And Then He Kissed Me (15 page)

Dave reached out and, to Audrey’s surprise, touched the tips of his fingers to hers. “If you’re still around later, when things slow down for me at the bar, maybe we could hit the dance floor?”

Audrey blinked. In his form-fitting black T-shirt, Dave would hardly be a bad way to end the evening. Lean and tall, Audrey could almost picture how his long, sinewy muscles looked underneath his clothes. She felt a thrill deep in her stomach and smiled.

“I think that would be nice.”

Dave turned to wait on another customer, just as someone elbowed into Audrey’s space. “Excuse m—” she started to say, but was cut off by the massive form of Kieran Callaghan standing over her. Golden strands of his dark red hair ignited in the bar’s overhead lights. Behind them, his reflection fragmented in a hundred bottles lined up on the wall. He was everywhere, it seemed. In the warm bar, Audrey suddenly shivered.

“I’m surprised to see you here,” Kieran said, his eyes raking over her, taking all of her in. No
hi, so nice to see you
. No
fancy meeting you here
. It was brusque, even for Kieran. It almost didn’t matter, though.
He was right in front of her
. They were sharing the same space again.

Not that Audrey was about to let herself get carried away. “Hello to you, too, Kieran,” she said. “This is my friend Willa Olmstead. She lives in town here and runs the White Pine B and B. Willa, Kieran is my, uh, boss at the dealership.”

She made the introduction like Willa had no idea who Kieran was, like they hadn’t just been talking about him. A current of nervous energy had her wondering what to do with her hands. She grabbed her beer glass, then set it down again.

Poised and elegant, Willa didn’t miss a beat. “It’s nice to meet you,” she said. “Any friend of Audrey’s is a friend of mine.”

Kieran glanced at Audrey’s beer, and his eyes widened slightly. “Is that what I think it is?”

Audrey nodded, realizing that she’d had pints of asparagus beer in the past five years, but that Kieran’s first—and last—swig of it would have been when they were together. “Asparagus beer,” she said, liking that Kieran seemed jolted by the liquid. As if he’d forgotten it existed but seeing it now was dredging up memories long forgotten.

“Let me get you a pint,” Audrey said, and flagged Dave, who came over quickly.

“Another pint?” Audrey asked. “For my boss here?”

Dave barely glanced at Kieran. He let his fingers touch Audrey’s for the briefest of moments. “Coming right up.”

Kieran’s jawline hardened. “You know him?”

“That’s Dave Englund. He makes the asparagus beer every year. He’s a friend.”

“Friend?” Kieran replied, his voice rough. The sound brought the hairs on the back of her neck to attention. “Is that what the kids are calling it these days?”

His reaction was unexpected. Was Kieran…jealous? Audrey glanced at Willa, who was sipping her cranberry juice in an effort to keep from smirking.

“He asked me to dance later,” Audrey said with an offhanded shrug.

She wasn’t sure what she expected Kieran to do. Maybe shrug in return, tell her to have fun. Or maybe just stalk away. But the next thing she knew, he’d placed both hands on Audrey’s waist, lifting her off the barstool in one motion. “Excuse us,” he said to Willa. “I’d like to get a few numbers in before
Dave Englund
.”

Audrey started to protest, but the words died on her lips when Kieran laced his fingers through hers. It was more thrilling than holding hands should be.

Dancing with him could be even better.

She smiled to herself and let him lead the way onto the dance floor.

C
HAPTER
TEN

T
he song blaring from the jukebox was a quick, twangy country song, but Kieran ignored it and crushed Audrey to him as if it were a slow dance. Bodies whirred past, but he paid them no mind. He needed Audrey close to him. Damn that bartender, and damn her sister, Casey, most of all.

He gripped Audrey more tightly, wondering what in the world he was going to do. He’d play his bluff, but, in the end, this might be his last chance to hold her, and he was determined to savor it. Her nearness made his muscles sore. His heart filled his rib cage and ached against his sternum.

“Kieran, I can’t breathe.”

She struggled and he reluctantly relaxed his grip. Pulling away, Audrey rubbed the part of her face that had been pressed into his shirt seam. “What is going on with you?”

Kieran ran a hand through his hair. Shit. She was staring at him with a bewildered expression.

“I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable,” he said, “I just…” He trailed off. What could he possibly say?

For a moment, she just stared at him, befuddled, until someone bumped her from behind on the dance floor and she landed awkwardly against his chest. He steadied her in his arms, longer than necessary. She didn’t fight him.

“What gives?” she asked finally, her warm brown eyes melting him. “Are you all right?”

Hell no, he wasn’t all right. He was berating himself for being such a simpleton, approaching Casey like he had. Had he really thought she would just let him pick up where he and Audrey had left off? What foolish part of him had believed that if Casey saw him, if she just
talked
to him, she’d realize he and Audrey had a shot at something real? Secretly, he’d thought that she’d shake hands with him, let the past be the past, and give him her blessing to start anew.

But Casey wasn’t having any of it. She didn’t want Kieran within twenty feet of Audrey. Kieran’s muscles tightened, knowing that, now, if he wanted to try to be with Audrey, he was going to have to risk losing her in the process.

“Just—just dance with me a minute, okay? I promise I’ll let you breathe.”

She nodded and this time he pulled her to him with more decorum. With one hand around her small waist and the other holding her hand out to the side, he forced himself to inhale and exhale normally, to close his eyes against the tide of emotion ripping through him. He lowered his heartbeat the way he had practiced around the poker table, and put on his gambler’s face. This time, he had to bluff against himself—against his very own emotions.

“Did something happen?” Audrey asked.

