Chapter 8
J amie was outside on the deck speaking with the security systems installers, a team of four, when Pauley pulled into the driveway beside their van. He smiled and waved her up while still talking.
“What ye have shown me sounds like the way to go,” he replied to Larry, Mo, Curly Joe, and Casey.
The side of the van had an emblem of the popular icons of cartoon caricatures in a burst of animation with the title Best Party Yet painted on the side. It was a very popular entertainment business for all types of parties, especially children’s parties.
It was also a front for emergency law enforcement security situations. Jamie would have never known. He’d been wondering if the driver had messed up the address of the party he was supposed to be headed to when he’d pulled into his driveway. Very clever. Even the team didn’t divulge their real names.
“Aye, sir,” replied Larry, who seemed to be the leader of the party. Since they were made up to resemble those icons, all except for Casey, who was the location analyst of the group, they would be forever visible only as the persona they identified with if it ever came into question. Most witnesses were not trained to notice details, just general impressions.
Jamie held out his hand to Pauley as she approached and she let him slip his arm around her waist as he tucked her in. Just where she needed to be; where he could protect her. It felt right.
“I’ll let ye get on with it then,” he nodded to Larry.
“Why don’t ye and yer wife go to breakfast or something,” Casey urged, her curious blue eyes studying Pauley with interest. “We’ll be gone before ye get back.”
Pink stole into Pauley’s cheeks but Jamie didn’t correct the young lass as to his marital status. Instead, he told Casey, “We might just do that under one condition. If Chief Inspector Tannock gave ye any instructions to plant a bug in my house of any kind, or anywhere, ye are to ignore him. All I want is the security system. And tell him I’ll be checking.”
The three men snickered but Casey just grinned and agreed. “Aye, I’ll tell him ye said so, although we have no such orders, sir.”
“Out of curiosity, if I was to pay ye to plant a bug on his doorstep, would ye do it?” Jamie asked.
Casey’s eyes twinkled. Her slim fingers brushed a lock of auburn hair behind her ear as she replied, “I’m sorry, sir, we don’t take civilian jobs, but I know someone who could help ye with that.”
“Aye, I just bet ye do,” Jamie replied with a chuckle.
They all laughed and the crew split into different directions, leaving him alone with Pauley.
“Ye want to get some breakfast then? We’ll have to take yer car since my rides are inside the garage.”
“Ye haven’t eaten yet?” she asked as they headed towards her car.
He nodded. “I have, but have ye?”
“I had two of Elliott’s scones,” she confessed. “But I could do with a cup of coffee.”
He opened her car door and she slid inside. When he got into the other side, he asked. “Where to? Oates?”
She shot him a mischievous grin as she backed out of the driveway. “How about the Hope Barks animal shelter via Starbucks?”
Jamie’s eyebrows lifted. “Do ye have an escaped animal that was picked up?”
“Nay. I thought I might like to adopt one, so thought I’d see what they have.”
Jamie’s quick brain did some calculating and it only took a second for him to realize Pauley was up to no good. “I think ye better tell me what’s going on, lass. Are ye getting into the case against Quinn’s orders?”
“Not exactly,” she hedged, pulling into the drive-through. “Do ye want a coffee or a latte?”
“Just a large coffee,” he replied, taking out his wallet and handing her some bills.
She placed her order and then pulled around to pay for it. After she pulled back into traffic, he asked again, “Now, what is going on, lass?”
Pauley explained what had happened in Quinn’s office while Jamie listened. On one hand, he was happy that she apparently trusted him enough to confide in him, but he wasn’t happy that she was going against orders.
“Look, Pauley, I realize ye are motivated more than usual because Luca is involved in this, but ye are going against direct orders to stay out of it. What exactly are ye hoping to find here?” he asked as they pulled into the parking lot of Hope Barks and around to the back. She backed up against a fence running along the perimeter between some employee cars and turned off the engine.
“I just want to observe for now,” she explained, taking a sip of her latte. “Mica should be here any time. His dog needs a jab,” she snickered.
