“Well,” she said. “Except for the fact that I can’t take shots with my customers anymore.” We both laughed at that. “Speaking of,” she said. “Do you want a vodka soda or just a soda?”
“Soda and lime, please,” I said, rubbing the tight knot on my left shoulder.
“Not one for drinking on a work night, still?” She asked, pouring the drink and sliding it toward me.
“No,” I said, sipping the bubbly soda water. “I have an early morning. I’m only here because—”
“There’s the boss,” Connell’s voice cut me off as he pushed his way toward the bar. He eyed Echo. “One more, please.” He set an empty glass tumbler on the bar.
Echo smiled, her eyes flashing between the two of us before she got to work on his drink.
“Did you get your work finished?” He asked, his body so close it was an effort not to brush against it with even the simplest of moves.
“No,” I said, rubbing that spot on my shoulder again. “I never do, and I don’t believe I ever will. There is a never-ending list on my schedule and I’ve come to the conclusion I won’t finish it until I retire.”
“Here you go,” Echo said, sliding Connell’s drink toward him.
“Thanks,” he said, then eyed where I was currently massaging myself. “You injure your shoulder?”
I laughed, then quickly dropped my hand. “Not so much,” I said, fiddling with the condensation on my glass. “It happens sometimes when I stare at my computer for too long. Always the same spot.”
Connell set his drink down, hands poised over my shoulders as he eyed me in question. “May I?”
My lips parted, hesitance tying my tongue.
“I had a small shoulder injury in the minors,” he said. “My PT taught me a trick.”
I flashed a glance toward Echo, who quickly found customers at the other end of the bar to attend to. “Okay,” I said, my cheeks warming at the fact that he’d waited until the approval left my lips before touching me.
And then he did.
His hands were warm and strong and somehow knew the exact spot that tortured me.
Using his whole hand, not just his thumb, he slid over the knot with a sweet pressure that loosened the muscle with each pass. I immediately relaxed under his touch, unable to prevent the half-sigh, half-moan that escaped my lips as he continued to work at it.
And just as my lids drifted closed and the sounds of the crowded bar faded away—
He released me.
My eyes flew open, and I breathed deep and slow.
“How did you do that?” I asked, flabbergasted. The pain that had plagued me for nearly a week was entirely gone. Nothing but free-flowing circulation and loose muscle now. It made my head spin.
He smirked, scooping up his drink. “Old Scottish magic,” he said, wiggling the fingers on his free hand.
I laughed. “Whatever it was,” I said, raising my glass to his. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” he said, clinking his glass against mine.
We sat there, sipping our drinks, letting the chatter of the other Reapers fill the space between us. Most were talking about travel preparations for the little time off they had in the summer.
A pang of guilt hit me square in the chest.
Connell wasn’t making travel preparations.
He wasn’t excited over a trip home to Scotland.
Because of me.
Because of my outrage over the statute.
Because—
Oh, calm down. Just because the man has magic hands doesn’t mean he gets out of repaying the community for his rash actions.
I nodded to myself, steeling my heart against the guilt gnawing at it.
“I don’t believe it!” Connell’s booming voice sounded over all the combined Reaper voices, his eyes locked on Logan Ward and the girl on his arm.
“What?” I asked.
“I’ve never seen him with a girl. Not ever.”
Logan made his way over to us, meeting Connell’s high five with gusto. “See you started without us,” he said, flashing me a soft smile.
“Couldn’t wait forever, Ward,” Connell said, his brows raised at the girl.
Logan straightened a bit, motioning to the gorgeous brunette who was nearly as tall as him in the heels she wore. Her make-up was perfectly in place, like those internet tutorials I sometimes tried to duplicate and always utterly failed at. “This is my girlfriend, Blaire,” he said. “Blaire, this is Connell MacDhuibh. And Annabelle Clarke, city clerk of Sweet Water.”
I smiled back at him, raising my glass to him, shocked that he’d remembered me at all. He’d always been so quiet any time I came around here to visit Echo, but he must’ve been paying attention instead of sulking in silence like we all assumed.
“Nice to meet you,” Blaire said, gently touching Connell’s shoulder. She lingered there for a few seconds too long, in my opinion, not that anyone asked. She gave me a sweet smile, then focused on Logan. “Anywhere to sit, babe? These heels are killer!”
He nodded, ushering her off toward the corner of the bar with a few extra round-tops.
“Whew,” Connell said, leaning against the bar. “Never thought I’d see the day.”
“Maybe he was just waiting for the right person,” I offered. “Instead of hopping from bed to bed.”
Connell shot me a glare. “Who does that?”
It was my turn to smirk. “Not you, surely.”
“I wouldn’t exactly call it hopping.” He tilted his head from side to side. “More like mutual visits where both parties leave completely satisfied.”
I laughed so hard I nearly spit out my drink. “Cocky, Scot, aren’t you?”
“Not cocky when it’s true.”
“How can you be so sure?”
He leaned closer to me. “Trust me, I know.”
“Do you, though?” I teased. “Loads of women are fantastic performers.”
His mouth dropped, but his blue eyes danced with amusement. “Why would you say such cruel things?”
