What was left of my magic twisted across the floor, writhing shadows brushing against her ankles like the cat in the alley. Her brown eyes widened, searching around her legs. When she looked back at me with her delicately arched eyebrows raised, I spun my finger slowly, working the feeling beneath her skirts to her knees.
Then I stopped.
My father had been a lousy philandering cad, but he had taught me three valuable lessons that I had actually taken onboard before the whole Fiadh incident:
1.Always ask permission.
2.If a woman tells you to stop, you stop.
3.If she tells you to keep going, then for the love of all that is holy, you had better keep going. Don’t change a feckin’ thing. Keep going.
The barmaid bit her plump bottom lip, her teeth white against pink flesh. A blush crept along her neck, blooming on her cheeks. I saluted her with my empty glass.
A moment later, she sauntered around the bar, a full glass of puítin in her hand. Stopping between my knees, she bent low to set the drink down, giving me a grand view of what she hid beneath her dress. “Is there anything else ye want?” she purred.
A slow smile spread across my face. “Depends on what you’re offering.”Candlelight played with the red tones in her hair. Did Keelynn’s hair have any red in it? I blinked away the unwelcome thought, focusing on the heavy rise and fall of this woman’s chest.
The moment she plopped onto my lap, I had my answer.
* * *
“Are ye lost, milady?”
I couldn’t be sure, but I thought the question came from one of the pooka. Not that it mattered. I was busy.
“No. I’m here for . . . I’m here for someone.”
Hold on. I knew that husky voice. I lifted my head from the glorious expanse of Nuala’s breasts to find the owner of the husky voice glaring at me . . . or maybe she was glaring at Nuala.Hard to tell in this light.
“Keelynn!” Damn she was pretty. Had she always been that pretty? Must be the drink. Everyone was prettier with drink. What was she doing here? This wasn’t the right side of the wall. She didn’t belong in a place like this. My hand waved at her. Wasn’t sure why. Feckin’ drunk hands doing things without my permission. We were supposed to swat wasps away, not call them toward us.
“It seems as if ye have a . . . little problem, milord,” Nuala whispered in my ear, grinding her arse against my arousal.
“It’s a little problem, is it?”
“I meant abigproblem. Averybig problem,” she giggled.
A throat cleared behind me.
Nuala’s nails dug into my shoulder. The response vanished off my tongue as I peered up at Keelynn’s gray eyes.
“Have you come to join me for a drink?” I taunted the wasp, knowing full well the person she’d come to meet wasn’t me. She was probably looking for Padraig.
The pooka who had greeted Keelynn waited at the bar, watching us through glowing yellow eyes. Nuala pushed to her feet, giving me a hard glare before going back to work.
What did I do? It wasn’t my fault she had a job.
Speaking of jobs . . . my glass was almost as empty as the other . . .three? That couldn’t be right. I’d only drank two. Hadn’t I?
My assassin sat down and started fiddling with her black skirts. Which made me want to fiddle with her skirts. I had to adjust myself to keep from making my desire too feckin’ obvious. It wasn’t for her anyway. It was for the scowling barmaid.
“I’ve come to offer you a room,” she said with a frown.
My curse stirred—the tug faint, easily severed. “Changed your mind about the laces then?”
Her eyes narrowed. “Don’t be ridiculous. You’renotunlacing my stay.”
The tug grew stronger. Tighter.Ohhhh. The wasp was attracted to me and shehatedit. Which only made me want to tease her more. “You just missed me then? Is that why you sought me out?”