“I’m all for cuddling.” Jade met his gaze. “If you’re okay with that.”
“I’m more than okay with that, babe.” He gave her a big, wide smile.
Jade returned his smile.
Less than a minute later, Jade was lying on her side in front of Decker. He had one arm around her and held the remote in his other hand. He was scrolling through the movies.
“Seventh Stream! Gosh, it’s probably over ten years old. I haven’t seen it in years. Have you ever seen it? It’s set in Ireland. I have to warn you, it’s a chick flick.” Jade grinned at him.
“Ireland, huh? We’ll watch it. I’ll have you know, I can handle chick flicks. Is it sad? Because if it is, you can’t make fun of me if I cry,” Decker teased her.
Jade laughed. “I promise I won’t make fun of you. It is sort of a tear jerker.” She looked over her shoulder at Decker.
She looked so adorable, he couldn’t resist pressing his lips to hers. It was just a quick peck. He wanted to share a real kiss with her, and much more, but it was too soon. He had rules. For a reason, he reminded himself. He threw the remote on the coffee table then snuggled closer against her.
Damn, it felt nice to have that warm, slender, toned body flush against him. It had been a long time, too long really, since he’d snuggled with or slept with a woman. It had been three going on four years, since he’d had a long-time girlfriend. Two years ago, he dated one girl for probably five months and called it quits when he realized he just wasn’t that into her. He dated another girl for a month, but he never even made it to sex that time. She showed signs of possibly being either a psycho girlfriend or a serious control freak, so he ended that quickly. There were a couple of one-nighters shortly after he broke up with the last real girlfriend four years before. They were definitely a pissed off reaction after finding said ex-girlfriend in bed with another guy. As a rule, he shied away from casual sex, though there had been several weak moments.
He had occasionally hooked up with a girl who used to work admin in the department, but they had been good friends for years. They hung out on occasion when they were both single and not in a relationship. Sometimes it had led to sex, and sometimes not. Mostly they just did things together, movies, dinner, comedy clubs, but her last relationship stuck, and Kelsey married and moved away to Montana. So, it had been well over a year. Generally, he was either dating and having regular sex or he wasn’t. There had been a long stretch without sex.
Jade wiggled her bottom against him as she cuddled closer. His long deprived body reacted to being so close to a woman he was strongly attracted to and that wiggly little bottom rubbed against a particular area that responded quite readily.
His voice was deeper and a little husky as he told her, “Just ignore that guy down there. He hasn’t been this close to a woman in a long, long time. He doesn’t know what to do with himself.”
Jade giggled. “That’s okay. This girl hasn’t been this close to a man in a long time either. I guess we’ll have to muddle through this, you, me, and that guy down there.”
“Yeah, I guess we will.” He chuckled as he rested his hand on her hip and gave it a quick squeeze.
Jade made it halfway through the film then drifted off to sleep.
Decker watched the whole thing. He enjoyed it. He couldn’t imagine loving a woman that much and having to make the choice Owen did. He would have made the same choice. He looked down at the sleeping Jade. He wiped a tear from the corner of his eye. Damn, he was glad she wasn’t awake to see that he really did cry during chick flicks. He pulled her closer to him, closed his eyes, and reveled in the feel of her warm body in his arms. This, he decided as he wrapped his arms tightly around her, was pure heaven. He drifted off to sleep.
“You will stay away from my wife, Ciaran!”
The man sneered at him. “She should have been mine, Daragh.”
“Nay. She loves me, and she’s my wife. You’ve no right to her. If you come near her, making your lewd suggestions or threatening her again, I have the right to kill you, kin, or no! You will treat her with the respect the wife of the heir to the Chiefdom of Ardagh deserves.”
Ciaran displayed a menacing grin. “My hope is that you perish then, for I want her.” His grin faded when with a silver flash of steel, the coolness of Daragh’s sword rested against his neck.
“You will never have her. Caoimhe is mine, my wife, the mother of my children,” Daragh spat.
