She Likes It Irish

by Sophia Ryan

  He lay next to her and his eyes found her face. “I loved you from the first night I saw you at my door, even though you were nearly naked, wearing my next door neighbor’s T-shirt—inside out, by the way—and asking for a cup of condoms so you could have marathon sex. I loved you even when I saw you having sex with Zoe. I loved you when you dumped my arse and made me fight to get you back.”

  “Is there a ’but’ in there?”

  He licked his lips. “You invited Zoe in to our Honahlee. You forgave her for almost destroying us. It made me wonder whether there’s a part of you that wants to be with her…wants to break up with me. And that scares the shit out of me.”

  Tears caught in Kristin’s throat at the deep emotion flowing from the man she loved. He was hurting, and so she hurt too. She scooted closer to him, curled into his chest, wrapped an arm and a leg around his body, and hugged him tight.

  “I love you,” she whispered against his mouth. “Only you. But as much as I love you, I won’t put up with jealousy and mistrust, especially since I’ve done nothing to deserve it. If anyone breaks our relationship, it’ll be you, because of your lack of trust.”

  He hugged her so tight it took her breath away. His eyes found hers. “I do trust you.”

  She smiled. “And I trust you.”

  He swallowed. Hard. Closed his eyes. “I need to tell you something.”

  The look on his face scared her—serious, remorseful, the need to confess something hurtful.

  “When I thought we were over, I…”

  …slept with another woman. He didn’t say it, but she knew it was coming. Felt it burn inside her, eating up all the air in her lungs. She didn’t want to hear it. Didn’t want to hear how he’d shared his body with another woman. She put her fingers over his mouth.

  “No.” She shook her head. “I don’t want to know. You’re with me now. You love me. That’s all that matters.” The words tumbled out of her mouth like boulders to block his need to confess.

  “I didn’t do it, Kristin,” he mumbled between her fingers. She let him move aside her hand and finish his statement. “I couldn’t.”

  Kristin closed her eyes in relief. She’d meant what she said about it not mattering, but knowing that he hadn’t gone through with it was everything to her.

  “Forgive me?” he asked.

  Seems like it was her day to forgive. “Forgiven.” She kissed him softly but deeply.

  “I’m a lucky man that you love me.”

  She smiled. “Yes, yes you are. Why don’t you show me just how very lucky you feel?”

  His hands tugged the strings of her apron.

  ****

  Sushi from their favorite restaurant and Japanese beer filled the bag in the backseat, Kristin was flying high as she drove her way home to Sean. Their time had worn down to a few short days, and she was going to make the most of each one, filling every minute with pleasure.

  She smiled as she thought of the night she’d planned. They’d share a sensuous meal then make love in the shower. Then they’d make love all night in their bed, trying out some new edible oils she’d picked up as well as new positions from the Kama Sutra book she’d bought.

  Kristin was still smiling as she pulled into their parking lot. She might need him to take her up against the living room wall. Just to take the edge off.

  Sean stood near his motorcycle, talking to a stranger.

  She parked and got out of the car, grabbing the bags.

  He took the bags from her hands when she approached and gave her a quick kiss on the mouth. “Kristin, this is Tyrone. Tyrone, Kristin.”

  Kristin smiled and was shaking the man’s hand when it hit her. She spun back to face Sean. “You’re selling your bike.”

  He stared into her eyes and nodded.

  Sean’s fellowship had ended the day before. His visa would expire in a few more days and he would be leaving America, leaving her, and going back to Ireland. Seeing him sell his bike was the first tangible sign that the end was upon them. Feeling tears burning her eyes, she looked away and blinked, fighting to hold on to her emotions.

  She cleared her throat and managed a smile at Tyrone. “It’s a great bike. You’ll love it. We’ve had a lot of fun with it.”

  Sean set the bags down at his feet and slipped his arm around her shoulders, holding her tight against his side.

