Nate thought for a moment and then cleared his throat. “Is there a reason you’re confessing this to me? Or am I indulging in nothing more than wishful thinking that you might someday find me appealing as a man?”
Erin laughed. “Well, ya do seem like a real catch, but that wasn’t my exact point. I was actually reflecting on how much time I’ve given to that fecking caveman in the box there. The whole town of Lisdoonvarna knew I cared about Angus even though I kept it mostly to myself. I felt it was shameful to care for a man who never saw me as a woman for nine years. More shameful even than getting with child at twenty-seven from a man who never intended to stay with me. I certainly haven’t been too smart about men. Guess that’s why I get so much from helping other women be a bit smarter about their choices.”
Nate nodded. “What’s stopping you from starting over? If you’re worried about the matchmaker legend dying out, relationships don’t typically last more than fifty years or so here. In the typical 300 years a person lives in Universe 1, they have at least three or four long lasting relationships. No one questions a person’s need to change partners. You and Angus could say your breakup was just that phase for you both. People are going to find your Universe 6 accents harder to accept than you switching up life partners.”
Erin chuckled. “Ya make it all sound very easy, but making the decision with my brain is not my problem. It’s getting my heart to go along. He’s beaten down my ego in every way possible. Director John said he’d have to swap my Angus out for another if Angus really wanted to leave this place. Now I find myself wondering if another version of him might think differently about me. Yet at the same time, I’m nearly panicked at the thought I’ll never see the fecking moron in this box again.”
Nate crossed his arms, trapping his notation pad against his chest. “You two have me wondering who the real matchmaker is here.”
“What do ya mean?” Erin asked.
“He’s ‘staying out of ya’ to quote his words, because Angus knows you’re going to make him be better than he’d be without you. Isn’t that how all relationships work?”
“I can’t believe Angus MacNamara said those words to you,” Erin exclaimed, blushing at the thought.
Nate snickered. “Healers have to count drunken ramblings. It’s part of the oath we take.”
“You’re joking,” Erin declared.
“About the oath? Yes. But Angus really did say that about you.”
“Something he’d never admit to my face because I’d call him an eegit. Angus MacNamara is a fecking arse of a man,” Erin said softly.
Nate smiled at her cursing. “I’ll lie if you tell me it will help you get over him.”
“Go on with yer teasing,” Erin said. “He had me once and it didn’t change a thing for the better.”
“Did it make it any worse?” Nate asked.
Her sigh was loud. “No. Feck no. I’m standing here staring at him in a box and praying to Brighid that his liver gets better. I know damn well he’ll just try to pickle it again. Women can be such fools to keep hoping when it’s hopeless.”
Nate shook his head. “Since you shared a secret with me, I’ll share one with you. I have a theory about why the aliens who saved us asked for women instead of asking for gold like everyone expected. Their airships run on gold, you know. Most terrain planets have it in short supply. New Earth happens to have it in abundance. Funny thing though… they pay for any gold they get from us. However, they bribe us for our women by withholding their real help unless we give them some.”
“Go on with yer theory. I’m listening,” Erin said, her gaze locked to Nate’s serious one.
“Women on this planet, no matter the universe they hail from, do the unexpected. They believe in the impossible and love the most impossible men. Aliens revere our women for their passionate approach to everything they care about. These aliens often come from violent cultures, but they come here and pretend to be docile as lambs in our program. They will do anything to be one of those who brings a woman of New Earth back into their culture. They want passionate daughters who will renew their planets with the same boundless hope you detest in yourself. It’s a kind of will to survive being manifested in other cultures in the most unusual way anyone could ever have imagined happening.”
“Ya have a very glib tongue, Nate. Are ya sure ya are not a poet?” Erin asked.
Nate chuckled. “No. I’m a jaded healer with five failed relationships behind him. I’ve had no woman in my life for a couple of years. Only the unusual ones like you ever attract my attention. Then they get to know me, and as you would say—it doesn’t take.”
