Intractable Souls : Book 1 of the Bound for Ireland Series

by Tricia Daniels

  She smiles. “I’m all ears.” Twirling the last bit of her spaghetti, she lifts her fork to her mouth and then feels something warm hit her chest. Looking down, she watches spaghetti sauce run down between her breasts. Picking up a napkin she tries to wipe herself off quickly and hopes that he hasn’t noticed, but when she glances over at Ethan, he’s smirking.

  “Would you like me to help you with that?“ He teases.

  She considers it for a moment, but if he touched her right now, even playfully… dinner would be over. She can’t deny the tingling that’s been rushing through her body since the moment he stepped through the door. “Thanks, but I’ve got it. Maybe one day I’ll get through a meal without wearing it.” She pouts. “Please tell me about your day.”

  Having finished with his dinner, Ethan takes a deep breath and puts his fork down. “Did you ever have one of those days that’s horrible from the minute you open your eyes?”

  Olivia nods. “Unfortunately, yes.”

  “Well today was like that for me. It started off with my disciplinary hearing with the football… err… soccer association.”

  “Because you got a red card for fighting?”

  “Yup.”

  “And?”

  “I got a three game suspension.”

  “I’m so sorry.”

  “My own fault. I should have controlled my temper.” He shrugs. “Then we lost a huge account that I thought we had in the bag.” Picking up his wine, he takes his first small sip. “I don’t like losing business.”

  “Do you know why you lost it?” She starts to clear the table while he talks.

  “Money. They got a quote from another company that came in significantly less expensive than ours. We tried to explain to them that the other company was cutting corners and under quoting the design charges. We figure that once they’ve signed on the dotted line they’ll be told that they need more resources and end up paying additional costs which will put them well over what our quote is. But we couldn’t convince them.” His voice gets angry as he talks about it.

  “That must be extremely frustrating. I run into that all the time in our business too. Other companies sell bare bones software. The Business installs it and finds that it doesn’t quite fit their needs and then they are charged an arm and a leg for consultants to come up with solutions and $700 a day for tech support to install any upgrades or changes they need. We don’t do that at Dunn and McLennan. Our prices are higher out of the gate but we provide all the other services free of charge until our client has a product they’re happy with.” She turns to look at him and flashes him a cheeky grin. “That’s MY specialty.”

  Getting to his feet, he helps clear the table, following her into the kitchen.

  “Then you know how extremely frustrating it is.” Putting the plug in the sink, he fills it with soapy water and begins to wash the dishes.

  “I’m so sorry, Ethan. Hopefully my spaghetti dinner and a little red wine helped to ease the pain.”

  He rinses the dishes that he just washed and hands them to her one by one so she can towel dry them and put them away. “Oh that’s not even the half of it.”

  “Oh no! There’s more?” She puts the last dish in the cupboard and walks over to the table. Picking up both glasses of wine, she heads to the couch with Ethan following. Sitting sideways beside her so that he can see her, he takes his wine out of her hand and takes a sip before placing it down on coffee table.

  “I had to call my father’s office today.”

  Wrinkling her nose, she tries to understand how that contributed to his bad day. Ethan rubs his hand over his face, trying to figure out where to begin. “Right, so it’s a long story but I’ll try to give you short version. I told you that when I finally started making money I helped my father’s business out financially.”

  She nods her head. “Yes, I remember.” The wine is going down a little too smoothly now and she’s feeling a little light headed.

  “Well I did that by negotiating a partnership. I paid him to become part owner of the business. In doing so I negotiated 51% of the business giving myself controlling interest.”

  Olivia is trying hard to follow with her fuzzy wine brain. “Ok, I think I understand so far.”

  “About a year and a half ago I ran into an old friend I went to medical school with. Dave Cameron. He went on to finish medical school and become an Obstetrician. He specializes in premature births and high risk pregnancies.”

  Olivia swallows down her last mouthful of wine and puts the empty glass on the coffee table beside his. He grins at her, picks up his glass and dumps what’s left of his wine into hers.

