Wild Irish: Wild Rush (Kindle Worlds Novella)

by Rhian Cahill

“I’m fine,” she grumbled. “A little wet but fine.”

  Grabbing the man’s hand, she kicked her legs to try to assist him. Except all that did was nail Rush in the chest with her heel, because in spite of the old guy’s frail appearance, he was as strong as an ox—and she flew up out of the water and into the runabout in less than a second.

  “Whoa.” She grabbed the side of the boat for balance.

  “There’s a blanket there you can wrap around you.” He indicated a pile of folded blankets and Reena wondered how many rescues he expected to do today.

  By the time she’d wrapped a surprisingly warm and soft blanket around her, Rush and the paddleboat guy had tied their upturned vessel to the rear of the runabout.

  Stepping back out of the way, she caught her foot in the blanket and wobbled before going down on her ass in the bottom of the boat.

  Sighing, she closed her eyes. Today wasn’t going to plan at all.

  She was soaking wet, would probably have a bruise from one side of her ass to the other, and Rush hadn’t given her more than a peck on the cheek all day.

  “Hey.” Opening her eyes, she found Rush crouched in front of her. “Let’s get you on the seat.”

  He helped her stand and guided her to the bench seat that run across the back of the boat near the motor. The old guy went back to the controls, the motor fired up and they were off. Rush’s arm around her back was the only thing that stopped her from tipping over and plunging headfirst into the rear compartment of the boat, where the fuel tank, battery and motor were housed.

  “Careful,” Rush murmured in her ear. “Wouldn’t want you to fall overboard again.”

  She could hear the laughter in his voice, knew if she turned he’d be grinning at her. Tempted to shove him with her shoulder, she bit the inside of her cheek to distract herself. As much as she’d enjoy watching him fall over, possibly into the water, she wanted to get back on land more.

  “I see that mind whirring away there.” His arm tightened around her. “I’m not letting go, so anything you’re planning will take two.”

  Rolling her eyes, she elbowed him. “I’m not planning to do anything.”

  “Ha. Don’t believe you.”

  “I’m not going to do anything. Didn’t say I wasn’t thinking about it.” She grinned up at him.

  He smiled and lowered his head until their lips were only a breath apart. “I’m thinking and doing,” he said, before he closed the distance between them and kissed her.

  ***

  Reena’s lips held a hint of the harbor water she’d swallowed when they both went under. But beneath that, when he swept his tongue deeper into her mouth, he found the taste he remembered. The flavor he hadn’t been able to get out of his head since the first time he’d kissed her.

  It was fresh and sweet and laced with a hint of the coffee she’d had before they’d decided to take a ride on a paddleboat. Her tongue stroked his. Tentative then bold, her innocent brushes becoming more aggressive as their kiss deepened.

  She always started out a little reluctant, unsure, and then arousal kicked in and she forgot about being nervous and went after what she wanted. And she wanted him. It was in the meeting of their mouths, the clawing of her fingers in his wet hair, and the way she climbed onto his lap and straddled him.

  Losing himself in the pleasure, he gripped her head and held her still while he plundered her mouth.

  Hot licks of lust shot through his belly, settled low in his groin and filled his cock with molten want. He gripped her tighter. Plundered deeper.

  “Hey. I’d let you two keep going but this here is a public place and I’ve got a business to run.”

  They tore apart. Breathing hard, their gazes locked, they stared at each other as the rest of the world came into focus once more. Smiling, Rush eased her off his lap and waited until she was steady on her feet before he stood.

  “Thanks for bailing us out.” He held out a hand to their rescuer.

  “All part of the job.” The old guy saluted them and went about untying their overturned paddleboat.

  “You need help with that?” Rush asked.

  “Nah. I’ve got it.”

  “Thank you,” Reena said. “I had fun before…”

  The old guy laughed. “Yeah, going in the drink ain’t all that much fun. Not exactly the weather for it either.”

  As if Mother Nature were listening, a cool breeze blew across their wet bodies and they both shuddered with the chill.

