Her lips tip up in a grin, and then she groans when I grind myself against her, pressed as deep as I can go.
“Go faster,” she pleads.
“No.” I nibble her lips lazily, enjoying her. “We’re going to enjoy ourselves for a while.”
“Oh, trust me, I’m enjoying it.” She tightens around me, and I see stars. “Just go a little faster.”
I can’t resist her. I pick up the pace just a bit and watch as she arches her back in pleasure, her cheeks and chest flushed with desire.
She’s everything I’ve ever wanted in this world.
I take her higher and watch with amazement as she tumbles over into the first orgasm. She clenches around me, her nails digging into my arms as she holds on for dear life.
And when that one subsides, I go even faster, a touch harder, and watch as her mouth opens, and she moans in delight.
“Oh my God, Keegan.”
“That’s right, love. Give me more.”
“I can’t.”
I smile down at her. “You can.”
She shakes her head against the pillow, but when I reach between us and plant my fingertip against her already swollen clit, she cries out and comes spectacularly. The pressure building at the base of my spine erupts, and I fall over with her into paradise.
As soon as I can breathe again, I roll to the side and cradle Izzy to me.
“Good morning, my love.”
She smiles and lets out a little laugh. “This is the best morning I’ve had in a long while.”
“I think you should nap for a bit,” I suggest. “Get some rest for a bit and recharge.”
“You should nap with me,” she says on a yawn. “Also, can I just say that I’m so happy the nausea is starting to get better? Who knew ginger would help?”
“I guess people do drink ginger ale when they’re sick,” I say.
“I’ve never heard of that,” she replies. “My nanny always gave me Sprite.”
“Did it help?” I brush the hair off her face as she nuzzles against the pillow to fall asleep.
“I don’t remember. I don’t get sick very often.”
I lean in and kiss her nose. “It’s glad I am that you’re feeling better. It’s a helpless feeling to watch you suffer. I’d gladly take it away, take it on myself if I could.”
“No, men are babies when they’re sick. I’d rather just deal.”
I laugh and kiss her again. “Sleep.”
“Are you going to nap with me?”
“I’ll be nearby.” I should do any number of things down in the pub, but it’s covered for now, and there’s no reason I can’t spend some time up here with Izzy. “I’ll be right here.”
“Okay.” Her voice is soft, and her face is that of an angel as she drifts off to sleep.
I’ve never loved anyone more than I do the woman lying next to me.
“Just look at our girl on the television,” Frank says from his stool at the bar. “She’s a pretty sight, and that’s the truth.”
“That she is, my friend.” I turn to look at her and smile. She’s standing on a residential street, bundled up in a black coat with the station’s logo on the chest, a hat, and gloves.
“As you can see, the rain from just a few hours ago has turned to pure ice. It coats the trees, the powerlines, and most definitely the streets. Officials are asking everyone to stay inside as much as possible and off the roads. This could certainly turn deadly very quickly.”
The screen shifts to the anchors in the studio, and I get back to work.
“Izzy might be the coolest person I know,” Maeve says. “And I know some very cool people.”
“I couldn’t agree more, but I’m just a smidge biased.” I laugh as I set two pints of Guinness on Maeve’s tray.
“How early did she have to leave this morning?” Shawn asks as he walks out of the kitchen to fill up his water bottle.
The entire family is here, just like they were at Kane’s on Izzy’s first day of work. Shawn, Lexi, and Ma have been in and out of the kitchen to keep an eye on the TV, and I finally called a halt to food service until after the last part of the news so everyone could watch.
No one complained.
“Around eight, I guess. She wanted to have plenty of time to prepare at the office before they drove down. And it’s good that she did because they got down there just as the cold weather set in. She’ll probably be there overnight.”
“It’s probably for the best,” Shawn says. “I wouldn’t want to drive in that. It’s crazy how the weather is. It’s dry as a bone and sunny outside here, yet she’s in an ice storm just a few hours away.”
“You know what they say,” Frank adds, “if you don’t like the weather in the Pacific Northwest, just hang out for ten minutes because it’ll change. Reminds me of my beloved Ireland.”
“Oh, she’s coming back on,” Maggie says, pointing to the TV. “Turn it up, Keegan.”
The whole pub hushes as Izzy starts to speak.
“I’m back live, and we decided to drive around a bit to give you a better look at what’s happening around us. I have the window rolled down because we can hear the limbs on the trees breaking along the street as we drive.”
“Oh, darlin’, be careful,” Da murmurs from beside me.
“If you listen carefully, you can hear the popping,” she continues. “But what’s incredibly fascinating to me is the speed at which this happened. It honestly looked like Elsa threw up her hands, and everything suddenly froze. Look at that sheet of ice on the road before us.”
They’re traveling on a bridge extending over the interstate.
“There are very few cars below us on the freeway, but…oh my goodness, look! That car is skidding, clearly going way too fast. And whoa, you guys, he’s now spinning in a complete circle. Oh, God!”
Before our eyes, the van she’s traveling in begins sliding out of control. Izzy shrieks, and the man driving yells, “Hold on!” as they suddenly hit the guardrail.