Ciaran could see how angry his stepbrother was. He had a long dagger tucked in his boot. Perhaps if he pushed Daragh a bit more, he would make a move. When he lunged for him, Ciaran could slit his gullet and claim it was self-defense.
“Ciaran!” Bearach, Chief of the O’Floinn of Ardagh’s voice boomed across the great hall.
“My wife just told me what you said to Caoimhe. I’ve told you once before my son’s wife shall not be disrespected in her home. You need to find your own woman, lad. Why, there are comely lasses a plenty in our clan, not to mention those of our neighbors. Find yourself a pretty lass and marry her. It will ease all that pent up lust to have a woman in your bed every night. Then mayhap you won’t be so angry and bitter. Now go, leave my son and his wife be. If I have to tell you once more, I will take action.”
“You wouldn’t dare harm me!” Ciaran glared at him, his mouth twisted into an angry frown.
“Ya have that wrong, lad. I would if it were necessary. I wouldn’t like it, but I would do it, all the same. Go. Leave us!” Bearach’s command echoed through the hall. He dismissed Ciaran with a wave of his hand.
Ciaran gave each man, father and son, a glare before he turned and walked out of the hall, out of the castle, and into the darkness of night. The dark was the only place that seemed to welcome him.
“I know you promised his mother on her deathbed you’d always treat him as your son, but there is something wrong with him. Caoimhe fears him, father. He follows her about, trying to catch her alone. I’ll not have my wife harmed. I worry for my children as well.”
“Watch your back, son. There is something wrong with him. He’ll do it again. He has an unnatural obsession with Caoimhe. He’s been warned, publicly in the hall, in view of the clan. When he threatens her again, I’ll banish him. I’ll put him on a ship and send him North, to some of his mother’s kin.” Bearach paused for a moment then added, “Better still, I’ll arrange a marriage for him far enough away from us so he can’t cause any more harm here. We could send him to Mayo, Galway, or Clare. Our clan has lands there, or mayhap I can call in a few favors. I’ll get started on the arrangements. I’ll think on it for a few days, and then send the appropriate letters. I’ll choose the fairest of the prospects, and maybe a beauty in his bed will help him forget Caoimhe. We could be rid of him in as soon as a month’s time.” Bearach watched his adopted son walk away, watched until he left the Castle. Ciaran had always been uncommonly cruel, even as a child. He thought he could shape him into a better man than his mother had raised him to be. Bearach realized he had failed in that.
“The further away you send him, the better.” Daragh gave him a nod of agreement.
“Daragh!”
He turned at the sound of his beloved wife’s voice.
She was smiling at him. She hurried toward him, her golden hair streaming behind her.
He couldn’t help but smile at his love, his precious wife, and mother to his babes.
“Ya promised the children you’d give them a tale before they go to bed. They’re asking for their Athair.
Daragh smiled. “I lost track of time.” He gave her a tender look. “Father.” He gave his sire, the Chief, a bow of respect and went to his beautiful wife. He took her hand in his as he smiled down at her. She was just as beautiful as the day he first set eyes on her. Creamy skin, eyes of blue. Her lustrous golden hair was soft as silk and always smelled of flowers. He desired her just as much now as he did that day, even more. He imagined they’d have a castle full of bairns before long, for they had three in the se
ven years they had been wed and his wife had miscarried twice in that time. His eldest, a daughter, Niamh, was born nine months after their wedding day. She was the image of her mother. His son, who came two years later, favored his namesake, his grandfather, and his youngest, another daughter, Sadhbh, had the golden hair of her mother and his dark eyes.
Looking upon his wife’s beautiful face with love, he swore to protect her and his babes from Ciaran.
Decker woke with a start. Jade still slept peacefully in his arms. The huge man, built like a bear, in his dream was the same one from his vision when Liam showed him the picture of the hill where Ardagh castle stood. The man called Ciaran was also the same as in the vision, and looked exactly like the creep who harassed Jade at the bar. The woman, wife to the man whose eyes he saw the dream through, well, she looked very much like Jade. Jade’s face was thinner and her eyes were green but they looked similar enough to be sisters, or at least related. Both of them had long, straight, silky hair the color of honey. Their energy was the same, good, kind, honest energy. He had no idea what the man, whose eyes he saw through, whose thoughts and emotions he heard and felt, looked like. He carefully rose from the sofa. One thing he knew for certain, Jade needed to be protected from this guy.
