Wild Irish (Book 1 of the Weldon Series) (12 page)

Jesse didn’t linger; he got out of the car, and grabbed her suitcase from the back seat. Alexi settled her purse on her shoulder and gathered Amanda Lee. They met at the front of the car and Jesse stopped her by placing a hand on her shoulder, urging her to face him. “Alexi, about today—”

Nan opened the door and called out, “I’ve been so worried, Alexi.” A gray cat bounded out the door. “Shakespeare, come back here! No Romeoing tonight!” Nan came running toward Alexi and Jesse as she chased the cat.

“
No what tonight?” Jesse turned his head.

Alexi laughed and snatched up the gray ball of fur that had shot past Nan and was tearing down the sidewalk. “No Romeoing tonight for the cat, my godpet.”

“
Your what?”

“
I’m Shakespeare’s Godparent.” Alexi handed Nan her cat. “Take Loverboy inside.”

“
Only after you introduce me to him first,” Nan said, keeping her eyes glued on Jesse as she accepted the cat. “You’ve been holding out on me, girlfriend.”

Jesse laughed.

Alexi shook her head. “Nan, meet Jesse Weldon. Jesse, meet Nancy Miller.” Juggling the cat, Nan shook Jesse’s hand.

As soon as they were done, Alexi pushed Nan on the shoulder. “You were about to take Shakespeare inside right?”

“
I was?” Nan said, blinking, taking her gaze off Jesse.

“
You are,” Alexi said firmly. “Take Amanda Lee, too.” Alexi handed Nan the doll.

“
Oh,” said Nan. “Third wheel stuff.” She grinned at Jesse. “See ya. Soon, I hope.” Then bundling up Shakespeare and Amanda Lee, she went back inside.

Alexi turned to Jesse. “You were saying?”

Jesse shook his head as if to clear away a fog. “Yeah, uh...” He set her suitcase down. Then, shrugging his shoulders, he leaned down to kiss her.

She shut her eyes; briefly, tasting him even before his lips touched hers. In that single second, she breathed in his essence and felt desire curl around her whole body like an enveloping flame. Then his lips met hers, lightly at first and his tongue brushed teasingly over her bottom lip, sending minions of pleasure through her that urged her closer to him. She opened her mouth expectantly, wanting him to sweep her back to Oz for just a moment, back to that hot, sensual state where nothing mattered except need. But he didn’t deepen the kiss, and he didn’t back away either. The look in his eyes seemed to be asking her to take the next step.

“
More,” she said, wrapping her arms around his neck, pressing herself against him.

He didn’t wait for a second invitation. He swept her into a kiss that claimed, demanded, and evoked. A kiss that brought her to the edge and ended long before she wanted it to.

“
More?” he said softly as he stepped away. “You’ve got my card.” Then he turned back to his car and left.

* * *

Nan refilled Alexi’s glass of Chardonnay and handed it back, then settled on the other side of the sofa with her glass. "All right, so the run down is that your grandmother is bent on seeing you married to Roger and your father is still as distant as Mount Everest. I’m sorry.”

Alexi sighed. “I didn’t expect anything different, but there’s some part of me inside that is always disappointed. Maybe I’m just a glutton for punishment.”

“
Nope. You’re an incurable romantic who loves happy endings. There’s nothing wrong with that. Now tell me the good part. Where did you find that masked man who dropped you off? He has to be masked, God doesn't make men
that
good looking."

Alexi sipped her wine, feeling like she might just survive the day. She'd been at Nan's for a little over an hour, had showered, put on a soft cotton nightgown, buried her exhausted body amidst a mountain of pillows on Nan's sofa, and unburdened her heart. She could always count on Nan to understand. "Oh, he's masked all right. He's the devil in disguise.” Only a devil could have left the calling card Jesse had left
. More? You’ve got my card.

Her toes curled even as her mind rebelled against calling a man for sex. She had no doubt that’s what he meant. Or was it?