  “Are you trying to get me drunk?” Already feeling all warm and fuzzy, she tries extremely hard not to think about his naked body.

  “Not at all. Don’t drink it if you don’t want.” He gives her that charming smile, making ‘warm and fuzzy’ soar like a rocket into ‘hot and bothered’ .

  She laughs. “Like that will ever happen. Carry on. You were telling me about your friend.”

  “Dave and I got talking and he was telling me that he had approached a small company to develop a piece of equipment for him. One that could be placed in every emergency room or delivery room in every hospital. It would have the capabilities to provide the obstetrician with the ability to monitor everything right there instantly, providing trauma and resuscitative care and eliminating delay times in those precious few moments after the birth. It could possibly save the lives of hundreds of newborns in distress.”

  Olivia watches Ethan as he talks. She finds his passion for this subject extremely appealing and she understands why it’s so important to him. Technology like that could possibly have saved his sister. “It sounds wonderful.”

  “Yes, I thought so too. And so, against my father’s wishes I began the acquisition of this small company so I could gain the rights to the design and take over the project. We call it Artemis.”

  “Artemis? After the Greek Goddess?”

  “Very good, Miss James, I am impressed. I like that she’s the twin sister of Apollo and although she has been referred to as the Goddess of many things she was also considered by many to be the Goddess of Childbirth. That kind of sealed the deal for me and so we named her Artemis.”

  She reaches over and touches his hand, the warmth of his skin enticing. “So what happened today with your father that upset you?”

  Ethan suddenly feels guilty for putting such a dim light on the evening. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be dumping all this mess on you.”

  Reaching up, she runs her hand along his cheek. Her touch is so welcome that he relaxes and rubs his face in her hand, soothing himself. When he opens his eyes, she’s watching him. “Ethan, I want to help. You need someone to talk to.”

  He has thought of her non-stop since the first day he saw her. Thoughts that make his dick hard. Thoughts of all the things he wants to do to her for physical pleasure. Today, when he was feeling stressed all he could think about was being comforted in her arms and surrounded by her softness. He doesn’t need just someone to talk to, he needs HER. “My father’s office in Ireland scheduled a meeting with me today. They’ve been talking about this project amongst themselves. They called to tell me that the project is delayed because they are unable to work out some design problems and that they have decided to put the entire project on the back burner.”

  “Oh, that’s too bad. But certainly they’ve given it a lot of thought. They must feel it’s the right decision.”

  Ethan tenses. “You don’t understand. Failing is not an option.” His anguish is evident in his tone. “Not on this project! Not on anything that I do. I cannot fail.”

  Olivia feels horrible that she’s upset him and she tries to soothe him. “Ok, so step away from it for a few weeks. Then take a look at it again with fresh eyes. Maybe hire an outside consultant to come in and review everything. Scott’s a brilliant engineer, have you thought about having him take a look at it?”

 
“That’s a brilliant idea.” He reaches over and brushes her hair away from her face with his fingers. Is it really that simple? He’s been stressing about it all day long and the solution comes from a beautiful woman sitting a foot away from him on the couch in bare feet, drinking red wine and looking pretty damn alluring. Take a deep breath, you promised her you wanted nothing from her tonight. That was before she touched his hand, before she stroked his cheek. Her perfume smelling so sweet, flowery, and feminine. There goes his dick again.

  “Come here.” She holds open her arms for him to nuzzle in for a hug. That’s not going to help at all, but he takes full advantage of the opportunity to get closer to her. She feels the tension leave his shoulders as she caresses him with healing hands. With his head against her chest and his lips against the bare skin exposed by the v-neck of her t-shirt he sighs. “Do you know what the worst part about that call was?

  “No, what?” She rakes her fingers through his hair, making his dick twitch.

  “After I got off the phone with my father, that bloody Irish Jiminy Cricket chirped in my ear all morning.

  It only takes her a moment to figure out that he’s talking about John McCabe. She some how sensed from the moment that she met John that he was not just a friend but Ethan’s outer conscience.

