table and Ethan smiles at her when she raises her eyebrows and rolls her eyes at him. Reaching for the thermometer again he puts it in Olivia’s ear. The beep comes quickly this time. “100. That’s good news.”

  Dumping one of each of the antibiotics into his hand, he passes them to her. Sitting up, she puts them in her mouth, and reaches for a glass of water on the table, swallowing them both with one gulp, and then lies back down. Within seconds, she’s on her feet and dashing for the washroom. Without even thinking twice about it, Ethan is right behind her and follows her in, holding her hair back out of her face. There is nothing in her stomach except for the pills and the water but the retching seems to go on forever.

  In the other room, Rachel cringes at the sound. When it finally stops, Ethan wipes the tears from Olivia’s eyes. “That’s so disgusting.” She says, heading back to the couch with a sour look on her face. Ethan looks over at Rachel who has abandoned her dinner and is looking a little green herself. Sitting on the stairs, she texts Scott.

  “Rachel, why don’t you go home? I don’t have any meetings tomorrow so I can stay with her.”

  In the corner of the living room, there is a small cabinet with a hutch that has obviously been meticulously handcrafted a long time ago. It’s the kind of furniture that’s passed down through generations and a place to keep safe the most special treasures. He knows what he’s looking for and his Nana always kept them in the middle drawer. He pulls it open and smiles finding the left over candy canes from Christmas. Taking one out, he breaks it into little pieces and sits beside Olivia holding it at her lips. “Here, Olivia. This will help get that taste out of your mouth.” Looking up at Rachel, he waits for an answer.

  “Are you sure?” She’s feeling guilty for even thinking about leaving.

  Ethan gives her a serious look. “Rachel, I raised three sisters. I know how to look after a sick girl.”

  “Yeah, but this one is pretty fricken stubborn.”

  Olivia fights with the blanket that he has tucked around her and he instinctively reaches down and frees her feet. Her struggling stops and she wiggles her toes as she settles back to sleep.

  “I’m pretty sure I can handle her.” He smiles as he watches her settle.

  Rachel notices the look on Ethan’s face as he stares at her best friend. The way he looks at her says it all, nothing could tear him away. Feeling that she was denied the caregiver gene she knows that Olivia will be in much better hands with Ethan. He obviously knows what her needs are. Again, she entertains the thought that HE just might be the answer to her prayers.

  A look of relief washes over her face. “Thank you, Ethan.” She throws her
arms around him in an appreciative hug then wanders over to the couch and kisses Olivia on the cheek.

  Slowly, she opens her eyes. “Hi Rachel, I’m sick.”

  “Yes I know. Olivia, I’m leaving now.” She ignores Olivia’s frown. “Ethan is going to stay with you, ok?”

  She smiles, her voice very groggy. “My prince, Ethan?”

  Rachel looks over at Ethan who is sitting on the stairs trying to hide his amusement. He shrugs his shoulders and holds his hands out conceding defeat. “Guilty as charged.”

  Rachel shakes her head. “I’m not even going to go there.” She returns her attention to Olivia. “Olivia…I love you… but you better do what Ethan tells you or I’ll kick your ass.”

  Ethan closes the door behind Rachel and clears the two stairs back up to the living room in one jump. Olivia is resting peacefully for the moment and he watches her from a few feet away. Even as frail and ill as she is, he still thinks she’s the most beautiful woman he has ever seen. He hates to take his eyes off her but he needs to get the meds into her as soon as possible. Taking the bag of ice out of the freezer he dumps half of it into another bag. Searching the drawers for something to crush it into smaller pieces, he finds a small hammer and shakes his head at how delicate it is for a tool. He grasps the pink handle and is glad that there’s no one there to see him. It’s hard to look manly smashing ice with a pink hammer but it gets the job done and he dumps some into a bowl and puts the rest back in the freezer.

  Taking the bowl with him, he stops at the table and grabs the three bottles of medicine putting them in his pocket. Walking over to the couch, he sits on the floor in front of her. Grabbing the remote, he turns on the TV and searches the sports channels until he finds something of interest and settles in for a very long night. The pill bottles bulge in his pocket and looks over at Olivia sleeping so peacefully. He feels horrible that he has to wake her. “Olivia.” She opens her eyes when he nudges her gently.