Jamie rolled his eyes. “Did ye talk him into this?”
“Actually, it was his idea,” she replied, her brown eyes sparkling at him.
Jamie grunted and shook his head. “Ye two are a bad combination, I can tell.”
Pauley huffed. “Actually, we are a great combination. We always solve the cases we work on together. Not that Quinn puts us together much. He always saddles us with someone we don’t like very much. Like Brodie.” She shuddered. “That man is a real creep.”
“Since I don’t know much about jurisdictions, I don’t know why Interpol would want in on this case either, but if this Brodie’s as bad as ye say he is, then he bears watching.”
When the tap came on Pauley’s window, she nearly jumped out of her skin. Jamie did too, until he saw her partner’s face through the glass. Mica wasn’t in uniform.
Pauley rolled the window down and hissed, “Where did ye come from, Mica? Ye almost gave me a heart attack!”
“I was just walking my dog,” he replied innocently, but his grin nearly split his face. “Ye are usually more observant, Pauley.” He shot a considering side eye at Jamie. Then his face disappeared as he bent down and came back up with a small poodle in his arms. “Meet Curdle.”
“Where’s yer squad car, Mica?” Jamie asked. “I didn’t see it when we pulled in.”
“That’s because I’m driving Miley’s car,” Mica replied. “I left the squad in my garage.”
“Miley is Mica’s wife,” Pauley explained.
For some reason, it made Jamie feel better to know Mica was married. Working relationships could turn into other things, and he could admit to a little jealousy of the big, rangy detective.
“I see Pauley managed to drag ye into this with her,” Mica added. “She was under strict orders to go home. And I told her to go home too. I can take care of this.”
“Aren’t ye under orders to stay away as well?” Jamie asked, looking skeptical. “Sounds like a case of the pot calling the kettle black. Ye are both disobeying direct orders.”
Mica scowled. “Pauley is the one who could be in danger, which is why the chief wants her out of this and somewhere safe. I don’t believe I have anything to worry about, and I don’t trust the man who has taken over the case. With Luca having to hide out too, I’ll no sit by while an incompetent fool throws his weight around.”
“I told him about Macalister, Mica. Ye can talk freely,” Pauley said with a sigh. “Ye might as well get in the back seat as long as ye are here.”
Mica opened the back door and slid in with Curdle, who immediately jumped between the bucket seats and into Pauley’s lap.
“Hiya, Curdle,” Pauley cooed, scratching the dog under its chin.
When the black motorcycle came around the corner of the whitewashed, low-slung, building and parked near the back door, they all watched intently.
“A Ducati Streetfighter V4,” breathed Mica reverently. “Whoever that is, he’s one lucky lad. I always wanted a Ducati, but had to settle for a Kawasaki.”
Jamie nodded, his eyes glued to the sleek, shining bike. “Aye, she’s a beauty. I’ve thought of buying a bike and hitting the touring trails of Scotland since I retired, but I’ve no gotten around to it yet.”
Pauley snorted. “Ye two might as well have yer tongues hanging out like kids in a candy shop.”
“Ye like bikes, Pauley,” Mica growled. “Ye wanted in the motorcycle pool when ye first joined the force as I remember.”
“That was a long time and thousands of family pounds ago,” Pauley sighed. Then she gasped when the rider took off his helmet. “Ye have got to be kidding me.”
Mica and Pauley both ducked as the driver of the motorcycle looked around the parking lot as if searching for something. Jamie didn’t duck, he had no reason to. “Why are ye two hiding?” he asked, taking Curdle from Pauley because the poor dog was panting from being squished in her hold.
“That’s Brodie Macalister,” Pauley gritted. “What’s he doing with a bike like that? And why isn’t he in standard issue?”
“Only one reason I can think of,” Mica snapped. “Did he go inside, Jamie?”
“Nay, someone’s coming out to meet him. It looks like a young lad with a carrot top for hair, lanky and taller than Macalister.”
