Then he stroked some magic place inside her, curling his finger there. Tremors of liquid heat slipped through her, like scorching hot waves crashing down, blinding her, tearing her apart in the sweetest torture. Amelia died in a flash of bright, blistering white; her body rocking against his mouth. In the next breath she was reborn. And he didn’t give her a chance to catch her breath.
Amelia cried out his name again and again, thrashing on top of the bed sheets. That same wildfire sparked up and she gave in to the pleasure, letting it consume her.
When her body slumped down on the mattress, Daniel chuckled, planting a chain of hot, wet kisses from her thigh to her chin. Then he claimed her mouth with stunning ferocity, covering her body with his. He thrust against her, rigid and throbbing. The only thing standing between his cock and her core was a thin layer of boxer-briefs.
Amelia wanted him. She wanted to feel him inside her, stretching her, filling her. And the thought terrified her more than she’d admit.
Sighing at her lips, Daniel shifted to the side, resting next to Amelia. “You’re so beautiful, love.”
She tried to reply in the negative but nothing worked. His tongue and hands turned her into a useless, limp mess.
“You said you wanted to do tourist-y things today.” Daniel stood, the stiff length of his most male part straining under the stretched out fabric of his boxer briefs. “So let’s get showered, have breakfast, and head into Dublin then, aye?”
How was she supposed to think? Amelia wanted him. Why hadn’t she pulled him into her when he was there? So close…brushing at the centre of her need. And he wanted her too. She saw that clear as the sun shining through the window.
What the hell was she thinking?
She had to call her best friend. Gabby would talk her down from this crazy, needy ledge.
“You go shower first,” Amelia said. “I don’t need to wash my hair today, so I’ll take less time than you.”
“Okay.” He kissed her, like he was learning the taste and feel of her, imprinting her inside his mind and soul. Then Daniel headed for the bathroom.
Grabbing the edge of the sheet and pulling it over her exposed thighs, she watched the play of muscles on his back, the flex and strain, until he shut the door. She waited for the sound of water. Then Amelia dove for her cell phone.
A perpetual night owl, Gabby would be awake and, no doubt online, too. She monitored the games from time to time, making sure anyone who broke the rules got kicked off, and their IP addresses were blocked forever. Amelia didn’t put up with bullies in the real world anymore and she wasn’t going to allow it in the fun worlds she created either.
Playing it safe, Amelia checked the RP forum Gabby frequented and sure enough, her pseudonym made a post less than five minutes ago. Amelia brought her phone to her ear and waited while it rang.
“Well if it isn’t little Alex Q.”
“Gabby,” Amelia sighed. “I’m glad I caught you.”
“Uh-oh, sounds serious. What’s up? Do you need me to catch a flight out there? Damn, I knew this was too hard–”
“No, Gabby, I’m handling things…surprisingly well. Look, I don’t have a lot of time, but I need your help.”
“Ohh, sounds ominous.”
“It is,” Amelia sighed. “I kind of…met…a guy.”
Gabby shrieked.
Amelia yanked the phone from her ear until the screaming finished.
“Holy shit! You did it, didn’t you? You finally had some hot dirty sex, didn’t you?”
“What?” She gasped. “No!”
“Aww, why not?”
She eyed the door nervously, then said, “Um, well, we might have done other things…”
“No. Freaking. Way. Tell me everything!”
Quick as she could, Amelia told Gabby everything about Daniel, leaving out the prison part. All she needed now was for Gabby to blab to Amelia’s parents. “So now I’m trying to think of a reason why I shouldn’t…you know…go for it. I figured you’d be my best hope. The one to talk me down from…doing that…with a guy I’ve only known for a few days.”
“No way, lady. I’m saying go for it. And you already know it isn’t going to hurt, not like if…you know…everything was still intact.”
Amelia met Gabby at an animal shelter fund raising event shortly after she finished school – which was also shortly after she faced the group of boys. One of them kicked her between the legs so hard she saw stars. It was the single most painful experience of her life.
