Deceived

by Suzannah Daniels

  “I’m glad I did, too.”

  “I’m disappointed in Paxton. If I had missed out on the chance to be in Ireland with you because he was being a selfish jerk….”

  Shit. Guilt edged its way into my thoughts, but I forced it out of my mind. “I’m here now, right?” I playfully leaned into her body, nudging her with the length of my arm, trying to draw her away from that line of thinking.

  She looked away from her plate, turning her face up toward mine as her lips curved into a smile. “Right, but I still owe him one.”

  “Join the club.”

  We finished eating, and the server cleared our table and brought us another drink.

  “Is there anything in particular you want to do while we’re here?” Flanagan asked.

  I studied her a moment, unable to keep the slightest of grins from slipping onto my face while I imagined all the things that I wanted to do to her.

  “What?” she asked, her voice laced with uncertainty.

  Damn, she was enticing, and I couldn’t help but imagine her long locks cascading down her naked body while she was on top of me.

  “Cade?” She drew my name out, prompting me to say something.

  “I was just thinking how beautiful your hair is. I really do like it wavy like that.” I reached out and tugged a strand.

  “Still pulling hair, I see. I was just telling Lexi the other day how you used to sit behind me on the bus in elementary school and pull it.”

  I chuckled. “Guess I haven’t changed much.” I took a sip of my drink. “But damn if you weren’t the prettiest girl in school, and I had to get your attention somehow. Didn’t really matter if it was good attention or bad.”

  She gasped. “You did it because you thought I was pretty?”

  “Of course. Why else do little boys pester the hell out of little girls?”

  She shrugged. “I just thought you were mean.”

  I barked out a laugh. “Yeah, I was that, too. I was also pretty damn cute.”

  She dropped her jaw and glared at me.

  “Oh, don’t look so surprised. Plenty of girls told me I was cute while they were chasing me around the playground.” I pointed at her. “Except for you. You never once told me that you thought I was cute. Because I would have definitely remembered that.”

  “I was way too shy to say something like that then, but I can tell you now if you want.”

  The grin dropped from my face as I studied her. “Yeah, Flanagan, I want to hear you say it.”

  “I think you’re cute, Cade.”

  “The little boy in me who wished you had chased him on the playground thanks you.”

  Her hand curled around my bicep, and she squeezed it as if she were testing the hardness of my muscles.

  “There’s definitely nothing little-boy about you now,” she practically purred.

  “No, there’s definitely not.”

  “Did you know I had a crush on you in high school?” she asked, still clinging to my arm.

  “No, I didn’t.”

  She nodded. “I used to imagine you asking me out on a date, and then I would imagine our good-night kiss.”

  “And did you imagine that I was a good kisser?”

  A sinful smile played on her lips. “Oh, definitely.”

  “And what else did you imagine us doing?”

  Her mouth dropped open. “Not what you’re thinking.”

  “No?” I clicked my tongue. “Now I’m disappointed.”

  “Aww, poor Cade,” she patted my cheek. “At least I noticed you.”

  “I’ve always been aware of you, Flanagan. By the time you made it to high school, I may have been wrapped up in girls my age, but I always noticed you.”

  She bit her bottom lip to stifle a smile. Then, she took a sip of ale. “That seems like forever ago, doesn’t it?”

  “Yeah, it does.”

  “You remember that time you painted Mr. Sitter’s chair?”

  I groaned. “How can I forget? A little spot of brown paint on a brown chair. When he stood back up and walked to the front of the room, it looked like he had shit his pants.”

  She smiled as she remembered that day. “Everybody burst into laughter. I can still remember the look on his face when he stopped art class, demanding to know what was so funny, and that weird girl, Terrible Tina, snitched on you.”

  “My dad wasn’t too happy when he found out about that. He took my car away for a week. That was the longest freaking week of my life.”

  “You see?” she asked. “I was right. You were mean.”