Erin hung her head as she smiled. “It’s very nice to hear you’re attracted to me, but…”
“I’m not a cursing, farting matchmaker ya can’t fecking get over?” Nate teased.
Erin laughed. “Maybe ya could put me in the cooking box and see if ya can fix my mind. I’m obviously daft.”
“I’m afraid the rejuvenation cylinder only fixes the physical body. We let the mind heal itself. There was a time in our history where we convinced ourselves we could control emotions, reactions, and nearly every function of the brain. There was only one problem with all that lovely control we learned. That thing in us that isn’t physical… that spark of life that makes us each unique… it would still surface and take over first chance it got. Since the invasion of New Earth and our near annihilation, we’ve learned to cherish each human’s uniqueness. If we hadn’t been able to see that some aliens were good, Universe 1 would have been destroyed. So being daft, as you call it, has its purpose in the big scheme of things.”
“Ya are a very smart man, Nate. I’ll give yer theory a think or two,” Erin promised. “Thanks for making me feel a little less like a fool for caring for him.”
“Maybe I’m the one who’s really daft then,” Nate teased.
Erin chuckled over him repeating her words. “When Angus MacNamara has to be put back into this fecking cooking box over and over, remember ya were the one who said it, not me. For now, I will just agree with ya and go on about my business.”
When Nate laughed at her joke, Erin decided it was a shame she couldn’t stop longing for a man who might never appreciate her the way someone like Nate could.
Chapter Eleven
Angus watched as Erin collected their dinner cart, thanked the food deliverer, and spoke to Berg, who apparently was standing guard for the night. He studied her as she rolled the cart over to the table and put his food in front of him. He was pleasantly surprised to see her put her own plate on the table and take the seat across from him.
“Ya are not eating in yer room,” Angus observed, feeling guilty when her eyes darkened. “I didn’t mean that in a bad way. I’m happy to have yer company.”
“Ya are fresh out of the box again. Nate said ya needed to take it easy. Would it kill ya to just say thanks?”
Angus winced. “Ya are right… as usual. Thanks for being here, and for the meal. I’m feeling the ale’s effects, even though Nate swore that was gone from my system long ago.”
“No more ale for ya until Nate says ya can,” Erin ordered.
Huffing as quietly as he could, Angus nodded. “Okay. I know. He told me.”
She snorted. “Stop sounding like a two year old who’s been told to behave. Ya are a grown man. Try acting like one.”
“Have ya no kind words to say to me?” Angus asked.
Erin lowered her fork and pretended to think. “None come to mind.”
Angus rolled his eyes and gave up. But he didn’t want to eat in total silence. “Mia ever pick an alien?” he asked.
Erin kept eating as she shook her head. Her fork stilled as she thought. “No. She’s met all of them. I don’t know what she’s waiting for. Kor-el is perfect for her.”
“What makes ya so sure?” Angus asked.
“Because he’s had an anxiety attack every time she’s scheduled another sweet meet. I think he was gone on her from the first. Kor-el
will adore her until her dying day.”
Angus snorted. “Sometimes women can’t tell what a man is really thinking.”
“That’s true enough,” Erin answered.
Angus poked at his food with his fork. It was good, but he wasn’t very hungry. He was worried about something Nate hinted at during his last lecture. “Is Nate courting ya, Erin?”
Erin’s fork clattered against her metal plate as she dropped it. Fumbling, she gripped it with unsteady fingers. “Goddess, no. What gave ya that idea?”
“Nate said ya came to medical every day while he was cooking my liver.”
Erin glared at the dense man across from her. “And so ya naturally concluded I was in there sniffing at Nate.”
“It was that… and the fact that the man never stops talking about ya. He’d sing yer praises all day long, if anyone would listen. He nearly wore my ear off.”
“Ya are an eegit, Angus. I don’t know how Mary ever put up with ya,” Erin said harshly. “Just shut up and let me eat in peace.”