After that, Mom sent her to see a gynecologist, just to make sure there wasn’t any damage. The examination took care of the proof of her virginity though.
“How do you know it won’t hurt?”
“Trust me,” Gabby giggled. “Once you get that part out of the way, it’s all good. I mean, as long as the guy knows what he’s doing.”
Daniel definitely knew what he was doing with his hands and mouth…
“You like him.” It wasn’t a question.
“I…” She did. “I don’t know much about him, but yeah, I like him.”
“So? What’s the issue then?”
Amelia thought for a moment. Technically no issue existed, aside from fear. But fear of what?
“Tell you what you should do,” Gabby continued. “Put on a movie. Have a few beers or whatever. Snuggle up. And then, make a move.”
“Make a move? Your big advice is to just…make a move. Like I even know how to make a move. What does that even mean, anyway?”
“This is exactly why I love you! You’re so innocent, Ames!”
“I am not.” I so am. Amelia pushed her free hand to her forehead. “Tell me what to do.”
Gabby laughed. “Kiss him. If he’s got a button-down shirt on, start undoing the buttons.”
“And if there’s no buttons?” Amelia sighed. “Right, I know, just take his shirt off. This is so not helping me. At. All.”
“Trust me,” Gabby said, laughing. “You’ll figure it out. If anyone can do whatever she sets her mind to, it’s you, Amelia. If you like him, just go for it. Don’t think. Just feel.”
The water shut off. Her heart worked in triple-time.
“Gabs, I have to go. But I’ll call you. Or text you.”
“Have fun!” Gabby sang, singing off.
Make a move. Have fun. Those were Gabby’s big ideas. The great advice she had to offer Amelia in these wild circumstances. A phone call meant to deter further thoughts of doing anything even partially nude with Daniel turned into a conversation about how to get him naked and do bad things with him.
Very bad things. Delicious things.
“You taste so good.”
The mere memory of his head between her thighs had her clenching her legs together, wanting him. Needing him.
“So sweet.”
He enjoyed it. She enjoyed it. Now all she had to do was get over the fear of sex and try to get Daniel on board.
The drive to Dublin took less than twenty minutes, including the stop at a small park overlooking jagged cliffs where she spread a little more of Poppa’s ashes. Daniel held the urn for her, and he kept her from falling apart completely.
“There are a few places we could go,” Daniel said, parking the rental at the back of St. Andrews Church in the heart of Dublin. “Castles, Trinity College Library, Phoenix Park, Kilmainham Gaol…”
The last suggestion hung in the air, thick with reminders Daniel probably didn’t want to relive. His jaw was tight. Daniel unbuckled his seatbelt, staring directly ahead.
“Why don’t we go inside the visitor’s centre and see what they suggest?”
“Aye, good thinking.”
She hated that he had to go through what he had. Even worse, the memories haunting him now would always be there. This country took a carefree boy and moulded him into a hard, distrusting man.
Amelia slid her hand into his, pushing her fingers between each of his fingers, linking their hands together. She squeezed, looking up, smiling. His an
swering half-grin and accompanying wink felt like the sun coming up after years of storms.
They walked hand in hand into the information centre. Well, Daniel walked. She hobbled next to him.
Inside, they stood by a shelving unit filled with hundreds of brochures, eying them uncertainly. She felt overwhelmed by the number of choices, most of which required a lot of walking and almost an entire day. Though she planned on staying in the country after she finished Amelia sought solace at the end of her journey and the hustle and bustle of Dublin didn’t fit the bill.
“Hello there!” A stout woman walked around them, standing next to Amelia. “Welcome to Dublin! Did you have any plans in mind?”
“Um, well, I’m kind of hoping we can pack as much in one day as we can,” Amelia answered, hoping Daniel took her cue and wouldn’t say anything. “We don’t know when we’ll be back in Dublin.” She pressed a hand to her lower abdomen, smiling – she hoped – like a woman in love and expecting a child.
If the woman thought they were both foreign, he had less chance of being recognised.
