by Cora York
“I understand, alright,” Shane replied. “I understand you two and that bitch set me up.”
Niall bundled Shane into the back of a police car.
Before leaving, my cousin shook my hand.
I grinned and shook my head. “A few minutes later, and I’d have been put to sleep with a shovel.”
“Do you think I’d let that happen?” Niall asked. “I knew you had it all under control. Maybe there’s a career for you as an undercover cop.”
“Thanks, but I think I’ll stick to organizing conferences. I’ve another favor to ask. Don’t mention this to anyone in the family. What Gorman did to Erin is still a sore subject. And I don’t want Tessa to know until I tell her, so I’d appreciate no one contacting her about this until the New Year.”
“I’ll do what I can. You’ll have to give a statement, but I’ll see if I can postpone it.” He winked. “Christmas is a busy time for everyone. I can’t see anything happening for at least a week.”
“Appreciate it, man.”
Shane glowered from the back of the car. With any luck, he’d be behind bars for a long time. For now, with the gobshite out of the way, I had some breathing space and could enjoy the next few days with Tessa without having to look over my shoulder.
Chapter Fifteen
Tessa
I stretched a hand into the shower cubicle and turned the faucet to allow the water to heat.
Waking up with a man’s mouth between your legs should be a health requirement. I glanced at my reflection in the mirror above the sink. My eyes sparkled, and my face glowed. But then I frowned. I was a liar and a fraud. No better than Keegan’s ex. No better than my ex.
When Keegan confided in me about his past, my heart ached for him. And then there was his comment about me using him to make my lies more convincing. Sure, it was said as a joke, but his words resonated with me. Things were finally going smoothly, and I should feel happy, but the way I got the job niggled at me like a toothache.
I stepped into the shower and allowed the strong spray to needle my skin. There was only one thing I could do to ease my conscience and straighten out the tangled mess I’d created. But coming clean could create an even bigger mess.
It could ruin my career and lose me this job, but since we were so close to the wedding, Barb might allow me to see things through. If she didn’t, in time, I’d pick up the pieces and put my self-respect back together. Moving back to Long Island wouldn’t be so bad. I leaned my head against the shower wall. Who was I kidding? Moving home would suck.
Once the remnants of sleep were washed away, I grabbed a towel and got out of the cubicle. An extremely awake Keegan leaned against the vanity sporting only a smile and an enticing morning erection.
“Good,” I said, then grinned. “You brought breakfast.”
Keegan tossed a towel at me and laughed. “I don’t know if you’re that hungry.”
I bent at the waist, wrapped the towel around my hair, and regarded him with a sideways glance. “Cocky, aren’t you?”
He raised an eyebrow. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“You’re impossible.” I forced myself to drag my gaze from his naked body to his face. “I want to meet with everyone after breakfast.”
“Why?” He gave my bare butt a slap, before smoothing his hand over the slightly stinging skin. “Didn’t we settle everything yesterday?”
“Not everything. There’re a few things I have to finalize.”
He stepped into the shower cubicle and turned on the water. “They can wait for an hour or so. Come in here and help me reach the spots I can’t.”
I gave him the widest smile I could manage. It wouldn’t hurt to pretend he was my fiancé for a little while longer. Spilling my guts could wait because when I had nothing left, and I was curled up in my childhood bed in my parents’ house, I would at least have my memories.
I dropped the towel to the floor and followed him.
There wasn’t an inch of space our bodies didn’t fill in the steamed-up cubicle. He was irresistible, standing there naked and hard for me. I’d miss this. Miss the intimacy. The closeness. The affection. But most of all, I’d miss him.
The water hit Keegan’s face, and he lifted his head toward the spray, squeezing his eyes shut.
“How’s your head?” I asked. When he got back from his jog around the castle grounds yesterday, the lump on the back of his head looked as if it was hosting a foreign life form.
“Better.”
“Next time don’t go running on iced-over snow. You’re lucky you didn’t crack your skull open.”
