Sheer Luck (14 page)

About an hour into my tedium, where my mind
kept playing that kiss over and over, she stepped in front of me.
She wore a navy blue dress suit with flats that made her tiny feet
look smaller. I did a double-take because I’d rarely seen her in
anything but casual wear.

“Hey,” I said, climbing to my feet. “Brought
your...stuff.” My gaze dropped to her wrist, where the bracelet I
gave her was still clasped. Satisfaction collided with guilt.
Memory of her taste, of how soft she’d felt against me when I’d
kissed her, shoved to the front of my mind. Again.

I’ve been wanting you to do that for a long,
long time.

“Thank you.” She smiled, but it didn’t reach
her eyes. After unlocking the door, she stepped inside her
apartment, gesturing for me to follow.

I dragged her stuff past the threshold and
kicked the door shut.

She set her purse on the couch while I
glanced around. I’d been to her place a couple times, but it had
been awhile. She still didn’t have much. A thirty-inch flat screen
TV was on a stand in the corner, an old battered couch facing it.
She had plants and scarred tables and little else. Pictures of her
grandparents, and me and Liam, were on one wall.

“Would you like something to drink?”

I rubbed my neck. “No, thank you.”

She nodded, her gaze assessing.

“How did the interview go? You look nice, by
the way.”

Pink tinged her cheeks at the compliment and
she looked at her feet. “Thank you. It went well, I think. It was
for the hospital position. If I get the job, it would be Monday
through Thursday, so I could still watch Liam on Friday and
Saturday nights.”

A hard jerk of relief filled my chest.
“That’s great. It would be a smoother transition for you, too.”

She swallowed hard, gaze trained on my
chest. “Are we going to talk about last night?”

Pulling air into my lungs, I shifted my gaze
away. Ran a hand through my hair. “I think we need to, yes.”

Walking into the small kitchenette, she
pulled out a chair from the table and sat. “Take a seat, Aiden. You
look ready to drop.”

Because she was right, I did as she asked,
then sat there with no words to offer. Saying
I’m sorry
an
infinite amount of times didn’t seem adequate. I scrubbed my hands
over my face.

“I was really out of practice.” She cleared
her throat. Quietly.

My gaze whipped to her face, but she had her
head down, her finger tracing a pattern on the table. Did she think
I hadn’t enjoyed it? “Me, too.”

I could’ve taken my share of lovers had I
wanted to after Amy died. At the pub alone, I’d had offers. But I
wasn’t like Declan. I was more old fashioned and couldn’t keep the
physical act of sex separate from an emotional attachment. My guilt
was an entity of its own. The thought of risking another woman
being affected by the curse and adding that to my conscience had
kept me celibate all these years. I’d even had myself convinced I
didn’t miss it.

Until last night.

She drew in a deliberate breath and looked
at me. It seemed to take her a lot of effort just to manage it. She
was shy, reserved by nature, but she wasn’t timid or meek. Nine
times out of ten, she triggered my protective recessive gene into
hyperactive. “What bothers you so much about the kiss? Is it
because it was...me?”

“Yes,” I said honestly.

Hurt filled her blue depths and she quickly
glanced away, blinking rapidly.

“Because I care about you so damn much.”

Her eyes rounded. A wrinkle formed between
her brows as if she didn’t understand.

“I can’t risk losing you. Liam adores you.
So do I. It’s...” When I’d told her about the O’Leary curse years
ago, she’d had the skepticism I’d expected from someone outside the
family. But then I’d given her examples, facts, and she’d believed,
too. “Amy’s death is on me. I knew my family’s history and ignored
it. I won’t do that with you.” Not with anyone, ever again.

“But, Declan broke the curse.” She bit her
lip, confusion furrowing her brow.

“For himself. I have no way of knowing if he
changed the family’s luck or just his own.”

Her bow-shaped mouth opened and closed
several times before she swallowed and looked away. I had the
impression she thought I was giving her an excuse, not a reason,
which had my gut revolting the three cups of coffee I drank
earlier. She’d been right there with me last night, had felt my
reaction to her. The last thing I wanted to do was hurt her
feelings, make her believe I was rejecting her.