  “Hey, you got to admit that was funny as hell. Man, he was so pissed.”

  “Yeah, everybody did get a good laugh out of that one, except for Mr. Sitter.”

  I chuckled, remembering what a hellion I was in high school. “We all called him Mr. Shitter after that.”

  “Kids were still calling him that after you graduated.”

  I stared at her in disbelief. “Are you serious?”

  She nodded. “You were an infamous prankster.”

  “Me and Mason used to do all kinds of stupid shit. If it weren’t for Hawk talking some sense into us on occasion, we probably would’ve been thrown out of high school.”

  “Speaking of Hawk, Amber asked me to be one of her bridesmaids.”

  “Hawk mentioned something to me, too, about being a groomsman.”

  “I guess they’re serious about tying the knot.”

  “Yeah, I hope they’ll be happy together. I’ve watched my parents be absolutely miserable with each other, and I’ve watched Mason stumble through an unhappy marriage.”

  “Yeah, but Mason was really young when he got married, and they had some difficult circumstances.”

  “In Mason’s case, I agree with a man taking care of his responsibilities, and hell, it’s Hawk we’re talking about. I have no doubt he’ll do everything in his power to make Amber happy. I hope she does the same for him.”

  Flanagan sighed. “They love each other. I’m sure they’ll be happy together.”

  “Do you know any happy married couples?”

  “My parents are happily married,” she said, offering an example that not all marriages were doomed.

  “They never fight?”

  “Of course they do, but they also have a lot of fun together. Hawk and Amber will be fine,” she assured me. She lightly slapped her palm on my knee. “Why don’t we go walk around Belfast?”

  “Let’s go.” I stood and pulled her up from the booth. After grabbing her jacket from the empty seat, I held it up, so she could slide her arms into it, and then I shrugged into mine.

  “I’ll pay for it,” Flanagan offered.

  “I got it.” I tipped our server and paid for the meal. Then, I led Flanagan out into the dark, cold evening.

  The night was clear as we meandered along the sidewalk toward the city center. Bright stars dotted the darkness, the skies gracing us with the rare opportunity to witness them on a cloudless night.

  “The stars are breathtaking,” she whispered, clearly immersed in their beauty as she slowed to a stop.

  “It’s like they’re shining just for you, Flanagan.” I spoke softly, not wanting to interfere with her admiration.

  “They’re shining for you, too,” she whispered, her eyes still locked on the heavens. “They’re shining for us.”

  Gazing at her upturned face, I smiled as she seemed to drink in the magnificence of every star. I reached out and took her hand in mine, interlacing our fingers.

  She glanced at me and squeezed my hand before turning her attention back to the sky. “Why do you always call me Flanagan?”

  “Because I don’t want to call you what everyone else calls you. When I say your name, I want you to know it’s me.”

  That confession drew her focus to my face, and she graced me with a smile that took my breath away.

  “Did you know that Seren means star?” she asked, turning her attention back to the sky.

  “I didn’t.” I
watched her profile, marveling the way she drank in the sky with the amazement and wonder of a child. I thought about our kiss, afraid if I let myself analyze it too much, I would come to the conclusion that coming to Ireland had been a mistake. But then I would think about how right if felt to be with her, putting my momentary internal tug of war at ease.

  “My parents had been told that they most likely wouldn’t have children,” she explained. “My mom said that when they found out she was pregnant, they knew Seren was the right name for me the instant they read what it meant. You know why?”

  I released her hand and shook my head. “No, why?”

  “Because one night they were gazing at the stars, and they actually saw a falling star.” She breathed deeply of the crisp air. “So they made a wish. A few weeks later, they found out about me.”

  I gazed upward. “I guess there’s a little bit of magic in those stars.”

  “I like to think so.”

  She rubbed her palms together, attempting to generate heat.

  “Are you cold?” I asked.

  “A little bit.”

