Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

Nancy

“ T hank God you picked up. We’ve got a disaster on our hands!” Eugene was the fiddler from Mandrake, my Afro-Celt fusion band. I avoided looking at Liam as he got back into the truck. “What’s the matter?”

“It’s Dennis! He’s deserting! The traitor!”

“Calm down. Let’s take this step by step.”

“He just got a gig with a touring show of Celtic Dreamsong ! He’s blowing us off! A week before the tour! The gigs in Boston, Albany and Atlanta all specified Uilleann pipes in the contract! We can’t show up without a piper!” Eugene’s voice cracked.

“Calm down,” I said again. “This is bad, but we’ll fix it.”

“How, Nance? Every decent piper we know is booked solid those weeks! I’ve already made seven phone calls! We’re completely screwed!”

“We’ll fix it!” I insisted. “I’ll be back tonight. When I get home, I’ll call you and we’ll work something out. Don’t panic.”

I listened with half an ear to Eugene’s carrying-on, my body still quivering.

God. After all my resolutions to be tough. Making out madly with a stranger in his truck. Having a rain-soaked orgasm like none I even knew existed. Getting swept toward God alone knew what—his house, his couch, his rug, his bed. I hadn’t been swept away since ... well, never, really.

I’d never known anyone that good. Hell, I’d never known that good existed.

I was squirming, hot, wet, desperate. And that was after just some sweet talk, some gallant moves, a light kiss, a few buttons undone and my breasts expertly caressed.

He’d barely touched me, and I’d gone off like a bomb. How on earth was that even possible?

I jerked my attention back to Eugene before I lost the thread. “All this work for nothing,” he moaned. “I can’t take it, Nance. It’s too much for me. I’m going back to school. I’m going to be an accountant, like Mom wanted.”

“You’re not going to be an accountant,” I soothed with practiced ease. “It’s too late for that. You’re not fit for any work but being a fiddler now, so get yourself a cup of tea and just calm down.”

“Where the hell are you, anyway?” Eugene demanded.

My eyes flicked up to the side of Liam’s impassive face. “I’ll call you back, Eugene. Later, okay?” I closed the call and dropped the phone back into my purse.

The rain was now driving sideways into my open window. I rolled it up.

“I’ll take you back to your car,” he said.

The warmth was gone from his voice. I missed it.

It took twenty-odd minutes to get back to Lucia’s house, and every minute that passed, his reproachful silence made me shrink further back into myself. As if I’d done something wrong, but I wasn’t sure what.

When we arrived, he parked behind my car. So much had happened since I’d been there last, though it had been less than two hours. The whole gamut of human emotions had blazed through me, in waves. I felt hollowed-out.

I stared up at Lucia’s shabby old house with the bright yellow crime scene tape festooned across the door, and started rummaging for my car keys.

“Thanks for the ride,” I said. “And for keeping me company when we went to Baruchin’s.” And for the most mind-blowing orgasm I ever felt. That, too.

I wanted to say something to him after that moment of incredible intimacy, but his face looked so closed. The words just stopped in my throat.

I flung the door open and slid out of the truck. My legs almost buckled, and I steadied myself on the door before heading to my car. I tried to unlock it, but the key slipped from my stiff fingers, splashing into a puddle on the cracked old sidewalk.

Suddenly, Liam was beside me, fishing the keys out of the water, wiping them on his jeans. He opened the door and helped me into the car. I sat heavily in the driver’s seat, glad to be off my feet.

“You need protection,” he told me. “Twenty-four seven.”

I snorted before I could stop myself. “Do I, now? Well, isn’t that a shame. In a perfect world, I might agree with you. But I live alone, Liam. I work, all the time. I have a cat. And most importantly, I can’t afford a bodyguard. So there it is.”

“You could stay with me,” he said. “Bring your cat. I like cats.”

I gaped at him, at a total loss. “What?”

He shrugged. “It’s a possible solution.”

“But I…but what about your work?”

“I cleared my schedule for three weeks for Lucia’s house,” he said. “I’m overdue a vacation. I’d take some time for this. Just say the word.”

“But your assistant?—”

“I can find Eoin work on someone else’s crew in five minutes. Don’t worry about Eoin.”

That finished all the obvious objections to the outrageous proposal. Now, I had to get down to the actual, awkward truth. “Liam. Get real. We don’t have the kind of relationship where I could move in with you. Not even close.”

“But you need protection,” he repeated. “I feel it. Something bad is happening. You shouldn’t be alone.”

I shivered. “Well, maybe so, but I just met you yesterday. All we have is ... well, hell. I don’t even know what we had.”

“We had breakfast,” he offered.

