Chapter 3 #2
I ducked into the office to get an update from Ingrid, the short but take-no-shit pixie I’d recently promoted to full-time manager, then headed around to the narrow stairs tucked away behind the bar and deactivated the alarm on the door.
It had been installed after a break-in, and while it wouldn’t stop a determined thief or thug for very long, it would make a hell of a noise and send an alert to both my phone and Sgott’s.
I relocked the door, then padded up stairs worn down by centuries of foot traffic. As a pixie, I could have restored them, but their song was rich and warm, and I really didn’t want to alter it. Mom and Gran had obviously agreed with me.
The living area was very confined, even though the roof had been illegally raised by Gran years ago, and contained a combined kitchen-living area and two bedrooms—one had been Mom’s and was now mine, while the one Lugh and I had shared as kids was now a spare.
The bathroom was the second-biggest room in the flat and with good reason—it had at one point needed to cope with four oversized pixies using it.
Gran had moved out of the tavern when she’d handed the reins over to Mom, but before then, she’d slept in the loft.
I threw my purse on the sofa and walked over to light the fire, saying a prayer of thanks to the wood for its sacrifice, then placed the grate across and headed into the kitchen to grab the sleeping potion Darby had made me specifically for moments like this.
Once I’d taken it, I headed into my bedroom, stripped off, and fell into bed.
I was asleep almost before my head hit the pillow.
It was who-knew-how-many hours later when the Eye burning against my skin woke me.
I had no sense of danger, and the building’s song was bright and happy, but I remained still, pretending sleep as I fought my way toward full consciousness.
It didn’t take all that long to realize why the Eye had lit up, and heat of a very different kind stirred, right along with my hormones.
Eljin lay pressed against my spine.
“I thought you were heading to London for the weekend to meet your sister?” I murmured.
“I was. I am.”
His voice was softly accented, sending shivers of delight down my spine. Or maybe they were caused by the finger that was ever so slowly tracing its way down to my hip. “But we did arrange to meet here for breakfast before I left, remember.”
I didn’t remember, but it wasn’t like I’d really had time to think since I’d left the hospital. “And we both know ‘breakfast’ is your code for hot sex.”
“Only if my breakfast partner is willing.”
She definitely was. “What time is it?”
“Ten o’clock, or thereabouts.”
Meaning I’d slept for a very long time. I turned to face him.
He was a typical Tàileach pixie in looks, with wide shoulders, slim hips, and thick mahogany hair.
Though his face was probably a little too sharp to be called handsome, his lips were full and definitely made to give pleasure, and his body was well muscled.
“Hey,” he said softly, and kissed me, a warm but intense prelude to what was to come.
“That,” I said, when I could, “is quite a lovely way to wake up.”
The burnished gold flecks in his buttery brown eyes gleamed in the room’s shadowy light. “Your pendant would seem to disagree. One of these days, that lightning is going to strike.”
I laughed, tugged it off, and placed it on the bedside table, where she continued to throw little jabs of energy into the air.
She did this every time we shared a bed, though not, strangely enough, at other times.
I wasn’t sure why it was happening, and I really needed to ask Beira about it, given she’d known the goddess who had gifted the Eye to my family and could likely tell me if this was a warning or something else.
I really, really didn’t want it to be a warning.
I pushed the concern aside and ran a hand down the chiseled length of his body, letting my fingers play lightly across his erection.
He made a low sound deep in his throat and wrapped his hand around my neck, pulling me closer, kissing me almost savagely.
From that moment on, there was no talking; we explored, kissed, caressed, until desire burned as hotly as the Eye and all I could think about, all I wanted, was him inside.
Then he was, and we moved as one, slowly at first but with increasing urgency, until need and desire combined, becoming a force so fierce I couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t do anything more than simply want.
My orgasm hit hard and fast, and I gasped, shuddering and shaking as pleasure consumed me.
He came a heartbeat later, his body stiffening against mine, his deep groan echoing.
For several long minutes after, neither of us moved, then his lips brushed mine and he slid to one side.
“Now that,” he murmured, “is an even better way to wake up.”
“Agree. But now, I need a proper breakfast.”
I flung off the blanket, grabbed the still-pulsing Eye and put it on, then picked up my knickers and a T-shirt from the floor, pulling them on as I headed into the kitchenette.