  I cupped my hand around hers in an effort to chase away the chill. I hadn’t expected the surge of warmth that burned through my own body at her nearness. She watched me, her lips slightly parted, leaning into me as if she wanted her whole body to be warmed. Damn, I wanted to pull her into my embrace and wrap my arms around her. Every nerve in my body had a heightened sense of awareness. I knew getting close to Flanagan was dangerous. And it was the very reason I’d been keeping my distance all these months.

  But she was so tempting, and her lips were already parted, beckoning me to taste her. Eyeing her mouth, I fought the magnetization she held over me. When I heard her soft intake of breath, I lifted my eyes to hers. She watched me intensely, as if I were the only other person in the world.

  I leaned in closer, opening my lips as I prepared to give her exactly what she wanted. A nagging thought that tortured me from the back of mind forced me to pause.

  I shouldn’t be doing this.

  I was allowing the magic of the night to let me forget.

  And damn, I wanted to. I wanted to forget about why I’d stayed away. One taste of her wasn’t enough, and I desperately wanted to slip my tongue in her mouth and taste her again.

  Using every ounce of my strength, I closed my eyes and pulled away. “I guess we better get going if we’re going to make it to Belfast City Hall.”

  I could see the disappointment in her eyes when she realized that I wasn’t going to kiss her, maybe even a hint of hurt and confusion. I wanted to tell her that it wasn’t because I didn’t want to, but I remained silent.

  “Yeah,” she whispered. “I guess so.”

  I stuffed my hands in my pockets as we began walking to keep from taking her hand in mine. Strolling through a foreign city like lovers wouldn’t help my situation. But more importantly, it wouldn’t help hers.

  “So what’s it like growing up with brothers?” she asked as we paused at a crosswalk and rushed across the street once we determined that it was safe.

  “The good thing is you’re never totally alone. The bad thing is you’re never totally alone.”

  “I’ve been alone. I don’t see how never being alone could be construed as the bad part.”

  “When we were younger, we had a lot of fun. Since me and Pax are so close in age, we always wound up sharing a room. We’re only a little over a year apart. Evan’s a couple of years younger than me.”

  “Then all of y’all are really close in age.”

  “Yeah, I guess by the time Evan came along, me and Pax were used to being in the same room. Evan cried, which annoyed the hell out of both of us. As we got older, Evan would have an earlier bedtime. For the most part, it’s just the way it was.”

  “Do you think that’s why you and Paxton don’t get along as well as you and Evan?”

  I thought about her question. “Honestly, I think me and Pax are too much alike. We’re both competitive, and we both like the same things. When we were younger, we would spend hours just passing ball or shooting basketball. Once we got older, we realized sports wasn’t the only thing we had similar interests in. We seemed to like the same girls, too. And that was a recipe for disaster, which you have now seen firsthand.”

  “Let me just say for the record that I’m not interested in Paxton.”

  I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face. “Yeah, I think you’ve made that much pretty clear.”

  “Do you get along with Evan?”

  “Yeah, Evan’s pretty cool. He’s a damn good baseball player, and he’s fun to hang out with. He also minds his own business.”

  “What about your parents?”

  “They’re okay, I guess. They don’t get along very well, but as far as we go…” I shrugged my shoulders, not really having a whole lot to say either way on the subject. “What about you?”

  “My parents dote on me without spoiling too much. They believe in making me self-sufficient, so I don’t have to depend on them or a man to make it in the world. They want me to be able to take care of myself. This trip is kind of my last hurrah. When I get back home, I’m going to look for a job. Then, I’ll save up enough money to buy a car and a house.”

  “Sounds like you have everything planned.”

  “I have it planned. Now all I have to do is see if everything works out the way I want it to.”

  “And if it doesn’t?”

  She glanced up at the stars. “I’d like to think I can adapt easily. If things don’t go as planned, it won’t be the end of the world. I’ll just take a moment to reevaluate and come up with a new plan.” She pointed. “There it is. There’s Belfast City Hall.”