It was time to get everything ready for the barbeque. He’d take his shower first and let Jade sleep a little longer.
Decker was at the grill cooking up burgers and chicken breasts. Jade came out, set a beer with a lime on the table for him, and handed him a clean plate. He couldn’t help himself, he had to lean in closer and give her another quick kiss. He truly wanted to do much more than just give her a peck on the lips.
He realized then just how much he liked this woman. He had a strong feeling that they were meant to be together. Not only did it have something to do with what his parents had told him, but also he’d never felt this way about anyone. It just felt so right this time, even though he knew he was moving way too fast. He reminded himself of his rules. He wanted this to work out between them, so he really needed to slow things down. Normally, that was no problem for him, following his rules, but this time it was. He was finding it difficult to keep his hands to himself. He and Jade needed to do this right. They needed to get to know one another and they needed to take things slow while they did that. He needed to make sure she was his one in every way, and that he was hers.
After they woke from their nap on the sofa, they had both showered, separately, of course. She now wore a pair of denim crop pants, a breezy and oh so feminine, peach lace top, and sandals. She wore small, dangly, silver earrings and a large silver and sunstone pendant. He hadn’t known it was sunstone, until he asked and she told him. She wore that long, honey-blond hair in a tail. She looked casual, comfortable, and classy. He’d always had a thing for lace, and that peachy confection looked amazing on her.
He was dressed super casual in khaki shorts, and a t-shirt.
“Mmm, you taste like lime.” He smiled down at her when he lifted his head after another quick kiss.
“Yeah, I had a Corona.” A smile played upon her lips.
He looked through the window into the kitchen. The other girls were there setting out the rest of the food. Of course, Liam, Brody, and Connor were there in the thick of things with the ladies. Marlowe Stuart, the owner of the Waterfront had gone into the shop today, so they had invited her to come along. She had ridden over with Connor. There were eleven of them gathered, seven women, and four guys.
“Everything is almost ready,” Jade assured him.
“The burgers are ready. The chicken needs a few more minutes.” Decker began to flip the burgers onto the plate.
“I wish it wasn’t so hot today, we could eat on your beautiful patio.” Jade looked around at the beautifully landscaped yard, all desert landscaping except for a small, free-form oval patch of lush, green grass in the center that was bordered by granite pavers. Even though the rest of it was all natural rock and desert species plants, everything in his yard was healthy, lush, trimmed, and tidy with no sign of weeds or neglect.
“I suppose you take care of the yard too.” She grinned knowingly at him.
Decker shrugged. “Yeah, it gives me something to do on the weekends.”
“Your house and yard are just beautiful, Decker. It makes me miss living in a house.”
“Your apartment is very nice, Jade. Your bedroom was amazing. Everything was perfect. I couldn’t help but notice it was as clean as mine!” He aimed a teasing grin and a wink at her.
Jade laughed. “Apparently, we are both very tidy people. I noticed that myself.”
He grinned wider.
“Hand me the plate, babe. The chicken is done.” He snuck another kiss before they carried the platters of meat into the house. He couldn’t explain why, but he was having a difficult time keeping his hands and lips under control around her, not to mention following his rules.
There was lots of laughter, jokes, and fun as they ate dinner. Some sat at the table. Others were at the bar, and a few on the sofa. The group made short work of eating and cleaning up then settled in the family room, where Brody had brought in some of the chairs from the table so everyone would have a comfortable seat.
They brought Connor and Marlowe up to date on everything that happened at the girls’ apartment in the wee hours of the morning.
