Page 20

CHAPTER 19

S leep was elusive, and Fintan spent the remainder of the night watching Taryn. He couldn’t quite believe she was really in his bed or that his mind hadn’t snapped, thrusting him into a fantasy world he never wanted to wake from. Every breath she took solidified the truth and tied him to the present.

For so long, his nights had been haunted by what-ifs. When he’d told her he fell for her from the moment he saw her, he wasn’t lying. Had his ancestors not intervened and held him hostage, he’d have returned to her and never left her side again.

Her trials in the interim had put an ache in his heart, and that pain would remain firmly lodged there forever. If she hurt, he hurt.

He thanked the Goddess daily for Josie’s sacrifice regarding Morcant. Although Taryn was tough, her sister was tougher. It’s not that Josie lacked a softer side; hell, he’d seen glimpses of her future along the way and knew she cared deeply. But she compartmentalized with an ease Taryn would never possess.

Fintan had no idea where they went from here, or why the ancestors weren’t making his life a misery for defying them.

Was it too late? Had they resigned themselves to his downfall? Had he crossed that line never to go back?

If this were what it felt like, heaven at home, he’d gladly stay sequestered away forever with her.

A smile curled Taryn’s lips, and Fintan wanted to taste her again. Holding himself in check wasn’t easy after so many years of denying himself the pleasures of the flesh. Yet he didn’t dare move in case he broke the fragile spell holding this moment together. For decades, he’d told himself solitude was safer, and the monster inside didn’t get a future. But he wanted this. So badly. And not the sex. The sense of belonging to her.

Giving in to temptation, he brushed his fingers along the curve of her tantalizing hip.

Taryn frowned and peeked one eye open.

He froze.

“You’re awake,” he stated inanely.

“How many years did you deny yourself sex?”

“How long have ya been listenin’ to my thoughts?” he countered.

“A few minutes only. You’re right about Josie, I think.” Reaching up, she lightly raked her nails along his jaw. “How many years have you denied yourself, Fintan?”

“From the day I left you.”

Her hand dropped, and her face froze in shock.

“Sure, and maybe part of it was self-punishment for not being stronger and returnin’ to ya. But from the moment the ancestors entered my head, my magic grew, and I feared my monster.”

She rolled to a sitting position and grasped his hands. “I’m so sorry you felt you had to live in seclusion.” Her voice was low and carried a gravity that wrapped around his ribs and squeezed.

He opened his mouth to deflect—to joke or say it didn’t matter, but her sadness did him in. Loneliness had made him half mad, but he couldn’t admit it aloud. Couldn’t tell her the reason he was a grumpy bastard was because he was miserable without her.

Moisture welled in her eyes, and Fintan felt those building tears in his soul.

“Don’t cry for me, aoibhneas mo croí . I’m not worth it.”

“Shut up, you idiot! Of course you are.” She lunged for him, wrapping her arms around his neck and squeezing tightly. “You’re worth everything,” she whispered fiercely.

“I’m not, Taryn-Taryn. I made your life a misery when you visited.”

“But we both know why, and I can’t say I wouldn’t have done exactly the same.” She drew back and smiled through her tears. “I might’ve slipped you a boxful of laxatives to keep you from coming back.”

“I’d have returned,” he assured her. “I wouldn’t have eaten another thing ya gave me, but I’d have returned, to be sure.”

“Do you think they will leave you alone now?”

“You’re here, and that bleedin’ necklace they hate so much is gone.” He shrugged and drew her down to lie beside him. “We can only hope it’s enough to appease their selfish nature.”

Taryn rolled onto her stomach and rested on her elbows. Her face was still damp, and Fintan gently brushed away the evidence of her sadness and sympathy.

“I wasn’t faithful to you,” she said softly.

His heart stopped. “You mean the weeks we were together?”

“What? No! What do you take me for?” she demanded

Fintan’s relief was profound, and he did his damnedest not to laugh in the face of her outrage.

“Then what are ya on about, love?”

“You were faithful to me all these years, but I wasn’t faithful to you.”

“Why would ya be? I hurt you when I didn’t return. How could I ever expect you wouldn’t move on?” He was being more reasonable than he’d normally be. Yes, jealousy was eating him up, but the blame lay solely at his door, not hers. “You’d have been mad to wait over twenty years for me to come knockin’, Taryn-Taryn.”

“I know.” Still, she sounded sad, and he could feel her brain buzzing.

As an idea formed in his mind, he rushed to block her from his thoughts.

“I’ve a grand plan. Don’t move.”

He jumped up and ran for the wardrobe. A quick search of the top shelf provided what he was looking for, and he pulled the old t-shirt over his head, then slipped into his favorite jeans, but left them unbuttoned. Fintan pulled another shirt from the shelf, and as it passed by his nose, he smiled. Her long-ago scent still lingered on the material from his spell to preserve it. Once a year, on the anniversary of their first meeting, he allowed himself to hold it close and wallow in the memories of their aborted romance. Yes, he was a sentimental fool, but no one ever measured up to Taryn-Taryn Stephens by his ruler.

