Where the Streets have no Name (9 page)

Finished with their meals, Daniel helped Amelia
back to the car before seeing to the rubbish. He was stiff from being stuck in her tiny rental and suffering the after-effects of overindulging in the whisky. What he wanted most he couldn’t ask for and what he needed, he wouldn’t get. He had no right to ask Amelia for a long soak in a bath and he didn’t dare consider asking her to give in to the attraction between them.

The inn they stopped at for the night had two rooms. Amelia handed over her credit card to pay for them. She spent money like it was water dripping through her fingers and knew she had copious amounts in reserve. Driving he
r around the island didn’t feel good enough for the generosity and kindness she showed him since their meeting.

Daniel cringed at the memory. He acted an utter arse to her
when she showed him naught but kindness. Well no matter. From here on in he’d treat her exactly how she deserved.

A
crabby, middle aged brunette took their luggage up the narrow flight of stairs. Daniel helped Amelia up, taking care not to rush her. The feel of her body pressing against his burned through clothing and his soul clawed at the surface, desperate to consume her.

“There we are, right ‘cross the hall from one another, should you be needin’ any help. Calls between rooms are free, as are local calls, but if you’re wantin’ to ring home, lass, we’ll have to charge you for it
.” The woman scowled.

“Don’t worry,” Amelia said with a gracious
and genuine smile. “I have a cell phone I use for that. And of course I’d pay for any calls I made on your line.” Her smile widened, crinkling the corners of her eyes.

Damn but
she was sweet to even the most hateful old goats.

“Well. Supper in the pub. Startin’ at six. Gives you ‘bout an hour. Last orders taken at eight thirty and no
later.” She turned on her heels and stomped back down the steps.

Amelia shoved a hand to her mouth, stifling her laughter. “Poppa would have said she’s got bees in her knickers,” she said through fits of giggling.

Daniel’s eyes shot wide. “Is that so? Not in her bonnet?”

“Nope.” Amelia looked up, meeting his gaze. “Bees in someone’s underwear would definitely make them grumpier than bees in their hat. A hat you can take off in public!”

Deep, growling laughter bubbled from his gut. “Right. You’re right there. Now, let’s get you settled before we have to get down and have our supper. I’d prefer not to be down there late. She might disintegrate me with her evil glare.” He gave a shudder. “The woman terrifies me.”

“Me too!” Amelia laughed harder and turned the key in her door.

Daniel left her in her room, resting on the bed, suitcase up on the rack and open so she could easily find clothing to change if she needed or wanted it. In his room, he jumped in the shower. A cold one. Frigid water did nothing to the need clawing at him.

Jaysus, he wasn’t
like
a bloody teenaged lad…he was worse. All the testosterone of a man with the horny desires of a lad.

Get
your goddamned head together, Daniel.

Too bad telling himself that didn’t work.

A few minutes prior to six, Daniel helped Amelia down the stairs. By the time they got into the pub, the hour of six had come. They dined in relative silence; those around them spoke amongst themselves, and a telly showing a footy game were the only other sounds.

Tonight felt so different to the previous nights he spent in her company.
Daniel opened his mouth close to fifty times to ask what she had on her mind only to remember he had no right asking. He wanted to know, but being nosy didn’t give him the right. She was stuck with him until her knee healed up.

Whatever else he saw, he imagined, no doubt. No chance a beauty like Amelia had thoughts about him like his thoughts about her. None. She was stuck with him. He put her in this position.

“So do you think tomorrow we’ll hit Dublin?”

Daniel nodded. He’d tried to take his time driving through to the capitol, fearing he’d be recognised. But unless he drove inland and around it, which would take them far from the coast, he couldn’t get away from the big city.

“Since I’m here and I don’t know when I’ll be in Dublin again, I thought tomorrow we could do something touristy? I mean, if you don’t mind.”

“I don’t mind at
all,” he lied. The last place he wanted to go and spend the day, of all places in the world, was Dublin, or any medium-sized city.

“Cool.
” She pushed the last bite of steak past her lips and sighed.

How did a lass eat so much meat and potatoes, and maintain a physique like Amelia’s? She must spend loads of time in the gym, he mused.

“I think I’m done for the night.” Amelia motioned to the man behind the bar and handed him more than enough to cover their meal and drinks, including a sizeable tip. “If I eat anything else, I might explode.”

“Aye then.” Daniel stood, moving around the table to help her up. “Let’s get you to bed then, shall we?”

“Thanks.”

He did himself proud getting her up to her room, cleaning her knee, and getting into his room across the hall without letting his gaze linger too long
on the tempting curve of her neck or the swell of her breasts, or the way her thighs rested lazily on her bed. She had the kind of body that made a man go mad with wanting, and enough smarts to scare him away.

If only there was a way to tell his heart not to get so attached…

Sweltering heat one minute. Frigid chills the next. Invisible lumps in his pillow. Daniel could not, for the life of him, find a comfortable position to sleep.

He missed Amelia.