Pauley handed a camera over to Jamie. “Quick, take a few snaps, Jamie, please? That has to be Luca’s friend, Belton. He works with Luca at the shelter and has been over to the house a few times.”
Using the dog for cover while he had his paws on the dash, Jamie quickly zoomed in and took some pictures of the two people behind the building. He also snapped a picture of the license plate on the Ducati. The lad with the red hair was suddenly holding up his hands, shaking his head, and backing away. He snapped a few more pictures of the confrontation until the kid turned and ran back into the building. Macalister watched him briefly, then put his helmet back on and took off on the bike.
“He’s gone,” Jamie told them, handing the camera to Pauley. “Whatever he wanted from Belton, the kid didn’t want any part of.”
Pauley and Mica looked at the pictures and Mica frowned. “What the devil is he up to?”
“I don’t know, but I’m willing to bet that plate doesn’t come back to Brodie,” Pauley said. “Do ye think he’s working undercover?”
“I’d say he has to be,” Mica replied.
“Maybe Belton’s the CI you were talking about,” Jamie inserted thoughtfully. “Ye said he had one. Could it be the kid?”
Mica snapped his fingers in a lightning-just-struck gesture. “Jamie, I think ye are onto something. What if Belton isn’t the CI, but Luca is? And with Luca out of the picture, he’s trying to recruit Belton?”
Pauley went pale with fury. “That...that...I’ll draw and quarter that sneaky bastert if he has dragged my son into a drug investigation without my knowledge. That would be just like him. We never got along and this would be his way of getting even with me, the spiteful git.”
“Luca’s not underage, Pauley,” Jamie reminded her.
“If Brodie’s here, then there is something going on at the animal shelter,” Pauley snapped. “Maybe someone is running drugs or laundering money through it. If Luca saw something, that could explain why Ruskag was after him. And with the fire bomb at my house, it also means he’s still in danger,” she insisted.
Mica growled slowly. “There is another possibility, Pauley. What if Brodie’s dirty and he’s looking for information on Luca’s whereabouts from Belton?”
They were all silent for a moment, absorbing the reality that it could be true.
Finally, Pauley spoke, jaw clenched with determination. “I need to talk to Luca as soon as possible.” She opened her car door. “But first, I need to speak with Belton. If there is a possibility of drugs and money being laundered and sold through Hope Barks, then Belton might know something. For all we know, Brodie is claiming cross jurisdiction because of that , especially if he’s dirty.”
“Pauley, wait,” Jamie urged, grabbing her arm. “What do ye mean cross jurisdiction?”
“It means that if an investigation started in another area and crossed borders, the jurisdiction of the person or persons who are investigating can take over the investigation in the area it’s expanded into. Which is what Brodie is claiming when all’s said and done,” she snapped the explanation. She tried to shake his hand off, but Jamie held her tightly.
“Nay, lass. Ye are no going in there. Ye could put Luca in even more danger if ye start poking around. Quinn may know something ye don’t, which could be another reason he want’s ye partnered with Mica. He knew ye wouldn’t stay out of it totally on yer own, so it’s his way of turning a blind eye while Mica continues to investigate on the sly.”
“I like the way Jamie thinks,” Mica added with admiration.
“I’ve known Quinn a lot of years. He may be a right pain, but he’s very sharp and has earned his position. He plays his cards close to his vest, always has. He releases them when the time is right, so ye need to listen to him. Besides, he’s yer boss,” Jamie said with a stern look.
Pauley wasn’t listening. “If ye two think I’m going to sit back and do nothing while my son is in danger, ye are out of yer blinking minds,” she snarled. “Now, let go of me, Jamie, I’m warning ye.”
She jerked her arm out of Jamie’s hand and was out of the car quicker than a flash. Mica swore and jumped out while Jamie popped out his side and raced after Pauley. He barely caught her, but he did. He swung her around to face him.
“Ye are acting like a distraught mother,” Jamie gritted firmly, holding her forearms.