  “We should get out of these clothes before we catch our death.” Rush held out his hand to Reena. “Let me help you onto the dock.”

  Grabbing his hand, she said, “If I go in again…”

  “Promise you won’t. We’re done swimming for today.”

  With Reena safely on the dock, he piled their wet blankets in the bottom of the boat and stepped over the side to join her. She was shivering so hard her teeth were chattering. They’d never make it home without getting sick. He needed an alternative plan.

  Turning back to the old guy, he asked, “Is there a souvenir shop somewhere around here?”

  “Sure. The aquarium has one.”

  “Thanks. Hope we didn’t cause you too much trouble.” Rush frowned as he watched the man flip the paddleboat over with little effort. “Okay. Not too much trouble then,” he muttered.

  “All good. Gets me out of the office.” He grinned at them. “Go on. Get out of this wind. It’s picking up. Expect we’ll get some rain before long.”

  Rush glanced up at the sky. The light dusting of clouds from earlier had turned into a dark, churning cover that definitely promised rain. “Right. Thanks again.”

  He bundled Reena up against his side in an attempt to protect her from the wind and marched them off the dock. Heading straight for the aquarium, he hoped they’d find more than the usual t-shirt and postcard in the shop.

  People gave them a wide berth as they walked along the waterfront. They got some funny looks too but most didn’t make eye contact, which meant the walk was quick.

  Bustling them inside the aquarium’s air-conditioned foyer, Rush scanned the area for the entrance to the obligatory money-trap these places usually had. Spotting it in the far corner, he urged Reena in that direction. She’d cuddled in against him on the walk over, her shivering increasing with each step, and now the cold air of the foyer slapped at them, making it worse.

  There wasn’t much of her, so it wouldn’t take long for the cold to set in all the way to her bones. He knew all about the cold. Living in the mountains where it wasn’t uncommon to get snowed in during winter, he’d build up a resistance, however he wasn’t stupid, he knew it didn’t take freezing temperatures for a person to get hypothermia.

  He needed to get her warm.

  “Can I help you?” A woman wearing a shirt with the aquarium logo on the breast pocket made a beeline for them as they entered the shop.

  “Yes. We took an unexpected dip in the harbor and I was hoping you had some pants and shirts we could purchase so we could get out of these wet clothes.” He smiled while tucking Reena tighter against his chest.

  “Oh, yes, we do. In fact, we have the last of our winter stock on sale right now. This way.” The woman—Jenny, according to her name tag—led them to the back of the store.

  Before Rush could even look, she was pulling things off the display counter and piling them on a chair.

  “You’re in luck. We’ve got one pair of men’s sweatpants left.” Picking up the pile she’d made, she was on the move again. “You can change in the fitting room. I’ll get a bag for you to put your wet things into.”

  “Thank you.” He ushered Reena into the first curtained alcove. “Can you manage on your own?”

  “Yes-s.” She smiled but he could tell it was forced. “I’m f-feeling warmer already.”

  “We’ll get something hot to drink when we’re dry,” he promised.

  Rush made quick work of stripping and redressing. When he came out of the changing room, Jenny
was back with a plastic bag and he handed over his credit card. “Put it on this, please.”

  “Certainly. Debit or credit.”

  “Credit.” He shoved his wet clothes in the bag. “Oh, is there a coffee shop in here?”

  “Yes. Right across the foyer.”

  Rush hadn’t taken notice of anything else when they’d entered the building. He’d been focused on his goal. “Thanks.”

  “That feels so much better.” A smiling Reena appeared from behind the curtain.

  He looked down, taking in the way the t-shirt, while not tight, hugged her naked breasts and the indent of her waist before flaring out to sit snug across her hips. The sweatpants weren’t much better for his control. A little tighter than the top, they skimmed down her long, sleek legs, molding to every curve and ending with her bare feet.

  “Where are your shoes?”

  “I lost them in the harbor.”

  “What?” His gaze bounced back up to hers. “Why didn’t you say something?” And how hadn’t he noticed she was barefoot before now?

