Emerald Myst

by Aliyah Burke

  “Do you have a few minutes while I listen? Or a card that I can reach you at? I’m sorry, I don’t have time to listen right now. I want to make sure I give it my full attention.”

  “You’re really going to listen to it?”

  There was a tone to his words that made her nearly reach out and pull him close for a hug. Damn it! What was wrong with her? She didn’t have the time to be feeling all maternal to people she didn’t know from a hole in the ground. Problem was, she did know what it was like to be overlooked and tossed to the side for any number of reasons. “Of course. How many are in your band?”

  “Five.”

  “And if this works out how much room would you need? What are the instruments that would be used?”

  Finn hopped off the counter, making sure to brush up against her as he did so. She bit the inside of her cheek to keep the moan contained. Leaving the CD on the counter they trailed the two young men over by where the temperamental and in her opinion, broken jukebox resided. Anything that only played five songs, should be taken out back and shot to her mind.

  “One drum set, three guitars, and one electronic keyboard.”

  She did some mental calculation and turned to them. “Okay, can you let me listen to what you have and give you a call?” She flipped her braids over her shoulder. “I’m about to open and I don’t have the time right now, I apologize, I didn’t realize it was as late as it was.”

  The disappointment in their gazes wasn’t hard to read but she wasn’t going to budge on this.

  “I’ll be in touch.” As she put the card he’d given her in the pocket of her pants, she again, had the desire to tug them both close and brush their hair back, assure them it would be okay.

  “Thanks.” He pushed his hands in his pants pockets and they retreated back out into the storm.

  “Are you seriously considering this?”

  She crossed her arms as the door opened once more. “Yes.” A seed of an idea had popped in her mind and it deserved some thought as well as a discussion with this man. Because while the bar was hers, she couldn’t deny that he knew the area and the business. And she trusted him. Pivoting on her toes, she turned her back to the men walking in and held Finn’s gaze. “How did I do?”

  “With what? The kids?”

  Tully sidled up to the counter. “A glass for me? Perfect.”

  “The head.”

  Finn’s eyes darkened and she just moved by him a smile teasing her lips.

  More of the locals streamed in, getting out of the foul weather and most smiled at her. A few still scowled, but to be fair, the ones who did, she’d never seen a smile on their faces at all.

  She hid her cringe, barely, when that rattletrap of a jukebox kicked on to play the same songs once more. God, it was going to be a long night. As the hum in the establishment grew, she stood off to one side and looked over it. The roof had been fixed, thankfully and she was working on getting more windows.

  Tomorrow. Tonight, she had a bar to run.

  Finn looked up from where he stood at the bar sliding a whisky over to Seamus who took it with a near toothless grin. He didn’t smile, didn’t wink, yet Emmie would swear he was making sure she was okay.

  Damn man and his way of making her get the feels. It wasn’t fair they weren’t a couple, she didn’t have any say over anything he did and yet, she wanted to. Even though he’d not gone out when she’d been aware of it, surely a man such as he had an entire bevy of women just willing to spread their legs and accept his cock, fingers, or tongue.

  God knows I would if all he did was crook that finger at me.

  This morning she’d woken up with her fingers dangerously close to her own pussy. Images and the scent of Finn Brannon imbedded deep in her psyche, pushing her closer and closer to the edge. One of the nights she was going to be caught frigging herself to him.

  So far she’d contained herself to the shower for that where he couldn’t catch her. Of course, all that did to her was conjure up images of the way it would be to have him share that shower with her. All big, brawn, and wet. Holding her up to the wall as he fucked her. Hard and fast. Deep and slow.

  Heart pounding out of control, she gulped and stepped into the back and grabbed some ice before settling it against her skin, grateful for the cooldown, even as temporary as she knew it would be.

  * * *

  Finn watched her carefully. Despite appearing fragile, she had more steel and backbone than she wanted to admit. Something different had come over her when she’d spoken to the young men who’d approached her. Had it been him, he would have kicked them out on their ear. But it was like she’d morphed into an entire different being.

  He swore he could see her reaching out to them with warmth and love, wrapping it around them. Like she wanted to take them in, clean them up, feed them and more. She was a nurturer and would make a damn good mother.

  That knowledge was a kick to the gut. Thinking of this woman glowing with pregnancy, her hand resting protectively on the swell of her belly where she housed and protected their child, came out of left field and slammed into him with all the tenacity of a croc taking down it’s prey.

  She walked behind the bar with dirty glasses on a tray and pushed through into the back without saying a word. He didn’t like that. Tossing the towel over his shoulder, he leveled a stare at the men on stools.

  “Behave.”

  “You know,” Sam said. “If you’re trying to keep up this pretense that you actually care about her, it’s not working. We all know you are shagging her in hopes to keep the bar.”

  Rage dropped over him without warning and he didn’t stop to think, just reached over the shiny wood top and grasped him by his shirt, yanking him close. Eyes narrow slits he bared his teeth.

  “You ever want to set foot in this bar again, Sam, I would suggest you find some fucking manners and show her some goddamn respect.”

  The man who moments ago had been well on his way to being wasted sobered up in seconds, as if realizing how precarious of a situation he had just found himself. Eyes wide, he gulped and tried to free himself from Finn’s grip. To no avail.