Angus put down his fork. “Nate is right about ya though. Ya are a good woman. Yer heart is about as pure as a person gets.”
Erin hung her head, embarrassed by the praise given her last discussion with Nate. “I’m glad Nate thinks so.”
“I think so myself,” Angus said. “In case I ever go into the box and don’t come out, I wanted ya to know that.”
Erin nodded, not meeting his gaze. “Thanks be to ya then.”
“Look at me,” Angus ordered. When she didn’t, he made a low sound in this throat. “Erin Elisabeth O’Shea, raise yer gaze to meet my eyes. I’m not using my breath for no reason here.”
Angus waited until Erin looked at him. He could see the toll his fussing had taken on her in the way her eyes lost their light. She could barely bring herself to look at him.
“Maybe ya would be better off being stuck here among aliens with another version of me—one who isn’t so jaded. If another me were here with ya and doing a sweet meet right now, he would likely tell ya that yer blue eyes are the color of the sky and yer lips make him think of all kinds of wicked things. All I can do is swear on my Mary’s grave that I didn’t kiss ya that day only because my cock wanted me to so badly. I’ve never trusted my pecker when it got that determined toward a woman.”
Erin was beyond speechless. She dropped her elbow on the table and put her head in her hand. “Goddess rest yer soul, Mary MacNamara. I can see why ya chose dying over living another nine years hearing this sort of shit.”
Angus frowned and glared. “What the feck are ya doing now? Are ya praying to my dead wife?”
Erin lifted her head. “No, fool. I was praying for her.”
“Well, stop. I don’t want her spirit jumping from Universe 6 to Universe 1 just to haunt me. She wasn’t a fecking saint ya know. The woman had faults… more than ya do actually.”
Erin laughed. “Why I ever thought I could replace her is beyond me. Ya are going to live hundreds of years here and all ya are going to think about is yer poor, dead Mary.”
Angus snorted. “Because she’s all I knew… until I sank into ya.”
“Well, we’re two for two then. My babe’s father was all I knew until I let ya sink into me. I just wish ya weren’t all I’ve thought about since.”
Angus stilled. “Ya thought of me since?”
Erin rolled her eyes. “Yes. Unfortunately, it wasn’t merely because of the pleasure yer cock worked me into feeling. I wish every day that had been the reason because I’d like ya a whole lot better.”
Angus felt a tremor go through him. He hadn’t known if she’d been pleasured or not. His mind hadn’t allowed for the memory because he’d been ashamed of giving in to wanting her. Maybe his cock remembered though because it was hardening now and hoping for the chance to pleasure her again.
Erin stood and returned her plate to the cart. “Are ya truly not hungry?” she asked.
Angus raised his gaze and fell into her blue eyes. Erin’s brown hair fell over her shoulders as she leaned toward him. His gaze narrowed on her lips.
What if being with Erin here in this place was his destiny? Being here hadn’t been the destiny for the dead version of him who’d taken his place in the grave next to Mary, but being with the original Erin had been the destiny for the original Angus. Thinking of his other selves as examples was no doubt a bit loony, but fifty-fifty odds weren’t so bad to his way of thinking.
“I hope our cook isn’t insulted, but food doesn’t interest me today,” Angus said quietly.
Nodding, Erin picked up his plate and put it back on the cart. He watched as she pushed the cart over to the door and passed it out. “Berg is here,” the dark haired giant said. He heard Erin speaking to Berg in return, but had no idea what she said when she spoke. All the blood had left his brain while he’d stared across the table at her.
He was standing when she returned and met her in the middle of the room.
“What’s wrong Angus? Ya look ill again,” Erin said, coming close.
He let her put her hand on his forehead. The concern in her touch dropped him to his knees at her feet.
“Angus… are ya alright?” she called out, bending to him.
“I’m sorry, Erin,” he said. “I’m sorry I didn’t do it right when ya gave me the chance.”
“Come on, Angus,” Erin said tersely. “Ya are acting crazy. Let’s get ya to bed. Ya obviously need more rest.”
