She Likes It Irish (6 page)

He showed her his favorite spots on campus—the usually sunny spot at the duck pond where he soaked up the sun, the little chapel where he went to hear himself think, the place by the archaeology building where the tree branches formed a serene tunnel, and the bench near class he sometimes sat on just to avoid being inside for too long.

He told her about his life in Ireland and asked her about hers here. He touched her face, her hair, her fingers. He kissed her with his mouth, his eyes. He set her on fire with need.

On the way back to her dorm at the end of their walk, they went into the coffee shop inside the library. She ordered a latte with whipped cream, he a black coffee with four sugars.

She tried to pay for hers, but he refused, fishing his wallet out of his back pocket and handing a ten to the cashier. She got a peek at his driver’s license before he closed his wallet. After getting their drinks, they settled at a corner table and pulled off their coats.

“Did you have to get a state driver’s license when you came here?” she asked.

“I did.”

“Can I see it?”

“If you show me yours,” he said with a grin.

They each took out their wallets and pulled out the licenses. He handed his over and her eyes zeroed in on the picture. There was a touch of a smile on his luscious mouth as if he were amused by something. His hair was a bit shorter but just as untamed. The eyes looked as if they were a blink away from laughter. He had turned twenty-four in November, making him four months older than she.

“No one takes a good license photo, Sean, but somehow you managed it. I think I hate you.”

He laughed. “Okay. Hand over yours.”

She kept hers against her chest. “I was getting a cold when this was taken, and I didn’t want to go back for a retake. Promise me you won’t laugh.”

“I promise.”

“Promise what?”

“Promise I won’t laugh.” He made a show of wiping the smile from his face with his hand.

“Okay.” She handed it over, making a face as she watched him.

A smile twitched at the corners of his mouth. His eyes raised from the picture to her face then back to the photo, then back to her face again. “Were you smoking something?” His smile was full-blown on his face.

“You promised!” she said with a laugh and playfully hit the arm holding the license.

“I promised not to laugh. I didn’t promise not to smile.” He continued to study her license. “You have the same birthday as my best friend back home. Ian. You’d like him.”

“Why would I like Ian?”

“You two are a lot alike.”

“So he’s gorgeous and brilliant, too?” She tossed him a teasing grin.

He laughed. “All the women in his life think so.” His eyes dropped back to her license. “Your middle name starts with H. What is it?”

“It’s a secret I’ll take to my grave, that’s what it is.” She reached out for her license, but he pulled it back with a grin.

“How bad can it be?”

“Really bad.” She reached again, and again he pulled it away.

“Now I have to know,” he said.

She took a sip of her latte and shook her head. “No way.”

“If I guess it, will you tell me if I’m right?” He handed over her license and she put it away.

“You’ll never guess it.”

“Hannah.”

“No.”

“Haley.”

“No.”

“Hortense?”

“Hortense?” she chuckled. “Just for that, you lose your guessing privileges, and I get to ask you five questions about the things in your wallet.” She plopped her hand on his wallet and with a grin slid it across the table to her.

“You’re not going to stop me?” she said, teasing him with her smile and eyes.

“Seeing as it’s already in your hands, I can’t very well tackle you to the floor and take it back, now can I?”

“Ha! I’ve seen your muscles. You definitely could. But you won’t.”

She held the thin wallet in her hands, felt the worn-leather smoothness of it against her skin. “I’ve always been fascinated with men’s wallets…what’s in them, I mean.” She brought it to her nose and smelled the seasoned aroma of it mixed with Sean’s own scent. “You guys keep them so secret and off-limits. This is a rare treat for me, O’Neill. I feel a little wicked just holding it.”

“Remember this moment when I ask to explore your bag,” he said, drawing a chuckle from her lips.

“No promises.” She felt his eyes on her, studying her face as she opened each flap of the trifold, laying open his secrets. She slipped his license back into its slot next to a credit card, his university IDs—one from here, one from Dublin—what looked like a medical card, and a few business cards—one related to immigration, one to the Irish embassy, several to personnel at both schools, and one to a local law firm.

