Sheer Luck (3 page)

Fuck, yes
.

I tucked a piece of hair behind her ear,
letting my touch linger on her cheek. “Hand me your phone.”

A tiny wrinkle formed between her brows.
“What?”

“Your phone. May I see it?”

She blinked and reached for her purse on the
bar, pulling out her cell and handing it to me. She seemed more
than a little confused and too turned on to realize what she was
doing.

I swiped the screen and sent myself a text.
I wasn’t taking any chances in not getting her contact info. I
tapped into her settings and spoke as my thumbs went to work. “I
get regular health exams, never have sex without a condom, and I’ve
never been arrested. Talk to Aiden. He’ll tell you you’re safe with
me.” Finished, I gave her back the phone and retrieved mine from my
pocket, thumbing a text. “I put my address and phone number in your
contacts.”

Her gaze jerked to her cell as it
pinged.

Her text to me, which I’d sent, said:
Hello, Declan. I want you.

My response:
Hello, a mo rún. You have
me.

Slowly, her cautious gaze slid to mine.
Held. In the span of seconds, we stared at one another, her pulse
beating hard in her neck and my heart thumping against my ribs.
Anticipation coiled in my gut, tightened the base of my spine.

After an appropriate amount of time, I
smiled. “I’m going to head back to my place now. Talk to Aiden.
Come to me afterward. I’ll be waiting for you.”

It was a gamble, walking away from her. But
this time, I had a name and a number. If she decided not to meet me
tonight, I’d keep at her until I changed her mind. This was going
to happen. She wanted me. I wanted her.

Heading to the table, I grabbed my coat,
said goodnight to the guys, and walked back to the bar while
shrugging into my jacket. One hand on the counter, the other on the
back of her stool, I brought my face to hers until we shared the
same air. My lips feathered hers. “I’ll. Be. Waiting.”

I
stood at the wall
of windows in my apartment two hours later, staring off into the
distance at the Eads Bridge and Mississippi River. The night was
clear, stars winking against the inky blackness. Lights from other
buildings flickered. Cars passed. Still, I stood, calm everywhere
but inside me.

It was past midnight and she hadn’t showed.
Disappointment flooded me, made me ache. And I was more than a
little shaken it wasn’t just a physical tug I felt toward her. Her
mind was fascinating, at least what I’d gathered from our short
conversation. I found myself wanting to know more about her. What
she did for a living. If she had any family.

Sighing, I slammed the last of my whiskey
neat and headed toward the kitchen. The drink hadn’t soothed my
tension. I’d given more than ample time for her to come to me.
Though I wasn’t tired, it was best I head to bed. In the morning,
I’d call Aiden and find out what he knew about her. Maybe drop her
a text to remind her I was around.

Desperate, much?

I rinsed my glass in the sink when the ding
from the elevator alerted me someone was on their way up. The only
one with a key was Aiden and he’d still be at the pub. I’d told the
doorman it would be okay to let Lily up, if she showed.

Heart hammering, I jerked my head around.
The lights above my entrance indicated the car would stop in
seconds. Frozen, my gaze riveted to the elevator doors, I
waited.

Ding. Swoosh
.

Aiden stepped into my apartment with...Lily
behind him. My gaze went right past my brother and latched onto her
like a man starving. The familiar punch to the gut at seeing her
nearly knocked me back a step. She offered me a weak smile and
looked around, while I breathed for the first time in what seemed
like minutes.

Aiden squeezed her shoulder. “You all
set?”

She nodded, her smile encouraging. “Thank
you.”

“Anytime. Why don’t you head inside? I need
to talk to Declan before I head out.” Aiden waited until she’d
walked deeper into my apartment before turning to me. “She wanted
me to bring her,” he said in a quiet tone. “I had to wait until
another bartender could fill in before leaving.”

I nodded, respecting her caution. After all,
she barely knew me.

