Chapter 14
IDidn’t Know
Deja
We’re sitting in the pub after the place has closed, and everyone has gone home. Cole has helped me to clean up and set up for tomorrow—or should I say Brooklyn?
I was a little thrown when he asked me to call him that. I knew it was a nickname of his, but Kate told me he used it for business, not family.
I couldn’t help but feel like he was establishing the difference earlier. I’m no longer family, I’m an outsider. Or his presence here is strictly business.
“I didn’t know any of that,” I say as we sit in one of the booths in the back while he tells me that my uncle Donny was murdered around the same time as my da.
I had no idea, and I have no clue where Ciara has been. If I had known, I would have wanted her here with me. Ciara was such a wee little thing. She was only about eight the last time I saw her.
At the time that Finlay came for me, Uncle Donny and his family were all in America already. I don’t know much about what happened, but what little I do know, I’m not about to share with Cole.
I’m still uncertain about him. This connection is one thing; my life and ability to trust are another. I chew on my lip as I think over everything he’s told me.
“You’re sure you don’t know why you were brought here?”
“Ach, there ya go sounding like an American again,” I say to deflect.
“You’ll get used to it. Dylan has lost his accent altogether unless he’s pissed. Kate and Jamie tend to have theirs around family the most. You might get lucky and keep yours,” he says with a smile.
I inhale deeply. I want to go to America, but I’m not sure going with Cole is the right thing to do. I need more time to think about it—time when he’s not so close.
Right now, his entire presence is consuming me. His cologne has filled my head and his big thigh is pressed close to mine. Every time I slide away, he moves closer.
I reach for the bottle of whiskey sitting between us and pour myself another. I’m doing my best to keep my hand from shaking. He hasn’t tried to kiss me since we started this conversation and that’s sort of freaking me out.
“Why do you take a drink every time I mention New York? You do know Kate and the rest of the family are there. It will feel like home after a while.”
“What if I don’t want to go?”
He covers my glass with his palm and slides it away from me. That intense look fills his green eyes, sucking me in. I’m holding my breath as I await his reply.
I don’t want to kick his ass, but I’ve mapped all my options since he placed me in this corner. If I can’t trust him and he’s here to harm me, I’m going to fight until one of us isn’t breathing. Preferably him.
“What aren’t you telling me, DJ? Why wouldn’t you want to come with me?”
“I told ya before, I don’t know ya anymore. I may not know why I was brought to Scotland or what happened, but I know it was for my own safety. I can’t go with ya without knowing I can trust ya.”
“You can always trust me,” he says, sounding as if he’s hurt. “I would never do anything to hurt you. My life’s mission is to make your life as safe as I can.”
“Yet ya keep hurting me ears, Brooklyn,” I taunt.
“Ach, on second thought.” He pauses to lean into me. He’s a breath away when he begins to speak again. “I don’t want to hear that name on yer lips unless we’re back home and around business. I’m yer Cole. That’s what I want to hear fall from yer lips.”
With that, he takes my lips in a searing kiss. The booth isn’t giving him enough room to maneuver as he devours me. He breaks the kiss and bites out a curse.
The next thing I know, he plucks me up from the bench seat and places me on the tabletop. Hovering over me, he takes my lips once again. I moan when he grabs my thighs and wraps my legs around his waist as he kisses his way down my neck.
A voice in the back of my head is screaming for me to stop this. However, I’m a twenty-nine-year-old virgin and this man is the only man who has ever made me want to change that status.
“Cole,” I whimper as he covers my nipple over the fabric of my catsuit with his warm mouth.
My belly flips and drops as my core floods with my juices. The way he’s sucking on my peak has me wanting to strip bare to allow him to fuck me right here.
“I want ya so bad, DJ. Yer so fucking sexy. Everything is going to be fine when I get ya home.”
His words are like a bucket of ice water. Why does he keep insisting I go to America? Does he need to get me away from the uncles?
“Please stop. I can’t do this,” I say and begin to push him away.
“What? Am I moving too fast, baby?” he asks as he searches my eyes with concern.
“Aye. This isn’t how I want my first time to be,” I mutter.
“Excuse me. Yer what?”
“My first time, Cole. I’ve never had sex before. It hasn’t been at the top of my priority list.”
“Aye,” he says and pulls a hand down his face, bringing attention to that sexy beard. “Right, ya live with yer great-gran and spend most of yer time with yer great-uncles, it makes sense.”
“Does that turn ya off? Have ya changed yer mind?”
He cups my face as I sit here on the table, feeling embarrassed. I should have kept my mouth shut. If not for the warning bells ringing in my head, I wouldn’t have stopped him.
I want sex. I want sex with him awfully bad. If he kisses like that, I know sex with him will be amazing. At least I hope so.
“Ya, DJ, are mine. I don’t care if yer a virgin or not. When I take ya no one else before me will matter. There will be no one after.