“I’ll let Brody have a go with the license plate photos, but I couldn’t get anything.” Liam shrugged. “When Jackson receives the results back from the blood on the rose and the pillow, and the hand print on the skylight in Jade’s bathroom, he’ll let us know. He said it might be two to three weeks.”
He, Decker, and Jade quickly shared the info from his mother’s genealogy notes they found.
“We need to find out what this curse thing is all about,” Harper said. “Brody and I talked about it at the shop, and I’ve thought about it today, and we really can’t be effective unless we know what we are up against. We know this guy has seriously dark energy, and either is human with some special powers or pure demon. But that’s all we know.”
“I definitely agree with you,” Decker nodded.
“I have Mom’s computer here now. I’ll set it up tonight and start searching through her info,” Brody informed them.
“We only found one of her journals today and we looked at it,” Liam provided. “The information was general O’Flynn history and genealogy, like we told you. There was no information about this curse. We need to find the other book, the one we know exists, but none of us have ever been privileged to look at.”
“The one we haven’t seen since before Mom and Dad died,” Decker added.
“I saw it once and looked at it,” Brody confessed. “I woke up about three a.m. when I was in junior high. I was sick with the flu or something, and went into the kitchen to get a drink of water. The notebooks were on the coffee table at our old house. I stretched out on the couch and couldn’t get back to sleep. I picked up the one notebook to see what it was. I flipped through it and read some of it. I remember reading about an old curse, and people whose names I couldn’t pronounce. Then it went on to explain how people, probably O’Flynns, dealt with this Dark Man through time. I don’t remember any details or particulars, but as I think about it now, it read like something by Tolkien. There was mention of magic, powers, a curse, and lots of murders.” Brody shrugged. “I fell asleep. When I woke up the book was gone. I asked Mom where it went. She told me that was something I shouldn’t be reading until I was older.”
“You never told us.” Liam looked at him.
Brody rolled his eyes. “Well, there are a lot of things I never told you guys.” He laughed. “I just assumed because you two were older, you knew what it was already. I never thought about it until now. The times she mentioned the curse as we grew up, I guess I just supposed it was no big deal. Kind of like when they told us we’d have to get jobs and we would get married when we were adults.” He shrugged. “As I got older, I started to think it was all a myt
h. Until Liam and I dreamed about you meeting Jade, and found out you did meet her. Then this demon dude shows up and things started to happen. Now I know it is a serious thing.”
“So, where could this book be?” Erin asked.
“My parents always kept them together. Brody and I never saw it when went through their things at the old house after the funeral, we only found this one. I didn’t think anything about it then.” Decker pointed to the notebook. He sighed.
“They were coming back from Sedona, right?” Liam asked. “I was in Afghanistan, but I remember you telling me they were coming back from Sedona, and that they originally planned to stay longer. They didn’t call or anything to let you know they were coming home early.”
“That’s right.” Decker nodded. “They had been gone a week and planned to stay two.”
“Did you ever go through the house in Sedona?” Jade asked.
“Yes, Brody and I did about three weeks after the funeral. We packed away some of the obvious things that belonged to our parents, and put them in the storage room at the house up there. I don’t recall seeing the notebook when we did that, or since then. We only go up about two or three times a year to stay a few days and check on things. I personally don’t remember seeing the book lying around, do you, Deck?” Brody looked to his brother.
“No, I don’t. There is a sort of library room there. Dad used it as his office. There are built-in bookcases in that room and in a small study in my parents’ bedroom. I’ve never thought about looking through all the books in the Sedona house. We’ve never had a reason to.”
“It could still be there, especially if they tucked it away somewhere, right?” Liam asked. “Maybe they knew this guy was after them and they hid it.”
“That’s definitely a possibility.” Decker nodded.
“How did they die, if you don’t mind my asking?” Erin asked.
“In a car accident. They went right off the road, down a cliff and into a ravine. There were no witnesses. Just a couple of skid marks. Another driver spotted their overturned car the next morning. Everyone assumed Dad just fell asleep at the wheel,” Decker provided.
Decker's Fate (The Decker Brothers Trilogy Book 1) Page 13