  She shrugged. “Not much you could do about it. They were only a cheap pair of flip-flops. I’m sure they’ve got some here I can buy.”

  He was grateful he’d talked her into leaving her handbag and their phones at home. None of those would have survived their dip. “Right. Flip-flops.”

  Rush grabbed her hand and pulled her behind him.

  “Wait. My clothes.”

  “Oh.” Spinning around, he ducked into her changing room and scooped the soggy bundle into the bag with his. “There. Now shoes.”

  By the time they left the souvenir shop, his credit card had taken a hundred-dollar hit and he was looking forward to a hot, strong coffee. The line in the café was out the door, and if it weren’t for their need to warm up, he’d have suggested they forget it and head home instead.

  The line might have been long but it moved quickly, and the wait had the bonus of Reena snuggling into his side for warmth.

  When they got to the counter, Reena ordered a hot chocolate and he ordered the blackest, strongest coffee they had. The girl behind the register gave him a funny look as she punched in their orders. Who knew what he’d end up with. As long as it was hot and coffee, he didn’t care.

  It actually turned out okay. Reena sighed in relief as she took her first mouthful and he had to admit what was in his cup was indeed the blackest, strongest coffee he’d ever had.

  They didn’t talk. Were happy to sit quietly at a table in the far corner watching the customers around them until they’d taken the last sips.

  “I think we’re done sightseeing for the day.”

  Rush had to agree with Reena. His hair had gone hard as it dried. He didn’t want to think about what was in that water. “Let’s go home and take a warm shower.”

  She smiled at him. A smile that made his insides tighten and all sorts of naughty ideas about that mouth and a hot shower flood his brain.

  Chapter Seven

  Reena slid the key in her front door with an army of caterpillars tap-dancing across her nerves. All those teeny-tiny feet tap-tap-tapping away, driving her completely insane with anticipation—trepidation.

  Except unlike last time she’d made the decision to sleep with Rush, she wasn’t about to let that niggle of fear stop her.

  No. She’d already spent a week regretting her cowardice and chastising herself for being a fool. She had no plans to spend the rest of her life doing it.

  She wanted to have sex with Rush.

  She would have sex with Rush.

  Today.

  As soon as they stepped inside, Reena closed the door and made her move. She’d never been so bold. But then there had never been this driving need to be with a guy before. That heady rush of desire was part of the reason she’d panicked last time. Not this time. This time she was going after what she wanting, knowing she’d be experiencing new things—sensations, emotions—that would blow her mind. After a week of lamenting her lack of courage and the last twenty-four hours with him, she was more than ready to embrace everything.

  With Rush.

  Now.

  Flinging herself at him, she sprang up and wrapped her arms and legs around his body, making him stumble back against the wall. His grunt of surprise filled her mouth as she locked her lips to his. She dove right in. Thrust her tongue between his lips and teeth in search of the hot, wet slide of his.

  The groan could have been his or hers. Reena wasn’t sure who made the sound, or which of them was responsible for the moans and sighs that followed as he let her have her way. He let her lead; didn’t surrender to her attempt to dominate the kiss but didn’t make demands of his own either.

  She’d never been a fan of kissing. Too much tongue or saliva or lack of both, depending on the guy, had led her to believe kisses weren’t meant for anything more than signaling whether things could go further or not—like a traffic light, go, slow down, stop. But Rush’s kisses were different.

  They were mind-numbing, whole-body experiences, and she hadn’t been able to get enough of them in the two weeks they’d spent together. And now that she had his mouth on hers again, she wasn’t about to waste a second of the toe-curling pleasure.

  She rocked her hips, grinding her aching flesh against the ridge beneath his sweatpants. He was big and hard and she wanted him inside her in the worst way. But first, she needed to stop the pulsing pain making her pussy hurt.

  “Please,” Reena spoke into his mouth. “Rush. I need…”

  His hands gripped her hips. Fingers digging in, he held her still. His mouth pulled away and his eyes, dark and piercing, connected with hers. “Easy, Reena. Slow down.”