The feed goes black. Everyone in the pub gasps.
“Oh my, it looks like the storm chaser van just got into a bit of trouble, but don’t worry, folks, I’m sure they’re just fine.”
“What just fucking happened?” I demand, staring at the TV. “Did she just fall over to the freeway below?”
“No.” Shawn’s still standing next to me, cool and calm. “No, the guardrail stopped them. They weren’t going that fast.”
“The rail fell,” Maggie says, her eyes wide. “Didn’t you see it before it went dark? The rail fell, and it looked like—”
“Stop talking,” Kane says, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. “Izzy is perfectly fine.”
“Of course, she is,” Maggie agrees.
But I saw it, too. “She went over.”
I reach for my phone and immediately dial her number. It goes to voicemail.
“I can’t reach her.”
“It’s been seconds,” Da reminds me. “Give it a beat. Look, they’re coming back on.”
“Welcome back to news at six. We are still trying to make contact with Izzy in the storm chaser van. We’re not sure what the status is, but we have emergency personnel on the way to their location. We will update you when we have more information.”
“Such a scary situation, Bob, and proof of just how dangerous it is down there right now. If you’re in Portland tonight, hunker down and stay safe.”
“I need to get to her.” I pace behind the bar. “Who do we know with a private plane? Luke?”
“You can’t go down there in the storm,” Shawn says. “Keegan, she’s going to be just fine. We’ll know more in a few minutes. I’ll bet she calls any second.”
“She’s pregnant,” I blurt out. “It’s both of them that I’m worried about.”
“I didn’t tell,” Maggie announces. “For the record, it came from him.”
“She’s pregnant?” Ma asks and clutches her hands at her breast. “Oh, darling, this is wonderful news.”
&
nbsp; The pub erupts with chatter and gasps of joy.
“Does this mean I can’t marry her, then?” Frank asks, making me smile for the first time.
“It does. I’ll be marrying her myself if I can get her home safely. Damn it, why won’t she answer the bloody phone?”
“Because it’s probably not nearby,” Kane says. “I never answer my phone, and I’m perfectly fine.”
“Something we’re working on,” Stasia says, rolling her eyes.
“And we’re back with information,” Bob says on the television. “As you can see, we’re using the live feed from our sister station in Portland. From their vantage point on the freeway below, it looks like the van is hanging precariously over the side of the overpass.”
“Fuck me,” I say and rub my hand over my lips. The woman I love more than life itself is hanging off the side of an overpass in an ice storm. My stomach climbs into my throat, and my bowels turn to liquid.
I’m going to be sick.
“We can’t see inside the van, but as you can see, fire trucks are arriving to help as we speak.”
“They didn’t fall,” Da says and pats my shoulder. “She’s okay.”
“The front of the van is smashed,” I reply. “She could be hurt.”
Lights flash on the screen as the men in the trucks jump into action.
I’ve never been so scared in my life.
“I feel so damn helpless. I’m just standing here.”
“There’s nothing else you can do,” Cameron says. He’s been quietly watching the screen from his perch on a stool. The pub is perfectly quiet as we watch it all unfold.
Then the screen changes back to the studio.
“We think it’s best to come back to the studio in case the families are watching this and something goes wrong. But don’t worry, we’ll keep you posted as we learn more.”
“Damn it!”
“Hey.” Da cups my face in his hands. “She’s safe right now, and that’s what you need to keep reminding yourself. Right this minute, she’s safe. Dozens of people are there right now to help her.”
“But I’m not there.”
“And you can’t do anything about that, son. So, you need to trust in those professionals—and in Izzy to keep a straight head. She’s a smart woman, our girl, and she’s going to be back on solid ground in just a few moments.”
I nod and take a deep breath. He’s right, losing my shit won’t change this or make it better.
But, damn it, I want to get to her and pull her into my arms to make sure she’s okay.
“When were you going to tell us that you’re having a baby?” Maeve asks.
“In a couple of weeks.” I turn to her. “Isabella wanted to make sure everything was okay before we told everyone, just in case.”
“We did that,” Stasia says. “It’s understandable. And she and the baby are going to be great.”
I nod and turn back to the TV, hoping they’ll show me the van again. Or better yet, Izzy herself.
She has to be okay. There is no other option.
Chapter 19
~Izzy~
“Are you okay?”
I can’t speak. I can only stare down the front end of the van to the freeway below.
“Izzy, are you okay?”
“I don’t know.”
“Oh my God,” Phil says next to me. We’re both perfectly still. “I don’t know if we’re teetering or if we’re hung up on the guardrail.”
“It’s icy.” I swallow hard. “We could slip off.”
I hear him take a long, deep breath. I’m doing my best not to freak the hell out. My heart is hammering, my blood rushing through my ears.
I feel sick, and it has nothing at all to do with the pregnancy.
“I’m pregnant,” I blurt. “Not how I planned to tell anyone, but here we are.”
“Okay, I need you to listen to me, Izzy. Are you listening?”
“Yes. But speak up because it’s hard to hear past the roaring in my head.”
“We’re going to make it out of here just fine. You and the baby are both good. Did you hit your head or anything when we hit the guardrail?”