“Put it on.” Fintan handed her the shirt.

Eyes wide and jaw slack, she stared at the material. “You kept the shirt from our first meeting?”

“Well, you turned out to be easier than ya led me to believe, but I still had to work for it that night, yeah?”

She laughed as she slipped into the t-shirt. “It’s not my fault. I was charmed by an Irish singer in a boy ba?—”

“If ya feckin’ say it, I’ll not be responsible for me actions,” he warned.

The flash of her straight white teeth hit him low in the gut.

“Now what?” she asked. Her eyes shone brighter than diamonds under LED lights, and he basked in her eagerness, felt through their connection.

“We start over.” Fintan lifted his hand, pausing a hairsbreadth from her face. Removing the block, he let her access their link. “May I?”

It took but a moment for her to understand, and a small smile played on her mouth as she nodded. With trembling fingers, he stroked her silky smooth cheek, tracing her jawline, then cupping her neck.

“What’s your name?” he asked huskily.

“Taryn. Taryn Stephens.” And in an exact recreation of that night, her voice held the same sexy breathiness he fucking adored.

“Well, it’s nice to meet ya, Taryn-Taryn Stephens. I’m Fintan Sullivan.”

She giggled, like the first time, and he grinned, relieved she understood him as well as she did.

“That was made obvious at the beginning of your set,” she said pertly.

Recalling his boggled mind and careless reaction to the fact, he shrugged. “And now the introductions are out of the way, can I snog ya, then?”

“Snog?”

“Kiss. I’ve a powerful need to kiss ya, love.”

She nodded, not as bashful after all these years, but her radiance hadn’t dimmed. Similar to the first time, her agreement created a starburst of happiness in his chest, and his stomach tightened. He wasted no time leaning in.

Taryn was the sweet nectar to his buzzing bee, and the sense of rightness was still there, making him deliriously happy. They didn’t need flowery words or any of the ridiculous gestures standard in a new courtship, and for that, Fintan was exceedingly grateful.

Putting the slightest of distances between them, he pressed light kisses across her closed lids, along her nose, trailing to her ear. He drew the lobe between his teeth, gently biting down before sucking.

Taryn gasped and clutched his shoulders tighter.

“It’s a good thing Donal’s not here and we already have a room.” Tipping her head, she gave him full access to her throat, and he obliged her with love nips from her jaw to her collarbone.

She moaned, and his Siren took note.

“Down, boy,” she told it.

Her response threw him off his game, and he drew back in surprise.

“Ya heard it?”

“Am I not supposed to? He comes through loud and clear.” Frowning, she sat back on her heels.

“So you’re linked to it, too,” he replied, stunned by this new turn of events. Fintan’s ardor died as he considered what it meant.

Inside, the Siren grumbled in protest.

“He’s not happy with you,” she said with a light laugh. “And to be honest, I feel let down that we aren’t recreating the rest of the night.”

“Ya want I should get on stage and sing to you?” he teased, attempting to dispel the heaviness associated with his discovery.

“Yes, but probably not a good idea with him close to the surface.”

He grimaced. Fuck if he shouldn’t have been the one to consider it.

Taryn glanced out the window at the rising sun and held out her hand. “Let’s go dig up something to eat.”

“I can conjure whatever ya want.”

“I know, but we need to keep our hands busy until you come to terms with your inner Keyhole Casanova.”

Ignoring her hand, he swept her up in his arms and visualized the kitchen. After sending out a feeler and learning the room was empty, he teleported them. As soon as they arrived, he set her on the long metal table, but she squealed, jumping back into his arms.

“Ohmygod, it’s freezing on my bare skin.”

“Feck! I wasn’t thinkin’, love. I’m sorry.”

“Hm, well, since you’re holding me and it’s the place I love best, I won’t complain.”

Fintan grinned. It amazed him to realize he’d laughed and smiled more with her in the last day and a half than he had in twenty-something years.

“Goddess, I love you, Taryn-Taryn. They’ll never be another day gone by that I won’t be showin’ and tellin’ ya it,” he promised.

Happiness radiated off her, but he felt her briefest of doubts through their bond, and it pained him.

“Please don’t give in to your fear, love,” he begged silently.

“I’m doing my best not to,” she said, stroking his lower lip with her thumb. “Your sincerity helps.”

Fintan closed his burning eyes, blinking back grateful tears. “Thank you.”

“I don’t ever want you to feel the love is one-sided, because it’s not. I love you, Fintan, and that’s why I’m so fucking afraid. If this goes south, if it turns out that we don’t make it, I’m going to be so damned broken.”

“We’ll make it.” He pressed his forehead to hers. “We’re fated and share a bond. And it’s unbreakable, aoibhneas mo croí .”

“God, I hope so.” She kissed him with enough passion to make him forget his fucking name.

He was still trying to gather his scattered wits when she slid down his aroused body and patted his ass.

“Now, make me an omelet while I brew the coffee,” she ordered.

“Tea. We drink tea in this country,” he said absently, watching her tight little ass swish as she crossed the kitchen.

Mine .

“No, boyo,” he told his Siren. “Mine!”