The other side held a few neatly folded receipts, including the one for their coffee. Several bills were lined up by denomination in the long slot. No condoms. No personal mementos like torn ticket stubs. No pictures or girls’ phone numbers…but then he had his phone for the last two.

“I figured you’d have at least half a dozen condoms tucked away in here somewhere,” she teased.

He shook his head, light dancing in his eyes. “Heat and pressure degrade condoms, making them less effective.”

“Oh…so if you’re out and about when the mood strikes, and Ms-Right-Now doesn’t have protection, you’re SOL?”

He leaned back a bit in his chair and stuck his hand into his front pocket, pulling the tip of a gold condom package out to show her.

She raised an eyebrow. “Only one?”

He glanced around to make sure they weren’t being watched, then pulled out a three-piece string of condoms for her to see. Before he stuffed them back into his pocket, she noticed the packages said extra-large, lubricated, and they looked just like the one in the four-leaf clover mug he’d given her. So, it had been from his stash.

How big was he that he needed an extra-large condom? She swallowed and squeezed her thighs together, trying to diminish the zaps of electricity suddenly popping between them and imagining the answer to her own question.

“Did you load up just for our walk?” she asked, giving him a sexy look.

He smiled, his eyes closing half way in a sleepy-sexy look that made her want to jump onto his lap and make him rip open a gold package.

His expression changed like a storm had stopped right over his head just as a hand touched her shoulder.

She turned her head. Randy stood at her side, his eager face smiling down at her. The guy was book smart, but he wasn’t the sharpest crayon in the box when it came to social convention.

“Hi, Kristin,” Randy said. “I thought that was you. Oh. Hey, Sean.”

“Randy,” Kristin said then turned back to Sean, who was giving Randy the death stare.

“Can I talk to you outside?” Randy asked, trying to draw her attention away from Sean.

“No, Sean and I are—”

“It’ll just take a second. I have a question about our project.”

She put her hand on Sean’s, linking her fingers with his. “Do you mind? I’ll make it quick.”

He made a gesture of acceptance, but continued to glare at Randy.

She stood and walked out of the coffee shop, Randy behind her. Once outside, she turned toward him, ready to remind him that she had already turned in her part of the project and that they had nothing further to discuss, but he spoke first.

“I didn’t want to talk about our project. I wanted to ask you to go to the movies with me tomorrow night.”

She blinked in surprise at his request and shook her head. “I told you I’m not interested in you.” Though she delivered the rejection softly to spare his feelings, she didn’t want to give him any room to hope that she’d change her mind. “You only make me hurt your feelings when you keep asking.”

He shifted on his feet, his face reddening. “Who
are
you interested in? Sean?”

Her heart jumped as if it knew the answer. “That’s none of your business.”

“There’s stuff you should know about him before you—”

“I’m not interested in hearing anything you have to say.” She turned toward the door, but he caught her arm.

“He has sex with a lot of different girls. They show up at his door, they have sex with him, and then they leave. Alone. He doesn’t even walk them home. He’s a user, and I don’t want him to use you like that.”

Her heart hitched at Randy’s words, but she breathed through it until it righted. “He tutors. Maybe they’re doing homework.”

“Oh, he’s tutoring them, all right, but it isn’t for any class. That wall between us is paper thin. I hear everything…and it’s not like the girls are quiet, either. They all scream out ‘Fuck me, Sean’ or ‘Oh, God, Sean,’ sometimes both. He’s a manwhore.”

The news sat heavy in Kristin’s stomach. She and Sean weren’t
together
. They weren’t really even dating. They were…what? Foreplaying? But knowing that he was having sex with a lot of girls made her wonder whether all his attention was about adding one more conquest to his list. But if that were the case, why had he dodged every attempt she’d made to get into his boxers? She hadn’t exactly been subtle about what she wanted. And unless she was completely off base, their whole payback plan was meant to end in sex. Was it just a control issue? Or was he, like her, interested in more?

“He’ll hurt you, Kristin. But I won’t. I…I love you.” Lightning quick, Randy leaned forward and kissed her hard on the mouth.

