“Come on, Jo. Let me explain.”
She slumped as if defeated. I took her coat and purse from her and placed them on the bar.
“I—”
Her head snapped up. “No. You know what? It’s fine. I know I’m not the party girl you’re used to. I’m…boring. Too uptight. A stick in the mud.”
“Hey, now. Jo, stop.”
“No. It’s okay. It’s better I know where I stand than think…something that wasn’t true. I mean. I get it. You’re into…” She waved her hands about. “Sexy, sassy girls who know how to flirt and all that.”
“What?”
“You don’t need anyone like me, and that’s fine. I can respect that. You’re a great guy and I can be prickly and—”
“Jo.”
“No. It’s fine. Really. I—”
She wanted desperately to get away from me.
“Jo—”
“I’m just going to go and—”
“Jo!” I practically yelled, desperation gettin’ the best of me.
She snapped her mouth shut.
“Look at me.”
“No. I—”
I put my hands on the sides of her face and raised it. When I looked into her eyes, I lost all sense of what I wanted to say. “Dance with me.” Those were the words that came out of my mouth. From somewhere.
“Wh-what?”
“Dance with me, Josephine.”
Since I held her face, she couldn’t move her head, but her eyes looked around. “B-but there’s no—” her forehead wrinkled, but she quit fighting me. “There’s no music.”
“Quinn.”
He was on his feet in an instant. “Play something on the juke box, please.”
“Got it.” He rushed across the room.
I bent in closer. “I only told Jonny that, because I didn’t want him pursuing you, because…I like you.” Once the words were out, relief surged through me. “I like you a lot. And I don’t want him, or anyone else, anywhere close to you.”
Manford Mann’s “Quinn the Eskimo” played. I closed my eyes. “Really?”
“What?” Quinn protested. “It’s a good song.”
I sighed. “Teddy?” Teddy McGinley was sitting on the other side of Quinn, at the corner of the bar.
“I’ve got it, Killian.” But when he was about to pass us, he leaned in. “’Ave ya got yourself another quarter? I’ve only the one.”
“Sure, sure. Here’s two. Pay to skip this song.” I fished around in my pocket and reeled them out.
Jo was smiling by this time. I brushed the hair away from her face. “To be honest, I’m quite smitten with you.”
Her smile became broader. “You are?” Her hands came around my waist and I circled her with my arms.
I nodded. “I am.”
“When Irish Eyes Are Smiling” began to blare over the loudspeakers. I laid my forehead on hers. “I’m surrounded by morons.” She laughed. I turned and frowned at Teddy.
“What? It’s lovely.”
“And it’s Irish,” Quinn added.
“But I can’t dance with the girl to it, can I?”
Teddy nodded. “Oh, aye.”
Quinn tipped his chin. “Good point.”
I looked at Josie. “I’ll have to do it myself.” I let her go. “You stay here, got it?”
She nodded, her face glowing. I walked backward, wagging my finger at her. “You’re not going anywhere, are you?”
She pointed to the ground. “Staying right here.”
I reached the juke box and frantically searched for something halfway decent. I put my money in, thankful someone tipped me with all quarters the day before, made my selection, and came walking back to her. It seemed the whole bar was waiting with baited breath to hear what I chose. Snow Patrol’s “Chasing Cars” began to play as I drew Josephine to me.
Half the people in the bar groaned over the music, half made sounds of approval.
Quinn passed us. “Weren’t any U-2 on there?”
“Come on, now. These’re Irish lads, too.”
“Fine,” he grumbled, returning to his stool.
Josie and I swayed on the dance floor together, just the two of us. And after a bit, when most of the crowd had returned to their drinking, it seemed we were almost alone. She looked at me, her face shining like the waters of the Ring of Kerry on a sunny day. Like in the song, we were trying to forget the world, though the world was pressing in on us on all sides.
I drank in her face. “You’re not mad anymore?” I murmured.
She shook her head.
My heart sighed. “Good.”