“I’m just being real,” I said, shrugging. “A majority of men think they hung the moon when it comes to the bedroom, but more often than not, they fall flat.”
Connell licked his lips. “Sounds to me like you’ve been sleeping with the wrong people.”
“Or sex is overrated.”
He grabbed his chest. “Now you’re really trying to kill me.”
“What’d she say now?” Echo stopped before us, eyeing me like I was about to get sent to the principal’s office.
“What?” I gaped at them both. “Is it so bad to be honest? I mean, if I can do it better myself then why waste time—”
“Annabelle!” Echo said, laughing. “Are you recanting the tale of the time I dragged you to the Madame Matrix’s Toy Shoppe?”
My cheeks instantly flamed, my stomach dropping to the floor.
“Oh,” Connell said. “Do tell.”
“No!” I snapped. “Don’t you dare, Echo Hayes!”
She ignored me. “Well, there was this one time I took Annabelle shopping for some fun little things, and the cashier actually recognized her. While she was buying…well, anyway. She got so flustered she ended up dropping the three things she’d gathered and made me sprint out of the store.”
I ducked my head, covering my face with my palms. “Echo!” I groaned through my fingers. My heart raced, and I was quite sure the bar was on a tilt. “You know I can’t handle public embarrassment!” I said through clenched teeth. “How could you tell that story!”
Echo waved me off. “It’s hilarious. And I thought that’s what y’all were talking about anyway.”
Connell held back his laughter and instead nudged me with his shoulder. “That isn’t half as embarrassing as the time ye saw me naked.”
A laugh burst from my chest, freeing the mortification from my lungs. “Oh, come on,” I said. “You weren’t embarrassed. Streaking through Reaper Village like that. You were so proud.”
&nbs
p; “Not true!” He chuckled. “Okay, half true. I am proud. I mean, look at me.” He motioned to all his gloriousness. “But I didn’t know you were there. I wouldn’t have done it if I’d known we had a non-resident on the street.”
I pressed my lips together to keep from smiling. “Good to know,” I said.
Echo blew me a kiss and returned to help other customers.
Connell leaned closer, lowering his voice. “Now, back to what we were talking about.”
I tilted my head, feigning innocence. “I have no idea what you’re referring to.”
That wicked grin shaped his lips, those lips I couldn’t help but stare at.
“All right, Annabelle,” he said, his voice coaxing, soothing. “We’ll revisit that conversation another time.” There was a promise in his tone that shook me to my core. I watched him walk back to where a bunch of his teammates were celebrating, hating that I couldn’t tear my eyes from him.
Sex may be overrated in my book, but my body sure as hell seemed to think Connell MacDhuibh could change my mind.
3
Connell
The first week wasn’t too bad, honestly. I’d never shied away from physical labor, and I got a rise out of knowing Annabelle couldn’t get a rise out of me.
The second week she tried harder, and even when I hung off the side of the building to remove a bird’s nest from the roofline, she didn’t get to me. I had been raised on hard work, and if the lass thought this was hard, she had another thing coming.
I may have also faked a fall and scared the shit out of her, but really, that was just for fun.
The third week, we were halfway through my sentence, and she started to run out of things for me to scrub, but there was never a lack of shit to get done. I walked into the office with a dusty box of records from the basement, still sporting the shit-colored jumpsuit. I’d tied the top around my waist and gone with a t-shirt because South Carolina in July was no bloody joke.
“You sure it’s in there?” she asked with a worried glance as I set the box down on the empty desk in the corner that had somehow become mine.
“Since I’m the one who refiled all of this two weeks ago, I’d have to say I’m pretty certain. Give me a second here.” I took the top off the box and sifted through the papers, and she went back to glaring at her computer screen.
Och, but she looked beautiful today. Her hair was piled up on her head, which only drew my attention to the line of her neck just above the collar of her white, pressed blouse. But it was the skirts that killed me. Today it was a black pencil number with a slit up the back that hugged her hips like a second skin.
My workload may have become physically easier in the last week or two, but keeping my hands to myself was infinitely harder.
“Annabelle, I’m going to take off for lunch, okay?” Lacy asked as her husband walked into the office.
“Sure thing,” Annabelle answered without looking up from her screen.
If the way Lacy looked at her husband as they left was any indication, we didn’t need to see the two of them for at least an hour.
“Is it just me, or do they go earlier and earlier every day?” I glanced at my phone to make sure I wasn’t crazy. It was only eleven.
“They’re newlyweds,” she answered with a shrug. “Give them a few more months and the lunches will stop, and the headaches will start.”
“Och, sometimes I forget how jaded you are.” I thumbed through the papers until I found the one I needed.
“Not jaded, just realistic.”
I walked over and sat on the corner of her desk, then waited for her to give me her full attention. She flicked her gaze at me a few times, but finally gave in with a sigh about a minute later and turned in her chair so she could fully face me.
“Is this where you assure me that not all men are the same and promise me sweet, sweet pleasure if you could just talk me out of my clothes?” She arched an eyebrow in clear challenge.
Ahhh, so our conversation in the bar had stuck with her.