  “I’ve wanted a bike like this for a long time,” Tyrone said. “I’m glad to get it at such a great price. Speaking of that…” He fished his wallet from his pocket and counted out hundred dollar bills into Sean’s hand. Sean handed over the key, and they shook. The deal was done.

  “Here’s the helmet.” Sean picked it up from the pavement near his feet and started to hand it over when Kristin put her hands on it, stopping him.

  “Tyrone, sorry, but do you mind if I keep this?”

  He looked from her to Sean and back. “Uh, sure. No problem. I have one at home I’ll be using anyway.”

  She smiled her thanks and tucked the helmet against her chest, holding it to her heart like a precious keepsake.

  Sean and Kristin stepped aside, giving the new owner room to approach the bike, climb on, and start her up. They watched, arms around each other, as their bike rolled away out of the lot and down the street.

  Tears rimmed her eyes, not for the bike, but for what it represented. Soon she would have to watch Sean roll out of her life just like the bike.

  Sean wiped away the moisture caught in her lashes with his thumb. “Why do you want this nasty old helmet?” His voice was soft, tender.

  “It’s yours,” she said, her words filled with emotion. “I’ll need it when you’re gone.”

  “Are you going to paint my face on it and sleep with it?” he teased gently. “Kiss it goodnight? Shower with it?”

  “Don’t tease me, Sean. It’s all I’ll have of you when you’re gone.”

  “Ahhh, darlin’, no. That’s not true. I’ll be beside you always, with my heart and my love.”

  “I can’t see those things, smell them, hold them in my hands.” She held up the helmet and looked at it. “You wore this every day, your fingerprints are all over it, your smell is part of it. I look at it and can see you with it on, smiling. I remember how your hair would stick up when you took it off and how I’d try to smooth down the kinks and you’d laugh.”

  “If I’d known it meant that much to you, I never would have tried to sell it.”

  “Well, if you’re tempted to sell anything else, give me first right of refusal.”

  “You got it.” He kissed her and picked up the bags. “Let’s go in, darlin’.” With his arm around her shoulders, he led her to their apartment. “I’m starving.”

  “There’s sushi and beer in one of those bags.”

  “Uh, not for food.”

  She smiled and curved herself tighter against him. “Oh. Then you’ll want what’s in the other bag.”

  ****

  Sean had waited as long as he could to join the security line so he could have as much time with Kristin as possible. But the time had come. He had to go now or risk missing his flight. Still they held each other tightly, both finding it almost impossible to separate.

  “The offer’s always open to come live with me and finish school in Dublin.”

  She was too grief-stricken to cry or to speak in more than a whisper. “I’m so close…I need to finish here. After that, if you still want me—” Pain choked off the rest of her sentence.

  “I’ll always want you.”

  She knew she’d love him for the rest of her life whether he did or not.

  “When you have your degree in hand, I’ll come back and ask you again.”

  She nodded, and they kissed, a desperate, crushing kiss meant to make a lasting physical and emotional impression on both of them. They shared that last moment of passion before he pulled away and picked up his backpack.

  With a last longing look at her, he turned and walked toward the line that would take him to h
is plane.

  “Sean!” she called out.

  He stopped and turned around as she rushed into his arms.

  “We’ll be together again.” He cupped her face between his hands, stared into her eyes. “I promise. I promise.”

  She nodded.

  He kissed her and then left her arms again. This time she let him go, watching every step he took as he snaked his way through the line that took him farther away from her. He paused at the entrance to the secure area, looking for her. Smiled. Touched his fingers to his mouth and sent her his last kiss.

  She forced herself to smile, not wanting his last image of her to be of a sad, tear-streaked face. She raised her hand in goodbye as he stepped into the secure area and headed down the terracotta-brick walkway to his plane.

  She stared after him until she could no longer see his blond head towering above most of the people heading the same way. Only then did she force herself to turn around and take that first stumbling step into her new life…a life without him.

  She made it to her car before collapsing in on herself. How would she ever get by without him? Through her pain, she heard a soft ding sound. A text. She considered ignoring it, but the thought that it could be from him pushed her to dig into her purse and pull out her phone.

