"You bastard." Keelin gathered what little dignity she had and stormed towards the cliff path.
"Ouch!" She stopped and looked down at her leg. She pulled her wet skirt up and saw blood leaking from a large gash in her leg. Vaguely she remembered the scrape of coral on her leg before muscular arms had wrapped around her.
"Damn it." Keelin heard Flynn curse seconds before she was lifted into his arms.
"Don't! I can walk. I don’t need you to take care of me," Keelin protested, pushing at the wall of his chest as he climbed the path.
"Stop pushing me or I will throw you over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes."
"You wouldn't dare! Put me down!" Keelin was in full Irish temper.
"Damn it, woman, you are nothing but a headache." Flynn unceremoniously lifted her and dumped her over his shoulder, locking his arm firmly under her butt. Keelin blushed in shame and smacked him on his firm behind.
He laughed.
Keelin sighed and stopped. She craned her neck to look at the cove and swore she could still see a faint blue shimmer deep in the water. She focused on regulating her breathing and tried to bring her temper down. Letting herscience brain click in, she tried to configure a list of reasons for why the cove would have glowed blue. From within. At the exact moment she lost her senses to his touch.
Keelin flushed. Her insides were still singing and she could feel heat everywhere that he touched her. Why was she so attracted to him? He was surly, rude, and blew her off. Not to mention the fact that he only saw her in awkward or compromising positions. Just once she would like to have the upper hand with him. Keelin squirmed on his shoulder and felt the heat of his hand pressed hard into her legs. Everywhere their bodies touched hummed with energy. It was as though the universal power of attraction was meant just for them. Keelin wondered if there was some sort of "power" he had that she was tuned to.
She turned and smacked him on the head. "Are you a wizard?"
"Jesus, Keelin, are you drunk?" Flynn muttered about crazy women and reached the front of the cottage. He gently placed her down, though she was sure that he wanted to throw her in the gravel path. He crouched and lifted her skirt, revealing the deep gash.
"Just hold on a minute, okay?" Flynn asked. Keelin nodded quietly. His touch on her leg was taking her mind far from the pain. He opened a small pouch and placed an ointment on her leg. A cooling sensation immediately relieved the pain. Surprised, she sat up and stared at him.
"What is that?" Keelin demanded. She knew that coral cuts typically stung for far longer than a normal cut, as coral would often have a poison that could irritate the skin for days.
Flynn smiled as he pocketed the jar.
"Ask your grandmother."
"Ah, I see." Keelin looked at him quietly. What was there to say? The day caught up with her and exhaustion hit. Part of her wanted to weep. It was just too much. Weird powers, a new family, a foreign country, and now Flynn.
"Don't. Are you going to cry? Does it hurt? Come on now. Where's the feisty girl that was spitting like a wet cat just moments ago?"
Flynn ran his hands through his hair and managed to look supremely frustrated and concerned at the same time.
"I just. This. All of it. What am I even doing here? This is too much. I can't have family that I didn't know about. And I know Fiona looks at me to carry on her legacy. And this. You. What, I don't even know what this is. And why did the cove glow blue? Did you see that? That's not even normal. I think I'm losing it." Keelin babbled on, wringing her hands in her lap. She reached to her hair and began braiding it, an old habit of hers to calm herself when she was stressed.
"Glowed blue? You saw the cove glow?" Flynn cut through everything else and focused on that one point.
"Yes, it was blue. Right when I, you know. When, um." Keelin blushed.
"When I slipped my hand into you and you lost yourself?" Flynn supplied helpfully, moving towards her slowly, a predatory look in his eyes.
"Yes! No. I mean yes, but no to you coming any closer. I mean it, Flynn, back off." Keelin had had all she could take. "I should really just go home to Boston. This is allridiculous. Thanks for carrying me up but I need to go to bed."
Keelin turned away without looking at him. She wasn't prepared to answer any of the questions he had. She needed to ask Fiona about the light in the cove. But for now, she needed to be alone. Closing the door quietly behind her, she tiptoed to her room. A small light was switched on by her bed, along with a tray on the table. The tray held a scone, cold tea, and a pile of bandages and ointment.
"How did she even know?" Keelin whispered. Exhausted, and beyond trying to figure out the events of the day, Keelin stripped and showered the sand off her. Leaving her hair bundled in a towel, she bandaged her leg and crawled into bed. She would look into flights back to Boston in the morning.
CHAPTER 11
Keelin awoke to bright light. Her shades had been opened and the sun was far from the horizon. Dizzy, she patted the bed for her phone. She clicked it on and saw it was already late morning.
Keelin sighed and sat back as the events of the night before washed over her. She blushed as images of Flynn's mouth and the taste of him flashed through her. The man had the mouth of a god. She tried not to think about how quickly she had gone off in his hands and thought it was best not to dwell on it. It was probably just a fluke. It had been a long time for her was all. Adding to that some whiskey, the adrenaline from the cove being insane, and Flynn rescuing her, she supposed it would make her more susceptible to his touch. She wouldn't be able to look him in the face anytime soon, of course, but as she planned to go back to Boston anyway, she doubted that it mattered much. They were consensual adults. Mature people. No biggie, right?
Keelin examined her cut and was amazed to see how healthy it looked. The bright red and puckered skin of the night before had faded to a light pink and the skin had healed up nicely. Witch or no witch, Fiona clearly knew her stuff when it came to ointments.