“I know. I was stupid.”
I stood behind him and pressed my breasts against his muscular back. “We should dry each other off and go back to bed. There’s no room to do anything in here.”
He glanced over his shoulder and gave me a wicked smile. “We can make it work.”
Thrilling desire rocked my body, and even though he’d forced his way into my life, Keegan was one of the nice guys, and I wished we’d met under different circumstances.
I ran my hands down his torso and swiped them over the tops of his thighs, committing his body to memory.
The way his thick muscles flexed and rippled beneath my fingers showed me how much pleasure my touch gave him. Leaning my cheek against the smooth skin of his back, I moved my fingers lower and lower until they brushed over his shaft.
He shuddered and sighed.
“Turn around,” I whispered.
He turned to face me. Beneath the rushing water, he was more statuesque than ever. I had to taste him, feel him pulse against my tongue, my lips. Had to lick and suck every inch of his velvety skin.
“I’ll grab a condom,” he said, the pads of his thumbs tracing down the column of my neck.
I lowered my hand and wrapped my fingers around his width. “Don’t.”
He gave a deep growl in response, the sound filling the small space we shared. Hot water sluiced over his body, raining down, drenching me.
I leaned down and pressed small kisses along his stomach. His cock was now a whisper away from my lips. I dipped my head and licked from root to tip. Fierce bursts of arousal sent heat between my legs, and pleasure twisted inside me. Heaven. There was no other way to describe the taste or the feel of him in my mouth.
Keegan gave my hair a gentle tug, guiding me forward. Blood pounded a rhythmic beat through my ears, and the inferno blazing inside me threatened to spiral out of control.
Mindlessly, I rubbed my parted lips over his flared head and slid the flat of my tongue along his hot flesh. I took him deep before freeing him completely.
“Your sweet mouth is a dangerous thing.” He tangled his fingers in my hair, his thigh muscles tightening and shaking.
My heart and stomach jumped at the rawness, the desire in his voice. Everything about him was everything I wanted, and it would be so easy for me to keep the lie alive, to keep pretending he was my fated fiancé.
He gathered my hair into a ponytail and wrapped the wet strands around his hand, tugging until my follicles hurt.
“Wrap your hand around my cock. Jerk me off while you suck me.”
I hummed deep in my throat, my nipples and clit throbbing at his dirty talk and roughness. Curling one of my hands around him, I took control of the speed and depth of his thrusts. I wanted to be in charge, to know when he exploded, it was all because of me.
His length twitched within the circle of my fingers. My nipples puckered and hardened, seeking relief from his touch.
Releasing my hair, Keegan slapped a hand against the wall behind me. I glanced up and saw him watching. His eyelids had dropped to half-mast.
The intensity of my feelings surprised me, shocked me even. Ours would have been a relationship filled with battles. Of him wanting to take control. Of me wrestling that control back. But that didn’t matter now. None of it did.
I couldn’t afford to fall in love with him, not after everything that had happened the last t
ime I’d fallen in love. Keegan was about fun. Orgasms and no strings, and I had to remember that.
I swirled my tongue over his slick head and picked up a teardrop of saltiness oozing from the tip.
“Fuck,” he growled.
“You liked that?”
“Hated it. Couldn’t you tell?”
“Then you’re going to despise this.”
Hollowing my cheeks, I took him deep, working my lips along his thickening length again and again. The pleasure and awe on his face seared my mind and would stay there forever. Satisfying him in this way would be something I’d never forget.
Pain-pleasure masked his face, and his breath came in short, sexy gasps. The tendons in his neck corded. Holding back was killing him. The power I had over him was intoxicating. I rested a hand on his abdomen, delighting in the flutter of his muscles every time I flicked my tongue. His breathing and movements sped up. But then, with what seemed like a herculean effort, he slowed down and placed a hand either side of my head, dragging my lips from him.
“We have to stop. You’re going to make me explode.”
