by Fiona Starr
He clasps his hands together. “Since I made an absolute mess of things back at the pub, I wonder if I might buy you dinner?”
I roll my eyes and cringe in horror at the scene I made. “I think I am responsible for a lot of that mess, too.”
“This is true. And yet, that does nothing to satisfy my hunger.”
“Then I guess we should find you some dinner… after you get changed. Are you staying at the hotel?”
He smiles and nods. “Yes, you could say that.”
GERARD
We walk around the castle, past the main entrance and I lead Madeline through the west gate toward the guest house. On this side of the castle, the gate separates my private residence from the public main house and hotel. It’s quiet and shielded for the most part, and our footsteps echo on the gravel drive.
“Wow, who do you know with Blackthorn to get put up here?” she asks.
“Blackthorn?”
“The band, you know… the reason everyone is in town this week?”
“Oh, of course. No. I am not here with the band event. I live here.”
“You live here…” She seems to think this over for a moment. “Not bad for a groundskeeper.”
“Groundskeeper?”
“You know… the guy who tends the secret north gardens and chops all the firewood… for some reason in a kilt…”
She looks so serious. Part of me doesn’t want to tell her. But after everything that’s happened I am not going to let any misunderstandings slip by. Besides, according to Lacy, she’s got no reason to be wowed by my fortune.
“Do you know the name of this castle?” I ask.
“Glenkerry, isn’t it?”
“Yes, that’s the more popular name, I guess. It has another name.”
“Oh, no. I have no idea.”
“It’s also called by its original name, which is Castle Cosgrave.”
“Cosgrave? Didn’t you say your name was Cosgrave?”
“I did.”
“So this is your castle?”
“Well, my brother Beckett and I are the heirs, but it belongs to our family.”
We arrive at my door and I invite her inside while I change out of my wet clothes. “I’ll only be a minute.” I take the stairs two at a time and leave her in the foyer. When I was a boy, this was used as a guest house and it was crawling with servants. But now it’s just me and I didn’t like to leave Madeline alone.
I hurried to change and pulled a sweater over my tee shirt as I headed back to Madeline. She had stepped into the small library was looking at one of the tall portraits hanging between the book shelves.
“That’s my ancestor, the one who built this castle. James Cosgrave, Duke of Artane.”
“A duke? That’s impressive.”
I shrug. I’m so far down the line of succession it’s never been my concern. I’m more involved in the family business, myself.
“Me too, with family business,” she says. “What is yours?”
“Cosgrave Textiles. You?”
“Blaze Resorts.”
“A hotel heiress? Why didn’t you say so?”
She shakes her head. “Excuse me, sir.” She tries to sound offended. “I earn my keep. You’re speaking to the CEO of Blaze Mountain Ski Resort. Madeline Blaze, Esquire.” She wraps her fingers over my arm and pulls me to her.
She’s close enough that I can hear her breathing.
“A lawyer and an heiress? Forgive me,” I whisper.
“And a CEO.”
“I never meant to presume.”
“And I never meant to presume you were just part of the landed gentry.” The words make her smile. “Have you ever felt like you stepped back in time?”
I think about the Historical Society and the ancient ceremonies we hold where we’re all dressed in kilts and wearing hats. “Sometimes.”
She looks up at me and her eyes are smiling. “I’m sorry. The irony of all of this is…” She tips her chin up.
I lean down and close the gap, brushing my lips against hers. “It is something.” I kiss her once, slowly.
She pulls away, her hand on my chest. “Does your brother live with you?”
I’m confused. “No. Why do you ask?”
She stretches up and kisses me again. “So, what you’re saying it that we have the house to ourselves?” She smiles wickedly.
“Oh, yes we do.”
MADELINE
I press myself against Gerry and he steps backward until he’s leaning against the wall. When I kiss him I feel like I am floating, like the weight of every single worry is lifted and taken away. And then we come up for air and the heavy world returns. I can’t bear it. I want to stay in the bubble we make when we touch.
He turns us around and walks backward, pulling me, leading me to a wide window seat. He sits on the heavy cushion and pulls me to him, our lips never parting. I straddle him and place my hands on his face, feeling his stubble, learning the contours of his jaw.
He’s got his hands around my waist, holding me close, his fingers pressing into my hips. I grind down onto him, making him groan.
“Ah stoorr,” he says. “Ah rooon.” His words get lost in his kisses on my neck. I don’t understand.
“Hmm?” I ask.
He smiles up at me. “A stór,” he says. “It means my treasure.” “A rún.” He nips my bottom lip. “It translates to my secret or my mystery or my love.”
I try to roll the r the way he does. “A stór.” But it doesn’t sound as beautiful as it does coming from his mouth. I smile and look into his eyes. Something about the words add to the mystical feel of this entire experience. “Treasure.”
“A stór, a stór, a stór…” He kisses me between the words and slips his hands under my sweater. My skin burns under his touch.
“My god, I can’t stand it.”
“What? What’s wrong?” He looks concerned.
“Wrong? Gerry, nothing. Nothing at all.” I peel off my sweater, leaving only my tee shirt and bra.
He helps me out of my shirt and he kisses the tops of my breasts, cupping them in his hands as he moves to undo the clasp.
I reach for his belt and then I tug at his jeans and then I’m in the air and he’s carrying me across the library. He’s holding me high against his chest and sucking my nipples as he moves across the room. I clutch him to me, running my hands through his hair as I let myself fall into the moment.