“Tea or coffee?” I called. “Toast or cereal?”
“Is there no bacon on offer? I’m mortified.”
I laughed. “So am I, but I forgot to go shopping after getting out of the hospital yesterday.”
“That is what I call a very good excuse. Coffee would be perfect.” He came out of the bedroom barefoot, wearing jeans but no T-shirt—a look I’d always approved of when it came to a good-looking man. “Did you ever find out how Mathi and Cynwrig found you?”
I shrugged and filled the kettle, then dragged the coffee machine from the under-bench cupboard, blew away the dust, and reached for the bag of beans I kept in the upper cupboard.
I had no idea how fresh they were, given how rarely I made myself bean coffee up here, but if he didn’t like it, well, there was always tea.
“Mathi said it was something to do with the resonance of my weight on the earth.”
“A Myrkálfar can pick one resonance from another? That is indeed a talent.”
“Well, we’ve been bed buddies for a while. I daresay that helps. Toast?”
He shook his head. “I’ll grab something at the airport if I get hungry.”
I shoved a couple of slices into the toaster for me, then made his coffee and handed it to him. “What’s the plan for the weekend? Are you taking your sister and her children anywhere special?”
“Children?” he said, looking at me blankly for a second. Then he laughed. “Sorry, no, the children are staying home with their father. She had some business in London and thought it the perfect opportunity to catch up with her big brother.”
My eyebrows rose. “I thought she’d retired to raise her babies?”
“She stopped helping me, but she never retired from her business. She’s a designer.”
“Clothing?”
He shook his head. “Interior stylist.”
The toast popped, so I dropped it onto the plate then slathered it in butter. “Unusual business for a Tàileach.”
“She is an unusual woman.”
Admiration laced his reply, which was totally natural given said woman was his sister.
I certainly admired the hell out of my brother.
And yet... suspicion stirred, even though it had absolutely no reason to.
None other than the Eye’s continuing pulse, anyway.
I grabbed the jam out of the cupboard above my head, spread it over the still-melting butter, then picked up a slice and faced him again.
“You want me to pick you up at the airport?”
He shook his head. “I’m not coming back until late Sunday, and I daresay that now you’re out of hospital, the council has you hunting again.”
“Yeah, they do.” I gave him a brief rundown about the bank then added, “You didn’t have an account there, did you?”
“No, I remain with Paribus.” He glanced at his watch, then drained his coffee. “I should get going, given the traffic to the airport is usually dreadful.”
“You don’t want a shower first?”
He hesitated, then shook his head. “I’ll grab one in the airport lounge. I’d risk missing my plane if I had it here.”
“You’re presuming I’d deign to join you in said shower.”
“I am indeed.”
“Mighty bold of you.”
He laughed. “I’m French. Boldness is second nature.”
“That is definitely a truth,” I said dryly. “You’ll call Monday?”
“I will.” He placed his cup in the sink, wrapped an arm around my waist to draw me close, kissed me soundly, then headed back into the bedroom to finish getting dressed and collect his things.
While he did all that, I ate my toast, sipped my tea, and contemplated why the fuck the Eye seemed to have a hate-on for him. After bidding him goodbye, I listened to the building’s song until I was sure he had left, then rang my brother.
“Bethany,” Lugh said, his deep voice filled with warmth. “How are you this fine morning?”
My eyebrows shot upward. “You’re in a particularly good mood this morning, aren’t you?”
“We won the bid on a relic we’ve been after for a decade.”
“From a private collector?”
“Estate auction. Three other museums were after it.”
“Well, congrats, brother. I hope you’re taking Darby out somewhere nice to celebrate.”
“I am indeed. Viridis, in fact.”
Viridis was one of five “dining sensations” within Deva, and one of only twenty-three restaurants in the UK to be given a Michelin green star for high levels of gastronomy and sustainability.
I’d been there twice now, once with Cynwrig and once with Eljin, and it had indeed been a divine experience.
“Who’d you bribe to get a table there at short notice?”
He laughed. “No bribery needed when you know the ma?tre d’.”
“You do?”
“One of them, yes.”
“And you’ve never thought to mention this and thereby allow me to abuse said friendship to get a regular table at that piece of gastronomic heaven?”
He laughed again. “I take it you’re not ringing to simply say hello?”
“Well, no, but hello.”
“What is it you want this time?”