She hoped.
“Oh, well!” The woman leaned over the brochures and picked three. “The most popular short tours are The Guinness Storehouse, The National Leprechaun Museum, and, if you don’t mind a little fright, The Dublin Ghostbus Tour.”
Amelia grinned. All three sounded perfect.
“What do you think?” she asked Daniel, careful not to use his name in public, just in case. “Little green men, apparitions, and alcohol?”
Daniel’s eyes shot wide. His lips parted. Then he laughed and the sound warmed her soul. “Sure, lass. Guinness, ghosts, and goblins sounds grand.”
Though wary of Daniel, the woman smiled and accepted Amelia’s credit card to pay for the three activities. Leaning into the solid muscle of his shoulder, Amelia smiled sweetly, pretending to all the world she and Daniel were a couple. The woman looked like she’d burst from wanting to say something, but kept her mouth shut. If she’d mentioned Daniel’s name or the false convictions, Amelia might have gone wild.
She felt protective of him, but more than that, Amelia cared.
The leprechaun museum was first on the list. Amelia enjoyed learning more about her heritage, even if this part fit into the category of myth rather than history. And if his easy, relaxed demeanour told her anything, Daniel enjoyed the first outing too. He made jokes. Tickled her and even attempted to hide behind one of the wax leprechauns and frighten her.
They left the museum laughing and holding hands, and Amelia wanted nothing more than to pull him to her and kiss him, but what if she read Daniel’s behaviour wrong?
“We have an hour to kill before the next Guinness tour starts,” she said back in the car, clipping her seatbelt. “Anything you need or want to do in the meantime?”
“Not that I can think of. Oh, though it might do some good to find accommodation for the night. That ghost tour runs late.”
“Good thinking.” Amelia fished her tablet from the bag between her feet and began a search for places on the outskirts of town.
“What is that?” Daniel’s fingers came close to touching the device but he pulled them away at the last second.
Amelia gave him a brief description – enough to fill in the blanks without making him feel inadequate or uncomfortable. “And you can zoom in like this.” She grabbed his hand and used his thumb and forefinger to close in on their current location.
“Shite.” He jerked his hand away, eyes glued to the screen. “That’s like something out of a science fiction programme.”
“It is, isn’t it?” She smiled and continued her search.
A few minutes later, Amelia booked them in at a hotel overlooking St. Stephen’s Green. Two rooms, right next to each other. She couldn’t keep making him share a bed with her if it wasn’t necessary, despite the protests from her heart and body. But maybe a night apart would give them both a chance to work through whatever this thing between them was.
Amelia wanted him. She knew that much. But all the conversations in the world with Gabby would never prepare her for Daniel. The man possessed so much presence. More than that, he turned a smart woman into a melted puddle of needy teenaged girl who couldn’t function.
And he had his own life to live. Once she finished her trip around the isle and didn’t need help driving, Daniel would no doubt want to figure out his next move. She checked her email and spotted what she’d been waiting for; the investigator came through. The terrorist behind several similar attacks throughout the republic and Northern Ireland was living free and in the clear after pinning his crimes on dozens of other men. How many of them were innocent too? How many others like Daniel had their lives taken away from them for being in the wrong place at the wrong time?
The growling of her stomach was so loud it almost echoed in the car’s interior.
Daniel cleared his throat. “Are you hungry, lass?”
Embarrassed, she nodded, hiding her eyes.
Daniel tapped the open page. “Says here in this brochure they serve meals at the Guinness Storehouse between the hours of noon and four in the afternoon. I mean, if you want.”
“Yeah. Sure.” She put her tablet back inside her bag. “Hotel is booked.”
“Already?”
“Mm-hmm. I filled out the online reservation form and got the confirmation. It’s all set.”
He paused for a moment, then started up the car, following direction on the map on the back of the pamphlet, and before long, Daniel parked outside the building. Amelia forced a smile as they went inside and located the restaurant.