  “No.” She tried to rub against him but his hold tightened and he somehow managed to move his erection away so she was left humping air. “Rush.”

  “Shh.” He pressed his lips to hers in a quick peck. “Not like this.”

  “What?”

  “Not in the foyer with your legs around my waist.”

  She shook her head. “But I thought… You don’t want to…” Reena glanced down at the bulge in his pants.

  “I do.”

  “Then—”

  “Not here.”

  Confused, Reena unhooked her ankles and lowered her legs. “Not here?” Oh, okay, they’d go to her bedroom. She smiled. “This way.” Untangling her arms from around his neck, she turned—only to be spun back around.

  “No. Not now, either.”

  “But you said…” She searched his eyes for some clue as to what he was thinking but came up empty. “I don’t understand.”

  “You’re a virgin?” His tone was questioning but she could see he knew the truth.

  “Hopefully not for long.”

  “Fuck.” He dragged a hand through his hair, his fingers snagging on the dried clumps. “You have no idea what you’re getting. What you’re asking for.”

  “Yes I do. You. I want you to be my first.”

  “You shouldn’t want that.”

  “Why not?”

  “I’m not good enough for you.”

  Reena laughed. “Oh, I’m pretty sure you’re going to be very, very good for me.”

  “Dammit, Sabreena. I want things from you I’ve never wanted with anyone else. We’re not talking soft and easy missionary here. I want dark, dirty things I never imagined I’d need.”

  “I want the same.”

  “Bullshit!” Rush stepped closer, put his nose a hairsbreadth from hers, his eyes swirling with carnal heat. “You have no idea what’s going through my mind at a thousand miles an hour.”

  “Tell me.” She licked her lips. Held her ground while his dark gaze searched hers.

  “Christ.” His eyelids lowered, his nostrils flaring as he sucked in a harsh breath. “I want to get inside you. Fuck your virgin pussy and claim it as mine. Mine. Then I want to push you to your knees, make you suck me hard again so I can spin you around, shove your face to the floor and drive my cock deep inside that ot
her virgin territory you have between your legs.”

  Reena swallowed as heat and lust filled her veins, her lower region clenching hard. She throbbed in a way she wouldn’t have thought possible if it weren’t for the frantic beat pulsing in every cell of her body.

  He moved closer, his warm breath ghosting over her trembling lips. “I’ll own every part of you. Every delicious inch of you will be branded. By. Me. Only me.”

  A shudder rocketed from head to toe. The images his words conjured were limited by her inexperience, but she didn’t need to have firsthand knowledge to know she wanted to let him do all of it.

  Leaning in, he spoke against her cheek as he brushed his nose along hers. “Are you scared, Reena?”

  She shook her head.

  “Fuck.” His head lowered, his brow resting on her shoulder. “You should be. I am.”

  Licking her dry lips, she barely managed to get a word out through her constricted throat. “W-why?”

  His head came up and his gaze met hers. “Because after I’m done taking you in every depraved way imaginable, I’ll want to do it again. And again. And again, until neither one of us can breathe or remember our names.”

  All air left her lungs in a whoosh. “O-okay.”

  ***

  Fuck me.

  He was going to hell.

  There was no way he could do the right thing. He couldn’t walk away from Reena now if his life depended on it.

  God help him, he was going to corrupt this woman to within an inch of her life. But first he had to get control. She tempted him like no other and he couldn’t think about anything except stripping her bare and following through on everything he’d told her.

  They—he—needed a distraction until he could get his head together. He couldn’t just go at her. She deserved better than him rutting on her like an animal. She deserved to be seduced, for her first time to be memorable, something she wouldn’t regret. He’d hate himself if that happened.

  That was why he’d been holding back since he’d arrived yesterday.

  “I don’t want to hurt you.” Christ, the last thing he wanted was to hurt her, but she’d never taken a cock, and while he wasn’t hung like a horse, he was larger than average. He’d have to be sure she was ready. Get her nice and wet, stretch her out with his fingers before—