“No,” Angus said, rising to his knees and cupping her hips in his hands.
He lay his head against her slightly round stomach that curved deliciously down. She smelled divine, so womanly and ripe for loving. He would have given a lot to know if it had been talk of Nate or memories of him that had primed her. But he was the one here, and it would be him she’d remember tomorrow, if she let him have her again.
“It’s not rest I’m needing, though I realize I don’t have the right to expect much else. However, if ya ever find yerself wanting a man again, Erin O’Shea, please consider me over the doctor. Ya have my word that I will work to get things right next time.”
Erin looked down at the man hugging her. In his tiredness, Angus probably didn’t realize what he was saying, but Goddess the words still worked on her woman’s ego like a healing salve.
“Nate isn’t my sort,” she said quietly. “I think he knows that, but he’s just feeling lonely. There’s been five women in his life, but no love, Angus. I haven’t yet figured out what the lack is in him.”
Angus chuckled as he dragged a squealing Erin to her knees to face him. “Poor bastard. Does he know ya are planning to make his match? I can’t wait to see Nate’s face when ya tell him.”
“What the feck do ya think ya are doing?” she demanded.
Angus grabbed her chin and angled his mouth over hers, falling into her softness as she yielded. Then his body turned to a rock when she opened her mouth to his seeking tongue. Lust consumed him and made him bold. Erin shook in his arms and called his name every time he let her get a breath.
Angus finally pulled away to see what Erin really thought about all this. Her eyes were clouded with lust and yet an angry fire lit within them. He suddenly had an extreme need to see something else there.
Cupping her backside with both hands he lifted and pressed her legs around him until her heat rested against his hard cock. It was a wonderful torture he’d never thought to experience again in his life.
“I want ya fiercely,” Angus whispered. “But ya should know that urge might be my mostly unused pecker talking. Just say the word and I’ll make him behave himself.”
Erin pressed against his shoulders and tried to lean back to look at his face to see if he was teasing. Angus cleverly used the angle to press her tight against his still rising hardness. Lord, the woman made him hard.
“Can I take all that wiggling to mean ya want me too?” Angus asked.
“You’re a complete and utter arse, Angus MacNamara.”
“I’d like
to tell ya different, but ya are the one person I don’t want to ever lie to here.”
Erin pushed more firmly against his hold, but Angus used her struggle as an excuse to rub against her until she was swimming in lust. Her willpower melted in a couple of strokes even through their clothing. Goddess, she was needy for the man.
Breathing roughly, she grabbed a handful of his hair and sought his mouth again, trying to put out a little of the fire his rubbing had built. Angus groaned into her mouth during their desperate kiss, his hands stripping her clothing from her to find her breasts and then the heat between her legs. Not completely trusting him to give her what she really needed, Erin reached for his pants and ripped the fasteners away until she had freed him to rise under her.
Of one accord, she slid down and Angus rose up to get inside her. It was the best homecoming ever.
“Angus,” she called out, wiggling to take him in even more completely. He was no small man and she was nothing but grateful for the fact. A large shaking hand in her hair pulled her face to his.
“Open yer eyes and look at me,” Angus ordered.
Erin did and opened her eyes to see his turquoise gaze looking more serious than she’d ever seen the irritating man be.
His voice was a hoarse whisper when he spoke. “I know who ya are, Erin O’Shea, and God’s truth is yer pussy feels like home to me. Now ya can go back to focusing on yer own pleasure again. I just wanted us to be clear on the matter this time.”
Before she could come up with a reply, Angus covered her mouth with his and she was borne backwards to the floor. Her deep-throated moans filled the room as Angus rhythmically slid in and out of her. Stars soon exploded behind her eyes, which she closed tightly so Angus wouldn’t see her profound relief to have him inside her once more.
“Ha! I felt that desperate clenching inside ya this time,” Angus declared, surging harder against her now lax hips.
Matchmaker Abduction: Aliens In Kilts, Abduction 1 Page 9