“
At least I would have sworn he was the devil until…never mind.” Alexi closed her mouth. What could she say? Jesse’s manner after he’d taken her home, stood with her, and held her when she’d cried had been different. Something about that difference warmed her insides.

"Just tell me. Are there more where he came from?"

"Three brothers, I think. I haven't met them yet, but I have spoken to Jesse's older brother Jackson over the phone. I hired his band to play at one of the entertainment tents for the wedding reception today. He has a to-die-for voice."

"That sounds like a man I’d like to meet. You have been holding out on me. Exactly when and how long have you known the Weldon’s?"

"I don't really know them, just what I hear from their mother. You know her, too. Emma Weldon, who works in the cafeteria."

"That sweet little woman produced a man like that? The wonders of God's miracles." Nan smiled. "I deliver babies every day. To think, one or more of them could be the to-die-for-hunk of the future and I'll have seen them naked and not know it. But forget that. The mouth to mouth fusion you two shared isn’t because you know his mother. It sizzled."

“
That bad, huh?”

“
No that good. Now give. Where have you been hiding him?”

“
I knew Jesse for about a month when I was seventeen. We, um, almost became something, but things went wrong."

"Oh, no you don't." Nan wagged a finger. "There's more."

Alexi told Nan about Jesse and what happened in the past. "I had to bargain with the devil to get rescued today."

"What did he want? Another hot kiss?"

"It started out that way, but ended up to be more.”

“
More?”

Alexi winced. “Well, he, uh, has this way of kissing me that I sort of forget who I am and where I am.”

“
And? You might as well as spill it. Then I won’t have to open another bottle of wine and we won’t have headaches later.”

Alexi bit her lip, winced, then told Nan. “We would probably still be doing it if my grandmother hadn’t called the police. We never did make it to a bed. I think that was next."

Nan's jaw dropped and she spilled her wine down the front of her PJ's. "You're not kidding are you?"

Alexi shook her head, wincing again. "I don't even know myself anymore."

"Oh my gosh. WOW!" Nan clinked her wineglass to Alexi's. "That has to be the wildest thing you've ever done." Nan laughed. "It’s so romantic. Lost love saves the day."

"It wasn't necessarily romantic. And love didn’t enter the equation. Besides, I’m not even sure what love is anymore." She sighed. "The experience was sexual. Really, really, sexual. And, heaven help me, it was the best sex I've ever had. I'm afraid that if he walked in and pointed to the bedroom, I'd go."

"If you ask me, he's an angel in a devil's disguise. Not only did he show you heaven on earth today, but the result has you out from under your grandmother's thumb and away from your father's emotional vacuum. You're finally free to discover who you are and what you want. So when will you see him again?"

Alexi gulped her wine. "I don’t know."

“
You mean after a day like this you didn’t make plans?”

“
He gave me his business card. I got the impression that if I, well, if I wanted a repeat of the day, I could call him.”

Nan laughed. “Perfect. Absolutely perfect. This is great. What a golden opportunity! You’ve a whole week off already scheduled. Yum. You will call him won’t you?”

“
I don’t know.” Alexi downed her wine, thinking her escapade with Jesse would cost her more than anything else ever had.

CHAPTER SEVEN

“
Well, son, guess I can see why you’ve been too busy to visit us often,” John Weldon commented as he leaned back in his chair and patted his stomach. Reaching over, he unfolded the Sunday paper to the front page.

Jesse winced at the blow up of him, shirtless, kissing Alexi. Not only that but the camera's angle made the kiss look more risqué than it had been.
Maybe.
He hadn’t been thinking about how things looked when he’d kissed her. Hell, all he had on his mind was following the damnable urge that had plagued him for years. He took a swig of sweet tea sure that whatever was about to be said wasn't going to sit well with the last bite of his apple pie. Jesse knew it wasn’t the picture that was on his father’s mind. It was the accompanying article about some rather infamous situations Jesse had ended up in over the past twelve years.