She laid her cheek down on my chest and someone gave a whistle of encouragement. I felt her laughing against me, and I laughed with her. When the music slowed down, I looked at her. “I want to kiss you again. Like last night.”
“So that wasn’t a dream?”
“Coulda been. But we were dreaming it together.”
She brought her hands behind my neck and played with my hair as she did the night before, and I lowered my lips to hers. The kiss started soft as heather but went deeper and became hungrier. Her tongue dancing across mine sent a pulse of need spearing through me. My bottom lip traveled over her skin, from chin to her top lip as I tried to take in more of her. A cheer sounded and our chuckling ended a powerful kiss.
My voice was husky. “Want to get out of here?”
Her gaze was still on my lips. She nodded again.
“Dooly?” I called out.
“Get out of here,” he yelled back. “You’re useless to me after that kiss anyway.” Customers chuckled in response.
“Coat?”
He took it from the back bar and tossed it to me as I crossed to the door. Teddy stood on one side of the door with Jo’s purse, Quinn on the other, holding her coat. They handed the items to her with a bow and held the door for us.
“Have a nice evening,” Quinn said, and they tittered. Dolts.
I knew everyone in that bar had an idea where our evening was headed, but I didn’t want to rush Jo. She was a thinker. She’d need to be sure first. Even though the evening was unseasonably mild, the fresh air cooled our skin after being over-warm in the crowded bar.
I helped her into her coat, then leaned in, leaving my hands on her shoulders. “Will you take a walk with me?”
She twisted her head. “I’d love to.”
I came to her side, my arm spanning her shoulders, and stuck the other hand in my pocket. The rain left the pavement shining like a fairy garden. Like the garden in the song they were lying in.
As if reading my mind, she chimed in with, “I love that song, by the way. ‘Chasing Cars.’ It’s very romantic.”
I grinned. “Exactly why I chose it.”
“Hmm.”
We strolled along. Although being a small neighborhood bar made Paddy’s a bit like the pubs back home, I was never thankful for that until now. Were it on some busy thoroughfare, the walk wouldn’t have been as nice. In fact, I probably wouldn’t have suggested it at all. As it was, the area we passed through wasn’t very scenic. Ranch houses or tiny Cape Cods nestled together, joined by lawns sloping from the sidewalk. But the streets were tree-lined and it was quiet. The perfect atmosphere to talk.
“This is nice,” she commented.
I looked around again. “Yeah.” I was hit by a wave of melancholy. “I wish I could take you on a walk through Cork, though.”
She thought about that. “What’s it like?”
“Oh, it’s a big city, like Lincoln. But I’d walk you down by the River Lee, passed brightly painted storefronts and pubs.” We separated to avoid walking through a puddle together. “I’d hold your hand.” I grasped it on the other side of the puddle. “It would probably be wet there, too. It’s always raining in Ireland. That’s why it’s so green.”
She was watching my face. “You miss it, don’t you?”
I sighed. “I haven’t thought about it much but…yeah. Yeah, I do.”
“Did you know anyone when you came here?”
“Not a soul besides my uncle.”
“You’ve made up for lost time, then.” She grinned.
“Oh, yeah. I’m sorry about that. There’s not much in the way of privacy at Paddy’s.”
“No. That’s what I love about it.” She stared off in front of us, thinking about it. “It’s almost like being with family. Or what I imagine family would feel like, if it were a normal family.” She sounded wistful. On impulse, I stopped and turned to her, taking her face in my hands again and kissing her, long and deep.
“What was that for?” The breathy way she said it was a huge turn-on.
Because I love you.
But it was too early for that. I shrugged. “I just wanted to.” I put both hands in my pockets, there was still a slight nip in the air, and offered her my arm. She slipped her arm through mine and we took up our ambling again. We didn’t speak while we passed several houses. It wasn’t an uncomfortable silence, like it might have been. I knew she was a thinker, and so would turn things over in her mind like tilling the soil. And I was simply content to be with her. It was something I’d never experienced with any woman before. Nor man, nor beast.