Since the first time she kissed him, Daniel recalled that memory a thousand times an hour. Soft, warm lips, so open and inviting. The hesitant slide of her tongue on the seam of his shocked lips, breaking through years of pent up need made for a moment like nothing he dreamed. Damn, but she made him want everything he wasn’t worthy of.

He missed her though and if it took begging her to let him sleep at the foot of her bed like a dog just to be in the same room as her,
then so be it.

Sucking up his pride, Daniel opened his door as quiet as he could, then made his way across the hall. He stood at her door for an eternity, hand raised, fisted, making a list of pros and cons in his head, wondering if he should knock or not.

The door swung open.

Amelia stood there, hair wild, pajamas rumpled. Her eyes shot wide, seeing him on the other side of the door.

“Erm,” Daniel whispered.

What
should he say?

“I can’t sleep,” she offered.

He sighed his relief. “Me either.”

“Can we go to your room and watch TV then? I might
be able to get some rest with the company.”

He swallowed.

Then nodded.

“Aye, yeah, if…if that’s what you’re wanting.”

“It is.” Her gaze didn’t falter.

Hours passed in a second. “Right then.” He stepped aside,
holding out an arm to help her.

Amelia smiled and
took his hand, pulling him across the hall with her. For a little sprite of a thing she had one hell of a presence.

Daniel sat on the same side of the bed he slept in during the previous nights. Amelia climbed in next to him, pulling the duvet around her waist. Tonight she wore a cotton
short-sleeved top, the stretchy fabric hugging her breasts like a second skin. Temperatures in the small space soared.

Her scent assaulted him
; fresh flowers mixed with subtle hints of the beach. She smelled like freedom and sweetness and everything he didn’t deserve. He couldn’t get over the sultry dark-haired lass and her insecurities. She looked like a model for those expensive underthings and she didn’t see it herself.

Oh lord, that was the worst
image he ever put in his own head; Amelia in a sexy set of panties and a bra, with her ample cleavage spilling over the tops of the cups. She’d have miles of that creamy pale skin, so soft beneath his fingertips.

“Daniel?”

He jolted, dragging the duvet over his lap. “Hmm?”

“What do you dream of? I mean, what do you want for your future?”

You
.

He kept his mouth shut.

“I wish I had a direction,” Amelia continued. “A purpose, you know? I’ve done more than most people can dream of achieving before my twentieth birthday, but what does it mean? What does it matter?”

Daniel hadn’t a blasted clue what the lass was on about. His head filled with thoughts of Amelia wearing tiny scraps of silk and other exotic fabrics.
Imagining the sway of her breasts beneath the cups of some lacy bra, wondering what the exact shade of pink her nipples would be…

“Are you okay?”

A wave of frantic need crashed over him. Daniel took Amelia’s arms and dragged her to his chest, claiming her mouth with a single-minded purpose. She straddled his lap, adding sweet, delicious pressure there.

Soft tips of her fingers trace invisible patterns over his jaw, dipping below the edge of his
collar, curling over his spine. She made him wild. She made him weak with wanting. She made him whole.

The kiss burned.
Made him dizzy with wanting her.

Stiff and unyielding, his erection throbbed under her heat.
Unable to stop himself, Daniel thrust against her. Jaysus, but he could come like this.

“Daniel,” she said, her voice shaky.

“Aye love?” He kissed a path down her throat.

“I…I’ve never…” Amelia tensed when his hands stopped at the undersides of her breasts.

She couldn’t be. Impossible.

Daniel pulled back, searching her Irish Sea blue eyes.
He saw unease and innocence shining back at him. A myriad of uncertainty and lust combined. Jaysus, but she was.

“I’m sorry, lass,” he began.

“It’s fine. I mean, I don’t have…the gynecologist broke…I mean…”

Daniel knew enough about female anatomy to get the gist of what she meant. She had an examination and the doctor broke the proof of her virginity. “It’s al
l right, lass, I–”

“I don’t want to talk right now. Talk will ruin it.”

“But–”

She silenced him with
a kiss. Daniel was stronger than Amelia in the physical sense, but when she kissed him, she activated a hidden Achilles heel.

A few minutes after she left his lips, he felt her hands tugging
at the waistband of his shorts. “Ah, love, what…”

“Shh,” she whispered.

Amelia continued removing his shorts, freeing the stiff, aching erection.

“You don’t
have to do–” Her hands closed around him, squeezing, and Daniel sucked in a breath. His blood flew south at an alarming rate. His balls tightened. Thighs burned. “Sweet feckin’ Jaysus,” he gasped.

“Too hard?” Twin
pools of swirling cobalt stared at him, eager to please.

“Not hard enough,” he ground out.

She gave the tip a squeeze.

Daniel just about shot his load.

“Can I…” Amelia pulled on her lower lip with her teeth. “I mean, would you let me…do you want me to…” Her tongue made a slow swipe over the plump pink bottom lip.

“Holy shite!
” Daniel blinked a few times.

Was he drunk?