Chapter Six
Rebecca
I didn’t condone violence, never had, but it was clear in Cillian’s and Finn’s world there was a place for it. A pretty big place.
“So what type of martial arts do you do?” I asked as we made our way along my street. My heart was still beating fast, and I clenched my hands to stop them shaking.
“Mixed,” Cillian said.
“What does that mean?”
“It’s kind of like boxing and wrestling but you can throw in judo, kickboxing, karate, a bit of everything really…mixed disciplines like it states.”
“I see.” I paused and took a deep breath of cool air. “And how long have you being doing that?”
“Martial arts, since we were about seven.”
“That’s young.”
“Yeah, with no da around we were getting picked on at school. Kids can be cruel, right.”
I nodded.
“So,” Cillian carried on. “Our ma enrolled us in a junior karate class at the local town hall.”
“We loved it,” Finn said. “We weren’t poor little Cillian and Finn Sullivan in the dojo, that’s the name of a karate school, we wore belts that signified our skill and rank, we were soon representing the club in county competitions and winning. The bullying stopped. Finito .”
“I’m glad to hear it.”
“And by the time we reached senior school,” Finn went on, “we’d got into kickboxing and taekwondo, too. After that, mixed martial arts, full-on combat, was the next step, and we dived in as soon as we were eighteen.”
“And it’s been your life ever since?”
“Pretty much.” Finn shrugged. “A few side hustles to help things along, if you know what I mean.”
I laughed. “No, I don’t know and I’m not sure I want to right now.” I stopped and pointed to my shiny black front door. “This is me.”
“Ah, we’ve arrived sooner than I’d hoped.” Cillian touched my hair, moving it over my shoulder.
“Why is that?”
“I was enjoying listening to you talk.”
“You’ve listened to me all evening.”
“And I could listen to you all night.” He raised his eyebrows at me. “Though there won’t be quite as much talking involved when we get upstairs.”
Finn moved in behind me, pressing close, his long, lean body hard against mine. “We’re gonna make it so fucking good for you,” he murmured and pulled my hair back over my shoulder, tucking it behind my ear so he could speak into it. “Real fucking good.”
“I’m not…I don’t know and—” A shiver of longing lingered where his breath heated my skin.
Cillian cupped my face in his hands and set his lips over mine. It was an assertive, assured kiss, and as his tongue probed, he tilted his head to deepen our connection.
I moaned softly, enjoying the confident, possessive hold that made me feel like I was the only person in his world.
Finn circled my body into his embrace, his hands slipping beneath my open cotton jacket to curl onto my waist, fingers spread.
Their heat and strength surrounded me, and I sagged against Cillian, filling my hands up with his crisp shirt.
He moaned and pulled me closer.
I was surrounded, and lust poured into my veins. Theirs, too, I was aware of hardness in their groins. A fresh wave of excitement clenched my belly at the thought of all that ready-to-go cock.
“Fuck. We should fuck.” Finn filled his hand with my right breast. “Now.”
“Yeah, I’m so damn horny,” Cillian said. “I want to make you come, Rebecca, over and over and feel you grip my cock with your sweet pussy.”
His words bounced around my brain, pinging, bursting, rattling.
Get naked with them?
Come over and over.
I hardly knew them.
A surge of realization gripped me, and I landed back in the here and now.
What am I doing?
“Please, stop.” I pushed at Cillian.
He didn’t move.
“I…I’m not sure, I don’t…”
He released me, a frown plowing over his brow and his arms falling to his sides. “What is it? What’s the problem?”
“I…I have a rule…a first-date rule.”
“What the fuck does that mean?” Finn asked, releasing my breast and his hands circling my waist.
“I can’t…I can’t just fall into bed with you. With both of you. Not tonight.”
Cillian swallowed loudly. “Fair enough.” His voice was deeper, gruffer, than it had been.
“You know I can play your body to perfection.” Finn bit on his bottom lip. “Come on…Rebecca. Let’s do this.”
I was reminded of my orgasm in the stationery cupboard. That had been reckless of me, out of character, and I stuttered in a breath at the memory. “I know, I do know, but this is fast, and there’s two of you and…”
“Twice the fun.” Finn smiled and tipped his head.
“She said no,” Cillian said.
“Yeah, and I respect that. Just got to persuade my cock to calm the fuck down.” Finn shoved a hand into his pants and adjusted himself. “Steady there boy.”
“Can we see you again?” Cillian asked.
“I’d like that.” I pulled out my house key. “I’ll come find you, at Fight Fit. I’m guessing it has a website with the address.”
“Yes,” Cillian said. “It has.”
“Can we have your number? Would be easier,” Finn said.
I smiled. I wasn’t going to give them all the control even though they’d nearly made me lose mine. “I’ll come find you.” I stepped away. “Thanks for a fun evening.”