He wasn't as close to his family as he once was and that was his fault. Besides, making the Weldon name respected, being back in contact with his family played a major part in his decision to relocate half of his company to Savannah.

The last time they’d all been together—his parents, his brother Jackson, and his younger twin bothers James and Jared--had been a very difficult time. Jackson’s wife’s funeral. It’d been that tragedy that had turned Jesse’s head around and put it on straight about family and what it meant to him. That had been almost three years ago. It had been even longer since they'd sat down together for a Sunday dinner of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, pole beans, fresh coleslaw, and hot biscuits. Jesse was stuffed. Meals around the world just didn't match up to the heavenly country cookin’ that came out of his mother's kitchen.

Out of the corner of his eye, Jesse saw his mother, Emma, in the middle of clearing dishes, stop and sit back into her seat to hear what Jesse had to say about the article. All of his brothers at the table looked ready to pitch in and add fuel to the fire under Jesse’s ass at the moment.

Jesse drew a breath. “I’ve sewn a wild oat or two—

“
More like a whole crop," Jared said, garnering a round of laughs. “My world traveling daring-do brother doesn't make headlines rescuing VIPs from danger. Nope, he makes headlines as World Renown Playboy Steals Bride from Area Golden Boy.”

Jesse ignored his brother and tried to explain. “The article really paints things to be much worse than they actually were—”

Jackson rolled his eyes. “The military must have starved him of his share of women for eight years and he’s making up for lost time.” It was the first time Jesse had seen amusement lurk in his brother’s eyes in years. Well, at least the article had done some good. Jackson wasn’t through yet. He tapped the paper their father had set down. “From what I read, security detail must have its fringe benefits. A super model in Milan, Jesse? Was she really naked in the fountain when her fiancée found you two together?"

Jesse opened his mouth to explain, but his brother James kicked in.

“
Night duty can be a killer, especially when you shared it with that Vampire hunting babe on the WSN Network.” James elbowed him in the side, the overtones in his statement illicit. "She claims you left her with a stake in her heart."

Jesse clenched his teeth. “She was a mis—“

Jared whistled. “That’s some training the military gave you,” he said, punching Jesse on the shoulder. “Kept you hard, lean, and very active. You managed to balance Senator Langford’s daughter and a soap opera star at the same time. Too bad one of them objected at the wedding.”

Jesse’s brothers laughed while his parents scowled.

“
Looks like he didn’t learn his lesson either,” Jared said. “Did you get that shiner from the bride you kissed yesterday or from the thwarted groom?”

Jesse touched his brow where Alexi had nailed him with a rock and smiled. “Door,” Jesse replied. “I ran into a door. You wise guys would make good tabloid reporters. If you must know, the bride yesterday
asked
for me to kiss her and for my help to escape her two-timing groom. She wanted to send the world a clear message that she wasn’t going to marry Holstead ever. Her grandmother was about to smooth things over, and announce there would be a private ceremony later. As for my botched wedding in DC to Michelle Langford, the whole drama was a set up. Michele hired the soap star to cause a scene so she could back out of the wedding.” Jesse shook his head. He’d been so stupid. Her stunts had nearly cost him his business.

His brothers laughed, but his father wasn’t amused. “It’s a moot point now since you didn’t end up getting married three years ago, but what bothers me is you never told us you were marrying to begin with. Why?”

Jesse’s mouth went dry. He heard his mother’s sharp intake of air. This wasn’t going to be pretty.

He’d met Michele just after he finished his last stint with the military and Wes and he had begun their security company. Back then, much to his shame, he’d been wearing his ass on his shoulders, and he’d had it skewed on bassawkwards, too. He’d been a man with something to prove, and come hell, or high water, he’d been determined to make his mark in the business world. Michele had introduced him to her father, Senator Langford, who must have done some hard digging. The day after meeting him, the senator requested to see Jesse. Somehow the senator had uncovered quite a few top-secret details of missions Jesse had been on. Jesse was suddenly the man of the hour and the senator wanted to do all he could to help Jesse’s security company to be a success.