“What if I don’t want to stop?” I gave him a playful smile and flicked the tip of my tongue around my lips.
“Get up here.” He took my hands and gently pulled me up. My knees melted like ice on a hundred-degree day, and I pressed my shoulders against the tiled wall to steady myself.
“Spread your legs.”
I shuffled my feet apart.
His fingers massaged either side of my clit. The gentle back and forth stole all reason from me.
“So damn wet.”
“That tends to happen in a shower.” I giggled and closed my eyes. I rocked my hips, losing myself in the calming splash of water and the desire unfurling in my belly. I needed to feel him deep inside of me. To feel every twitch, every pulse of his dick.
“I want you inside me. All of you.”
Keegan’s lips drifted over mine. “I can’t think of anything I’d like more.”
Desperate for him, my inner walls tightened, wanting, waiting. Shuddering breaths shook my chest, my breathing as erratic as my heartbeat. In another time, in another world, he would’ve been mine. Our fairytale would never end, and I’d get my very own happy ever after. But this was real life, and happy ever after only happened in fairytales and movies.
His strong hands picked me up as if I weighed nothing. I followed his lead and wrapped my legs around his waist, hauling him to me until the head of his erection hit against my swollen clit. I moaned, my thighs clamping around his hips, my body arching into his.
“You want more?” He scraped the edge of his teeth along my bottom lip.
“Everything you have.” I couldn’t get enough. Eternity wouldn’t be enough, but eternity was something we didn’t have. Something we would never have.
When he pressed me against the wall, I draped my arms over his shoulders. My breasts molded into his chest, swollen to the point of pain. My nipples ached with every brush of his skin.
I’d never forget how he looked right now. Never forget the hair slicked back from his face, the dark, possessive look in his eyes, or his slightly parted lips. Keegan maneuvered me until he lined up with my entrance.
He slid deep. Opening me. Stretching me. When the first waves crashed over my body, I was sure my eyes rolled to the back of my head.
My forehead sagged against his shoulder. “Make me remember this forever.”
Taking my full weight in his arms, he surged deeper. Currents of pleasure rippled through me, sending me higher. I was so close, so, so close. The squelching, slapping sound of wet skin against wet skin filled the cubicle. The rising tempo of our combined moans beat a salacious percussion over the splashing water.
The sound of his harsh breaths hurtled me to the edge of bliss.
From the rasp of his breath and the groans falling from his lips, he was as close as I was.
“I’m going to come,” I gasped.
With a flex of his hips, Keegan’s strokes became short, fast, almost punishing. The buildup was excruciating. The tension grew and expanded, and if it didn’t shatter soon, I’d break in two.
His mouth found mine. Our teeth clashed, our tongues fought, and I rode him hard.
Make me forget.
Make me remember.
I jerked forward, my thighs trembled, my lower back tingled, and my inner muscles squeezed.
My climax came in a rush of blinding waves that stole my breath, my mind, my sanity. I whimpered into his mouth. My nails clawed into the strained muscles of his back. He pumped harder, faster.
He threw his head back and with a hoarse groan, took me with punishing, demanding strokes, releasing himself deep inside me.
The sound of our lovemaking ricocheted off the walls, and when our bodies couldn’t give or take any more, Keegan lowered me. I wasn’t ready to let go and clung onto him, panting and boneless.
Neither of us said a word. We stood under the water until it cooled. How could I risk losing him? Maybe I should wait before talking to everyone. Think it through a little more.
No. No more lies.
I needed to clear my conscience. I wanted Keegan to fully trust me. To see I was nothing like his ex. Coming clean was the only way.
****
I found Brendan standing by the stove cooking breakfast. A pot of coffee percolated, and pork sausages and bacon sparked in a skillet.
I waited by the entrance to the kitchen and watched him work. He was much happier than he’d been when we’d first met. For weeks, I’d pleaded with him to open the castle gates, and now I was about to let him down. Brendan wasn’t an accomplice. He was a victim. I was taking so many innocent people down with me, but I couldn’t lie anymore.