She pushed him away, and fury swung out her hand to connect with his face. “Dammit, don’t you ever do that again!”

He grabbed her hands and his black eyes stared into hers with an intensity that shook her. “I’ll do whatever I have to to save you from him.”

“I don’t need saving.” She was yanking her hands away when he suddenly released them and took off running. A second later, Sean burst through the door and was at her side, their things gripped tightly in his hands.

“Did that little
shitehawk
do what I think he did?” Concern filled his voice and eyes. He helped her on with her coat then held out her wallet.

“I’m not exactly sure what a
shitehawk
is, but if you think Randy kissed me and confessed his love for me, you’d be right.”

“I’m going to have to kick his arse,” Sean growled, his body stiff as he stared after Randy, who hadn’t stopped running.

“Don’t worry about it. The slap I gave him will make him think twice about touching me again. Besides, he’s harmless.”

Sean didn’t look like he believed her statement any more than she did, but he let it drop. He looked at her, putting his arm around her. “Are you all right? Did he hurt you?”

She put her arms around him. “I’m fine.”

“Well, I’m not. That’ll make twice his kisses have stopped me from kissing you.”

“Don’t be such a baby.” She leaned up and kissed him on the mouth, her hands on his face, holding his mouth to hers.

And when Sean forgot about Randy’s kiss and wrapped her up tight in his arms, her head spun, and Randy’s words washed away.

****

“Our movie date is tomorrow night,” Sean said as they stood outside her dorm.

It wasn’t a question or a demand, but a simple statement of fact. And it was the second time he’d referred to his payments as dates.

“Yep. Eight o’clock?”

“I’ll pick you up at seven-thirty so we can get a good seat.” He kissed her.

The deep kiss she gave him would, she hoped, tell him how much she wanted him.
I’ll never grow tired of kissing him
, she thought as she pulled back to capture his eyes.

“You wanna come up?” Her breathing was ragged as the words passed her throat. Couldn’t he hear the obvious invitation in her voice? See it in her eyes? Feel it in the way she touched him? When he didn’t respond, she pressed against him to help him decide. “Try out those condoms in your pocket? I’d love to see why you need an extra large.”
And I’m really interested in finding out whether you can make me scream your name.

He inhaled a quick, quiet breath at her soft plea, and his eyes revealed a mix of desire and hesitation. Clearly he wanted her. Why was he waiting?

“No, darlin’.”

The answer stabbed her heart, but she pushed through the pain and smiled. “Another tutoring session?”

“No.”

She paused, giving him time to explain why he was refusing her, but he didn’t offer one. The cold pain pushed back and released a burst of jealousy in her, along with a feeling that he was playing with her…and not in a good way.

“Then, why not?”

A slow grin stretched across his face. “It’s not on the schedule.”

She smiled, relief rushing out of her lungs at his response. “So, you’re one of
those
kinds of people.”

He lifted his eyebrow in surprise at hearing his own words thrown back at him. “What kinds of people?”

“Those who think schedules are carved in stone and can’t be deviated from.”

He laughed, caressed her cheek and then her mouth with his thumb. “I won’t rush my debt to you, Kristin, no matter how much you ridicule or tempt me.”

He didn’t want to rush. He wanted it to last. If the words themselves weren’t enough to convince her of that point, his touches were. His hands slipped inside her jacket, around her back, under her shirt, and on her skin where they seemed to belong. He pulled her close to him, his eyes on hers, and slid his luscious mouth over hers in a branding touch that would live on long after he’d left.

Her knees weak, her lungs out of air, her body aching for all the things his kiss promised, she protested when he slowly pulled back and looked into her eyes. But he didn’t give in to her need to continue the kiss.

“See you tomorrow at seven-thirty…Henrietta,” he whispered against her mouth.

She tried to chuckle but she didn’t have the air for it. “Yes to the time, no to the name.”

He backed away from her, keeping his gaze locked to hers, then pushed out the door. She watched him through the glass until she could no longer see him and then rushed up to her room to find the pleasure he wouldn’t give her.