“Are you cold?”
She looked at me, then gave me a huge smile. “Not at all.” Seconds later, I caught her yawning.
“I forgot how late you were out last night. Let’s get you back home.”
“I’m sorry. And I do work tomorrow.”
“Of course.” We quickened the pace a bit on the way back.
When we got to her car she spun around. “This was a really nice evening. The nicest I’ve had in a long time.”
“It was for me, too.” I rubbed her arms. We stared into each other’s faces. I glided my hand behind her neck, moving some hair back over her shoulder, and brought the other hand to her hip. Lifting her hair, and cradling her neck I kissed her. I leaned into her, pressing her against her car. The roar of the bar was let lose when a couple left, so we stopped kissing, but our bodies still moved against each other.
“I don’t want to leave you,” she murmured.
“And I don’t want you to leave.” I brushed a thumb over her lips, swollen from our kissing and she closed her eyes on a sigh. Neither of us spoke for several seconds. “I could drive you—”
“Yes,” she said before I could even finish the thought. “But this time we take your car and I’ll Uber back.”
I was going to object, but eyed my car across the lot. “Okay.”
She turned around. “Which one is yours?”
“Uhh…the gray one. There, under the light.”
“Really?” It was a Mazda convertible with a black roof. We walked that way.
“I guess I forgot to mention I would also take my car when fleeing a burning building, along with me da’s watch, runners, and the telly.”
“I guess,” she said, clearly impressed.
Pride surged in me. I unlocked and opened the door for her, then walked around to the driver’s side, grinning. Sliding behind the wheel, I doffed my cap from the dash. It was an old tweed hat that belonged to my grandfather at one point.
“Me driving cap.”
“Mmm. Very nice.”
I switched on the ignition and the engine came to life.
“Ready?”
She nodded, her eyes sparkling.
“Let’s get out of here.”
Chapter 20
Dani
When I opened my eyes, all I saw was a blurry whiteness. After a few seconds I realized that was because my chin was on my chest and I was staring at my nightgown. As I raised my head, the pain that rocked me and the way I struggled against its heaviness, plus the sight of the blood smeared on my gown, reminded me what was going on.
The bastard was in front of Zoe, his face practically in her lap.
“Leave her alone.” The words were weak, belying the strength of the panic shooting through my bloodstream. “Leave her alone,” I said louder.
He lifted his sick face from the area of her crotch, turning to look at me. “Well, well. Look who’s up. Mrs. Tucker McCord.”
That was it. Draw his anger toward me, as Tucker’s wife, and maybe he’d leave Zoe alone. He rose and came to stand over me, then bent, grabbing a thigh in each hand. He messed with my hair again. Myles began to cry.
“Shit, you’re pretty. Even with your hair all crazy like this. What the hell is wrong with that kid?”
“He’s probably hungry.”
“Ahh.” He eyed my chest. “Feeding time then.” He moved behind me and my cords became excruciatingly tight as he sawed at them with something. Then, when the plastic gave, the blood rushing back into my hands added to the pain. I brought them around and my chest and arm muscles protested, having been confined in an unnatural position so long. I circled my shoulders and rubbed my wrists, which I was surprised to find were not bleeding, only red. He brought a butterfly knife out where I could see it, then snapped it closed. Standing, he took long strides to the bassinet, the heels of his boots ringing off the hardwood. I looked at Zoe.
“Are you okay?”
She nodded, but looked scared out of her wits.
“Zack’s out there,” she whispered.
“What?” I wanted to ask her how she knew, but he turned back around. I eyed the gun on the table, but it would be a toss-up for who got it in time. He handed Myles to me, then crouched in front of me. Myles took the volume down a notch or two, knowing food was on the way. His weight and warmth in my arms never felt so good.
“Well, go on.” He spun the knife around in his hands, leering at me. I didn’t want to breastfeed my baby in front of this man. “Go on,” he barked.
