by Lora Leigh
“We can eat early, if you like,” he added, willing her to agree.
She bit her luscious lip, which made him go right back to wanting to kiss her, but then she nodded. “All right. But just dinner.”
“Just dinner. How much do I owe you for Barty?”
Brynn smiled and shook her head. “No charge. Bring him back to me for a bath and grooming soon, though, okay? He’s looking a little scruffy.”
“Scruffy,” he said. “Is that why the shop’s name is Scruffy’s?”
She nodded at a framed picture of a shaggy gray dog. “Yes and no. That’s Scruffy, and I named the shop in his honor, too. A play on words. I’ll tell you about it at dinner.”
“I look forward to it,” he said, and then he headed for the door before he could say something stupid and cause her to change her mind.
“Sean,” she called after him, and he stopped with one hand on the door.
“Any progress on finding that arsonist? The business owners around here were talking about nothing else at lunchtime,” she said. “We’re all worried.”
“We’ll find him,” he promised grimly. “We’ll stop him.”
“Be careful,” she said, and he carried the words—and the concern that had been clear in her voice—with him for the rest of the day.
It was almost midnight before he remembered that, for once, he had a conflict in his schedule. He’d asked Brynn out for the same night as the one for which he and Liam had planned the family barbecue.
No problem. Surely Brynn wouldn’t consider meeting his entire family to be “getting involved,” right?
Zach shook his head when he caught Sean pounding his head against his locker. “Yeah, buddy, I’ve had days like that, too.”
* * *
Two long, quiet nights later, Sean left work almost as tired as if he’d been fighting fires nonstop. Sometimes, the slow nights were worse than the busy ones—especially when they were all on edge, waiting for an arsonist to strike again. He was hungry, exhausted, and on edge, but he wasn’t interested in food or sleep. He wanted to see Brynn. Needed to see her.
He started out walking, with no particular direction in mind, since he didn’t know where she lived and he was pretty sure her grooming business wasn’t open at six in the morning. Nobody was around at dawn except cops, firefighters, and people who’d been up misbehaving all night, like the thugs hanging out on the street corner about a dozen feet in front of him. He should sleep. He was going to see her that evening, if she hadn’t changed her mind. He abruptly stopped walking and scowled so fiercely at the thought, that a couple of juvenile delinquent goblins who’d started trash-talking about him wheeled around and headed the other way. The few remaining made a point of studiously looking down at the ground when he passed by, but he barely noticed them, because his mind was still on Brynn.
Please let her not have changed her mind.
She’d attracted him with her looks, but she’d captivated him with her spirit. He’d always had a different idea of beauty from most; he liked rounded figures, not model-thin ones. Interesting, intelligent faces rather than vapid, model-perfect ones. He was drawn to a sense of humor and a great laugh as much as he was to a pair of flashing eyes and a great ass.
Hey, he was a guy. He wasn’t going to deny, even to himself, that a great ass wasn’t a big draw.
But Brynn. Brynn. She was gorgeous, no doubt, with all that curly red hair and those winter-pale eyes. Her body, that he kept seeing over and over in his memory, was incredible. She was so much more than that, though. Somehow, in spite of the tough childhood she’d mentioned, and in spite of a curse that had hijacked fully a third of her life, she’d been tough enough to start and run her own business. She was compassionate enough to calm an angry cat and diagnose Barty’s fury as worry for Sean’s mom.
How could a woman like that still be alone, the curse be damned? If he ever got lucky enough to have the chance to be with her, he’d never—never what?
What did he think he could do? Tell her he was a fire demon and live with her happily ever after? Who was he kidding? Was it even possible for a worse combination to exist than fire and feathers? Just because something about Brynn touched the soul-deep loneliness he’d been living with for so long didn’t mean he had any chance with her, or even any right to try. He should call her and apologize, and then make a point to never see her again. That would be the right thing to do. The gentlemanly thing to do—an expression that his father had so often used.