“I am a distraught mother,” Pauley spat furiously at him.
“Exactly. Which means ye are nae an unbiased investigator at this point. This is why ye shouldn’t be anywhere near the case. Ye need to be near yer son and let Mica take over.”
Pauley continued to fight with Jamie until he finally turned her around and landed several hard spanks against her jean-clad backside. She gasped in outrage.
Mica’s jaw dropped open but then his eyes gleamed with satisfaction.
Pauley’s eyes narrowed to slits and suddenly her leg was behind Jamie’s knee and he was headed for the ground. He held onto Pauley though and took her with him, tumbling her over sideways and rolling on top in a move he’d learned years ago.
“Now, lass,” he warned, holding both of her arms above her head. “I’m sure this asphalt is nae a comfortable surface to be lying on, but I’ll let ye up when ye agree to give this up. Get it through yer beautiful head that I’m no going to let ye do something reckless that could get ye and Luca both hurt. And if ye don’t agree, I’ll carry ye to the car and put yer own handcuffs on ye to keep ye inside. Plus, the next chance I get, ye will be over my knee and getting a paddling like ye have never had before.”
Pauley was panting hard and struggling, but her struggles slowed at his last threat. Jamie could see the rage leaving her gorgeous eyes and caution returning. Finally, she nodded her assent. “Aye.”
Jamie stood up and pulled her up with him. He was glad she’d given in because even though he was in good shape, rolling around on the ground wasn’t something he did every day. He was sure he’d feel it tomorrow.
They went back to the car in silence and Mica took Curdle out. Jamie put Pauley in the passenger’s side because she was trembling from the adrenalin let down. He would drive them home and then they would have a serious talk.
Mica leaned into the driver’s side. “I’ll let ye know everything I find out, Pauley, I promise.” He stood up and shook hands with Jamie. “Take care of her, Jamie. She’s a special lass whose had a hard way to go fer a long time,” he murmured.
Jamie stared. “I intend to.” He slid into the car, started it, and pulled out. Glancing over at Pauley, he could see her fingers laced so tightly they had white ridges on them. Her eyes were closed, her head back on the seat.
What was going on with her? There was no doubt in his mind that she’d needed to be stopped. She’d been livid about Macalister, angry enough quite possibly to go after the young lad in an inappropriate way. Reason had gone out the back door, and he’d seen it in her eyes.
He was also willing to bet her past with Macalister was more than just having to turn the man down for a date. The thought of him attempting to touch Pauley when it wasn’t wanted made him furious.
Gently, he reached over and closed his big palm around her entwined hands. “Are ye alright, wee firebrand?”
***
P AULEY’S SLENDER FRAME was still shaking and she was suddenly exhausted. She’d been so angry, so ready to slam Belton up against a wall and make him talk. Or shake him with the front of his shirt like she had Luca. Now that the adrenaline that had charged her up was receding, she was left with little energy to draw on.
Mica and Jamie had both tried to reason with her, but it was ultimately Jamie who she’d been forced to reckon with. Admitting to herself that he had done her a favor didn’t come easy. Her career could have been ruined, and she would have accomplished nothing if she’d actually assaulted Belton.
Mica letting her get by with shaking her own son senseless was one thing, but no way in hell would it slide by with Luca’s friend.
Would she have done it? Not knowing for sure just made her feel worse.
“I need some coffee,” she croaked. “Adrenaline letdown.”
Jamie nodded. “Aye, Starbucks it is.”
With still trembling fingers, Pauley took the cup Jamie handed her from the drive-through window at Starbucks and sipped in the soothing hot brew. She could feel the effects, whether real or imagined, in her mind and body. She didn’t care what anyone said, coffee won hands down as her brew of choice. She liked tea too, of course, but coffee was her go to caffeine high.
By the time they reached Jamie’s house, the cup was gone and so was the security team.
“How are we going to get in the house if the security is engaged?” she asked, prudently waiting for him to get her car door. She had a suspicion she might be in trouble. Maybe?
