His Wicked Celtic Kiss (12 page)

Julie did as he asked. Her throat felt raw and sore, and her stomach still spasmed with a dull but insistent ache. Surely there was nothing else down there. “Lorcan,” she managed to croak. “The waste … the salmon … ”

“Hush, darlin'. No worries. I think you may have a touch of sun poisoning or sunstroke. I'm going to stay with you.” He grasped her waist to assist her to her feet. She cried out in agony. “Let's get you to your room. Can you grab those towels?”

Julie nodded, and when they arrived to her room, he laid the towels flat on her bed.

“Now, we have to get you undressed and into something light and loose. Do you have something like that?”

Leaning against the wall, she motioned to her dresser. “Second drawer,” she rasped.

Lorcan shuffled through her nighties. How mortifying. Her sleeping apparel was far from sexy and some of them looked rather ragged. Finally, he held up her too-hot-to-sleep cotton shift, which was short, sleeveless, and loose. “How's this?”

She nodded. The nausea still clawed at her insides and rolled through her in continuous waves. Lorcan gently lifted the beach cover over her head. He then unzipped her clam diggers and assisted her stepping out of them. She winced from the effort. The sunburn raged on full-bore nuclear alert. Every movement felt as if someone held a blowtorch directly to her skin. “Now the bathing suit. It may hurt a little … ”

Wait a minute.
He wanted her to strip off in front of him? But, he had seen just about everything anyway. The memory of her writhing in passion half-naked on his carpet flooded through her fevered brain. At this point, feeling as miserable as she did, who cared? She nodded.

Lorcan lowered a strap. The contrast between the white underneath to the red next to it appeared frightening. She really was badly burned. The brush of the bathing suit against her raw, tender skin caused stinging, hot tears to form in her eyes. Gently, Lorcan lowered the suit past her hips.

“That's my brave lass,” he murmured.

She gingerly stepped free. To Lorcan's credit, he didn't ogle, just placed the nightie over her head and slowly guided her arms through. She bit her lower lip. With the nightie on, Lorcan steered her to the bed. He hesitated. “Not sure whether to lay you on your back or stomach, you're pretty red on each side. Let's try your back.” He lowered her, but as soon as her skin made contact with the towels, she screamed. Loudly. “Right. The stomach, then.”

Lying on her stomach was painful enough, but not as bad as the back. Lorcan leaned close. “Bloody hell, some of the skin is blistering. I'd better nip down to the chemist and buy stuff for your burn. Is there one nearby? Never mind, love, I'll use the GPS.” He walked to her steel wastebasket, emptied the contents on the floor, and placed the container next to the bed. “If you feel the need to throw up, darlin', use that. You'll also have to drink a lot of water. We need to keep you hydrated.” He brushed a feather light kiss across her burnt forehead. “I won't be long.”

Julie heard the door close. She let the tears come and sobbed her heart out. Not only because of the pain, but the tender way Lorcan had handled her. What kind of man held your hair back and wiped your mouth while you puked? A man who cared. She wanted him to care, very much. And at that moment she wondered if Lorcan staying with her would be wise, because she already cared more than she should. Julie cried until there were no more tears to shed. Slowly, her eyes closed and darkness enveloped her.

The next time she woke, darkness had covered the room. Julie raised her head and glanced at the bedside clock, nineteen minutes after eleven. She groaned. She couldn't move as every flinch, every movement resulted in unrelenting, scorching pain.

A deep, lyrical voice rumbled from the shadows. “You're awake then, love?”

She turned toward the sexy Irish lilt wafting out of the dimness. Lorcan stood. He'd been sitting in a chair watching her, staying nearby in case she needed him. “The hallway … ” she croaked.

Lorcan laid a cool cloth on her forehead. “No worries. I cleaned it up.”

“Oh, my God,” she moaned. “I … I am so sorry.”

“Hush. I'm going to apply aloe cream to your back and legs, and then later we'll do the front. You're running a slight temperature. I'll give you painkillers when I'm done.”

He lightly brushed his fingers across her skin. The sensation of the cool aloe cream on her raw skin made her gasp. Lorcan whispered encouragingly to her while gently applying the balm.