“No. Why didn’t the airbag go off?”
“Good question. The station knows what happened. We were on-air. They’ve called in help by now.”
“Okay.” I lick my lips. “That makes me feel a little better. And I hear sirens. You’ve been doing this for a long time. Has this happened before?”
“I wouldn’t still be doing this if it had happened before.”
“Great.”
“You did great at cutting off the camera when it all happened.”
“I didn’t want Keegan to see it. That’s what flashed through my head; that if I died today, I didn’t want that in his head for the rest of his life.”
“We’re not dying today. Tomorrow is my wife’s forty-fifth birthday, and I have reservations at her favorite place. We’re finally empty nesters after having kids in the house for more than twenty years. I’m going to enjoy the next forty years with my wife. And you’re going to have that baby and live another eighty years yourself.”
“Right.” I take a deep breath. “Sure. Tell her I said happy birthday, by the way.”
The van slips, just a few inches, but it feels like feet. I scream.
“Okay, this isn’t fun,” Phil says.
A fire truck pulls in behind us. I see two more in my peripheral vision.
“People are here. Thank God.”
It feels like forever before I hear someone on a loudspeaker say, “Open your window.”
I do as he asks, by just barely moving my arm to press on the button. I don’t want to move too much in case it causes us to fall.
“I want you to know that you’re not going to fall. You’re hung up on the guardrail. But we have to figure out how we’re going to tow you back onto the road in this ice. It might be a while before we get you out of there. Your doors are too far over the edge. The tires are off the pavement. But I repeat, you’re not in danger of falling.”
“Thank Christ,” Phil mutters.
I reach my arm out the window and give the man a thumbs-up, then roll the window back up because it’s damn cold outside.
“All I’ve ever wanted is to do on-scene reporting for the weather. And look where that got me—hanging over the side of an overpass.”
“It doesn’t usually happen like this, you know.”
“But why is it my luck that it happened this time?”
Phil shrugs. “If it happens to us once in our careers, you got it over with in the beginning. It’ll be boring from here on out.”
“I hope you’re right because I don’t want to do this again.”
We hear and feel the team working behind us as they hitch something to the back of the van—at least that’s what I assume they’re doing. But when the fire truck starts to pull us back, the tires only spin out on the ice.
“They have to use some ice melt under their tires,” Phil mutters.
“I think I see them grabbing buckets of something,” I reply, watching in the side mirror. “I wish I could call Keegan and tell him what’s happening, but my phone is in my bag in the back. Do you have your phone?”
“It’s in the back, too,” Phil says. “We only had a half a mile to go before we planned to pull over again.”
“Yeah.” I sigh and watch in the mirror as they try again to pull us back. This time, the truck gets traction, and the metal of the van screeches as we scrape along the broken guardrail.
When we’re back on the road, I break down into tears.
Our doors are yanked open simultaneously as firefighters help us from the van.
“Are you hurt?” a woman asks, looking me over. “The airbags didn’t go off.”
“No, but I’m okay, I think. I didn’t hit my head. I’m pregnant, though. About ten weeks along.”
“We have to go to the hospital,” Phil says. “It’s company policy to go get checked out if som
ething like this happens.”
“The ambulance is over here,” my firefighter says.
“I need my phone.”
“We’ll get it out of the van and bring it to you,” she assures me. “The ambulance is waiting.”
I’m rushed into the back of the ambulance, and I’m frustrated. I want to call Keegan. I know he must be worried out of his mind.
When we’re on the road, I look at the EMT. “Can I borrow your phone to call my boyfriend so he knows I’m okay? We were on live TV.”
“Sure. What’s the number?”
I stop and stare at him. “Uh, can you Google it? He’s at the pub. O’Callaghan’s Pub.”
He taps on his screen and then turns it to me. “This one?”
“Yes.”
He taps again and then passes me the phone. I press it to my ear and only listen to it ring once before Keegan answers.
“O’Callaghan’s.”
“It’s me. Oh my God, Keegan, it was so damn scary. I can’t believe we slid right over the side of the road. And I didn’t have my phone because it was in the back, and it took the firefighters forever to pull us back onto the road.”
“Stop. Are you okay? Did you fall to the freeway below?”
“No. I mean, yes.”
“Which is it?”
“Yes, I’m okay. And no, we didn’t fall. The van got hung up on the guardrail.”
“Thank Christ. She’s all right!”
“Who’s there?”
“Everyone. I’ve been worried sick, love. You’re sure you’re okay?”
“I think so. We’re being taken to Emanuel hospital to be checked out, just to be sure. I don’t want to stay the night here, but I might have to, especially since the van is wrecked. But I’ll keep you posted.”
“I’ll come get you.”
I hold the phone tighter, wishing with all my might it were that easy. “No, the roads are too bad down here, Keegan. I won’t risk you. I’ll keep you posted. I should have my phone soon, and then I can keep you updated better.”
“I’m just glad to hear your voice and know that you’re safe. I swear, I lost ten years off my life.”
“Me, too. I’ll call you soon. I love you.”
Escape With Me Page 17