Fionn (3 page)

LeeAnn groaned, clawing her way to wakefulness even as she wished she could just cover her head up and sleep on. Head spinning, mouth tasting like three-day-old shit, she moaned as she opened her eyes. Moonlight drifted through a window across the room, the silvery light falling in unbroken rays over the floor. A quick inventory of her body told her she wasn’t hurt. Just a bit hung over.

“Finally awake?” The voice was deep, husky, unmistakably masculine. Then, the events of the evening came rushing back to her. This man had drugged her, carried her out of the Irish, and taken her God only knew where. And he was an O’Shea.

Well, no one ever accused her of being the sharpest knife in the drawer. She had no one to blame but herself for this. Her father had warned her plenty of times but she’d thrown caution to the wind.

“Where am I?” Possibly not the most important question of the night, but the one most pressing in her mind.

“Safe,” was all he said.

“Yeah. Right,” she slurred.

The man stood from his seat by the bed to sit on the edge next to her. In a surprisingly gentle move, he brushed a lock of hair from her forehead. “OK. How about this? You’re safe for now.”

“That sounds about right. Why did you drug me? I’m kind of furious about that, you know.” She really was. When she sobered up, she’d express her anger better. Just now, though, she was too dizzy and lightheaded to adequately convey how she felt.

He shrugged. “You weren’t falling for my considerable charms and I was in a hurry.”

Considering the striking look about the big man, LeeAnn figured he had as many women as he wanted. Those dark auburn locks and intense green eyes alone guaranteed that. Not to mention the way muscles played under the dress shirt. Even now, they seemed to stretch the fine linen of garment. The top three buttons were undone, revealing a white undershirt. Despite her current state, she wondered what all that muscle would feel like under her fingers.

The drug he’d given her must have made her bold because she found herself responding to him. “You weren’t patient enough. If you want to seduce a woman home with you, it takes more than five minutes and one dance.”

In a move that surprised her, the man actually gave her a cocky half grin. The absence of laugh lines around his eyes and mouth gave her the impression he didn’t smile much. “Not if you do it right.”

With a snort she slurred, “Well, obviously you weren’t doing it right.”

He chuckled then, his fingers trailing down her cheek. “All right, all right. I’ll give you that.”

“Is there a reason I’m here?”

He paused his movements before answering. “You’re being held until your father sees the error of his ways.”

LeeAnn groaned. “I think I’m going to need to be sober to discuss this.” She tried to meet his gaze, but her vision was slightly out of focus. “Are you going to hurt me?”

The smile he gave her would have made her drop her panties…if she’d been sober. “Not unless you ask me to.”

Then she closed her eyes and passed out once again.

***

The next time LeeAnn woke, she was alone in the dark. Disorientation and panic threatened to overwhelm her. The dark had always disconcerted her since her childhood. She’d never been able to shake the feeling that something was hidden, just waiting to grab her.

Only she’d already been grabbed. “Fionn?” she said in a timid voice. Christ, she hated that she sounded like a scared child. If anything, he was the monster in the dark she should fear but didn’t. Not really. He’d drugged her, kidnapped her to hold her until her father did whatever he wanted. But she didn’t fear him. Not really.

“Go back to sleep. The best way to get rid of the effects of the ketamine is to sleep it off.”

“C-can you turn on a light?” LeeAnn cringed. Here was a man who likely worshiped power and she was proving herself to be weak.

Silence answered her, but a few seconds later, he switched on a light in an adjoining room. “The bathroom if you need it. You can brush your teeth and shower when you feel up to it.”

“Actually, I feel much better. And I’d really like to brush my teeth.” She sat up, swinging her legs over the side of the bed. Which was when she realized she was dressed only in a really big T-shirt and nothing else. Quickly, she tucked her legs back under the covers to the sound of Fionn’s deep chuckle.

“There’s nothing I haven’t seen. Go brush your teeth. The shirt covers everything.”

“You said you wouldn’t hurt me.” She tried her best to sound accusing, but was afraid it came out breathless. Now, there was a frisson of fear skittering through her that had nothing to do with the dark.

“And I kept my word. I only made you more comfortable. If I snuck a peek, it was only because I’m a man attracted to women. And you, my dear, have a body worth doing more than sneaking a peek.”

LeeAnn sucked in a breath. That really shouldn’t have made her break out in a sweat and her sex clench as if aching to be filled. The only thing she knew about this man was that he was an O’Shea. All she knew about the O’Sheas was that she didn’t want to know them because they were seriously bad news. Her father had told her to stay away from them and here she was in this one’s bed.