He studied her face—her tiny, pert nose and her sweet, bow-shaped mouth—and knew he could lie and tell her everything was fine. He could play the gambler around her, again and again, or he could show her his cards. And his hand was terrible.

“I’m fine right now,” he said, bending down so he could speak directly into her ear, above the noise of the dance floor. He inhaled her clean vanilla smell and resisted nibbling on her delicate lobe. But he let his words come out with enough breath to make her shudder.

Her muscled legs were unbearably sexy in her leather skirt, and her thick hair was tumbling around her face like she’d just been walking in the wind. She looked wild, frankly, and he wanted to tame her in his arms. In his bed, if he could.

He was very aware of the fact that his weren’t the only set of eyes at the Wheelhouse trained in her direction. And he’d be damned if he’d let another man put his hands on her in his presence. Certainly not that bartender, Dave Englund.

Audrey studied his face, her warm eyes tracking back and forth across his features. He could feel sweat breaking out across his brow, in spite of his plans to remain calm and cool.

“Kieran, what aren’t you telling me?”

God, the woman could read him. Technically, he’d spent less time with her than he had with that waitress in Wichita, or that tour guide at Yellowstone, who had joked about his “Old Faithful.” And yet, when Audrey looked at him, she seemed to peer all the way into his soul—into the black depths of him that somehow didn’t frighten her, when they certainly should have.

Those black depths had frightened her sister, Casey, that was for sure.

Kieran tightened his grip on Audrey’s waist and pulled her an inch closer, wracking his brain for the best way to answer her.

He lifted his hand from Audrey’s waist to touch her cheek. He ran a single finger down her smooth, sun-kissed skin and formed the words of the truth in his throat, ready to confess everything:

Five years ago my brother and I had pooled some money to get medical treatment for my mom, because she had cancer. We agreed that I should try to increase the little bit we had, since I was a shrewd poker player. I agreed, and, at first, I was doing great. I was winning and I was going to bring enough home to help Mom. Except I kept playing, even when I was up. I couldn’t walk away. And as a result, I lost nearly everything. That’s when your sister found me, and she offered me money to help Mom, as long as I’d stay away from you. That was the deal. And, God help me, I took it. I got clean after that. But we still lost Mom, and in the end I lost you. And I’m sorry, because if I could go back and change how this all went down, and if I could change the way I left you, I would.

Only the words wouldn’t come. They were stuck in a shame-filled part of him that wanted to keep the past hidden forever from the woman in his arms. She deserved better than him, and he should just leave her alone. Even if she hinted at wanting him, seemed interested in rekindling what they had, it could never be.

Suddenly, Audrey froze in his arms. He blinked, bringing himself back to the here and now, only to find Audrey gazing up at him furiously.

“What?” he asked.

She never answered him. Instead, she reached up, grabbed the back of his neck, and brought his lips down on hers.

C
HAPTER
ELEVEN

O
h, God, what was she doing kissing Kieran Callaghan? Heaven help her, she had been undone by his expression, the way he’d stared at her with a mix of sorrow and desire on his face like nothing she’d ever seen before. The raw vulnerability there had been a shocking thing to witness on this biker of a man, and it hinted at the truth kindling in her heart: that there were depths to Kieran Callaghan. And right now, she couldn’t resist inching closer to those possibly unknowable fathoms, daring to wonder at what was going on underneath his enormous exterior.

Kieran deepened the kiss, cutting off her thoughts. All that was left was the feel of his warm lips, of his tongue joining hers, and of his arms gripping her as if they’d never let go.

Kieran released one of her hands to plunge his fingers into her hair. He twisted the tendrils and tilted her head back slightly. Audrey submitted to the motion, allowing him more access to her lips, to her tongue, to her warm breath coming in ecstatic gasps.

She was dimly aware they were making out on the Wheelhouse dance floor like a couple of drunk teenagers and she didn’t even care. The electric feel of Kieran touching her again was all she cared about.

Audrey heard herself saying “yes” out loud. The word surprised her. And yet, this felt so unbelievably right. She wondered briefly how she’d ever managed to walk by him on the showroom floor without doing
this
each and every time.

Kieran broke the kiss to breathe into her ear. “I can’t make out with you like this. Not here. I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to control myself, and I won’t embarrass you in public.” The inches he suddenly placed between them felt like cold miles. Desire rolled through her, a turbulent wave that had her closing the gap. But he held her stiffly in his arms.

His light green eyes were serious as he stared at her. The magic of the moment was slipping away, and Audrey was desperate to hold on to it. She wanted the wood dance floor to be sticky with fairy dust, not spilled drinks. She wanted the overhead lights to flicker because they were stars, not because they were shorted out. And she wanted to be this close to Kieran Callaghan again simply because she could be, not because she needed to be.

“Kieran, come on, let’s just dance—”

Dancing would lead to more kissing. And more kissing would lead to more of everything that could unravel this coil of desire inside of her.

“No.” He grasped her ass and pressed against her, so she could feel the full force of his erection. Instantly, the space between her legs warmed with longing. “Make no mistake,” he growled, “I want you. Saints help me, though, I won’t do anything more tonight. You deserve better.”

His features softened as they stared at one another. He swallowed visibly. “Let me take you to dinner. Let me walk with you in a park. You deserve a date.”

Audrey blinked. What was Kieran saying? Right then, she wanted the opposite of dinner and a park. There was a hot, ready part of her that wanted to tumble into bed and fuck, for crying out loud. She placed her hands on his broad shoulders, in part to steady herself as the memory of Kieran inside her, their naked bodies joined together, came roaring back.

For so long, she never thought she’d be this close to him again. Now that she was, she wasn’t about to force him to
court her
when they both knew that wasn’t Kieran’s MO. He didn’t owe her anything, and she didn’t want his penance.