Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
Evie
I wake to the gentle tickle of sunlight streaming across my face.
Sunlight?
I shoot straight out of bed, staring at the surrounding room cast in golden light.
The bed beside me is empty, save for a handwritten note in neat script.
I hope you slept well. I turned off your alarm so you could get some sleep. Don’t worry about the B&B. I’ve got it handled.
Liam
My stomach does a little flip.
When was the last time I slept in? Running the B&B as a night owl is a challenge on its own. There was no hesitation when Nutmeg chose me, which is probably why we bonded so well.
Thankfully, I get through the hours of late-night reading and still wake early enough to make breakfast for the guests.
I take my time in the connected bathroom, brushing my teeth and wrangling the rat’s nest of my hair.
I choose one of my favorite dresses, a fitted cream-and-burgundy long-sleeve dress that flares at the waist and sways around my legs with each step.
I slip on my glasses, giving myself one last look in the mirror.
The smell of bacon and coffee greets me when I open the bedroom door and head down the main stairs. The dining room is bursting, every seat filled with guests, the aunties, and a dozen other people from town.
Liam’s eyes lock onto me the moment I step through the door. He crosses the room, sweeping me into his arms before pressing a soft, quick kiss to my lips that still takes my breath away.
“What is all this?” I gesture behind him.
“Breakfast first, then I’ll explain.” He piles a plate with bacon, pancakes, and eggs, then makes my coffee and heads toward the kitchen.
“Did you make all this?” I sit down and pick up a piece of bacon, nearly moaning as I bite into the perfectly crispy strip.
“It’s just breakfast.” Liam shrugs and sits next to me. “I figured we might have a long night, and you could use the rest.”
“I can’t tell you the last time I slept in.” I close my eyes and lean back in my chair as the pancakes practically melt in my mouth.
“Evie.” Liam’s voice is a guttural growl. His eyes flicker golden-green as he exhales sharply, his grip tightening around his coffee mug.
“What?” I take my time cutting another piece of pancake and popping it into my mouth.
I barely have time to swallow before Liam yanks me out of my chair and into his lap, straddling him with my dress hiked up to my waist. His hands slide up my thighs, stopping when he realizes what I’ve done.
“You’re not wearing any panties,” he purrs, squeezing my hips.
“I figured if you keep taking them, I’ll run out if I don’t start rationing.”
“That was naughty, Evie. Do you know what bad girls get?” His voice is a low warning in my ear before he hoists me over his shoulder and carries me through the door and down the short hallway to my office. He closes and locks the door behind him before setting me on my feet.
“Extra dishes to wash?” Heat pools between my legs as he stalks toward me.
“Try again.”
“Spankings?” The word comes out barely above a whisper. I’ve never been spanked that way before, but it’s on my list of sexual fantasies.
“Would you like that?” Liam traces the line of my jaw and down my neck.
“Yes.”
His shadow of a beard scratches along the column of my throat.
“What was that?”
“Yes, sir.” I pant the words, unable to believe how incredibly turned on I am just from the tone of his voice.
“Good girl.” He clears off my desk and places one hand on the back of my neck. “Bend over.”
I do as he commands, shivering while he slowly drags my dress up my legs and over my backside.
The slap is sharp and stinging against my left cheek, and I gasp, clutching the edge of the wooden desk. His hand gently caresses the spot, the sting fading and leaving me panting, my legs shaking.
“Up on the desk. Turn and spread.” Liam runs his hands down my thighs to my ankles, and I obey, hopping onto the smooth wooden surface, cool against my still-hot skin. He runs a finger through my wet center before delving inside me, slowly increasing his rhythm.
“Liam.” My fingers curl around the edge of the desk, propping me up as my head falls back. He kneels between my legs and sucks on my clit, humming as if he loves the taste.
With his fingers thrusting easily in and out and his expert tongue working me, I cry out as the tingling pressure inside me explodes. I’m only vaguely aware of the objects around the room levitating before everything falls with a thump.
Liam pulls me to my feet, crushing his lips to mine before stepping back, his gaze sweeping over me with satisfaction.
“I love the way you look, a leannán.” He tucks a stray hair behind my ear.
“Mussed and disheveled?” I smooth down the front of my dress and straighten my glasses, hyperaware of the wetness soaking my inner thighs.
“Sated and flushed.” He reaches down and entwines his fingers with mine. “As much as I want a six-course meal, breakfast to go will have to do.”