“I’m so fucked,” she muttered, swinging her legs over the side of the bed once again. When she stood, her feet sank into plush carpeting as she walked to the bathroom. Fionn O’Shea stood by the door, arms crossed over his chest. He’d changed clothes, but looked anything but relaxed and ready for a night in. This time, he wore black jeans that molded powerful thighs. A black T-shirt molded his torso to tuck into his pants neatly. A black belt and black combat boots rounded out the menacing outfit, along with a big, butch military watch strapped to one brawny forearm. Reddish-gold hair dusted his arms just as she imagined it would his chest. God, the man was fine! Why did he have to be a killer? Her dad had said as much about the O’Sheas, but even if he hadn’t, she’d have known this one was. Fionn had a look about him. This one had seen too much death.

LeeAnn made an attempt to shut the door, but Fionn didn’t budge, standing in her way, looking at her with those intense green eyes. “Um, privacy?” He didn’t say anything, simply shook his head, an amused grin on his face. “Well,” she huffed, crossing her arms over her chest, “I need a shower. “You might have seen everything I have to offer, but I’m still not undressing in front of you.”

“I’ll leave, but the door stays open.”

“But—”

“Or I stay inside. Your choice.”

“Why? I’m not going anywhere. I don’t even know where I am. It would be foolish of me to jump out a window and take off in the dark.” She cocked a hip, bracing her hand on it. “I may be a lot of things, but I’m not stupid.”

“The door stays open, or I stay inside,” he repeated slowly, looking for all the world as if she amused him.

“Fine,” she snapped. “Just stay outside.” There was nothing else for it. At least he was being fairly nice to her. Whatever his agenda, he didn’t seem to want to hurt her. That could change if her father didn’t cooperate, she was sure. Maybe if she could get him to like her. Not “like” as in she was going to try to seduce him. He was too intense for that. If she could get him to see her as a person he enjoyed being around, maybe this would all work out for her.

Only one way to find out.

Why the fuck was he torturing himself like this? Fionn was so captivated with LeeAnn he could hardly contain himself, yet he knew he couldn’t have her. Which puzzled the shit out of him because there were very few women he wanted who were out of bounds. Normally he’d have enjoyed her for a few days until Shannon told him his next move, then been done with her. If that meant he killed her father, if that meant he had to kill her, he’d have done it. Without regret or hesitation. He’d have made sure she had a clean, painless death, but other than that he never felt anything for anyone other than his brothers. Even those feelings were muted. But the need to make this woman feel safe, to protect her, was making him seriously edgy. For a man who though he was long devoid of feeling, this was a very uncomfortable place to be.

He stepped out of LeeAnn’s line of sight, but watched as she undressed and climbed into the steaming tub. As he’d noted when he’d undressed her for bed, the woman was stunning. Dark, dark, creamy skin looked as if she’d been airbrushed to perfection. If there was a mark on her body, he couldn’t find it. Her skin had a healthy, sexy glow about it that made him want to lick it to see if she glistened with honey. Which made him want to cover her in honey dust just so he could lick her from head to toe.

Note to self…purchase honey dust ASAP.

She groaned as she slid deeper into the water. A pang of regret for drugging her punched him in the chest, but he didn’t regret taking her. Only the means by which he’d acquired her.

Once she was safely in the water, he entered the bathroom, moving to lean against the vanity so he had an unimpeded view of her. When she gasped and covered her breasts, he felt the corners of his lips tug upward.

“It’s not as if I haven’t seen all of you. Besides, I have some questions for you. I promise I won’t look any more than necessary.”

“Can’t your questions wait until I’m decent? And sober?”

“I find that a little inhibition often loosens the tongue.”

She shrugged, still not moving her arms from her exquisite breasts. “I have nothing to hide. You don’t have to pull information out of me. I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”

“Everyone has something to hide,” he said. Fionn knew his voice and expression had gone suddenly cold. Secrets were a fact of life. One he hated, but, in his experience, anyone who said they had nothing to hide was a liar.

“I’m not everyone,” she said simply, meeting his gaze steadily. Fionn held it, wondering how long she could hold his stare. Surprisingly, she didn’t back down, didn’t gaze at him in fear or disgust. Who was this woman? LeeAnn Bates was either the bravest woman he’d ever met or the stupidest. Worse, he could detect no deception in her. She was simply stating a fact as she saw it.

Finally, he began his questions. “What do you know about your father’s ambitions regarding O’Shea business?”

“As far as I know, he has none,” she said simply. “All he’s ever told me about you is that I should stay away from anything to do with the O’Sheas. In fact, had I listened to him, I wouldn’t be here in the first place.”

“What do you mean?”

“He told me to stay away from the Irish. That the O’Shea family frequented the place and I didn’t want to be mixed up with them.”

“He was right, you know.”

“Yeah,” she said, arching an eyebrow. “I sort of figured that one out on my own. Now, can you please leave?”

“One more thing,” he said. “Is there a good chance your father will pay a ransom for you if we offered one?”

