Chapter 21
Kitt
Eamon’s eighteenth birthday party is the talk of the island. Especially with the weight of the investigation now off the Bayne and Burnes men’s shoulders. We don’t know how or why, all we know is that DI Collins has cleared anyone from the island from being a suspect in the firebombing. It’s going to be the party of the year. Or at least that’s what Fiona and Carol Ann have been telling me via our ongoing text thread.
We must send a dozen messages each, every single day.
Tonight, they’ve told me they’ve got a surprise for me. I pester them with constant messages but neither one will give me the slightest hint of what they are planning. No longer able to take the suspense, I plop down onto my bed to message Fiona solo.
She’s the easier one to break.
Just tell me what ur planning
No!
Besides Carol Ann would kill me
I shoot back a text.
Ugh I’m dying to know!
A moment goes by before she texts just one word followed by an ellipsis.
Just…
How can three little dots hold so much weight? She disappears for a moment. I try to be patient, waiting for her to come back. I tap my fingers on the soft duvet. “What am I going to wear to this party?” I’ve long since been through all my jeans and sweaters, having worn the prettiest one, the green one, to the horse race already.
Finally, Fiona messages.
Look out your window!
I pop up from the bed, running over to the window. “No freaking way!” Carol Ann’s little black car is pulling up to the house. Both girls are inside, frantically waving from behind the windshield.
I’ve never been so happy to see two people before. Half the fun of getting ready for a party is glamming up with the girls. I instantly know they’ve come to get ready with me.
“Sweet, sweet girls!”
“You talking to yourself again?” His big frame fills the open doorway of my bedroom.
“Always,” I say, pushing past him to run to the front door.
He calls out from behind me as I fly down the hallway. “Where are you going?”
“To invite the girls in.”
“What girls?” Heavy, demanding bootsteps plod behind me.
“My girls! Now don’t say no, don’t say anything mean.” I grab the handle of the door, flipping my hair over my shoulder to face him. “And be polite.”
He crosses his arms over his chest. “No one ran this by me.”
“Girls can be like that sometimes. Disobedient to our core.”
“Tell me about it,” he murmurs.
I throw open the door before they can knock, revealing the shining, happy faces of my friends. Smiling ear to ear, Carol Ann’s done her hair up in curls, the purple ends springing around her face in tight coils. She’s wearing all black, a sleek, sleeveless satin dress as she shivers in the cold.
Fiona, as sweet as always, has her long red hair down tonight, an innocent-looking pink hairband holding it back from her face. A heavy knit cream-colored sweater keeps her warm over her pink party dress. I fall into their arms in a fit of giggles. We have a three-way hug in our first in-person reunion.
Our high-pitched sounds of glee send him off. “I’ll go put the kettle on.”
“Come in! Come in! Carol Ann you must be freezing.” I hold the door open wide for the girls. Fiona pulls her white suitcase behind her.
“Aye,” she says. “I was freezing my tits off out there. But there’s no beauty without pain, is there, girls?”
I usher the girls straight to my room. “What did you bring, Fiona?”
She plops her suitcase on the open fold-out stand where I put mine when I first unpacked. “Dresses. Makeup. Curling irons.”
“And enough hairspray to blind an army. We’ll be stuck together the entire night with the amount Fiona uses.”
“You’re the one who said you didn’t want your curls to fall out when you were dancing,” Fiona shoots back.
They both look so pretty; I’m thrilled they’ve brought me clothes to borrow. “I can’t believe you’re here. You girls knew I needed you, didn’t you? And all I had to wear was jeans.”
Carol Ann leans in, whispering. “We want to know every single detail about what’s been going on here with you-know-who, but that’ll have to wait till we get a minute of privacy.”
Fiona nods in agreement. “We can talk at the Hobgoblin. For now? Makeover Time.”
She pulls a dark dress from her case. Long sleeves and sheer with a short shirt. The black material is printed with tiny colorful flowers in pinks and reds. There’s a spaghetti strap black dress that goes under the sheer layer.
Fiona holds it up against her, showing it off. “What do you think?”
“It’s beautiful,” I say, admiring the dress.
Fiona continues, “And I’ve got black tights and heels to match. Can you wear an eight?”
“I’m a seven and a half.” I think. “That should work.”
Carol Ann does my hair while Fiona does my makeup. Bayne stays out of our way other than delivering a tray with three cups of tea with the milk pitcher and sugar cubes, alongside a few of my oatmeal cranberry cookies on a plate. His eyes stay on my face a beat too long, taking in my hair and makeup. He clears his throat, rubbing the back of his neck as he leaves.
The girls can’t help but giggle as he walks away.
“God. He’s looking at you like I’m looking at these cookies,” Fiona says.
“Aye,” Carol Ann adds. “The man wants to devour you. He didn’t even have the decency to hide it.”
Fiona snorts. “Wait till he sees you in this dress.”
“Shh! Stop. He’ll hear you.” But I can’t stop the blush that creeps into my face, wondering if he’ll like the way I look.
Will he want to dance with me tonight? Do I even know how to dance with a real man? Awkward middle school, arms on the shoulders swaying, is all that I’ve experienced.
When I’m ready, Fiona guides me in front of the mirror. “Look.”