“Screw that,” he snarled, and a banshee hunched on top of a nearby roof screeched and took flight.
“It’s only dinner,” he shouted after the creature, as it winged its way off into the sunrise.
She had to eat, right?
SEVEN
After Brynn closed the shop and took a quick shower in her private restroom in the back, she dried her hair, got dressed, and wondered what she thought she was doing. She stared at her reflection in the mirror, and an unfamiliar person stared back: a woman who wore eyeliner and mascara and even a little lipstick. A woman who’d dressed to impress a man whom she had no intention of keeping.
Did she?
Unnerved by her conflicting thoughts, she put the makeup bag down, figuring she’d done the best she could, and smoothed down the skirt of her one and only little black dress. She’d spent the past two days talking herself into and out of having dinner with Sean. It wasn’t the idea of the dinner date itself; she’d been out on dates before. She was a normal, healthy woman, after all. She liked men. She liked dinner. But this time was different.
Sean scared her to death.
It wasn’t just that he was unbelievably hot, although he was. Tall, dark, and delicious. The muscles, the hair, the amazing cheekbones, and those melting, chocolate-brown eyes were all bad enough, but when he smiled, she wanted to rip his clothes off with her teeth. It was a little late in the day to discover the latent sex fiend lurking inside her, so she figured that her extreme reaction was all about Sean.
She’d met plenty of great-looking men, though. This was Bordertown, after all. The Fae were almost always beautiful, even the men, and water demons were a little like self-servicing plastic surgeons—they could use their powers to enhance their looks whenever they wanted. So, sure, she’d seen hot guys before, but a lot of them were so arrogant and vain that she’d been turned off by the first words out of their mouths.
Sean, on the other hand—he was anything but charming or smooth. She smiled, remembering how he’d asked her to dinner in the first place, standing there with that “deer in the path of the Wild Hunt” expression, as if he’d been sure she’d turn him down. He’d raced out of the shop, clutching poor Barty, so fast that she hadn’t had a chance to get his phone number or give him hers, so she was guessing he’d show up here at the shop.
If he didn’t show, she’d probably be better off, anyway. She didn’t need complications.
She walked out into the shop, almost not sure which she was hoping for—that Sean would show up or that he wouldn’t—but ultimately she couldn’t lie to herself. She would be disappointed if he stood her up. Even a little bit devastated, maybe.
The realization scared her all over again. How had he become so important to her, so fast? What was she going to do about it?
The knock on the door jolted her out of her low-level panic, and she turned to find Sean standing there, darkly elegant in a white shirt and black pants, and all of her mental reservations fell away like dog fur beneath the shears. She wanted this. She wanted him.
She unlocked the door.
* * *
Sean never thought it would take so much effort to keep from swallowing his tongue. She was so damn beautiful in her simple black dress, with her curls, brushed loose and shining, hanging in a thick, luxurious mass down her back. He wanted to bury his hands in her hair and smooth the shining strands against his face. He wanted to see it spread across his pillow. His body tightened at the pillow idea, and he had to clench his teeth
against the rush of desire that swept through him.
“I didn’t know what to wear,” she said hesitantly, and he realized he’d been standing there silently staring at her like an idiot, probably with his mouth hanging open like the fish on the wall at O’Malley’s. The one that came to life, sang songs, and heckled the customers.
“You look amazing,” he told her honestly, and then he realized he hadn’t told her they were going to a barbecue. Women had dress codes or something for what they wore. She probably wouldn’t have wanted to get so dressed up for a barbecue, but he’d be damned if he’d regret it. She looked like his own personal dream of the perfect woman, come to life just for him.
And he was ambushing her with dinner with his family.
He was an idiot. The fish was smarter than him.
“Are you okay?” She was starting to look concerned, and little wonder.
“I’m going to throw myself on your mercy,” he confessed. “I ran out of here so fast the other day that I didn’t get your number, because I was afraid you’d find a reason to say no if I hung around. So I didn’t have a way to call you and tell you we’re actually going to a barbecue.”