She wasn’t sure how she felt about that now that a reckoning might be near, but like any lass needing to cover her arse, there was no point in making it worse.
Jamie turned as he got out of the car and showed her his cell phone with a grin. “They sent me a temporary code to get in. I’ll change it when I get inside.” He came around the car and opened her door. Once out, he murmured in her ear. “Smart, lass. Ye learn quick.”
If she hadn’t already acted like a complete jobber, she might have snarked back at him, but once again, self-preservation kicked in. “I can appreciate a man willing to wait on me,” she replied, her hand tucking her hair nervously behind her ear.
He chuckled and tucked her up against his warm body as they walked. “I’m glad to see ye have stopped shaking. I was getting worried about ye.”
“No need to worry about me, I’m tough as nails.”
“Even nails have a breaking point,” he replied, squeezing her waist. “They stay more secure when wedged tightly inside a firm foundation.”
She glanced up at him in surprise. “I’m not sure if that’s corny or sweet, but it’s almost poetic.”
Jamie laughed then. “Blame it on my mother. She used to read Evangeline and other poems to me for bedtime stories. Maybe some of it stuck.”
“That’s a sad story for a young lad. An entire people and a love lost with Longfellow’s words. Can ye remember any of it by heart?” She remembered studying Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poetry in school. Evangeline was one of the few poems she remembered much about, but an eerie sadness had invaded her with Longfellow’s words and left an impression she still felt.
“Only one line... ye who believe in affection that hopes, endures and is patient, and in the strength of a woman’s devotion, listen to the tale of love in Acadie ...or something like that,” he paraphrased, shooting her his killer smile as they stopped in front of the door.
“That’s pretty good. I’m impressed.”
“It was at that point that Mum would reassure me of her love and devotion and not go getting myself lost and making her worry,” he confessed with a chuckle. “She liked to relate the words to a modern situation. And at that tender young age, I didn’t have a clue what the poems really meant, I just liked the cadences of the lines. Or so she said.”
His eyes slid away to his phone and he began to enter the code for the door.
Pauley tried to imagine him as a young boy listening to his mother read to him at night. She suddenly realized she wanted to know more about him. A lot more.
“Here we go.” The door swung open and Jamie waved Pauley in past him. “Ye can hang yer coat just inside the closet on yer left,” he instructed.
They hung up their coats and then Pauley was able to actually appreciate the living room she’d scurried through after coming down the stairway to the door this morning. The leather furniture set still had its shine and she wondered if that was new since he’d lost Rhonda?
Her eyes were drawn to the cozy fireplace on the left side of the room once you were past the small entryway. There was a family photo of Jamie, Lucerne, and a gorgeous red-haired woman who had to be his wife. A lovely family—her heart ached for his loss. You could see from the next picture where they were both enclosed in each other’s arms, the devotion and love in their eyes. It had been a happy marriage. Gulping down the lump in her throat, she felt like an outsider.
On the right was the staircase to the second level and straight ahead alongside the staircase was the hall headed back to the kitchen. The door by the stairwell went to his study, she could see a desk inside the open doorway with shelves behind it.
She turned and watched him as he reset the code on the door then wandered through the doorway of the study to appraise the organized space on his desk. Everything about the man was neat and well-ordered. Even his lean, hard body with muscles that flowed neatly into one another, strong and supple, yet not overly bulging like a body builder. Trim and powerful, she’d felt that strength earlier and blushed slightly as she remembered his body rolling onto hers. Marveled at how easily he’d held her captive with her arms over her head.
Granted, she was in good shape, but she knew she’d be feeling that roll on the asphalt tomorrow morning. She was willing to bet he would too, though. Time waits for no one and it begins its relentless pace towards deterioration and death from the minute you are born. The young can’t wait to get older, and the old wish they were young again.
“What are ye thinking about, lass?”
She turned to see Jamie leaning against the doorjamb, his folded arms defining his muscles in the hunter-green, long-sleeved sweater that brought out some green in his eyes. Her heart beat a little faster. “Oh, I don’t know.”