The rest of the day goes by in a blur as friends and neighbors stop by to congratulate me on winning the blue ribbon for my cranberry-swirl pumpkin cake. The upstairs heater stops working and takes Liam and me half the afternoon to get running again.
“You really are remarkable to have around. I couldn’t have survived this week without you.” Wiping my sweaty brow, I drop into a wooden chair in the dining room.
“Maybe that’s my plan. Woo you with my skills and touch before I take the wand and escape into the night.”
“Don’t be an ass.” I toss the towel at him. He catches it and sets it on the table.
“I still haven’t found a clue as to who it could be.” Liam crosses his arms over his chest, his attention settling on the wand atop the mantel.
“What’s the next step?” I push to my feet and run my fingers along his corded forearms, dusted with a fine layer of auburn hair.
“I’ll stake out the room and wait for the thief.” The grandfather clock chimes loudly from the entryway, signaling eight p.m. “They’ll be here tonight.”
“How do you know that?” I settle against his chest, my gaze drifting to the mantel.
“It lines up too well with the other thefts. The break-ins were intentional, superstitious, and related to the full moon.”
“Well, have you ever played gin rummy? I’ll stay up with you.”
“You need your sleep, a leannán. I also don’t want you in danger.” Liam cups my face in his hands and presses a kiss to my forehead.
“This is my house, and I will defend it.” I glare up at him, lips pressed together.
He sighs, his shoulders slumping before he nods.
“Fine. Where is your card deck?”
I retrieve the deck from one of the drawers in the china cabinet at the far side of the room.
“First to one hundred points?” I flip the deck in my hand. “Be ready to have your ass whooped.”
The moment I say it, Liam smiles and quirks a brow, and the ghostly sting returns to my bottom.
“Oh, is that right? And if I win?”
“You won’t.” The words come out raspier than I intend, but part of me secretly hopes he does. The soft yet dominant sides of Liam’s personality make my knees weak and fuel my desire for more.
“Gin, and that puts me over one hundred.” Liam practically purrs as he lays his cards out and grins at me across the table.
“I can’t believe that.” I throw my hand down and begin shuffling the cards.
“Wait.” Liam places his hands over mine, and I pause, but despite straining my ears, I don’t hear anything.
He steps back, quickly pulling off his clothes as his body shimmers. Before I can blink, a massive jaguar stands on all fours in his place.
The cat turns his head my way, a deep rumble in his throat as though warning me to move before he jumps onto the table and prowls across it on silent, padded feet.
A second later, I crouch as the door blasts inward, glass shattering everywhere. A hooded figure in a skull mask stalks into the room, wielding a sword, with a golden chalice and pentacle strapped to the belt around their waist.
Liam snarls, but the intruder lifts a hand, and the giant cat goes flying across the room, hitting the wall with a thud.
“Liam!”
He lets out a guttural growl, pushing himself back onto all fours.
I turn to the intruder, magic prickling along my skin.
“I don’t know who you are, but you don’t belong here.” I wave my hand, and one of the antique wooden chairs flies toward them. They duck, and it crashes against the wall.
We both dive toward the mantel, but I’m closer, and as soon as my hand wraps around the wand, the room freezes.
Liam is suspended midair, leaping toward the intruder. My three aunts are frozen bursting into the room, led by Henry and Molly brandishing kitchen knives.
The wand glows in my hand, magic pulsing through my palm and into my veins. My senses sharpen, and I can see the aura of everyone around us.
Along with a thin golden ribbon connecting Liam and me.
I turn back to the intruder.
“You don’t come into my home and threaten my family or my house.” I flick the wand, and they’re thrown to the ground, the sword knocked from their hand. Their belt comes loose, the chalice and pentacle rolling across the floor.
The room comes back to life, sound and motion returning all at once.
Liam twists in the air and lands on the intruder’s chest. With one swipe of his massive paw, he knocks the mask from his face, revealing familiar dark brown hair and sharp, angry brown eyes.
“Ted?”
“Get the fuck off me.” Ted fights to free himself from the two-hundred-pound-plus jaguar sitting on his chest, claws curled into his sweater.
“You’re the thief?”
“Yeah, and I would’ve gotten away with it if your sister had given me half a chance.”
I glance at my aunts, who stand drop-jawed in the doorway.
“Call the chief of police and have him send a car to pick up Ted. Let him know the thief has been caught, and the stolen items have been retrieved.”
I wake to the gentle tickle of sunlight streaming across my face.
Sunlight?
I shoot straight out of bed, staring at the surrounding room cast in golden light.
The bed beside me is empty, save for a handwritten note in neat script.