I rose and cupped her cheeks, looking down
at her. “You deserve way more than I could ever give you. Your big
heart and lovely smile belong with someone who won’t hurt you.” I
sighed. “Liam’s gone for the next few days. We should take this
time apart to get back on track.”

Though my stomach clenched, I pressed a kiss
to her forehead and made myself put one foot in front of the other,
right out her door, telling myself I had to erect some distance
between us.

I spent the rest of the day on autopilot,
going through the motions in a numb state. I’d screwed up countless
drink orders and caught the curious eye of my manager, but I
muddled through for a few hours. Leaving him to close the pub, I
headed home a couple hours before midnight, relishing the silence.
The dreaded St. Patrick’s Day holiday was good for business, but it
sheared my nerves right at the root. Irish Eyes had been in the
black for years. I had steady clientele and it was close enough to
the business district and college that it brought in a steady
stream of new patrons, too. Maybe next year I’d just take the
middle of March off and avoid the clusterfuck. My staff was rock
solid, as well, so it might work.

Turning onto my quiet, dark street, I
attempted to look forward to something. Anything. But Liam was off
with Dad and that meant no Sierra. Maybe I could finally get caught
up on TV. Or something.

I tapped the brakes at the end of my
driveway and stared at Sierra’s Ford Focus parked off to the side
of the garage. A quick glance at the living room window indicated
she was inside. I’d left the lamps off. They were on now. Had Liam
gotten home early? After only a day? I checked my cell, but had no
missed calls.

As I eased into the garage, my heart did
some kind of happy, nervous twist behind my ribs while my stomach
bottomed out in fear something was wrong. Wasting no time, I got
out and walked into the house.

Sierra was leaning on the arm of the couch,
facing the door, ankles crossed and head down. Her light blonde
hair curtained her face as she wrung her fingers. Gone was her
dress suit, replaced with a pair of skinny jeans and long black tee
that washed out her complexion.

My heart stuttered. “What’s wrong?”

She shook her head. “Nothing.” Her gaze blew
past me and over my shoulder.

“Liam?”

“Is fine. He called after dinner. They
haven’t caught any fish yet.” She met my eyes and, for the first
time in almost a decade, I wasn’t able to read her. Normally so
expressive, her face was blank. “He said he talked to you earlier.
They’ll call in the morning.”

Letting out the breath I’d been holding, I
tossed my keys on the entry table and shoved my hands in my
pockets. I distinctly told her to take a few days away from me, and
here she was, screwing with my equilibrium. Not that I minded.

Her throat worked a swallow. “He was
abusive, my husband.”

My muscles tensed. We’d talked a lot about
our pasts throughout the years, but her husband and Amy were kinda
shoved into the proverbial closet. We’d very rarely brought them up
as topic.

She bit her lip and looked at the floor. “We
met senior year of high school. Neither of us came from money, and
my grandparents were getting up in age. From a small Nebraska
town’s perspective, Jeremy was a good catch. He worked hard and was
really polite. When he wanted to follow his cousin to St. Louis for
a job opportunity, my grandparents jumped at the chance to marry me
off, have someone else take care of me.”

Her dry laugh skated out as a breath. “By
the time we moved here, I’d learned how to hide the bruises. He
wouldn’t let me enroll in school or get a job. He’d broken me
slowly, wearing down my confidence little by little and isolating
me so that, a few years later, when he’d wrapped his car around a
tree, I’d completely forgotten how to talk to people.” She shook
her head. “The cops showed up at the door to our trailer and I was
nearly catatonic.”

Christ. I stepped closer. “Sierra.”

“I was weak. It was my own fault.”

My fists clenched at my sides. “It
absolutely was not your fault. You were just a teenager.” Barely a
kid, really.

“No, it was my fault. I could have left at
any time, but...” She shrugged. “I was a quiet girl and never knew
where I fit. My mother died when I was six and my grandparents
raised me. They were nice people, if not unaffectionate, so I guess
by the time Jeremy came around, I latched onto any kind of
attention.”

I growled as my first image of her when we’d
met popped into my head. The bruises. The deflated posture. I
thought she’d been in the car with him, thought it had been grief
wrecking her. Turned out, some jackass had done that for two years
before I’d ever laid eyes on her.