“That means ye must be thinking about me,” he teased, dropping his arms and coming towards her.
“Ye’d like to think so, wouldn’t ye?” she gibed.
“All I know, is I’ve been thinking about ye since we met. Are ye still running away from me, Pauley, or have ye decided ye want to stop and dance with me yet?”
She thought back to their conversation in the diner about his intention to chase her until he caught her interest. “I believe I’d like to dance,” she replied, throwing caution to the wind and slipping her arms up around his neck.
“In that case, we need to have a little discussion,” he replied smoothly, taking her hand and pulling her over to the leather loveseat that matched the furniture in the living room.
As he sat down, he took her with him, but not in the way she’d expected. Suddenly she found herself lying across Jamie’s hard lap and pinned against his lean body. She wanted to protest, but the words wouldn’t come. Instead, she looked back at him and watched as he smiled down at her while his big palm started rubbing circles on her rounded backside. Feeling the warmth of his hands through the skinny denim jeans, she held her breath.
When his right hand went into the air, her eyes dared him to do his worst. She wasn’t going to beg him to stop because at this moment in time, she was right where she wanted to be. If she objected, he might stop and where would that leave her?
The spanks he’d delivered in the parking lot had just left her primed and wanting more, but their residual warmth had faded quickly. In spite of her state of mind in the car, a small part of her body had savored those smarting swats, and fairly acknowledged the fact that he had kept her from making a fool of herself.
“Ye just committed yerself to me now, lass, and I don’t intend to let ye go. Part of taking care of my woman is to meet her needs. And whether ye want it not, ye need a good spanking.”
Pauley opened her mouth to say something snarky about just getting on with it when a hot pain suddenly exploded right in the middle of both her bottom cheeks. The fireball quickly moved right, then left, which set up a steady rhythm of three at a time that he seemed perfectly comfortable with. For Pauley, not so much.
“S-Stop,” she sputtered, her arms flailing as she tried to catch her breath. The thin stretchy jeans were no protection at all. She kicked her legs up and he immediately flung his right leg over both of hers without breaking stride. Desperately, she tried to catch her breath and absorb the pain as it connected with her bouncing rear. Yes, she could feel it bouncing, but wasn’t inclined to worry about the bounce of her flesh so much as the board-like hand that was inflicting the bounce.
“J-Jamie,” she shrieked, hearing the whine of weakness she detested in her own wailing tone. She tried ineffectively to buck off his lap, but earned a growl from him.
“Lie still and take yer spanking, Pauley. Ye should have listened to me and Mica when we warned ye not to go after that young lad. As a parent, I’d have ye arrested if ye decided to go after Lucerne with the attitude ye were displaying today,” he scolded. “Not that I think ye would have done Belton physical harm, ye are too much of a professional for that, but ye would have scared the poor kid out of his wits. And if he told his parents, the end result would have been the same.”
“Y-Ye said if I obeyed, ye wouldn’t spank me.” She tried objecting after all, since this wasn’t quite working out the way she’d thought it would in retrospect. This hurt like nothing she’d ever experienced.
“That’s nae exactly what I said. I said if ye didn’t obey me, ye’d get a paddling like ye have never had before,” he explained, pausing to rub her rear. “But that was before ye committed yerself to our relationship,” he added with great satisfaction. “Now it no longer applies because yer mine, and I’ll make sure ye get what ye need.”
“Ye need to let me up,” she pleaded, trying to regain control of herself. It was embarrassing to be begging, and his reasoning was too complicated to absorb in the position she was in. She needed to rethink her desires and consider she may have been wrong!
“I’m no finished yet. I want ye to think about what it would be like to lose everything ye worked so hard for because ye wouldn’t listen.”
With that, he started that awful steady spanking rhythm that was driving her emotions to the brink. What was worse, she’d already thought about those things and knew he was right. Between the pain in her bottom and pain in her heart, Pauley finally burst into tears. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d done that. Raw, choking emotions overwhelmed her and she couldn’t help herself.