“Listen.” Aiden stepped closer and leaned
against the counter, crossing his arms. “I don’t get involved in
your affairs. If you want to start something with her, that’s fine.
None of my business. But you can’t fall for her. Hear me? You have
to keep her away from the curse. I like her. She’s a nice—“

“I got it.” It wasn’t as if I didn’t know
the consequences of falling in love, hadn’t had it rammed into my
skull from birth. It was exactly why I lived my life the way I did.
No strings, no commitments. Part of me often questioned whether our
family’s bad luck was mostly hysteria, the belief in the supposed
curse so strong it gave it validation. But the facts made that
argument null. History was proof. “You know me. I don’t get
attached.”

Aiden studied me a long minute, his
gray-blue eyes weary. “All right.” He shoved off the counter and
wrapped me in a brief hug, slapping my back as he pulled away.
“Love you.”

“Love you, too.”

After Aiden left, I turned toward the living
room. Across the space of my vast apartment, she stood by the bank
of windows in the same spot I’d vacated a few minutes before. Her
back to me, she faced the view, still in her blue raincoat, purse
clutched in her hands by her chest. I shook my head, wondering why
she looked so right standing there. She’d never been here before.
I’d never had a woman here that wasn’t family. Yet, there was my
mystery woman, looking like she was home.

I cleared my throat. “Would you like
something to drink?” I moved around the open kitchen and into the
living room, keeping distance between us.

She turned her head. “No, thank you. You
have an amazing place. It’s so big. I love the view.”

I glanced around, trying to see it from her
perspective. Because the windows let in a lot of light, I’d been
able to paint the walls a dark green. My leather sectional was
navy, my tables black walnut. The pine hardwood floors ran
throughout the apartment, including the three bedrooms, except in
the kitchen where I had earth-tone granite. My cabinets were white,
the countertop marble. The art on my walls was mainly enlarged
photographs from my visits to Ireland.

“It’s home.” I shrugged.

“Do you rent or own?”

“Own. Since I graduated college. The top
five floors are privately owned. The rest of the building is rental
units.” We O’Learys weren’t rolling in pots of gold, but we were
comfortable. We were good with our money. Our women, not so
much.

“That explains why Aiden needed a key for
the elevator.”

I nodded. “Can I take your coat?”

“Oh.” She breathed a laugh that had me
closing my eyes to savor the sound. “Yes.” She slipped out of the
jacket and passed it to me.

I was tempted to hang it in the hall closet,
but strangely didn’t want to move that far from her, so I set it on
the coffee table. She placed her purse on top and stared at it, her
expression unreadable. I wanted to touch her so badly my hands
flexed.

“I didn’t think you were going to come.”

She smiled, the gesture not quite reaching
her eyes, and met my gaze. “Honestly, I wasn’t sure I would either.
I don’t typically do this kind of thing.”

If that was true, and I had no doubt it was,
then talking out her anxiety might be a good move. “Don’t do what
sort of thing?”

Her eyebrows quirked, her expression pure
duh
. “Go home with strange men. Have one night stands.”

Her straight-forwardness made me realize she
wasn’t anxious or nervous, just out of her element. I gestured to
the sofa and took a seat a foot away to give her time to
adjust.

“I’m not strange,” I said to lighten the
mood, and her grin had me biting back a groan. Christ. I don’t
think I’ve ever desired a woman the way I did her. “What made you
decide to come then?” Not that I was sorry she had, but everything
about her had me curious, wanting to probe into that beautiful head
of hers. Such an enigma.

Taking a deep breath as if to fortify
herself, she lowered her lashes. “About ten months ago, I...decided
to take more chances. Not play things so safe. Live a little.”

“What sparked the change?” She didn’t strike
me as the type to not go after what she wanted or someone who
played it too close to the vest. She wasn’t pushy, but she was
direct. Just how had she thought she wasn’t living?

She opened her mouth as if to speak, but
then pressed her lips into a line and shook her head once. Her
striking blue eyes glanced away, more than a trace of grief in
them.