  It was from him. “If you wait for me, Kristin, I’ll come back for you. I promise.” Also included in his text was a link to a video. She followed it and saw him with his guitar in hand, sitting on their bed…in his wonderful, stupid boxers.

  “Darlin’, this is my promise to you,” he said and began to play The Promise. In the words of the song, she heard his love, his sorrow, and his promise that he would come back for her if she’d wait for him.

  When the song ended, her fingers flew over the buttons. “I’ll wait for you, Sean. I promise.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Kristin’s rational mind knew that long distance relationships rarely worked out, but that didn’t stop her emotional heart from holding out hope that hers would be the one that did.

  When the frequency of Sean’s calls, texts, and emails slowed, her mind argued that the chance had faded for them. Her heart countered that it was simply his job was keeping him busy. But when her graduation day arrived that blue-skied, sunshiny December morning with no word from him, her mind and heart formed the same conclusion: he’d moved on.

  She went to her department’s graduation ceremony at her mother’s insistence, hiding behind the neon sunglasses her class had decided to wear, the fog of grief making her distracted and disjointed. The guy behind her in the lineup had to elbow her to walk across the stage to get her diploma when her name was called and then, later, to progress down the aisle at the ceremony’s close.

  As she and the other graduates moved down the aisle to applause and cheers, she glanced into the crowd of happy onlookers for the first time to find her parents. She had been too lost in her own misery throughout the ceremony to look for them, and it shocked her how suddenly and keenly she needed to see the faces of people who cared about her.

  She saw her father first, a head taller than most in the crowd, with his perfectly styled, still-dark hair shining and his normally tight mouth slanted into a smile that seemed to suggest he was proud of her. Standing next to him, her mother smiled through a torrent of tears. That her mother was crying was no surprise. What was surprising was her hand holding onto the arm of the much younger man beside her. A tall man, with squirrely blond hair, shining dark blue eyes, and a heart-stoppingly familiar grin on a kissably full mouth.

  Kristin stopped in her tracks, slid up her sunglasses, rocked back a step oblivious to the fact that she was blocking everyone behind her. She stared at the handsome, sexy man beaming with love and pride at her. The man moved toward her with his eyes locked on hers. She stepped out of line to let the others pass.

  Was it really him? Could he really be here? In the same room? Standing in front of her?

  “Congratulations, darlin’.” Sean held out his arms and she needed no more proof, no more encouragement, and no more convincing that it was indeed him.

  “Oh, my God! Sean?”

  She threw herself into his arms, delirious at the feeling of having them so tightly around her. He kissed her and she drank in the comforting and exhilarating taste and feel of his mouth. Her body—and heart and mind—heaved a sigh of joy and relief. Everything was right, now.

  “What are you doing here?” Tears of joy stung her eyes, and she couldn’t stop smiling.

  His eyes sparkled, and his smile mirrored hers. “I came to ask you something.”

  “You could have called.”

  “Something this important deserves a face-to-face. But I could leave if you’d rather I call.”

  She flushed at the memory of the last time those words were said. “Don’t you dare!”

  He took her left hand. “When I left in August, you said you had to finish your degree before we talked about our future. Well, darlin’, that’s a diploma there in your hand, so I’m back to ask whether you still want a future with me.”

  “Yes. More than anything.”

  He blew out a breath as if relieved by her answer. “Then I have one more thing to ask you.” He kissed her hand and slowly dropped to one knee.

  She dropped her diploma. Her right hand flew to her mouth and tears swam in her wide eyes, blurring her vision. “Sean?”

  The room seemed to have gone silent, like they were the only two people there.

  “Forever isn’t long enough for me to show you how much I love you, Kristin, but marry me, and every day I’ll be at your side showing you. I promise to be yours only—in body, mind, heart, and soul—forever. Say you’ll be mine, too…” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a ring, perched it on the tip of his finger. “…by accepting my ring, the symbol that my love for you is precious, solid, and eternal.”