Jamie stopped spanking immediately and pulled her up and into his arms where she shamelessly clung to his strength. The broken wall of sheer need sent tears racing over the levy until she was finally limp in his arms. With a heartfelt sigh, she attempted to sit up in his lap and look him in the face. It was embarrassing, but she saw no censure in his gaze, only gentle consideration and caring.
“I-I did need that, but I don’t think I can say thanks,” she admitted ruefully, hissing at the impact of her bottom flat on his hard thighs. “How did ye know?” She really wanted to know how he’d read her so well. No man had ever guessed at her hidden desires.
“Ye promise ye won’t get offended if I tell ye?”
“I’ll try not to,” she cried, sniffling and rubbing her face with the back of her hand.
He chuckled. “I guess I can’t ask for more than that. Actually, it was Rhonda. She had a need that she said she’d only explain once, and if I didn’t get it after that, then she would never speak of it again.”
Pauley was intrigued. “Really? And what was it?”
“I’ve always been a dominant Scottish male,” he explained, “and spanking is nothing new in my background. But Rhonda sometimes liked to be spanked when she didn’t deserve a hiding. She wouldn’t ask for it. It was just something she couldn’t do. She wanted me to figure it out.”
“I take it ye did?”
“Oh, aye. It was easy to pick up on her cues. She enjoyed being a brat, teasing, playing tricks, and aye, sometimes she was naughty on purpose. Like the time she went over budget when we’d just talked about it and agreed to it.” He chuckled at the memory.
“How much did she go over? Ten pounds?” she scoffed with an eyeroll.
One eyebrow shot up. “Try 1000 pounds.”
Pauley gasped and tried hard not to snicker behind her hand, but she knew her eyes were giving her away.
“And aye, she wanted attention to her willful little bottom and got more than she bargained for that time. She didn’t like it when she really got her bum roasted, which wasn’t often, but she accepted it as part of the relationship.”
“Normally, I wouldn’t ask a man about his wife,” she admitted, “but Rhonda sounds like someone I’d love to have met.”
He tucked her hair behind her ear and lifted her chin. “She was like ye in some ways, but very different in others. Ye are both lovely women, and I’m a lucky man to have met two of ye in my lifetime. I know it’s too soon, but I’m falling hard for ye, Pauley. And before ye say it, I’m no looking for someone to replace my wife. I was attracted to ye the moment we met, and I didn’t know anything about ye. I might have been a bit lonely, but I was also comfortable on my own if that’s the way it had to be.”
Pauley stared doubtfully at him, but she accepted that he meant the words he was saying. Time would tell though, as to whether she could truly trust him. When he took her face between his gentle palms, she clung to his wrists as he dipped his head and gave her a tender, exploring kiss.
The next few hours were spent cuddling, talking, and sharing passionate kisses which they took turns slowing down when banked embers would flare into needy embraces. It was a magical time for Pauley, a time to savor. She almost felt bewitched and under a spell as they blocked out the world and took this precious time to learn about one another.
“It’s almost as if the fairies have cast a spell on me,” she gasped after one especially passionate kiss that left her wanting.
“Well, it is almost All Hallow’s Eve, ye know. Magic is in the air this time of year,” he replied. “Are ye sure ye aren’t part witch? Because I think ye have bewitched me.”
With his strong arms holding her close, Pauley never wanted to leave, but his words brought someone to mind. “I need to tell ye about my Gramma Caulfield. She had the second sight ye know. She promised me I could have it to if I just dialed in.”
His eyebrow shot up. “Dialed in? How do ye do that exactly?”
She shrugged, a teasing grin lifting her lips. “I don’t know. Maybe just wish something would happen?”
“I’m game. Take a shot.”
She tilted her head and thought about Luca. “Okay, I’ll go with something general. How about...I wish Mica would show up with some new information.”
They both jumped when the doorbell suddenly pealed in the stillness.