“You’re good at that.”
I shrugged. “I’ve nursed a few fat lips in my time.”
“Did you box as a kid?”
“I did. I went to college on a boxing scholarship.”
“That’s impressive.”
“Not really. I grew up with a father who learned how to box to survive on the streets.”
“Must have been an interesting childhood.”
“You don’t know the half of it.”
“And your girlfriend? What does she think of all that?”
She looked away as she asked, almost as if she was afraid of my answer.
“Don’t have a girlfriend.”
“Yeah?”
Her eyes came back up to mine, and she smiled, then hissed softly as her lip caused her pain again.
“You have to stop doing that,” I said softly, moving the ice a little to look at her lip. I touched it gently with the tip of my finger, careful so that I didn’t cause her any unnecessary pain. Her lips softened under my touch, swelling just slightly. I couldn’t resist. I wanted to taste her; I wanted to feel the silkiness of her lips against mine. I pressed my lips to hers, just a slight bit of pressure to test her reaction. She moved into me and slid her hand over the front of my shirt. Her lips parted, just the very tip of her tongue sliding out, brushing against my lips. It was all the encouragement I needed.
I pushed her up against the counter and invaded her, taking from her what I’d wanted from the first moment I saw her. She tasted like mint and jasmine, like everything a woman should. She smelled just as sweet, like a warm spring afternoon. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and I twisted it around my hand, tugging her closer to me even as I moved her head to a more comfortable position, taking from her everything I’d wanted for so long without fully realizing it.
Her hand found its way under my shirt, touching me almost tentatively as she boldly invaded my mouth, touching me in places I hadn’t been touched in longer than I cared to remember. She knew what she wanted…and she was making that quite clear, her lips moving almost roughly against mine. It was a fascinating contrast, her kiss compared to her touch. Her hand just lay pressed against my abs as if she was afraid to go any further, or unsure if going further would be something I’d welcome. She had no idea how my nerves were suddenly very aware of that hand, how my skin craved her touch, how my chest, my cock, wanted that hand to move.
I pressed my body hard against her, my hand wandering down over the silky smoothness of her yoga pants to cup one ass cheek in my hand. I squeezed, tugging her hip up against mine. She moaned, the vibration of sound a whisper of consent. I knew in that moment that she was mine if I wanted her. She was open and willing, her body like clay in my hands. But the hesitation in her touch bothered me.
She wasn’t ready for this. As much as her kiss said she was, that hand pressed to my belly was a red flag that cooled my jets.
I pulled back, untangling myself from her hair, her body.
“I should go.”
“You don’t have to,” she said somewhat breathlessly. “You haven’t had that drink yet.”
I brushed my thumb over her bottom lip, reluctant to leave her. However, the last thing she needed was for me to take advantage of a moment of weakness. She had enough on her plate, what with Jack as a father and that crazy boy as an ex. She didn’t need to throw me and all of my baggage into the mix.
I leaned close and kissed her softly one more time, then walked away. It was probably the hardest thing I’d ever done.
Chapter 4
Delaney
I ran my tongue over the swollen corner of my mouth as he walked into the restaurant, aware that he would see it and wonder what had happened. Alex nearly called the police when I walked into the office this morning and I’d thought that I covered it up pretty well. He would insist on seeing me today, of all days. I’d survived fifteen years without knowing him at all and the past ten years with just a passing acquaintanceship. But now he wanted to be a father.
Just my luck.
“Hello, darling,” Jack said, bending to kiss my cheek. I knew the moment he saw my lip because his eyes narrowed—pale blue eyes like mine—and his harsh lips thinned into a narrow line.
“That Claude?”
I touched my lip a little self-consciously. “It’s complicated.”
“Doesn’t look complicated. Looks like some asshole smacked the shit out of you.”
I glanced around the restaurant, a blush heating my cheeks. “You want to keep it down?”
“Why don’t you let me take care of this guy?”
“Because I’m a big girl. I can deal with my own problems.”
“He hit you.”
“Yeah, well, I think it’s over. I don’t think he’ll be back.”
“Why not?”
“Because the usual text wasn’t on my phone this morning. I think he finally got the message.”
Jack leaned forward, studying my face with an intensity that still made me nervous even though I knew it had affection behind it. This was affection to Jack McGuire.
“He touches you again, he’s dead. You understand, right?”
The thing was, I think Jack really meant to kill Claude. Not just in the metaphorical sense, but in the six feet under sense. And that scared me more than Claude’s temper.
“How’s business?”
Jack’s eyebrows rose. “We’re changing the subject now? Okay.” He sat back and picked up the menu. “Business is good. We’re looking to acquire a building downtown, an old bank that acquisitions thinks we can renovate and turn into office space.”
“That seems like a small project for MCorp.”
“Yeah, well, we like to give back to the city from time to time with projects like that. Brian calls it community outreach.”
“Brian Callahan?”
“Yeah. You met him the last time you were at the office.”