“What are you thinking? Your
expression...”

I unhinged my jaw. “I’m thinking the
dickhead should be lucky he’s dead, else I’d beat him until he
prayed for death.”

She gasped. “You’re not a violent
person.”

I’d had quite the temper in my youth, but
she was right. Ever since Liam was born, any anger had been
directed at myself. Life had a way of doing that, of stripping the
will right out of a person. I went to step closer, but she flinched
and I drew up short.

“God, I’m sorry.” She buried her face in her
hands. “Old habit.” Sucking in a breath, she straightened while I
grappled with what to do. “That’s why I’m here. Something you said
earlier got to me.”

I studied her face, taking in her angelic
features and shoving the last of my fury down, only opening my
mouth when I could speak without clenching my jaw. “What could that
bastard and I have in common?”

“Not a thing, and that’s my point.” She drew
a deep breath as if gearing up for momentum. “You made me a part of
your family, which is something no one’s ever done, including my
own. You trusted me with the most important person in your life,
Liam, and not once have you told me I couldn’t do what I dreamed or
made me feel stupid for not understanding something.”

I was wrong. Rage made a comeback. I might
drive to the cemetery, dig up that fucker’s grave, and beat his
rotting corpse just for the hell of it. As if bruising her wasn’t
bad enough—because, hell, look at her—he had to make her feel like
she was inferior and stupid, too?

She bit her lip, gaze level on mine, as dots
swam in my peripheral. “Back at my apartment, you said I deserved
more than you could give, but you’ve given me everything. You said
I should be with someone who won’t hurt me, and you’re the only
person who has never done that. For years, I did nothing about my
feelings for you. I didn’t think I was good enough for...”

Hell.
Hell no
. Tell me she didn’t
goddamn think she wasn’t good enough for me. That would make me
twice as bad as him for inadvertently putting that notion in her
beautiful head.

Her eyes shimmered. “You have no idea how
much stored up courage I used to kiss you last night. I’ve
been...holding out for you.”

Fuck. She went right for the jugular.
“Sierra,” I choked.

She pushed the hair away from her face with
both hands. “The curse is broken. I’m sure of it. We can be
together. Unless you’re not attracted to me or I read you
wrong?”

“Not attracted...” She wasn’t right in the
head. I ground my jaw and closed the distance, cupping her cheek.
“I want this, too. I have for quite some time. But the risks
are—“

“Life is a risk, Aiden. Full of them. I’d
rather have a short amount of time with you and try than regret not
going for it. You taught me to go after what I wanted. I want
you.”

I stilled, staring deep in her eyes and
sinking with every millisecond that passed. Fear and habit had me
rejecting the notion the curse was gone. But Declan got his love
and was keeping her. Hell, he and Lily conceived a daughter, the
first girl in a hundred years for our family, so maybe Sierra was
right. Perhaps I needed to start wrapping my head around facts, not
fears.

And look at her, this beautiful creature.
She’d been beaten and broken, but here she stood with the courage
to take a chance on an idiot like me. It took guts for her to make
a move, I knew that, and it killed me to think I might be one more
person in a long line to hurt her. Her wide open gaze held mine and
the last of my defenses crumbled.

Letting my actions speak for themselves, I
kissed her. Slow, tender, I took her mouth and tried to shove the
what-ifs aside. She, at the very least, deserved that much.
Breathing in her sweet scent, I tilted my head and went deeper as
fire licked my skin. My heart thundered behind my ribs and blood
roared through my veins.

Stepping closer, I moved between her thighs
and brought my body flush with hers. Her fingers feathered the back
of my neck and a groan rumbled my chest. She showed no hesitation
as her hot, deft tongue melted against mine.

I eased away just enough to look in her
eyes. “You sure,
aingeal
?”

She nodded, biting her lip.

I groaned again and pressed a swift kiss to
the spot. Glancing over her shoulder, I calculated the distance to
my bedroom and if my legs would hold me upright. It had been so
long since I’d made love to a woman—

“Shit. I...” Dropping my forehead to hers, I
sighed. “I don’t have protection.” Never thought I’d need it again,
to be honest.