“Look at you and your spatula.” I walked into the kitchen and eyed the food. “Have we unleashed a beast?”
“Ah, it’s only a fry.” He flipped some sizzling strips of bacon. “But I’ve been thinking I need to move on. My mind’s been whirring all night with ideas for menus and all of the things I could do with this place. Barb’s been a massive help.”
“Barb?” I stood on my tiptoes and removed a mug from the cupboard.
Brendan busied himself by rolling the sausages in the skillet, but I didn’t miss the flush on his cheeks.
“She’s a lovely woman.”
“Is she now?” It seemed Keegan and I weren’t the only two people in the castle having fun.
He nodded. “She thinks I have a little goldmine here. She’s going to help me with marketing and promotion.”
“Does this have anything to do with your wine cellar?” I pinched a sausage from a platter by the stovetop and took a bite.
“I might have given her a tour of the cellar last night.”
“I bet that’s not all you gave her a tour of, you old charmer.”
His eyes twinkled. “A gentleman never tells.”
“What happens next week when she goes back to her champagne lifestyle?” I poured myself a mug of coffee and held it to my chest.
“She’s going to spend Christmas and New Year’s here…”
“You’re a fast worker. I’m impressed.”
“For years, my heart’s known nothing but misery and grief. It’s time I let go and got on with my life.” He laid down the spatula and cracked an egg into the pan. “I like Barb. She takes no prisoners, no bullshit.”
“Damn skippy I don’t.” Barb strutted into the kitchen with Max by her heels.
“By God, it’s a glorious day.” Brendan gave Barb a quick wink.
I quirked an eyebrow at the love story unfolding in front of me and took a sip of coffee. “I guess it is.”
Barb scampered over to Brendan and wrapped her arms around his waist. How Brendan had tamed a tigress like Barb was beyond my comprehension.
“Tessa, honey, you look shocked,” Barb said. “Aren’t us old fogies allowed to fall in love too?”
“Love? So soon.”
“The heart wants
what the heart wants,” Brendan said with a happy sigh.
Keegan strolled in. His scent drifted over to me like a cool breeze on a sultry summer day. It was all I could do not to drag him back to the bedroom.
“Exactly what I need,” he said, “a greasy fry up. That’ll chase the cobwebs away nicely.”
I didn’t know if what I was about to say was the right thing. It could all backfire and leave me jobless, but I had to risk it.
With muscles as taut as a snow-laden power line, I shuffled toward Keegan and squeezed his hand. I swallowed and cleared my throat. “Everyone, there’s something I have to say.”
Awareness flared in Keegan’s eyes, and he closed a hand around my bicep. “Can I talk to you for a minute? Alone?”
I bit the inside of my cheek. “Later. There are a few things I need to talk to everyone about.”
His jaw worked back and forth. “If it’s what I think it is, you don’t.”
I took a deep breath. “Keegan isn’t my fiancé. I didn’t even know him until this week.”
Keegan dropped his hand from my arm. His eyes blazed in disbelief and anger. I’d lost him, but there was no going back.
“Meh! Tell me something I didn’t know.” Barb shrugged her shoulders and waved a hand.
Stunned, I gaped at her and reached for the countertop to balance myself. “Wait. What? You knew?”
“Oh, honey, I deal with actresses every day. They could lie to the devil, and he’d buy it. And that ring on your finger. Where’d you find it? In a kid’s dress-up box? You weren’t fooling anyone.”
“She fooled me.” Brendan scooped an overcooked egg from the frying pan and threw it into the trash. “I knew something wasn’t right, but not that. I thought maybe Keegan had cold feet.”
“You.” Barb cast a stony glance toward Keegan. “Who are you? Someone she hired to play her doting fiancé?”
Keegan’s jaw tensed. The potent cocktail of emotions emanating from him all but knocked me over. Shit. I’d made a mistake—a huge one.