  “Ah, and what words of wisdom did John have for you?”

  He smiles at her acknowledgement. She is undoubtedly the brightest woman he has ever met. “Well, when they said they were going to suspend the project I got angry and… well I pulled rank and said that they would continue until I had a chance to review the files.” He looks at Olivia feeling a little embarrassed. “John feels that even though I have controlling interest in the company, that it’s still my father’s company and that it would help our relationship some, if I let him run the business and stopped over ruling him.”

  “I see. Sounds like good advice to me. You and your father don’t get along?”

  Ethan shakes his head. “No, we had a falling out a few months ago. He has barely spoken to me since.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry.” Olivia takes a deep breath. “Well you sure have had a miserable day, Mr. O’Connell. Tell me what you need? How can I help make it better?”

  “Just being here with you makes it better.”

  She smiles. There is so much more to this man than she ever thought possible.

  Suddenly he sits straight up, pulling himself away from her, a wicked grin curling on his lips. “There is one thing you can help me with.”

  She takes another large mouthful of wine. “What’s that?”

  “It seems that I’ve been unable to provide you with an orgasm. Maybe you can help me understand why.”

  Olivia is shocked. Her stomach jumps up into her chest like she is on a roller coaster that has reached the highest peak and is plummeting down the other side. Her face turns beat red and she doesn’t know where to look. Ethan doesn’t take his eyes off her and she can feel them searing right through her.

  “You didn’t think that I would be that intimate with you and not notice? I felt it. You were almost there both times and then for some reason you denied me. Then you lied to me about it and I want to know why.”

  “I didn’t deny you, I mean… I didn’t mean to.” The wine has taken hold of her tongue and she can’t get her thoughts out.

  ”So you’re admitting that you lied to me?”

  Olivia feels ashamed and puts her hands over her face. “Are we really having this conversation?” She can’t stand to look at him any longer and lowers her eyes.

  “Yes. Answer me. Why did you chase away your orgasm?

  Don’t let him intimidate you, John said. Is he for real? Ethan can sense submissive all over her and damn it, if he hasn’t already figured out that she’ll respond to his command.

  She finds a moment of bravery and lowers her hands to meet his stare. “I don’t know. I wanted to. I really did. I… I just can’t.”

  “Yes you can.” He doesn’t blink.

  “NO… I can’t. I tried.” She continues to argue, reaching over and picking up the glass of wine and dashes the remaining contents down in one gulp.

  Taking the empty glass out of her hand, he puts it on the table. His voice gets softer, as he lifts her hand to his mouth and presses his lips against it. “You can.” He leans back on his elbow and lifts his legs onto the couch. “Lie down with me.” He coaxes, grateful that Reese insisted that he learn how to be a responsible Dom and how to look after the submissive in his care. He’ll show Olivia how to stop fighting, give up control and just feel pleasure.

  The wine makes her feel a bit woozie, making her stare at him for quite some time before she leans down and rests her head on his arm. She lifts her legs so that she is lying beside him, her back fully pressed against his chest. The summer sun is starting to set, leaving the room in darkness. Wrapping his arms around her, he pulls her closer and causes her to panic. “Ethan, I’m just starting my period.”

  “Are you bleeding yet?” He adjusts his position trying to make them both more comfortable.

  “No. But…”

  “Shhh. It’s ok Olivia. I won’t fuck you.”

  She’s confused. “You won’t?”

  “It wouldn’t bother me at all, but no, not if you’re not comfortable with it. I don’t need to in order to show you that you’re capable of having mind blowing orgasms. Do you trust me?”

  “I have no idea why, but yes, completely.” Dear God, what is he going to do? An electric charge zips through her blood stream as she thinks about all possibilities.

  “Good. Just relax.” Relax? Jesus, he is almost going out of his mind being this close to her. How the ever-loving-hell is he going to control himself? His entire body is thrumming with excitement.

  Olivia can’t help but feel nervous. This whole don’t let him intimate you thing just doesn’t seem to work for her. “I’m trying. You’d think all that wine would have helped.”