He lays me down on a long blue velvet couch and smiles as he undoes my jeans. I slip them off and then help him out of his. He crawls over me, his body thrumming with strength and energy and heat. His shape of his hardness presses against the fabric of his shorts.
Gerry lies on top of me and I spread my legs, letting him nestle down against me. He leans up on his elbows and moves his hips against mine, this time I’m the one who groans.
I run my hands along his hips and slide them inside his shorts, tugging them down, and over his erection. I love that I can bring a man to this. There’s something primal and animal about this kind of desire, and it seeps into my and makes me feel powerful, fearless.
“I want you inside me.” The words are like a key to a secret door in my mind. The door to passion and release and unbridled, raw need.
Gerry lifts me off the couch with one arm around my back and slips my panties off with his free hand. Then he places me down on the soft couch and kneels on the floor in front of me. He spreads my knees apart and kisses the tender skin on the inside of my thighs, moving up and up, toward my pussy. My clit is throbbing as he gets ever closer to home.
He presses him mouth over me and the heat of his breath send a thrill up my spine. I arch my back and spread my legs wider, wider, inviting him inside. His tongue darts once, twice, testing me, tasting me, and bringing a whimper to my throat.
“Yes,” I breathe. “Yes, oh god.”
Then he takes my clit in his mouth and rolls his tongue over it again and again, until I grab him by the hair and ride him, letting hi
m suck me until I am almost at the edge. Then he pulls away and the cool air startles me as he climbs up onto the couch and pulls me on top of him.
I run my hand over the head of his cock and down the silky length of his shaft. Then I get up on my knees and guide him to me, touching him to my wetness before I press down and take him inside me.
Whatever sense I had of being in a bubble when we kissed is amplified a hundred times, a thousand—as we move together. I feel as though I’ve found a part of me that I never knew was missing. He is the only man that has ever reached this part of me, body and soul.
“A stór, my treasure, please tell me you feel it, this magic, this incredible feeling of… lord, I can’t even… a chroí… my heart.”
“Yes,” I whisper and moan. “Yes. Yes.”
We reach the top together, and something inside me is changed. I can’t explain what’s just happened between us, but I will never be the same. Never.
MADELINE
ONE YEAR LATER
Everyone thought we were crazy to get so excited about the prenups. They would never understand how letting go of that part of things made us both free to just love each other. And when we talk about it that’s how we describe it: We’ve never felt so free.
It seems stupid to be giddy over a wedding contract, and nobody gets it. They look at the prenup as a sign of mistrust, but for us it’s the opposite. It’s a sign that we love each other for who we are, not what we have. It’s amazing to know that there is nothing else but me for him and him for me. No distractions. No drama. Nothing but us and our life ahead of us.
Allen beams as we cap the pens and he stacks all the papers into a pile on his desk. “You two give a solicitor hope for the world.”
Gerry laughs. “Well, I don’t know about the world… but I am sure about my little corner.” He smiles at me and takes my hand and we head for home.
Outside his house behind Castle Glenkerry, Gerry parks his car and we head to the door. When we get there, he drops to one knee.
“Gerry, what’s this? I’ve already said yes.” I flash my engagement ring at him.
He pulls a red velvet box from his pocket and opens it, revealing a pair of simple gold bands; one for him and one for me. “I wanted to commemorate the day. It seems silly but I think you know what I mean when I say that I’ve found everything in you, Maddie. There is nothing else. You are all there is. A stór, a rún, a chroí.”
I know the words by now for my treasure, my mystery, my heart.
He takes the rings from the box and shows me the inside of the bands. I tilt the gold until I can make out the letters. The words are Irish, and I can’t read them, though they’re the same on both rings.
He stands next to me and slips the ring on my finger, nestling it next to my diamond engagement ring. “It says mo shíorghrá.” The words come out like muh Heer-graw.
I take his ring and slip it onto his finger. “What does it mean?”
“It means, forever my love.” He bends to kiss me.
I wrap my arms around his neck and breathe him in. “I like wearing your forever.”
He smiles a devilish smile. “I’d like to see you wearing nothing but…”
I giggle as he lifts me off my feet and carries me through the doorway.
“I’m so glad you’re mine,” I say into his ear.
“I am so glad to be yours, forever… my love.”
Baby Spice Forever by Frankie Love
Forever At Last by Rebecca Norrine
Forever Dublin by Olivia Hawthorne
Forever His Baby by Kim Loraine
Forever His Girl by Alexx Andria
Forever Kissed by Dori Lavelle
Forever Mine by Laney Powell
Forever My Love by Fiona Starr
Forever Ruined by Tracy Lorraine
Forever Tied by Derek Masters
Forever Together by Angel Devlin
Forever True by Rebecca Gallo
Welcome to Blaze Mountain!
Madeline Blaze heads to Ireland where she falls right into the arms of Gerry Cosgrave in FOREVER MY LOVE.
Claire Blaze McHugh and Thomas give love a chance in the face of fear in DEAR LONELY HEART.
Meet Claire’s sister, Amelia Blaze, when she finds her happily ever after with Damon in NAUGHTY SLEIGH RIDE.
Follow Jules Wilson (Amelia Blaze’s best friend) when she and Ben collide in RESOLUTION: FREE FALL.
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Fiona Starr lives her happily ever after in the mountains of Aspen, Colorado with her hunky husband and their fleet of fur babies.
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I write Contemporary Romance with varying levels of steam. Some collections are short quickies, some are longer for lingering over, but all of them are sexy, sweet, and happily ever after!