I take in my reflection. Dark curls fall softly to my shoulders. A hint of copper eyeshadow brightens my eyes, lined with dark lashes. A hint of blush on my cheeks and a soft pink lipstick. The dress is beautiful, flowy, and feminine, with just a hint of sexiness in the sheerness of the fabric. The heels didn’t fit, but my black boots don’t look too bad with the dark tights I wear.
“I love it.” I give them both a hug in turn. “Thank you so much. This means a lot to me, you two coming out here.”
Carol Ann pushes me toward the door. “Go on. Show your man how you look. See if he can take his eyes off you.”
“No,” I say, but she insists. Finally, I have no choice but to concede. “Wait here,” I tell them, closing my bedroom door behind me.
Butterflies dance in my belly as I slowly make the trek out to the kitchen where I know he’ll be sitting in his favorite chair by the window, sipping on something as he stares out over the sea.
There he is, just as I knew he’d be.
His eyes leave the window the moment he senses me.
I’ve known the man was handsome but…
Dressed like this…
He’s damn hot. He wears a white button-down shirt, black tie around his neck. He’s trimmed his beard, gelled his hair up and back.
Heat flows through my body, following the trail of his gaze as he takes in every inch of me. “You look incredible.” He pushes back in his chair, spreading his big thighs. “But there’s just one problem. Come here.”
Timid as a church mouse being beckoned by a lion, I tiptoe my way over to him. When I get close enough to catch the scent of his sexy cologne, he grabs me and pulls me in close, trapping me between his strong thighs.
He looks up at me, lust so deep in his gaze it makes me tremble.
I clear my throat. “What’s the issue?”
“You see, it’s this dress you’re wearin’.” His fingers tug at the tiny ruffle that runs along the hem. “It’s way too short.”
“I disagree,” I say, setting my chin.
His hands start to explore, making their way up my pantyhose-covered thighs. He’s under the skirt of the dress now, his rough skin catching at the silky material of my tights.
My hands go to his shoulders, my legs naturally parting as his curious fingers find their way to the gusset of my panties, black silk under black tights. The feel of his strong fingers rubbing me over the slick material, it’s too much. Instantly I find my knees going weak, my eyes closing, my head lolling back.
“You see,” he says, his voice filled with lust. “When a man sees you in a dress like this, he’s gonna want to do things to ya.”
“What kinds of things,” I ask with a trembling whisper.
“He’s going to want to reach up under this skirt and see what you’re hiding underneath.” He strokes me so perfectly, so gently, letting the climax build up inside me slowly, gently.
Wave upon wave.
Building up till my fingers are digging into his skin, a soft gasp coming from my lips.
“Shh. Quiet. Your friends will hear you.”
“Oh God.” The good feelings inside have me so lost, I forgot we aren’t the only two people on this earth.
“There’s a good girl. Stay quiet and come for me.” He rubs faster, harder, circling just around my clit. “And then when you dance the night away in this dress, all eyes on you, you remember who had you first.”
His words are the final sweep of pleasure I need to reach that pinnacle. The orgasm squeezes at me, making me ball up around him as I come. My pussy clenches, one final tightening before I feel free.
Giving a little shiver, I release his shoulders. I take a step back on jelly-like knees. A calm, glowing warmth flows through my body. “I should get back to my friends.”
“Go on,” he says, giving my dress one last longing look, like he wishes he could do more.
I rush back to the room. I’m terrified they’ll smell the arousal on me. But what can I do? Hopefully I’m wearing enough clothing to hide it. I close the door behind me. They’re both staring at me with expectant gazes.
“So how did it go?” Fiona asks.
Carol Ann giggles. “You sure were gone a long time. I’m taking it he really loved it.”
I bury my face in my hands. “Oh God. I think he did!”
“We knew he would. Fiona and I know what the Bayne boys like.” Carol Ann makes the statement with such authority, the pieces finally come together.
Their warning me away, his saying they should have known to warn me away. “You’re related to him. Aren’t you?”
“Distantly,” Carol Ann says. “Bayne on my grandmother’s side but she took my grandfather’s name when she married. And Fiona grew up next door to him.”
“He’s your cousin?” I ask.
Carol Ann nods. “As I said, distant. I mean, we’re practically all cousins on the island.”
“Some of us more closely related than others.” Fiona rolls her eyes. “That’s probably why all the boys at school acted so crazy. Their old relatives marrying second cousins.”
“That’s why you warned me off, isn’t it?” I look at them both. “You already knew who committed the crime and what would happen to me if I spoke up.”
“We suspected who set fire to the center,” Carol Ann says.
Fiona shrugs. “Who else could it be?”
Carol Ann says, “We didn’t have enough information to say for sure. But that’s when I started thinking about those computers at Clive’s. The Bayne boys wouldn’t take a life unless they were protecting someone.” She shakes her head. “I’m just so glad the boys got off. But how?”
She shoots me a curious look as if sharing his home makes me privy to information about his life. It does not. “The ride home from the race was quiet. I asked what Collins wanted. He simply said the investigation was closed and that it was a good thing for everyone on the island.”
“And you didn’t push him for more!” Carol Ann looks like she could smack me.
“I could sense not to ask.” Bayne and I—we’re getting pretty good at being able to read one another, knowing when the other needs space.
“You need to ask,” Fiona says. “We need to know.”
“Okay, I’ll talk to him.”
“Good,” Carol Ann says.
I’m loyal to Bayne but I’m loyal to these women too. I owe it to them to try and find out. “We’re going to get to the bottom of this. Tonight.”