She raised one eyebrow as she stepped out and locked the door behind her.
“Yes, I can see the problem. So hard to look up Scruffy’s in the Bordertown phone book or online,” she said dryly.
The dress came down to a few inches above her knees, but there was a little discreet slit up the front that flashed her leg at him as she walked, and it distracted him completely as he opened his car door for her.
“Yeah,” he said, clearing his throat and shoving away all thoughts of pinning her against the car and biting her neck until she moaned. “Yeah, that would have been a great idea, if I’d thought of it. Although honestly I would have been worried that if I called, you’d have had a chance to change your mind.”
She stopped, inches in front of him, and the scent of violets and spring rain teased his senses.
“You’re being very candid, Sean,” she murmured. “Is it sincere or is it meant to disarm me into telling you my secrets, I wonder?”
He blinked. “You have more secrets?”
Brynn started laughing and then slid into the car, flashing an appealing length of bare leg. “Smooth, Sean. Very smooth.”
By the time they finished discussing her day (three dogs, one cat, and a rabbit who’d encountered a skunk) and his day (no progress or news on the arson case), they were pulling up in front of Sean’s family home. Brynn looked around in obvious disbelief at the residential neighborhood and then narrowed her eyes.
“When you said a barbecue, I assumed you meant Bordertown Barbecue, which was already sketchy considering the rumors of the kind of meats they put in their pulled ‘pork,’” she said darkly. “It did not even occur to me that you’d be introducing me to your friends on our first date.”
“I’m not,” he protested.
“Not what?”
“Not introducing you to my friends. Also, I like the sound of ‘first’ date, because it implies there will be a second date,” he said, smiling hopefully. “We don’t have to stay long, but I promised I’d stop by.”
She frowned at him and crossed her arms under her breasts, which did breathtaking things to her cleavage and promptly made him lose his train of thought again. So he quit talking and jumped out of the car, walked around to open her door, and held out his hand.
She met his gaze for a beat before she took his hand, so he didn’t let go of her all the way to the house, just in case.
“You live here?”
“Nope.”
“But you’re not introducing me to your friends?” She slanted a suspicious look at him.
“Nope.” He started to knock on the cheerful red door that he’d given a fresh coat of paint only the month before, but it flew open before his fist could connect.
“Sean! You brought a friend,” his mother said, beaming.
“They’re not friends. They’re my family,” he told Brynn, tightening his grip on her hand.
She smiled up at him and whispered five words through clenched teeth. “I’m going to kill you.”
But she followed his mom into the house, so Sean called it a win. Whether or not he was going to end up dead later, she was all his for now.
EIGHT
Brynn’s stomach clenched into a tangle worse than the one the gum had made in Barty’s fur. She’d swallowed her misgivings and agreed to have dinner with the first man she’d ever met who pushed every single one of her buttons, and now she’d ended up at dinner at his mother’s house. If she hadn’t known about Mrs. O’Malley’s illness, she would have wondered what kind of grown man took a woman home to Mom for their first date. Since she did know, the fact that Sean had brought her here was actually kind of touching. Mrs. O’Malley led her into a spacious family room, comfortably decorated with big, sturdy-looking furniture, lots of plants, and dozens of framed photos of Sean and his brothers at varying ages from babyhood to adulthood.
“Mom, this is Brynn. Brynn, this is my mom,” Sean said, grinning at both of them.
“It’s Kathleen, and you are very welcome to my home.”
“Brynn Carroll. You have a lovely home, Kathleen.”
Kathleen O’Malley was clearly ill. Her skin had thinned to near translucence, and she was far too thin. Wisps of close-cropped white hair feathered across her head as if she’d lost most or all of it recently and it was only just starting to grow back. Her warm smile, however, gave no hint of anything but delight.
“I heard all about you,” she confided, taking Brynn’s hand in her slender fingers. “You saved my dear Bartholomeow from the shame of an unsightly tail.”
