Then his mouth is on me, and my mind bleeps out.
I had no idea. That's the thought that keeps surfacing. I didn't know it could feel like this, his lips and tongue and the graze of his teeth pulling sounds out of me I have to bite down on because there are children down the hall. My fingers findhis hair and grip. He groans against my skin like I've done something to him.
"Lorcan—"
"I've got you." His hand skims down my stomach, slow, giving me a hundred chances to stop him. I don't stop him. His fingers slip beneath the waistband of my panties, and when he touches me—actually touches me, where no one ever has—my hips jolt off the bed and he catches my gasp with his mouth.
"Easy," he whispers. "Easy, baby. Let me."
Let me. And God help me, I do. I let him. His fingers move patiently. Devastatingly. He learns me, and something starts building low in my body that I don't have a name for—a tightness rises and it’s completely, terrifyingly outside my control.
"That's it." His voice is like velvet in my ear. "Don't think. Just feel. You're allowed to feel good, Maeve. You're allowed to take something."
"I can't—I don't—" My thighs are trembling. My whole body is trembling. "Lorcan?—"
"Come on, love. Let go. I'll catch you. That's my job now."
The orgasm breaks over me like a wave—crashing, pulsing, tearing his name out of me in a broken whisper while he holds me through it, murmuring things into my hair:good girlandso beautifulandI've got you, I've got you, I've got you, until my trembling eases and I'm lying boneless against his chest. His heart hammers under my ear as hard as mine.
The room is silent. There’s only the sound of our breathing.
"So," he says finally, and I can hear the grin. "Same time tomorrow? I'll bring an agenda this time.”
I hit him weakly with the back of my hand. He catches it and kisses my knuckles, then my wedding ring, and tucks me into his side—a place I’m beginning to love.
"We didn’t…” I start. “I mean, “You didn't…"
"Nope." He presses his lips to my forehead. "Not until you're ready. Not until you can't wait another second." His arm tightens around me. "Mrs. O'Rourke, I want you to know that I find you worth waiting for."
I lie in the dark listening to his heartbeat slow.
Again, I feel I’m on a merry-go-round that’s spinning so fast I can’t catch my breath.
Chapter 13
Maeve
"Maeve. It's the school,” Sully calls across the pub, holding up the bar phone. “Something about your brother.”
My stomach free-falls as I race across the floor and take the receiver. Schools don't call withgoodnews.
"Ms. Shaughnessy?" The secretary's voice is crisp. "There's been an incident involving Jamie. Principal Galdek needs you to come in immediately."
"What kind of incident?" My voice is shaky. "Is he hurt?"
"He was involved in a physical altercation with another student. The other child’s family is already here. We need his guardian present."
A fight. Jamie got in a fight?
Two weeks before a DCFS home visit, my brother got in a fight at school.
“I’m on my way.” When I hang up, I realize my hands are shaking.
"Sully." My voice comes out thin. "Can you cover for me? Family thing. I have to go."
"Course." He's already sliding down the bar. “Should I tell?—”
But before he can finish his sentence, I’m already heading out the door, untying my apron as I go.