Okay, so that wasn’t up for discussion.
Disappointment shoved around in my chest, but I couldn’t blame her.
I was shocked at how badly I wanted to know. Veering around the
why, I focused on the how. “What sorts of things do you want to try
with regards to your change? I’m assuming sex has something to do
with it, since you’re here.”

Her head tilted, and I fought a grin. She
could go from aloof to hot to adorable faster than a downshift of
my Mustang. She lifted her hand and dropped it back in her lap.
“Sex has been unsatisfactory.”

Not for long, but I kept mum on that. I
propped my elbow on the back of the couch and rested my head in my
hand. “Have you had a lot of partners?” I should really stop with
the talk and get right to the action. Her backstory and reasons
shouldn’t matter. I should rock her world and send her on her
way.

Her gaze direct, she shrugged. “Enough,
sure. I’m just not very good at being assertive when it comes to
the bedroom. I’ve only slept with men who I’ve been in a
relationship with and they’ve controlled the act.”

I was incredibly turned on she wasn’t afraid
to be honest, that she could look me in the eye and state her
issue. No looking away or shyness. “Sex isn’t about control, unless
you’re in a dom/sub situation, which I’m not into. I prefer my
lovers to give and take.” Though, truly, I’d been with all types. A
lot of my encounters had let me do all the work. I was good with
that, just not all the time. There was nothing sexier than being
fucked by a woman, and I was man enough to admit it.

“I’m not a prude or anything. I just want to
try something besides...missionary.”

Christ. I could show her all kinds of
positions. A dozen ran through my mind right now. “First, I never
said you were a prude.” The fact she was here and having this
conversation proved that. “Second, are you telling me you’ve not
made love other than in missionary?” Because, hell. Ten more
positions popped in my filthy, filthy mind.

Her blue gaze studied me. “Not really, no.
I...”

I gave her a second, but she didn’t finish
the thought. “What happens when you’re with a guy? Do you freeze
up?”

She sighed. “Not at all. I enjoy sex. I
don’t always get off, though.” She paused and looked at me, really
looked, as if trying to phrase her words just right. “I want to
experiment a little. I want to be...”

Ah ha. And there we have it. She wasn’t
apprehensive or shy about sex. She just didn’t know how to ask for
what she wanted. Her experiences had been boring as shit and
unsatisfactory for that reason, coupled with the fact her lovers
had sucked. So, she’d settled for tedium. Until, for whatever
reason, she decided to change that. Go after a better O and came to
me.

My cock stirred from half-mast to
want-her-now. “You want to fuck and be fucked in return.”

Her cheeks went crimson, but her eyes never
left mine. Her lips parted, breaths shallow. “Yes,” she whispered.
When her gaze dipped, exploring my body, I groaned. Heat fanned my
skin as if she’d touched me. She bit her lower lip, gaze halting
over my fly.

That’s right. Look at what you do to me.

“What you’re referring to would take more
than a night. You’re not going to be comfortable using assertion
after a few hours. I’m good, but I’m not that good. There’s only so
many hours in one night.” I’d put them to good use. But come
tomorrow morning, she’d be gone and seeking new ventures with
different potentials. The thought sent a tendril of unease through
me. She was no virgin and gave off every indication she could take
care of herself, but not every guy handled his lovers with respect
like I did. The thought of someone hurting her made my jaw clench.
Hard. And yeah, I didn’t want anyone else touching her. Which was a
problem. “Stay the week with me.”

Fuck. That
was
my voice and those
words
had
just left my mouth. Fuck again.

Her head reared, blue eyes wide. She licked
her lips, and the image of that mouth wrapped around my cock had me
stroking myself through my jeans for relief. And, suddenly, I
didn’t care that she was in my apartment where no other woman had
been. Didn’t care that I’d just offered to keep her here for a
week, which was exactly six days longer than I’d ever promised
another.