“Lass, if I talked you out of your clothes, I wouldn’t need to promise anything. I’d simply show you. Weak men make promises when it comes to sex. Good men let the orgasms speak for themselves.” And I would, over and over again. If I ever got this woman in my bed, she wouldn’t leave it until she was too weak to walk, and then she’d stay for the very same reason. It would be a vicious, delicious, satisfying cycle.
Besides, if we spent a month in bed together, maybe this attraction would fizzle out and give me my brain back.
Her lips parted, and heat flared in her eyes before she quickly shuttered them. “Did you find the plat map?”
I openly grinned at her change of subject. “Right here, boss.”
She took the map from my hands with a grateful smile. “Thank Goodness.”
“You can tell the Richardsons that the city already has that easement, which means you can legally build the access road to the reserve.” Or she could send me over to the Richardsons, so I could tell them exactly what I thought about their constant harassment.
“Thank you, Connell. I’ll forward this over to Carson.”
Carson. The city lawyer. The one who was in here every day it seemed. “Do you two have a thing going on?”
“What?” Her eyes shot to mine, wide with surprise. “No. I mean, we’re friends and have been since forever, but no.”
“Right.” Why the hell did I feel instantly better? Oh fuck me, wasn’t I acting like a jealous twit? I had zero say in who this woman was romantically involved with.
The skin between her eyebrows puckered as she glanced back at her screen.
“You’ve got the plat map, so now what’s wrong?” I asked.
“The PR company wants way too much money to work on the announcement for the reserve.” She shook her head and muttered a curse under her breath.
“How much?” I prodded.
“Too much, and don’t you even think about paying for it.” Her lips pursed as she shook her head. “Shit. Shit. Shit. I was hoping they’d come down, and we just can’t afford it.”
“Annabelle, how much is it?” Why wouldn’t the woman let me actually help around here?
“Connell, your money can’t fix everything! I screwed this up, and now I have to figure it out.” She pushed her fingers in at her temples.
“The announcement is supposed to be next week?” I asked, eyeing the professional brochures stacked on her desk. Brochures that featured stock photos of ostriches because the woman had yet to secure her own.
For a bird in need of rescue, they sure were scarce.
“Yeah. That was the earliest they could get the announcement out, and we were really hoping that the announcement would spur partnerships with other wildlife reserves, and now it’s all just...fucked up.”
If I’d been drinking anything, it would have flown out my nose. “Could you say that again?”
“What? That I screwed up?” She rubbed at her temples.
“Fucked up.” It was the strongest language I’d heard out of her.
She rolled her eyes. “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.”
“Oh baby, yeah, just like that,” I teased, but damn if it didn’t turn me on.
She laughed but shook her head. “Ugh. Don’t make me laugh right now. I don’t deserve to laugh. This is going to be so embarrassing when I have to report to the mayor that I screwed—fucked it up. The whole town will know by morning.” She leaned forward and put her head in her hands.
“Annabelle, what’s so bad about everyone knowing? It’s not your fault that the PR team is a bunch of money-hungry bampots.” I reached for the back of her head but stopped myself before I made contact.
“Bampots?” she questioned, her voice muffled by her hands.
“Aye. Idiots.” My thoughts started churning, and soon I was grinning like a fool. “So you’d actually benefit from announcing a wee bit earlier?”
“Uh-huh,” she answered, still hiding. “Not that it matters. It’s going to take
at least a week to interview new firms, and no one local had their reach. We really need to get the donations going so we can finish construction.”
I moved to stand behind her and looked over her shoulder at the quote on the computer screen. Then I looked up the PR firm on social media and snorted.
“Stop laughing at me,” she growled into her hands.
“I’m not,” I assured her as I took one of the brochures from the pile. A few seconds later, I took a selfie with it. By the time I was done with the post, Annabelle had lifted her head, but the absolute devastation on her face caught me off guard and twisted something inside my chest. “Hey, now. It’s not all that bad.”
“No, it really is that bad. This reserve project might sound insane, but it would be a great thing for our little town, and now everyone will know that I set us back months. That’s how long it’s going to take to get everything moving again, and we’ll miss the estimated opening date because we won’t even have the funds to finish it.”
I moved behind her and parked my ass on the small table she kept behind her desk, then pulled her rolling office chair between my thighs. “You’re really upset about what people might think, aren’t you?” Before she could protest her position, I started massaging her temples. She was so bloody tense.
“Well, yes. Oh...that feels good.” Her eyes fluttered shut, and she sighed softly.
“Why?”
“It’s hard to explain. But that nightmare some people get about forgetting their homework or being naked at school? I can’t even think about it. I just freeze up from absolute mortification at the thought. I don’t even watch movies where embarrassing things happen. It’s like I’m right there with the character, dying on the screen from public humiliation. I would rather break a bone than suffer through something like that.” With each word, her posture softened a little until she relaxed against me, her head resting against my stomach.
“I guess I never thought of it like that,” I mused, mostly to keep my brain occupied on what we were talking about and not the feel of her skin beneath my fingers.
“Of course, you didn’t. You, who pranks the entire Reaper team just to get a laugh.”
Connell (Carolina Reapers Book 3) Page 3