  He moves his mouth to the side of her ear and whispers. “Let me help you then. We’ll do it together. Put everything out of your mind. There is absolutely nothing in this world but YOU and Me. The only thing you’re going to think about for the next little while is US. Do you understand?”

  “Yes.” She exhales a very long breath.

  “Good, put everything else out of your mind. Do you feel me behind you? Can you feel the rise and fall of my chest as I breathe?”

  “Yes.” That’s not all she can feel. His growing erection presses against her back, reminding her of how large that impressive package really is. Oh my!

  He rewards her with a tender kiss on the shoulder. “Yes, that’s right. I want us to breathe in together as one. Can you do that? Can you match your breathing to mine?”

  “Yes.” She concentrates on the movement of his chest and matches the rhythm. In and out, in and out. Trailing tender kisses across her shoulder and up to her neck, he breathes heavily into her ear, showing her that they are breathing in unison. It’s such a simple gesture and yet it feels so erotic. She begins to crave his touch.

  “Nothing but you and me. And we are now one.” He whispers.

  “Yes.” She fights the urge to squirm. She wants to force her body against his and explore his desires.

  “What else do you notice?”

  She is completely relaxed now. I notice how hard your dick is! “I can smell your cologne.”

  His voice is raw sexiness in a deep primal growl. “Do you know why I wear cologne?”

  “For me?”

  “Clever girl. You’re catching on. I wear this cologne for you. Do you like the smell?”

  His voice, whispering in her ear is driving her crazy. “Yes.”

  “How do you feel when you smell it on my skin?”

  “Aroused.” She clenches involuntarily, trying to relieve the throbbing ache that’s building between her legs.

  “I wear cologne for you, so that after I’m with you the scent will linger on your body. And every time you sme
ll it, you’ll be reminded of where I have touched you and how I’ve made you feel.”

  He moves his hand under her t-shirt, taking her breast in hand and holds it there. Her heart races and her breathing starts to come in short desirous breaths. No longer able to contain herself any longer, she squeezes the muscles between her legs and pushes her hips back against him. Why isn’t’ he moving his hand? Please!

  Ethan moves his mouth right against her ear. “Be still.” He tries to calm himself as well. If she keeps rubbing her ass against his dick, he’ll lose it for sure.

  She wiggles restlessly. “I’m trying.”

  “Stay with me. Concentrate. What do you feel now?”

  “You… touching my breast.”

  “You have the most beautiful breasts I’ve ever seen. Thinking about them makes my dick hard. Do you like it when I touch them?” He nibbles on her ear sending scalding hot ripples through her body. She tries to continue matching his breathing but her arousal is building and her heart is pounding like a jackhammer in her chest.

  “Yes, please. More.” Starting to feel desperate, she shifts her weight and rubs her legs together. Twisting her body a little, she tries to encourage him to move his large hand and caress her breast.

  He tries not to chuckle as she struggles. “Woman, I said keep still. Do you want me to touch your body?” She lets out an extremely edgy frustrated breath. “Concentrate on your breathing, baby” His voice never rises above a whisper, as he rubs his nose in her hair. Nuzzling. Soothing. Trying to keep her focused on him. “What do you want?”

  “I want you to touch my body. I want to feel your skin against mine.” She begs.

  Lifting her shirt over her head, he discards it on the floor. “As you wish.” Kissing that sensitive spot on the back of her shoulder and then across to her neck, he continues to skim his lips across her body, making it impossible for her to anticipate his touch. He lets out a low growl as he unlatches her pink lace bra and slides it over her shoulder, exposing her breast to the air and making her shiver. His hands leave her momentarily as he tugs his shirt over his head and drops it on the floor. When he settles back in behind her she quickly tries to match his breathing again, fearing that she’s about to tense up and freak out. It takes less concentration this time, allowing her to focus on his touch. Enjoying the heat of his hard chest pressed against her back, she begins to perspire as her heart races and desire builds within her like a generously stoked fire.