“Are you kidding? Of course! He’s probably worried sick about me! You are going to send me home. Right?” She gave him a look so innocent and trusting, Fionn scowled, rubbing his chest because something felt like it was stabbing him.

“We’ll see,” he said before exiting the bathroom. He left the door open, not wanting her to think she could simply dictate to him.

Fionn used the time to center himself. To get a grip on his raging libido. He’d blame it on not having been satisfied earlier but he hadn’t been in a bad way until he first laid eyes on LeeAnn. The woman had looked at him, not like the killer he was, but with complete trust he’d ransom her back to her father. Why would she do that?

She had to be willfully ignorant. Which meant she wasn’t the kind of woman he wanted hanging around. He knew she was intelligent, but sometimes intelligent people were so caught up in whatever seemed important to them, they couldn’t see the problems inherent in the real world.

It wasn’t long before she peeked her head around the door. “Um, I need something to wear.”

“You have my shirt. That will do for now.” He was curious to see how she’d handle this situation. And, God help him, scenario after scenario as to how he’d get her back in his bed—with him on top of her—was running through his mind at lightning speed.

“Panties?”

He raised an eyebrow.

“Fine,” she said with a huff. “No panties.” Opening the door wide, she exited the bathroom. All that dark, dark skin beneath his white shirt made him want to strip it off her quicker than she ever could have put it on. Those long, slender legs seemed to go on for miles. As she walked across the room to sit primly on the edge of the bed, Fionn took in her every move. Unfortunately, the shirt was long enough he wasn’t catching a glimpse of her sex or her ass, but he’d had hopes.

She pulled the shirt tight over her knees, covering every inch she could. Still, she didn’t flinch away from his gaze. “So, now what?” She might as well have been asking “What’s for dinner?” for all the emotion she showed. LeeAnn wasn’t afraid of him like she had been in the car.

“You don’t seem as…agitated as you were in the car. Have you forgotten how you got here?” Fionn had no idea why he was trying to stoke her fear. He’d hated it earlier, but now, he was puzzled as to her abrupt turnaround.

“No,” she said simply, with a shrug. “But you’re not a bad person. Besides, if you were going to hurt me, you’d have done it way before now.”

“You know nothing about me,” he snapped.

She blinked at him, as if he’d startled her with his outburst. “Well, no. But, like I said, you could have already done horrible things to me if you’d intended to. I don’t exactly want to buddy up with you but I’m not going to spend energy on useless worry.”

It was his turn to blink at her. Was she for real? “You’re shitting me. Aren’t you?”

“Why would I do that?”

“To get me to let my guard down. Let me assure you, better women than you have tried.”

“I’m not trying to do anything. But I would really, really like to have some underwear. It’s a bit drafty.”

After a lengthy pause, Fionn finally said, “You’re insane. Utterly insane.” There was no way to keep the dismay from his voice; he even chuckled a little before he caught himself.

Instantly her face changed, hardened. Fionn got the sense that she was only just now giving him her full attention. “I assure you, Mr. O’Shea, I’m perfectly sound of mind.”

What a puzzle! She was totally captivating. “I’m not convinced,” he muttered. “You’re in the home of a man who drugged and kidnapped you. You’re being held for ransom. And you’re more worried about not wearing panties?”

“It’s a valid concern.”

“I’m more interested in why I’m only now worthy of your notice.”

“I don’t like people assuming I’m not intelligent just because I don’t concern myself with trivial things. You said you weren’t going to hurt me. You said you were only waiting to ransom me to my father. If you were going to hurt me, you already would have. Why should I dwell on these things when there are other, more important things to do? Worry wastes energy I could spend on work.”

“You don’t have a job. You’re a full-time student.”

“That doesn’t mean I’m not working. I’m working on my doctorate in aerospace engineering with my emphasis on astronautics. That means I’m doing research when I’m not teaching classes. Once my project is complete, the research I’ve done will be enough to finish my Ph.D. So I have more on my mind than a man who has said he wasn’t going to hurt me.”

“Did it ever occur to you I could be lying?” Anger was beginning to smolder inside Fionn. Not because she was arguing with him or because she was disrespecting him. The woman had no concept of saving her own skin. There truly was no fear due to her situation. She should be begging him to let her go, offering to do anything he wanted if he’d just not harm her. Instead, she was taking him at his word? What was wrong with the woman?

“Why would you do that? You already have me where you want me. There’s no reason to lie to me.”

She sounded so reasonable, rational when he felt anything but. With a growl, Fionn stalked toward her, not stopping until he snagged her arms, pulling her to her feet. Fisting a hand in her hair, Fionn fastened his lips to hers. If he was turned inside out by her on every emotional and physical level possible, then, by God, she was going to be as well.