I nodded, remembering the meeting. He was a kind-looking man with red hair that was beginning to whiten at the temples. He was about fifty, newly married from what I’d heard. Momma told me that he ran protection for Jack’s Irish mob, keeping his people out of trouble as best as he could with four of his sons. She said he’d been a friend of Jack’s since they were just teenagers running the neighborhood. Said he helped them sneak around back in the day, in the weeks and months before I was conceived.
He probably helped Jack sneak around with all the women he’d cheated on his wife with.
“Sounds nice, actually. This city needs as much community involvement as it can get.”
“You think so?”
“Sure.” I sat back and crossed my legs, studying my father for a long moment. “It’s a good thing.”
He smiled, the expression softening his face considerably. “I’m glad you approve.”
I tilted my head slightly, and then I picked up the menu, reviewing the options even though I ate here three or four times a week because it was right across from my office building. There were three executives from my company sitting at the back of the room right at that moment, probably wondering who the hell I was with. I was the CEO of a company that specialized in matching people with their soul mates—or at least their now mates—and I was notoriously single. I’m sure they all knew about my break from Claude, whom I’d only dated for three months before we called it quits. They were quite curious about my romantic life.
It caused shivers to run up and down my back at the thought they might think Jack was my romantic equal. I couldn’t even see what my mom saw in him all those years ago. He was good looking, but he was intense. Scary intense.
“How’s your mother?” he suddenly asked, almost as if he could hear my thoughts.
“She’s good. Still working at that doctor’s office downtown.”
“That’s good. She was always happiest when she was busy.”
I nodded. She was, actually. Which boggled the mind why she had such a hard time keeping a job. She was out of wor
k more often than not when I was a kid. I suspected it had something to do with the many affairs she had with the men she worked with, but I can’t be certain. My mother was a lot of things, but she was always careful to keep her romantic entanglements away from me when I was little. It wasn’t until I was in high school that I realized how complicated my mother really was when it came to men.
“Did she ever talk to you about me?”
I shifted, a little uncomfortable. “Not a lot.”
“I don’t suppose she would. But I want you to know that I cared about your mother.”
“I’m sure you did.”
“She was a good woman.”
“Still is.”
He inclined his head slightly. “I didn’t mean to imply that she wasn’t.”
“Can I ask you something?” I said, setting the menu down carefully, the movement belying how insanely quick my thoughts were flowing. “Why are you suddenly so interested in me? In her?”
He also set down his menu, his focus turning to his hands for a long moment.
“I’ve been waiting for you to ask me that.”
“You were never around. And when you were, you were always distracted, like you’d rather be somewhere else. So why now?”
He shook his head, his attention moving everywhere but on me. “You’re my daughter.”
“I’ve always been your daughter.”
“I know. I just…my other kids are all gone now and I just…I want to know you.”
“You want a replacement for the kids you had with your wife?”
“Of course not!”
He leaned forward, reaching for my hands across the table. I moved back out of his reach, holding my hands together in my lap.
“Delaney,” he said softly, glancing around the restaurant for a long second, “I’m sorry. I’m not good at this. When your mother told me she was pregnant, I panicked. But then I saw the two of you walking down the street and I…you’re my daughter.”
I reached up and touched my lip, my thoughts still scattered.
“Okay. But then you came back into my life and you were around maybe an afternoon or two a year. But now, all of a sudden—”
“Things have been happening in my organization.” He lowered his voice, leaning closer so that I could hear him. “People are disappearing; boys are getting arrested. I reached out to you to make sure you were okay and I realized how little I knew you. I want to know you.”
I inclined my head slightly. “You don’t want the wrong people to talk to me before you find out how much I know about you.”
“That’s not true.”
He actually looked offended, which I found somewhat amusing. I lived all my childhood thinking my father was some great businessman who simply didn’t know about me. I always imagined that when he found out, he’d come and rescue me from the mundane life I was living. When I learned the truth, that he’d known about me my whole life and simply didn’t care, my fantasies were shattered. Everything that’s come since I’ve taken with the cynicism of a broken heart.
“Look, Jack, it doesn’t really matter why you want to be part of my life now. I’m happy to get to know you. But you have to accept that I can’t just sit back and open all the doors and not worry that you’ll grow bored and walk away. Again.”
“I understand that.” He reached over and touched my hand lightly. “But I want you to know that I do care about you and your mother. And I do want to be part of your life.”
“Okay.”
I forced a smile, trying to bite back all the anger that built in my chest just at the thought of what might come. He would walk away. He was that kind of guy. Once he assuaged whatever guilt had caused him to come to me, he would be gone again. He wasn’t a forever kind of person.
But there was no point in fighting it. He was here now.
***
I went back to work less than an hour later, the weight of a million questions on my mind. I sat behind my desk and looked down on the street below, watching the restaurant I’d just left. Jack was still inside, a man about my age with dark hair and a heavy beard sitting across from him. He’d come in just as I was leaving, making a bee line to Jack as if he’d been waiting for me to go.