Despite the pain from her throbbing skin, his careful, sure touch was arousing. She'd had such high hopes for this evening. Never in her wildest dreams did she think it would end like this. She'd showed real class, bazooka-barfing in front of the Irish hunk. And he cleaned it up! How embarrassing.

Lorcan lowered to his haunches. “Am I hurting you, are you in pain?” He reached out and wiped away a tear clinging to her cheek.

“It hurts so much, but you're helping more than you know,” she sniffled in self-pity.

He smoothed the hair back from her face. “My poor darlin' … ” His voice sounded so husky and deep it melted her insides. “What can I get for you? Name it.”

“I … I have to … go to the bathroom,” she whispered.

Taking great care, he helped her to her feet. She cried out. It still hurt to bend her knees. “You'll have to do the Frankenstein walk, Julie. Stiffen your legs.”

In spite of the pain, Julie laughed shakily. She did as he suggested and it helped no matter how ridiculous she looked. Lorcan stepped into the bathroom. On this she would draw the line. No
way
would he help her to sit on the toilet. She'd heard couples that had been together for ages lost the need for bathroom privacy, but not her. Never.

“I … I can do … it,” she ground out.

Lorcan chuckled. “Aye, I'll be right outside the door. If you find you can't stand, call out.” He closed the door.

Thank God her ass was not sunburned. This episode was one for the books.
The Beach Date From Hell.
Leave it to her to get a killer sunburn. After much effort, she managed to stand and anchored herself on the vanity. He escorted her back to her room.

Lorcan applied the cream to the front of her aching body, and then encouraged her to drink some water, which she promptly threw up. “Hmmm. My nursing skills aren't as sharp as I thought. Too much water at once. Here, only take a little and take these Tylenol. Come back and lie on the bed.”

Lying face down once again, exhaustion swept through her, and Lorcan informed her he would sleep on the sofa. “You can sleep here. It's a queen-size bed. The couch is lumpy. Stay.”

“Are you sure? I don't want to roll over and touch your sunburned skin in my sleep.”

Julie closed her eyes. God, any other time she would have loved him in her bed touching her any which way he wanted. “Let's try.”

Julie heard him unzip and sucked in a breath. Well, what did she expect? He couldn't sleep in his clothes.

The mattress lowered and the springs squeaked as he stretched out. Lorcan didn't get under the sheet, but lay on top of the covers with her. She drank in the stunning vision next to her. Moonlight streamed in through the open mini-blinds and outlined the finest visualization of male flesh she'd ever seen. He leaned up on one elbow, clad only in his briefs. Sometimes she forgot how tall he was, those long, lean muscular legs did not quit. Most men had ugly feet from what she'd observed from those who wore goofy sandals. Not Lorcan's. They were as long and as elegant as the rest of his body as she'd noticed at the beach. And speaking of body—her gaze moved lower toward his crotch.
Yikes.

A soft, masculine chortle hung in the air. “Shameless hussy you are, staring at me like that. You're starting to stir things up. Things we can't act on.”

“My lips aren't sunburned.”

Did she just say that? A wicked vision of her mouth firmly fastened on his impressive cock scorched itself in her brain. She closed her eyes and shuddered. She'd never done it before. Add that to the “wicked things to learn from Lorcan” list. A low, animal-sounding moan escaped Lorcan's throat. He obviously had the same vision. “Now you've done it.”

He kissed her and Julie eagerly met it. Lorcan moaned and opened his mouth fully, his tongue dancing and caressing with hers as he took the kiss deeper. Finally, after a long period of time, Lorcan pulled back. “Go to sleep, darlin'. We can do no more tonight.”

Lorcan lay flat on his back, his arm tossed carelessly across his forehead. He stared at the ceiling as if fighting to gain control. She gazed down the long length of his body. The poor man had a raging hard-on. She closed her eyes, some deeply feminine part of her pleased she could elicit this reaction out of him with just a wicked suggestion and a kiss, and before she knew it, she was asleep.