  Tears as fat and shiny as the diamond on the engagement ring rolled down her smiling cheeks. She nodded and managed to whisper yes as he leaned in to slide his ring on the finger of her shaking left hand.

  He stood then and wrapped her up in his arms. She put her hands on his face and stared into his shiny eyes. “I accept your love, your promises, and this…Wow! This damn-fine symbol.”

  He chuckled.

  “I love you, Sean. I’d be honored to be your wife, your lover, your friend, your partner. Forever.” She leaned forward then, her mouth at his ear. “As long as I get to kiss The Legend whenever I want.”

  He threw his head back and laughed. “You got it, darlin’,” he whispered, then pulled her into a long, languid kiss that left no doubt in her mind that she’d made the right decision.

  About the Author

  Welcome to love, picante style.

  I began writing and selling short romances in college to support my bad habits…er, my weekend entertainment. I graduated to novel-length erotic romances in 2009 with my first book, Hot Summer Fling, under the name Toni Zuma. My first book writing as Sophia Ryan, In The Bad Boy’s Bed, soon followed and several more are in progress.

  I write the kind of books I like to read: stories where sexual heat sizzles off the page and the characters fall into lust and love. When I’m not writing about passion, I’m indulging in it—yoga, hiking, laughing with friends over hot chile and cold beer, and watching the Sandia Mountains turn the color of ripe watermelon at sunset.

  I live in the sunny southwest with the loves of my life.

  Visit Sophia at

  http://sophiaryan.webs.com

  To chat with Sophia Ryan and other Wild Rose Press authors of erotic romance, join us at www.groups.yahoo.com/group/thewilderroses.

  Also Available

  One Hard Ride

  by

  M.M. Bordeaux

  Amanda Sloane’s passion has been solely focused on becoming a well-respected, NYC art appraiser. With that appetite sated, she can no longer ignore her body’s carnal desires.

  Tasked with authenticating an uncatalo
ged Randell painting that could be worth millions, she meets a trio of Texas ranch hands who take her on an erotic ride imagined only in her deepest fantasy. Between ranch owners, Jake and Justin Morgan, and their ranch foreman, Luke, the cowboys ignite in Amanda a raging fire of uninhibited sexuality.

  For years, the Morgan brothers have fought off their greedy cousin's attempts to take their ranch, including poison and sabotage. Now, Jake is counting on the elegant and sophisticated art appraiser to authenticate his grandaddy’s painting to stave off foreclosure on the family ranch. Awakening the big city vixen’s sexual hunger has his body ablaze with need and his heart yearning for love.

  Can Amanda give up the intoxicating pleasure of her sexual awakening? Or is Jake's love unconditional enough to encourage her to continue her erotic odyssey?

  Chapter One

  Amanda groped for her ringing cell phone, knocking the alarm clock and her vibrator off the nightstand before she had the damn thing in her hand. She fully intended to hang up but made the mistake of checking the caller ID.

  “‘Lo Sarah,” she said sleepily. “What’s up?”

  “Time to rise and shine sweet cheeks. It’s eight fifteen on a beautiful sunny day in Manhattan, and you owe me breakfast. Get your pretty ass out of bed and get dressed. I’ll see you at Beans in twenty minutes. I’ve got a big surprise for you.”

  The cheery voice was like a suddenly raised window shade, flooding the room with bright light. “Jeez.” She held the phone away from her ear. “How do you know I’m not already dressed? Maybe I’ve just come in from a two mile run.”

  “Yeah, right. And I’m the Queen of Sheba. It’s just past eight on a Sunday, so I know you’re still in bed. The question is, where and with whom? You still seeing that blonde Viking? Are you at his place or yours? I would really love to see the mast on that man’s longboat.” Sarah giggled.

  “Well, you would be very disappointed, just like I was,” Amanda groused. “And I’m afraid that relationship is over.”

  “You’re kidding! After just a month? You two seemed like the perfect couple.”