Jack wasn’t coy about what his life was all about. He never denied that he was the head of the Irish mob and never pretended he was more than the criminal he was. He could have. He was the Founder and President of MCorp, one of the largest conglomerates in the country. He could have hidden behind that title; he could have pretended business was his only concern. But he didn’t.
Why?
Maybe he assumed my mom had already told me everything—which she sort of had. Or maybe he just didn’t want me to find out some other way. I don’t know. But I wished he hadn’t told me.
I ran my fingers through my hair as I turned and told myself to focus. My father was not really that important right now. Right now, I had to figure out why we’d lost a quarter of our clients over the last few weeks. Right now, I had to look over the specs for the upgrades we were hoping to implement in a week or so. Right now, I had business to worry about.
But just as I tried to focus, my lips seemed to swell and this warm, spicy scent filled my nostrils. Thoughts of Sean slipped through my mind at the oddest moments, the feel of his hands on my hips making my belly quiver in ways it had never done before. His kiss was…my mom used to talk about how this guy’s kiss made her toes curl and how that guy’s touch could make her shiver. I’d always told myself that that was not the way to find the perfect match. My mom was all about the physical. Sex. So I’d been very careful about the men I allowed to get that close.
I wasn’t a prude. I’d done things…some things I regretted. There was a guy in college whom I wished I hadn’t given my virtue to, which was why I’d not been with anyone since. Not even Claude, much to his frustration. Perhaps that’s what caused things to go sour so quickly. And maybe that was for the best, considering his violent ways.
So why was it that I couldn’t stop thinking about Sean? We shared one kiss and I was ready to jump into bed with him? It was stupid and reckless and immature. But the desire was there just the same.
I wanted him, and I’d thought for a minute last night that he wanted me, too. But then he walked away. Why did he walk away?
I glanced over my shoulder through the window just in time to see Jack leave with his bearded companion. What was that all about?
There were so many questions, and I was afraid I’d never get answers to most of them. But did it really matter? Was it really necessary to know everything?
I didn’t think so. But something deep inside of me understood that the more I knew, the safer I’d be.
Chapter 5
Sean
I was reviewing the legality of the real estate contract for the building downtown when my phone buzzed.
“Mr. McGuire would like to speak to you immediately.”
“Thank you, Janice.”
I closed the file folder that held the contract and stood, tugging on my tie to straighten it. I still wasn’t quite used to wearing a noose around my neck all the time, but I didn’t feel like I was suffocating all the time anymore. I shrugged into my coat and headed out, aware that I should be nervous but not really feeling it like I thought I would.
Jack obviously found out about Delaney’s encounter with her ex last night. There was no other reason for him to call me up to his office in the middle of the afternoon.
I wonder what he’d think if he knew I’d figured out who she was. And I wondered how he’d feel if he knew how she’d kissed me last night, how it felt to hold her in my arms. I wondered if he’d be satisfied with just putting me in my grave, or if he’d need more satisfaction than that.
It was funny how fathers like Jack are about their daughters. I remembered when Jack’s older daughters began dating, how most of the guys who showed even the slightest interest trembled in their boots every time Jack leveled his gaze on them. And the wa
y my own father reacted when Stacy began dating. He’d literally pulled a gun on one boy he’d caught slipping his hand under her shirt on the living room couch. It was lucky for Stacy that she’d married Killian. Anyone else and Pops probably would have done more than wave a gun around.
It was still a little odd thinking about my older brother married to my little sister—not that we were related by blood in any stretch of the imagination—and now they were expecting a kid any minute. But they were happy. Any idiot could see that just by looking at them. Even me.
Tom, Jack’s secretary-slash-bodyguard gestured for me to go right in.
“Sean,” Jack said, setting down the phone quite dramatically as I walked in. He stood and came around his desk, gesturing for me to take a seat on the couch set invitingly off to one side of his spacious office. “I hope I didn’t pull you away from anything important.”
“Just the contracts for the new building downtown.”
“How’s that looking?”
“Good. We should have a deal in a day or two.”
“That’s good news.”
Jack unbuttoned his coat as he took a seat across from me, his eyes never leaving mine. I could see now how much Delaney’s eyes were like his. The thought was a little unsettling, but not enough to stop me from thinking about the way her lips had tasted, how her hand had felt against my chest, how good it would have been to pick her up and carry her up to her bed.
I regretted not doing it from the moment I left her condo—even though I knew, deep down, that I’d done the right thing. She wasn’t ready. She might never be ready.
“I had lunch with Delaney Doherty today. I noticed she had something of a fat lip.”
I inclined my head slightly to acknowledge that fact, picturing it in my head as it was last night. It must have swelled a bit more in the night for it to be obvious to him.
“She said she had an encounter with that ex of hers again. Didn’t tell me exactly what happened, but the evidence was pretty clear on her face.”
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