I didn’t have a choice. But he wasn’t gonna get a show. I unbuttoned my gown only enough so I could lower Myles within the cloth. Our captor growled and clutched my gown ripping it open several more buttons. The suddenness of the movement caused me to gasp, but I wouldn’t give him any more than that.
“Stop it,” Zoe screamed.
“Now, isn’t that beautiful.” He ran his dirty hands over Myles’ hair. “Mother and son.” He brought his hand lower, under my breast, grazing it with his knuckle. I glared at him.
“Oh, my God. Knock it off!” Zoe growled, bouncing her chair closer. He shifted to look at her.
Suddenly bright light poured in from all the windows at the front of the house. “Thomas James. This is the LPD.”
The booming noise blew up the stillness of the night. Thomas James. That was the man Tucker warned us about. My heartbeat accelerated.
“We have the house surrounded. Surrender the hostages.”
James jumped to his feet, grabbing the gun. “Shit!”
Zoe and I exchanged a hopeful look.
He moved behind Zoe and cut her ties. Was he letting us go? But once she was free, he jerked her to her feet and pressed her body against him, his arm across her chest.
“Move!” he ordered.
Zoe looked at me, and the fear swimming in her eyes struck me to the core. What was he planning to do to her? Alarm made it difficult to breathe. I didn’t want to be separated from her.
“No, please!”
He ignored me and dragged Zoe along with him to the front of the room.
“Dani!” She was crying.
“Please, don’t take her.”
“Shut up!” he bellowed. He put his back to the wall and used the tip of his gun to edge the curtain out enough to look out. “Shit.”
He sounded scared. And desperate. That frightened me. I had to get us out of here.
“Damn. Every damn cop in Lincoln is out there. No way am I getting out of here alive now.” He rolled to press his back against the wall, wiping the back of the hand holding the gun above his top lip. He closed his eyes. “Shit.”
I needed to calm him down. “Mr. James.” His eyes popped open. “They know you have us in here,” I said slowly. “Maybe if you let Zoe, and the baby, go, it would show
them they can trust you.” He stared at me without saying anything then moved toward me.
“No!” Zoe screamed. “No, Dani!” She tried to plant her feet, but he lifted her from the ground. “No!”
When he got in front of me, he set Zoe down and shoved her toward me. “Get the baby.”
“No.” Her voice was weak now. She was shaking her head and her hands were trembling.
“Zoe,” I said as calmly as I could manage. “Stop, honey.”
“No, Dani. Please.” She continued to protest, but was crying harder and becoming incoherent.
“Zoe!” I snapped. She inhaled and was quiet for a second. “I need you to take your brother out there where you’ll be safe.”
“No,” she whispered.
“Zoe, please. I’m counting on you to take care of Myles.” As I said it, we both realized, if something happened, she’d be taking care of Myles for a long time. “Honey, please. It’s the only way.”
Her gaze dropped to Myles. Whimpering, she slowly bent and took the baby out of my hands. I wanted to protest. I wanted to get him back. I wanted to kiss him one more time. But James wrenched Zoe’s arm, tearing them from me. My hand covered my mouth, and I began to shake with silent sobs. Zoe was staring at me as she was being dragged to the door. I closed my eyes. I couldn’t watch it anymore. But with the sound of James fumbling with the lock, I opened my eyes. He pushed Zoe between him and the door.
“Open it.”
Her hands were shaking, and she was holding the baby, so she was having a hard time.
“O-pen it!”
Zoe began whimpering, but got the lock turned.
James grabbed her again and opened the door a crack. “Don’t shoot! I’m sending them out.” He pushed Zoe through the door, then closed it and locked it, moving his back to the adjacent wall. He was breathing hard. Myles started crying again, but I was relieved to hear those cries get more distant. James stared at me, still panting. He stumbled away from the wall and came toward me. I was calmer now.
Zoe and Myles were safe.
Zack
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