  Finn closed his other hand around his throat and squeezed, not giving a damn how Sam’s face moved from ruddy with drink to red from lack of air.

  “Put him down, lad.”

  McSweeny’s calm tone pushed through the haze of rage that had surrounded him. Even so, it took him a few moments to comply with his grandda’s order. And he didn’t want to, but McSweeny had helped raise him, it was as natural for him to listen as it was to breathe.

  Finn didn’t release him gently, just dropped him, the thinner man falling to land on the bar top, gasping for air. Without a single shred of remorse, Finn shoved him so he sprawled into a heap on the floor tangled in the stool he’d taken down with him.

  He glared around the establishment, wanting to kick them all out and go make sure she hadn’t heard what had been said. If she had, he wanted to apologize in all possible ways.

  “Let me make this perfectly clear to everyone of ya in here. I’ll not be repeating myself.” His tone had the edge it used to carry when he served and he spoke to the men under him. Demanding they listen and follow his command. “You will treat Emmie with respect. She is busting her ass here, doing what she can to pour more money back into this town. We are colleagues nothing more.”

  Even if he wanted more than that. Far more. He would protect her regardless.

  Two of Sam’s friends picked him up and righted the stool. “You know he’s just drunk, Finn.”

  Snapping his gaze to the lot of them, he growled, “Then take his ass home and stay with him. He’s not welcome back in here tonight.”

  They didn’t argue. Carrying a mumbling and stumbling Sam between them, they exited out into the foul weather and he put his palms on the bar top. “Anyone else have anything to say?”

  “I want another drink,” Tully hollered, holding up his empty.

  “Of course ya do, Tully.” He
got him his drink, the statement having broken the seriousness of the moment. People went back to their discussions and enjoyment.

  His grandfather sat on a stool at the end and munched on the bar mix. When he knew he had a bit more control over his temper he went down to where he was and waited. It wasn’t long in coming.

  “She know how you feel about her, lad?”

  “Not in the mood, McSweeny.”

  The man grinned without shame. “You rarely are and tell me, lad, when has that ever stopped me before?”

  Never.

  “Say your piece then. I have a bar to run.” He watched the O’Malley boys in the back playing an intense game of darts.

  “You know Sam was just drunk.”

  “I don’t care.”

  “I saw that. Problem is, they say worse things than that on a daily basis here. It’s a bar and it’s not seemed to bother her. She rolls with it and teases them back when you’re not there. So this,” he waved his hand toward Finn, “whatever that display was, is only going to further the speculation.”

  “Are ya warning me away from her?”

  McSweeny popped some more mixture in his mouth and chewed as he nudged his bowler on his skull. “Never that lad, never that. I happen to find her utterly charming. Like meself.”

  “If you are about to go off about the wee folk, old man, I’m not pouring you another drink.”

  His grandfather huffed but didn’t say a word. Just with slow deliberation took another handful of mix and dropped it on the bar top. Eyes sparking with challenge.

  Family. He had to love them, right?

  He was still in a mood later that night once the place had been closed down, all the patrons gone and downstairs cleaned up. Walking out of the bathroom, he paused gaze lasering over to the woman who sat curled up on the end of the couch. Her jersey shirt in green and red didn’t hide her assets and he was glad. Thick socks stuck out from the bottom of her white and black checkered pants.

  Finn moved across the large space, noting how she lifted her head to look in his direction before she quickly averted her eyes. He’d deliberately left off his shirt, eagerly soaking up the hungry way she devoured him when she was under the impression, he wasn’t aware of her doing such a thing.

  The screen on her phone lit up as it vibrated announcing a call. She pinched the cloth she was working on in one hand and reached for the phone with the other. He wanted to smash it against the wall, hating for anything to disrupt their time at night.

  It was him and her. No one else. No village women or visitors to the bar vying for his attention. Just him and this confounded American who had carved a place in his heart for her. And only her.

  Finn took in the way her brow converged and her entire body tensed. But she didn’t just not answer it but she turned it over as well.

  “Everything okay?”

  When did I get to be the one who craves to slay her demons?

  “Sure.” She didn’t look up at him but took the needle from between her lips and got back to work.

  He didn’t like this woman ignoring him.

  Chapter 5

  Next to no time after she lied to him through her teeth he was on his knees before her. It was every fucking dream come true. Now if only, he would push her back slightly, spread her legs and settled between them. Allow her to touch that black hair, slip her fingers through the cool silk waves.

  “I don’t like it when you lie to me, Emmie.”

  And she wasn’t a fan of him making her think he even gave a damn about her wayward feelings, not to mention how he turned her into a sex-starved fiend just with a look. But life sucked sometimes.

  “I’m fine.”

  He narrowed his eyes and looked at her, really looked at her. “Bullshit. What’s going on?”

  Swallowing, she bit the inside of her cheek to keep from turning into a sniveling baby. “Nothing.” Though it killed her in a not so slow yet terrifyingly painful way, she forced a smile to turn up her lips.