• • •

The next morning, Lorcan turned the corner onto Beaconsfield Avenue toward McIntyre Electronics. He was late. Vinnie De Luca would not be best pleased. Why Vinnie had his unofficial office in the back of a run-down electronics store, Lorcan had no idea. Guess he assumed it would be like the gangsters he'd seen on the telly or at the cinema, hanging out in the back of a deli or a strip club—something which the De Lucas actually owned. Go figure.

Lorcan didn't leave Julie until he knew she was comfortable. Part of his night had been sleepless, not the nightmares that sometimes visited him, but the fact he'd been aroused to the point of bleedin' pain. He supposed he could've nipped into her bathroom and taken things in hand as it were. Instead, he'd moved out to the sofa, covered himself with the throw, and caught a few hours of light sleep. The fear of having one of his night terrors while in her company had haunted him most of the night, but he wouldn't leave the poor lass when she needed him the most. Thankfully, they'd stayed away.

Burnt to a bloody crisp, Julie still wasn't feeling well this morning, but at least she could hold down a little water. He would have to try broth later. Unknown emotions had rolled through him as he'd watched her struggle. His sentimental side wanted to care for her and protect her. But the lustful animal in him wanted to sink himself in that lush paradise he'd so wickedly tasted. The yearnings to tend to her needs and his own carnal ones battled with each other.

This was uncharted territory for him and a road fraught with complications. He was determined to leave at the end of his contract. Yes, he'd had sex with thirty-nine women, but the encounters seemed more meaningless than ever before. Mechanical acts for release, nothing more. He didn't feel any of that with Julie.

He would have to protect his heart. That wouldn't be difficult, because though it beat in his chest, it held no emotion. Dead. Lifeless. He had no intentions of having any lasting feelings for anyone ever again. His time in the army saw to that. Since he'd returned from Darfur and Chad—he shuddered at just the thought of those places but refused to dwell on the bad memories in the light of day; it was bad enough they sometimes haunted him at night. He'd become accustomed to turning off his deeper emotions, going through the motions with women in hopes of feeling something. But he hadn't.

The truth? He wanted what his mother and da had. His parents were in their mid-fifties, but from what he observed during his recent visit they were still very much in love. They were always affectionate, laughing, and teasing and it was obvious a healthy physical aspect lingered in their marriage. Lorcan shook his head. Most people had trouble imagining that their parents or grandparents still had sex. The thought contained a certain “eww” factor, but it was good to know love and desire could last decades or a lifetime. His parents had asked during his recent stay “when will you find a nice girl and settle down?” They wanted grandchildren. Actually, none of his siblings had married yet so the attention fell on him as the oldest to jump in the matrimonial pool first.

Well, bollocks to that.

He'd been alone for years; it was all he knew. He had nothing to offer a woman long-term. As much as he longed for what his parents had, and as much as they wanted him to have it, reality and fate had other plans. Time he started to accept the fact. He would continue to see Julie, but when his contract expired he would move on … alone.

He shook the maudlin thoughts from his mind and flicked on the blinker to turn into the electronics store parking lot. After parking the car, Lorcan walked through the store toward the back stockroom and offices. Classic rock played on the overhead speakers at a volume loud enough to burst an eardrum. In a darkened corner, Liam De Luca loomed over one of the more attractive female employees. She leaned against the wall, framed in by his hands as Liam either nibbled her ear, or whispered naughty things or both as she giggled and rubbed herself teasingly against him.

Lorcan shook his head and kept walking. The man was an unrepentant horn-dog. Why did Lorcan even care? He supposed Liam was not a bad sort beyond the messing about with other women. Sully liked him, and Sully's opinion meant a lot to Lorcan. Even Nick didn't seem to mind the cool, standoffish Liam. Lorcan wondered when he'd become so judgmental about other people's lives. If De Luca wanted to cheat on his woman, it was no business of his.

He stepped into the back office and located Vinnie sitting at his desk. A couple of other guys sat at the nearby table playing cards. Cigarette smoke hung thick in a hazy cloud over the whole room.

“You're late,” Vinnie snapped.

“I was taking care of a sick friend,” Lorcan replied causally.

He heard the snorts of disbelief from the table. “Jesus, like that excuse hasn't been used before,” Paulie laughed.

Lorcan glared at the man, and then turned back toward Vinnie. “It's true. No matter, I'm here now.”