Inked Magic by Jory Strong Read Free Book Online

means of separating her from Cathal.
    I ’ve got to take this,” Etaín said, dread making her stomach roil in anticipation of the nausea that would soon come. There was only one reason her brother called.
    She put the phone to her ear without bothering with a greeting. Parker asked, “Where are you?”
    “Aesirs.”
    The answer derailed him—introducing a pause that if their relationship had been different might have led to a quick question about who she was with or how she came to be there. And then he plowed ahead. “I need your help. I’ll pick you up.”
    “I’d rather take the bike.”
    Another pause, this one followed by a brisk, “Suit yourself. I’m on my way to SF General now. I’ll meet you there.”
    He ended the connection before she’d pulled the phone away from her ear.
    “Trouble?” Cathal asked.
    She shrugged, turning away from the tranquility of the koi in their endless circle of water. She’d need someone later tonight, with a vengeance, but she could hardly ask,
Can I come by for sex sometime before dawn?
She said instead, “Thanks for dinner and the offer to help the shelter. I need to head to an appointment.”
    He leaned in, touching his lips to hers, one hand caressing her side while the other remained a hot brand at the base of her spine. “I want to see you again. I want more time with you.”
    Etaín let the call, and the reality it represented, fade for just a moment, replaced by coiling heat and the desire to press all of her skin against Cathal’s. A dark current ran through him, something beneath his surface, mingling with the lust he didn’t bother to hide. When she touched him, she sensed it, and yet she couldn’t make herself care. “I’d like to see you, too.”
    “Tonight?” His hand moved higher, stopping inches away from her breast and making it ache for his touch. “Come to Saoirse?”
    “Does your earlier warning still apply? Step foot in your club and all bets are off?”
    He kissed his way to her ear. “Wear a short skirt and you won’t make it past the first table before you find yourself sitting on the edge of it with me between your thighs.”
    “Tempting.” But as much as she needed this exchange with him, to use later as a reminder life could be good, guilt would come if she lingered, playing when she should be elsewhere. “I need to go.”
    Cathal stepped away so Etaín was no longer trapped against the decorative railing of the bridge. It was harder than it should have been to allow her to escape.
    “I’ll walk you back to the shop,” he said, and they moved into the main seating area, retracing their earlier steps to the maître d’ stand and entrance. He saw no point in pretending he hadn’t heard her end of the conversation. “Should I be worried whoever you’re going to meet is competition?”
In addition to Eamon?
    “No.” There was a brief hesitation. “That was my brother.”
    He took the hint in her voice and didn’t ask her to elaborate, though he wondered if her brother was a cop, and the appointment to draw the face of a criminal. “What kind of bike?”
    “A Harley.”
    “Take me for a ride someday?”
    She cut him a look, temptress and tease. “Can you really cede that much control to a woman?”
    “For you, yes.”
    The small, very feminine smile said she was pleased by the answer, and whatever images his question had created in her mind.
    As they passed the tattoo shop, Etaín waved at her coworkers on the other side of the glass. The heavily tattooed and pierced man Cathal now knew was Bryce lifted his hand to the side of his face in a “call me” gesture.
    “Maybe you should fix your friend Derrick up with Eamon,” Cathal said, the thought spoken without conscious intention.
    Etaín turned her head to look at him. “Wishful thinking? Or did you pick up on a vibe I didn’t, because Eamon definitely didn’t register as someone who goes both ways to me.”
    Jealousy stabbed through Cathal with the recognition