  He leaned closer and she tried hard, so hard but it wasn’t possible to resist when the man smelled so amazing, to keep her attention on something other than the firm lips, scruff lining his jaw.

  Nearer and nearer he drew. Her throat dried up like the desert beneath the midday sun. Holy crap, was he actually going to kiss her?

  At the last second, right before she would have moved to meet his lips with her own, he snapped his arm out and snagged her phone.

  “Give that back,” she screeched as he lunged away from her.

  She didn’t hesitate, nor did she think about any consequences. Just leapt off the cushion and followed him to the floor. His body, holy shit, it was even more incredible beneath her than anything her mind could conjure up. And she had developed a fucking vivid imagination when it came to this man.

  His cock pressed into her and her breasts were smashed into his chest. His bare one. Her palm was flat against his heated skin and she struggled not to curve her fingers to bite into him. Mark him. Claim him.

  Shoving that raw need down, she tore her gaze from his lips and focused it on his hand that held her phone. She reached for it.

  “Give it back.”

  His blue gaze had deepened further than she’d ever seen on him before.

  “Make me.”

  Two words that rolled from his chest on a rumble.

  That got her to look between his hand and his face. She didn’t have a chance to overpower him.

  “I shouldn’t have to.” She couldn’t ignore how breathy her own voice had become. “It’s my phone.”

  “And you looked at it and were suddenly in a shitty mood. Not angry but sad.” A slight head shake. “No. Not sad, hurt.”

  Bastard was preceptive.

  He moved a hand up and brushed it ever so light along her face. “Who is the fuck who hurt you, baby? It’s an unknown number but it is a text and I’ll fucking open it to read, then hunt them down and beat the shit out of them.”

  His tone let her know that there was no way this man wasn’t telling the truth. He would do what he stated without compunction. Just like that, the pain revisited to her by any reminder of Paul vanished.

  He’d called her baby. Probably didn’t even realize he had committed such a thing, but she wouldn’t ever forget it.

  “I believe you would do exactly that.” Tipping her head closer so their lips were near to brushing. “If I didn’t think it would piss you off, I’d kiss you for being willing to fight that battle for me.”

  While her body rebelled on the most primal of levels, she moved off his hard length and moved over him to pluck her phone from his hand. Turning her head, she made her feet follow and retreated back to the couch where she made sure to pick up her needles before sitting back down.

  His exhale was over exaggerated and she lifted her eyes to him once more. Again, with far more calm than she felt because her insides were a freaking mess. He’d risen up on his elbows, allowing her an unfettered view of his rock hard abs. Need, angry and nearly ugly, wove through her. She ignored it.

  “Drama?”

  “Tell me who that is or I’ll find out and handle it.” He pushed to a seated position, held her gaze for a few more charged seconds then bounded to his feet and prowled to her.

  She wasn’t sure she had the fortitude to contain her wayward lust for this man. Holding up the hand with a needle in it and thankfully he stopped.

  “My ex.”

  Emmie lowered her eyes from his at her admittance.

  “Oh no, Emmie.” He shifted closer, moving his heat around her in swirls of intoxicating temptation. “Look at me or I’m touching you once more.”

  She listened.

  “If he’s bothering you, let me talk to him the next time he calls.” His arms flexed but he didn’t move closer or farther away from her. “I’ll get him to leave you alone.”

  Pain gnawed at her gut but she pasted another smile on her mouth. “Thank you for the offer. I’ll keep that in mind.”

&n
bsp; He held her gaze before pivoting to his right, he flopped down on the couch beside her. Nothing new for them to sit together and talk at night. And on the other hand, it was one hundred percent different for she’d just been laying upon him. Every breath she pulled into her starving lungs overflowed with his scent. When she blinked, all she could see was the blend of their skin as he’d held her. The press of his long cock, hard, against her. As if he were actually interested in her.

  “Tell me what happened with him.”

  She cut her gaze to him and hid her smile, a real one this time, as she watched him lining up her squares as she’d showed him to do and begin to pin them.

  It smacked her in the face, this image of fucking domestic bliss. She’d rolled into this place, and he had not wanted her here. Hell, maybe he still didn’t but he’d accepted her.

  “I’d rather not talk about him tonight.”

  Those blue eyes lasered her. “Fine, another night. What do you want to talk about tonight?”

  She tied a knot and lifted it to her teeth to cut it. Blinking once she found him, eyes locked on her mouth, a far deeper blue than they’d been a moment ago.

  “Music.”

  “I’m listening.”

  Emmie wiggled a bit so she faced him more than she had been. Not stopping her work, she just took a deep breath and began.

  “I was thinking this, especially once those young men came in to the bar.” She paused searching for the confidence she didn’t have.

  “They were looking for trouble.”

  She snapped her head up and shook it with ferocity. “No they were not.”

  He snorted and she kicked out a foot, connecting with his strong leg. Damn that hurt.

  “Feel better?”

  Gritting her teeth against the radiating pain moving up her leg, she nodded. “Much, thank you very much.”

  “So bloody prim and proper.” His gaze darkened more. “Wonder how that moves to in bed.”

  Absolutely refusing to get off the “safe” road she was on right now with this hunk of a man, she shrugged.

  “Not important. This is about them.”