“Do not make fun of me. This is no joke.”

“It wouldn’t be much of a leap,” he said.

“What leap?” she asked crabbily.

“Us,” he said. “From where we are now to the kind of relationship where I could have you to stay with me. There’s a gap of …” He held up his thumb and forefinger with barely any space between them. “That much. Depending on what you decide.”

Shivery tingles chased themselves across the entire surface of my body. “I can’t make a decision like that today. I’ve known you for what, twenty-four hours?”

“Time is an illusion,” he said.

She snorted. “Oh, don’t give me that lofty metaphysical crap. Time is not a damned illusion. Not in my world.”

“Okay,” he agreed. “I won’t.”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “So what exactly do you have in mind? An exchange of goods and services? I shack up with you, and you protect me, in return for what?”

His eyes hardened. “That was crass, Nancy. I’m not an opportunistic pig.”

“Whoa!” His anger gave me something to push against. “I never said you were! And maybe it’s just me, but I couldn’t help noticing a certain hurricane-force sexual energy coming off you, Liam!”

He wiped rain off his face. “Yes,” he admitted. “Sorry. It’s been a strange day.”

“Tell me about it,” I agreed fervently.

He crossed his arms over his chest. Big arms. A lot of chest.

I’d barely touched his body yet. And he was so careful with me, like I was made of glass. Fragile, brittle.

Oh, for God’s sake. I was poised to tumble over the edge of disaster already. There was no need to take a running leap for it. “Things are strange now,” I said. “It’s a bad time for?—”

“Strange times call for bold gestures. Brave risks.”

I snorted. “I’m actually not that brave, if the truth be told.”

“Bullshit. You have titanium for a spine. Like your mother.”

The mention of Lucia made my throat seize up, tight and hot.

He let a few moments tick by. “I’m not a cop or an investigator. I’m just a carpenter. I can’t promise to help you solve this problem. But I can make damn sure that nobody messes with you while you do it. That, I can absolutely commit to.”

My eyes dropped, heat infusing my face.

“Let me help you,” he urged. “At least think about it. Please.”

Oh, my, yes. Think about it I most definitely would. Every waking second.

“Thanks,” I murmured. “I’ll bear that in mind.”

He crouched until his face was level with mine. “And crash with one of your sisters,” he directed. “Do not stay in your apartment alone.”

“Liam, you cannot imagine how small our living spaces are?—”

“Please, Nancy. Please. For me.”

The intensity of his voice moved me. He really cared. He wasn’t just throwing his weight around. “Okay,” I heard myself say.

“Swear it,” he said. “On your mother’s grave.”

I flinched. “Oh, for God’s sake?—”

“I said that on purpose, to give you a jolt. For Lucia’s sake. She would have wanted you to be safe. I know that for a fact. She worried about you all the time.”

I sighed. “Okay, okay. I swear it on my mother’s grave. I will stay with my sisters tonight.”

“Indefinitely. Until we know what the fuck is going on.”

“Wow. You aren’t shy about bringing out the big guns, are you?”

“Not in the least.”

“Fine.” I shut the car door, with energy. Shameless manipulator.

He knocked on my window and I rolled it down.

“Now what?” I said, with bad grace.

“Is an Irish pub in Queens neutral ground?” he asked.

I blinked at him, bewildered. “I don’t follow.”

“You said a date had to be on neutral ground. I’ll be at Malloy’s, on Queens Boulevard, tomorrow night. Ever been to a seisiún?”

He waited for her nod, then went on.

“Malloy’s is a good one. The Guinness is good, the players are good, the food’s good. Irish stew, burgers. The seisiún’s from ten until two. I’d like to see you there.”

I leaned my arms on the open window and looked out.

“This is ass-backward, you know,” I told him. “First you invite me to live with you, and then you ask me out?”

He shrugged. “I try to be original.” He sank down, his face level with mine at the open window. “You’re over the limit again.”

I gave him a jerky nod. “Sure am, buddy. What are you going to do about it?”

A grin flashed across his face. He leaned forward and brushed his lips against mine, and then lingered, tasting me. The burst of delight made my body clench and thrum.

We gazed at each other as he leaned back. “I’ve never felt anything like this,” I said.

“Me neither.” He stroked my cheek with his thumb. “It’s got me all wound up. You’re cold. Get the heat going. You’re going to wait in here for the investigating officer?”

“I might as well,” I said. “Since the evidence techs don’t want me in the house till they’ve finished doing their thing.”

“Okay. Tomorrow night, then. And take care.” He smiled at me as he backed away and got into his truck.

After he drove away, I touched the tip of my tongue to my lips with a delicious shiver.

I could still taste him.

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