“Am I proud of ya for not giving away what’s mine? Aye. That means I get to fully corrupt ya. There is nothing ya could do that would turn me off.”
He finishes his words with a kiss that has my head buzzing. I run my hands through his hair and hold him close as he drinks from my mouth. Shite, I shouldn’t have stopped him.
He breaks the kiss and moves his lips to my ear. “Don’t worry, I’m a good listener. I’ve heard everything you’ve said and all that you haven’t.
“I’m going to show you you can trust me and I’m going to give you a first time you’ll never forget. I’m not here to hurt you, DJ. I’m here because I care about you.”
“If ya care about me and don’t want to hurt me, stop with the accent.” He finishes the end of my sentence with me and we both laugh.
“Come, let’s talk some more. I’ll try my best to stick to Gaelic just for ya,” he says with a grin and proceeds to spend the rest of the night speaking to me in Gaelic.
Brooklyn
I’m in my car following behind DJ. I want to make sure for myself that she reaches home safely. I probably should have let her go home hours ago.
However, sitting and talking with her in Gaelic felt so familiar. It felt like home. My family doesn’t use the language as much as we used to.
For the most part, we’ve all become Americanized. I’m going to enjoy having DJ in New York with me. She’s even picked up a few Scottish nuances I’m able to appreciate as they remind me of my mom.
“Aye, she’s perfect,” I murmur to myself.
My thoughts go to her earlier words. She doesn’t think she can trust me. Something has changed with her. Deja was never this cautious. She took to new friends easily.
In fact, as I remember, she was the first to welcome the new person in. Deja has a big heart and an old soul. She has been a listening ear for as long as I can remember.
She’s smart as a whip and witty. I can’t imagine what has made her so cautious. I tighten my hands on the wheel as I think of all the things I could be missing. I need answers.
DJ pulls up in front of the cottage and parks. I place my car in park and step out. When I get to her car, I open the door for her, and she steps out.
A smile comes to my lips as she’s wearing my vest that’s swallowing her. I gave it to her when we stepped out of the pub. It’s a bit nippy this time of morning with the frosty bite in the air.
I didn’t want her to catch a cold with her back bare. As great as she looks in the sexy outfit, that’s a lot of bare skin to have out. I tug the vest around her to keep her warm, then reach for her hand to walk her to the door.
“Ya don’t have to walk me. Ya should head to yer … hotel?”
“Ach, no hotel. I’m staying with family. Uncle Finlay keeps the doors open to us even when he’s not in town.”
“So you’re staying at Uncle Finlay’s, but he’s not here?”
“Aye.”
“Well, thanks. Ya didn’t have to follow me home. I would have been fine on my own,” she says as we stand outside the front door of the cottage she lives in with her great-gran.
“I feel better knowing I’ve seen ya to yer door,” I say as I wrap my arms around her.
“I had a good time. It was nice to feel like I was back home.”
“Aye, it was.”
I dip my head and peck her lips. The gentle kiss quickly turns into a heated one. It’s nearly impossible for us to keep the passion out of our kisses.
I can feel she wants me as much as I want her. I was blown away when she said she’s still a virgin. I want nothing more than to make her first time special for her.
I pull away and look down at her when I feel we’re about to get carried away. She sucks in a sharp breath and begins to squirm in my embrace. I grin and plant a kiss against her temple.
She smells like alcohol and something sweet. My mind goes to what her skin will taste like when she’s beneath me, screaming my name. I intend to make Deja mine in every way there is. No one and nothing is going to stop me from that now.
“I’ll see ya tomorrow,” I murmur.
“Okay, seven?”
“Aye, wear something that’s not going to get anyone killed.”
She laughs and gives my waist a squeeze. I lift a brow as she looks up at me while biting her lip. That little smile touches the corner of her mouth.
“Wear something that will get my knickers wet. Ya have been doing fine since ya arrived, by the way.”
I growl and bury my face in her neck. “Ya drive me crazy. I don’t want to leave ya.”
“Give me yer mobile. I’ll give ya my number and we can chat like we used to.”
I reach for my phone and hand it over to her. “Ya have no idea how much I miss those talks. Kate would be pissed if she knew how many times I called, hoping ya were around for me to clear my head.”
“Now ya don’t have to go through yer sister to chat with me. Call me anytime ya need.”
I lean in to take her lips once more. As our tongues dance together, I’m growing hard as a rock. When DJ reaches to palm my balls between my legs, I know I need to leave.
“Don’t be naughty, baby. I made ya a promise.”
“I just wanted to feel the wares. Ya have a good night, Mr. O’Brien. I hope ya dream of me.”
“I know I will, love. I know I will.”
I kiss her on the forehead and turn to leave. My mind goes to home and the calls I need to make. Logan should know where I am. I can’t keep putting this off.
I look down at the time on my phone and whistle. I won’t be making that call now. My brother would bite my head off.
I’ll call him later.