Kathleen’s smile let Brynn know she was gently poking fun at her own “emergency.”
“Sean said you were pretty,” she continued, and Brynn felt her face warm up.
“Sean’s kind of pretty himself,” Brynn said, flashing a conspiratorial smile.
A shout of masculine laughter sounded from the entry to the kitchen, and Brynn looked over to see a slightly older, slightly less-rough-edged version of Sean leaning against the archway.
“Oh, he’s pretty all right, but I’m much prettier.”
Sean scowled and put a territorial arm around Brynn’s waist, surprising her. “Back off, Oscar. Brynn’s not interested in self-proclaimed ladies’ men.”
Oscar’s eyes widened. “Well, well. So that’s how it is,” he said quietly. “Interesting.”
Brynn pulled away from Sean and crossed the room to shake Oscar’s hand.
“I’m happy to discuss who and what I’m interested in all by my little old self,” she said lightly, slanting a glance back at Sean.
Oscar held on to her hand for a little bit too long. “It’s very nice to meet you, Brynn Carroll, although you have very bad taste in men,” he said, grinning. “I hope you like steaks.”
“You leave Sean’s girl alone and go outside with your brothers to watch the grill,” Kathleen chided her son. “She’s going to help me with the pies, aren’t you?”
Brynn nodded and then watched, bemused, as Sean and his brother jostled and joked their way out the kitchen door and, presumably, into the backyard. She looked at Kathleen, who was maybe about five foot nothing, and then at the door through which the two big men had departed.
“You had five of them?”
Kathleen blinked and then started laughing, and Brynn flushed as she realized what she’d said.
“I’m so sorry. I don’t really have much in the way of social skills. I spend most days mainly in the company of cats, dogs, and dill-scented wolverines,” she explained, feeling painfully foolish.
“And you spend a third of your nights as a swan,” Kathleen said quietly, looking up at Brynn with eyes filled with compassion and understanding.
Brynn’s shoulders slumped. “He told you?”
Kathleen patted her arm. “Honey, this is Bordertown. I’d almost be worried if yo
u were plain vanilla human. The most surprising thing about you isn’t that you turn feathery a couple of times a week, anyway.”
“It’s not?” Brynn picked up the stack of plates Kathleen indicated, but then stopped. “What is the most surprising thing about me? I’d think with a name like O’Malley you’d be used to seeing red hair.”
Kathleen smiled gently at Brynn’s lame attempt at a joke. “What surprises me the most is that my Sean finally brought someone home. He’s never introduced me to a woman in his life before.”
* * *
Sean watched Brynn as she gradually relaxed around his family, and he wavered between wanting to drag her off so they could spend time alone, and feeling an unreasonable burst of pride that she liked his family maybe as much as they clearly liked her.
Some of them maybe liked her too much.
He glared at Blake, who’d leaned a little too close to Brynn, laughing at something she’d said, but Blake just grinned at him and shook his head. Liam and Yeats were at the pub, so he’d only had to contend with two of his brothers, thankfully. They’d managed to work out plans for chores and house repair over steaks and salad, and now that they’d polished off the pies, Sean was ready to escape and get Brynn away from their evil clutches. Oscar was too damn charming for his own good, and Blake had been making Brynn laugh too damn much. It all left Sean feeling like he was ready to thump their heads together like he hadn’t done since they were kids.
His mom turned toward Sean and smiled, and his heart cracked open a little. She was too frail—too thin—too sick. He’d deliberately taken a job where he could save people; why the hell couldn’t he save her?
She touched his arm. “She’s truly delightful, Sean. I’m so glad you brought her to meet me.”
“I know. She’s amazing, Mom. Tough, like you.” His gaze returned to Brynn. Barty lay sleeping curled up in her lap and, for the first time in his life, he was jealous of a cat. “I think we’re going to head out. Spend some time alone before she has to report to the fountain.”