She’d been quiet all through lunch and the tour of the Guinness factory. She remained tight-lipped, wearing a fake smile all through the ghost tour. When everyone else jumped, Amelia sat stock still, staring at some distant point ahead of her.
When they checked into the hotel that night, Daniel wasn’t shocked to discover Amelia booked them separate rooms. At least he had a nice big corner tub. He spent an age in the water trying to loosen the knots in his muscles only to emerge tenser than when he got in.
He wanted Amelia with a force that shocked and terrified him. He needed her. Needed to feel his hands on her skin. Needed her. Damn it, he needed her and couldn’t hide from the truth forever. At some point Amelia planned on heading back home, back to her life, and he didn’t figure into those plans.
The next morning they checked out and stopped for breakfast at a chain restaurant on the road. He drove until Dublin was nothing more than a distant speck in the rear view mirror, glad to leave the city behind. Daniel made certain to stop at a beach so Amelia could spread some more of her grandfather’s ashes. It seemed a little easier each time for her to hide the pain; to keep her hands from trembling; to keep the tears from falling.
Part of him wanted to admit his loss, to tell her he knew how she felt, but it wouldn’t do much good. He’d have to admit everything else to her. The last time Daniel tried that she shot him down with some rubbish about not caring about his past.
He drove all the way down to the south coast and stumbled across a sight unlike any he’d ever witnessed. Daniel parked the car on the side of the road and stepped out, breath catching in his lungs. He’d never seen anything so obtrusive that fit into the surrounding scenery.
“Wow,” Amelia said. “It’s a wind farm.”
“Wind farm?”
“Yeah. See the three blades turning in the wind?”
He did. “Aye.”
“Well, they collect wind and turn it into energy.” Amelia sighed, curling her arms around one of his, and rested her head on his bicep. “It’s…almost eerily beautiful. Like…something that doesn’t quite belong, but works so well with the surroundings that it fits.” She shook her head. “That was the stupidest thing I’ve ever said aloud.”
“No.” He pulled her into his arms, surrounding her slight form. She was the softness he lacked. “No,” he repeated. “It wasn’t stupid. Never stupid.”
Ki
ss her, you eejit!
When a man’s conscience demanded he kiss a beautiful lass, his brain ceased to function. Daniel sought out her lips and covered them with his, tasting sugar on her tongue from the caramel coffee she bought a short while ago. And then his brain stopped working completely. He dropped to his arse on the dewy grass, pulling Amelia with him, spreading her thighs on either side of his hips.
Sweet scents of grass and wildflowers and fresh rain filled his senses. The sounds of the sea crashing against jagged rocks played nature’s melody. And Amelia, oh lord above, Amelia… Her hands clutched at the lapels of his jacket, as if letting go of him meant certain death, and she’d give up anything for another minute here with him.
Right there in the field of emerald green, with a giant white tri-blade windmill spinning above them, Daniel laid Amelia down on the grass, covering her body with his. The feel of her beneath him made him dizzy with wanting her. The stiff peaks of her nipples found his palms, or his palms found those sweet, soft mounds. He couldn’t know for certain.
Daniel kissed her, cupping her intimate flesh through layers of clothing, wishing he had magic to send these layers away. She didn’t stop him though – Amelia seemed to welcome his advances, thrusting the most feminine part of her against the stiff ridge of his cock. Torture. The lass tortured him, made him ache.
So he didn’t crush her, Daniel rolled onto his back, pulling Amelia with him, keeping her mouth secured to his. The erotic duel of her tongue with his fanned the flames in his gut, close to burning out of control. Desire clenched his muscles, threatening to unravel them both.
One of them had to pull away first. Tearing his lips from hers felt like a crime punishable by death. “We should–”
“Yeah.” Amelia rolled to the side, onto her back, staring up at the blue sky. Her breaths were heavy.
“If you were wearing a skirt right now, we might be arrested for public indecency,” he admitted on a shaky laugh.
Then he slammed his eyes shut. What the bloody hell had he just admitted?
Where the Streets have no Name Page 8