They waited until I was in my house, and then I watched from the dark hallway window as they wandered away, heads stooped, deep in conversation.
“Fucking hell.” I ran my hands through my hair and kicked off my heels. “What a night!” It had been a close call. The urge to get naked and down and dirty had nearly been too much to resist.
Finn had been right. His brother was as hot as him.
And the sum of the Sullivan twins equaled more than the parts.
Together they were a fantasy I hadn’t known I’d had.
Sexy, seductive, sharp, edgy, Irish…and their bodies.
The thought of them naked, all taut, honed muscles and lightning-fast reflexes had strange quivers of longing tapping around my body.
The house was still and quiet. I went up the stairs, used the bathroom, then flicked on the light in my bedroom.
I froze.
What the fuck is that?
I clasped the doorframe. My mouth dried. My heart rate ramped up to full speed.
Set on my pillow was a single, long-stemmed red rose. Next to it was a note written on familiar red card.
Rushing forward, I grabbed it.
It’s time for pay back, bitch.
Nausea gripped me, and I dropped the note. “What the fuck?”
I spun around. Someone had been here. In my home.
Him!
And he was clearly deranged.
I held my breath. Listening. Was he still here?
Oh fuck!
My pulse thudded in my ears, drowning everything else out. I was terrified, disorientated, furious.
But I didn’t dare risk going back down the stairs. What if he were waiting in the living room to grab me? To stab me. Murder me.
Of all the…oh…I should have had Finn and Cillian come in after all.
Think straight. Think straight.
Okay. The bathroom was my best option, so I rushed in and shut the door, flicked the suddenly woefully flimsy lock. I pulled out my phone and dialed the emergency services.
Nine. Nine. Nine.
“What service do you require?”
“Police, police, please,” I gasped in a shaking voice.
After a few long moments, a female voice. “You’re through to Oxfordshire police, what is your emergency?”
“There is someone in my house. Now. I’m sure of it.” I spoke in a harsh whisper. “They are here.”
“What makes you think that, Miss?”
“They left a threatening note on my bed. I’ve just got home and found it. A rose, too.”
“Are you still in the property?”
“Yes, yes, I am.”
“And where are you now?”
“I’m in the bathroom.”
“Door locked?”
“Yes, yes, of course. Can you send someone…quickly…please. He’s a madman.”
“I’ve found you, Hardacre Court, right?”
“Yes, number nine.”
“Officers are on their way.”
“Please, tell them to hurry. Bash the front door down if they have to.” I pressed my hand to my chest. It was difficult to breathe.
“They will if they have to.” She paused. “Can you hear anything in the house to confirm you have an intruder?”
“No, nothing. He might have left, but I have no way of knowing, I’ve been out all evening. I just got home and came straight upstairs to discover he’d been here. In my bedroom.”
“Do you know who it is?”
My breath hitched, and I held back a sob of terror. I was staring at the flicked lock as though my willpower could keep it in place. One kick and the frame would splinter and it would go.
“Miss, do you know who could have got into your home?”
“I…I’m a defense lawyer, sometimes cases don’t go the way the accused wants them to. I think…I’m guessing it’s someone with a grudge.”
“Why do you say that?”
“I’ve had a few sinister notes, and flowers…delivered to the courthouse.”
I could hear her tapping as though taking information down.
“Are they nearly here? I’m so scared.” A cold sweat was forming on my brow.
“Two minutes away, stay on the line with me.”
“Yes. Yes. I can do that.”
“Is it still quiet outside the bathroom?” she asked.
“Yes. Perhaps he’s gone.”
“The officers will search the place for you. Stay in the bathroom until they arrive.”
“I will. Yes. Thank you. Thank you.” My clammy hand was shaking. I gripped the phone to my ear.
“What’s your name?”
“Rebecca. Rebecca Saunders.”
“Okay, Rebecca, do you live alone?”
“Yes.”
“Does anyone else have a key to the property?”
“Er…yes, my best friend, Amy.”
“And where does Amy live?”
“About a ten-minute walk away.”
“And it’s definitely not her.”
“No,” I snapped, sliding down the wall into a ball. “No, it’s some weirdo. A stalker. I’m being stalked.”
There, I’d said it. The word I’d been denying. The word I wouldn’t let rise to my consciousness because it was just too scary.
“The officers are just around the corner,” she said. “You’ll hear them very soon. I’ll tell them to call your name so you know it’s them.”
I closed my eyes, folding in on myself. Terror had frozen my limbs and spine. What did my stalker mean by ‘its time for us to be together’?
Did he want to murder me?
Rape me?
Kidnap me?
All fucking three?
I jumped at a loud banging on the door.
“Oh, thank the Lord.” I pushed to standing.