  White lights accented the entire building, emphasizing the intricate details of its architecture as it glowed against the backdrop of the night sky.

  She sucked in a breath. “Isn’t it beautiful?”

  Her infectious enthusiasm had me examining it in awe. “Yeah, it is.”

  “I read that they light it in different colors on certain days of the year. I can’t remember them all, but it’s red on Valentine’s Day. It makes me want to see it every time it’s a different color.”

  “I wonder how old it is.”

  “I think it was completed in 1906.” She grinned at me. “I’ve been doing a lot of research on Ireland in the last couple of weeks.”

  We took our time exploring the grounds, and when we finished, we sat on a park bench.

  “Are you cold?” I asked her, fighting the urge to wrap my arm around her and pull her against me.

  “I am, but it’s not unbearable.”

  She turned toward me, and before I could stop myself, I reached out and smoothed her hair from her face.

  “Cade,” she whispered as I pulled my hand away.

  “Yeah?”

  She worked her mouth as if she would say something more. “Never mind.”

  I seriously questioned the thought process that had led me to Ireland. What did I think would happen once I arrived? All I could think was that there was no way in hell I was going to let Pax have her.

  But now that I was here, I realized that my selfishness hadn’t been the best thing for her.

  But damn it, I knew that if I had it to do over again, I would’ve still hopped on that plane and crossed the ocean.

  Hell, I would’ve done whatever it took to keep Pax from claiming her for himself.

  I just hoped that she didn’t regret it later.

  Chapter 8

  Cliffs of Moher

  Cade

  Over the next few days, we finished our tour of Belfast and strolled the cobblestone streets of Galway on the western coast of Ireland. Having already showered and dressed, I waited on Flanagan to do the same, so we could head out to the Cliffs of Moher. Pax had kept himself occupied since I’d been in Ireland, and I assumed that he would do the same today.

  Sitting on the bed with my back against the headboard, I fold
ed my arms behind my head, resting against my clasped hands.

  “What are your plans?” he asked, staring at me from the other bed.

  “We’re going to the Cliffs of Moher.”

  He shook his head, clearly frustrated. “No. What are your plans with Seren? Don’t you think you should tell her about all the shit you’ve got going on right now?”

  “Shut the hell up before she hears you,” I growled between clenched teeth. “I’m going to tell her, but I see no reason to tell her while we’re here. I’ll wait until we get back home.”

  “Why wait? Why string her along?”

  “I’m not stringing her along.” Was I? Shit. “I’m serious about her. The only reason I’ve waited as long as I have is because I wanted to see exactly what I was dealing with before I complicated everything by pursuing a relationship with her.”

  Pax drew his brows down into angry slashes. “And you still don’t know, do you?”

  “Not yet.”

  “Then why did you come? How do you think she’s going to feel if you lead her on, only to let her down?”

  “I’m not trying to lead her on, and I would have stayed away longer until I had some answers if you hadn’t hopped on a plane, more than ready to fill my shoes.”

  He sprang from the bed. “The way you did me?”

  “That was a long time ago, Pax.”

  “And didn’t I promise you that the day would come that you would regret it?”

  “Is that what this is? Revenge? You would ruin her trip all for the sake of getting revenge on me?” I shook my head. “And you tell me to grow up?”

  “I like her, Cade. That’s why I’m here. Because I’m ready to pursue a relationship with her now. And you deserve to know what it feels like when someone swoops in on someone you’re interested in. The only difference between what I’ve done and what you did is that I loved her. I loved her, Cade, and damn it, you didn’t give a shit.”

  I sprang up into a seated position and swung my legs over the edge of the bed. “You broke up with her!”

  The bathroom door opened, and Pax and I both fell silent.

  Seren came out in designer jeans and a fitted blue sweater that made her eyes look even more vivid than normal.

  “What?” she asked, toggling her gaze between Pax and me.