Page 38 of Hot Irish Halloween

It was, up to that point, the most important night of his life.

13

EXPANDING THE HEART

PENNY

“Penny….my Penny Lane…”

She was running again, out in the darkness and the cold. Brendan’s figure was outlined ahead of her in the freshening dawn, then he abruptly turned to walk briskly toward the West.

Penny couldn’t reach him fast enough. He turned and the last thing she saw before he vanished into smoke was his wistful, rueful grin that was so essentially Brendan.

Unlike the aftermath of most dreams of Brendan, Penny woke up smiling. She couldn’t help it. She was bruised and aching, but it was a good hurt, a good deep-down body ache from being well and thoroughly loved. Staring with satisfaction at the man sprawled next to her on the bed, Penny stretched again and sniffed her arm. For some reason she smelled like she’d been dipped in a vat of rose oil.

Bits and pieces of last night rushed in and out of her memory stream; Simon’s shout to commence the feast, the galleries of wicked delights. Jack’s savage lust trampling all over her lastbarriers and utterly breaking them down. Her own scream of surrender echoing in the woods.

A hazy memory of him saying he loved her teased her mind. Had he really said that? Now she didn’t think so. It was probably something she’d dreamed up, like she’d believed Brendan had been leading her into the forest.

What stood out the most, aside from the way she’d felt giving herself to Jack? It was how he’d taken care of her, how gently he’d soaped and pampered her afterward. The look of adoration in his half-closed eyes as he watched her fall asleep.

Wait…a bath? Her hair! Penny’s hands flew up to feel what state her tresses were in.

“Fuck!”

She got out of bed and rushed to the mirror over the vanity.No. Clearly, he’d wet it and left it uncombed and matted. Just lovely. But her scarf was tied around her hair line and the rest had been gathered in a hair tie. And she was in her tank top and sweats. No panties but okay, forgivable. She had no memory of putting the clothes on herself. He must have done that, too.

There was a slow cracking sound, like the one she’d once heard on the bow of a ship watching glaciers fall to pieces in Alaska. A huge sound, of ice melting and rushing and tumbling into the sea, too overcome by warmth to survive. It was her heart, or maybe the iced enclosure that surrounded it. Overcome by something as simple as a silk scarf and a hair tie in the middle of the night when she was too tired to manage it herself.

That’s when she knew it for sure. Penny loved Jack Valentine.

She was in love.

Dammit.

Penny resigned herself to the fact that she did love Jack, loved himlike that. After a week. She must have lost her damned mind.

She got back in bed after a much-needed visit to the bathroom, where she peed, fluffed out her hair as best she could, and brushed her teeth. Then she got back in bed beside him to enjoy the feeling of beingin lovebefore she could start second-guessing it, which would surely begin any second.

Now it was her turn to take in his gorgeousness. Her eyes ran over his uncombed light-brown hair, not long enough to truly be messy but unruly. For the first time, she saw stubble, and she looked closer with fascination. It was light with a fair helping of silver gilt on the jaw. Penny wondered what it would look like if he let his beard grow in. Probably fucking hotter than July. She wanted to kiss that silver scruff and would gladly suffer a skin burn if he rubbed it all over her.

“Stop staring at me.” Jack’s morning voice was even huskier than his normal low pitch. It sent a fresh downpour of wetness between her legs.

“Don’t tell me what to do,husband.” She was teasing when she said it. Maybe. The word had felt good in her mouth. It felt right calling him that. Scarily right.

“Mm, I like hearing you say that,” he murmured sleepily. He reached over and dragged her on top of him. “Morning.”

Penny leaned down for a kiss, and he obliged, reaching up to slide his fingers in her hair and hold her in place as his lips moved over hers. His tongue prodded her bottom lip, licking it before sliding in deeper for a thorough taste.

“I like waking up next to you,” he said in between increasingly sweeter, hotter kisses. “I like it a lot.”

He slapped her ass, then soothed and squeezed the sting he’d caused. Penny squirmed at the sensation, the way she squirmed again when he gripped her hips and made her slide up and down his hardening cock through his boxer briefs. Then he pushed them off till all he wore was the ink on his beautiful golden body. He pulled off her clothes, too, and she was naked in seconds.

In the full morning light, she was suddenly shy to be exposed, even though he’d obviously seen everything when he’d undressed and bathed her. Jack’s eyes were darkened as he caressed her skin from her face to her breasts and her round hips.

“You’re gorgeous, angel,” he said. His eyes weren’t teasing. They were almost worshipful as they ran over her, then went back to her face. With gentle fingertips, he massaged a spot on her shoulder. It was a small bruise, already purpling. “Sorry if things got rough out there. It’s not something I normally do.”

In turn, her fingers rubbed at the faint indentations on his shoulder. “I’ve never done anything like that either. ‘Mi Vida Loca,’” she said ruefully, tracing the motto on his upper chest. “My crazy life. It was a little crazy, for sure, but I’m not sorry. I liked it. I lo — I loved it.”

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