Page 49 of The Seer

“It wasn’t a feckin’ boy band!” Fintan growled behind her. “And ya bleedin’ well know it, ya do!”

She grinned at her gobsmacked friends. “It totally was!”

“For feck’s sake!”

One second she was laughing, and the next, she was balanced over his shoulder, face to face with his perfectly muscled ass. Squealing in surprise, she clutched his hips for support.

“Fintan Sullivan, you put me down this instant!” she demanded.

“No. I’ve things to say, and you’re goin’ to listen, woman.”

“I’ve always listened. Manhandling me won’t endear you to me, by the way.”

He continued until they were in the ceremony room. Once there, he set her on her feet, held up a finger to indicate she should wait, and went back to slam the bookcase door closed. When he returned, he wove his fingers into her hair and drew her close. For the longest moment, he studied her mouth before meeting her wary gaze.

Inside, she was wild with anticipation. Outside, she tried to maintain a calm.

“You’re a feckin’ liar,” he murmured against her lips.

“Oh?”

“Aye. Manhandling turns you on and endears me to ya.” He captured her mouth in a bone-melting kiss. When he drew back, he was grinning. “There are stars in your eyes, Taryn-Taryn.”

“I’ll be the judge of that whole endearing thing,” she growled, dragging his head down to hers. “Now, shut up and get to snogging.”

Fintan laughed instead.Wrapping his arms around her waist, he lifted her against him and met her death stare. Earlier, when she was conversing with Creed, she’d forgotten to block him, giving full access to her thoughts and emotions. He’d felt her longing to be with him, and he was damned tired of the dance.

“We need to get this mess between us sorted,” he said.

“Why are we here, in the dungeon?”

He found himself laughing a second time and realized, despite the direness of the Bloodstone situation, whenever he was with her, he felt freer than he had in years.

“This room quiets the voices in my head,” he confessed. “There are two places I can go to escape the ancestors. Here, and the sitting room attached to my bedroom.”

“Really? You get a break from them?”

“Aye.”

She was stroking a finger along his brow in an absent-minded way. “Good. So the next time they hijack your mind, I’ll remember to drag you in here.”

“Sure, and a response like yours makes me believe you’ll be stickin’ around.”

“I’d like to, but I don’t want a repeat of the last time.”

When he would’ve set her down, she wrapped her legs around his hips. Eye-level, she captured his face between her palms.

“Don’t start something if you don’t intend to finish it, Fintan. If you don’t want a lifetime together, tell me. Because I can handle the truth, and I’m up for a few weeks of love making if that’s all you intend. But what I can’t and won’t tolerate are false promises.”

“I’d keep ya forever, and that’s the Goddess’s honest truth,aoibhneas mo croí.But know I’ll be fighting my ancestors every step of the way.”

“So what makes this time different from the last? How will you defeat them?”

“Bloodstone’s necklace.”

“But you gave it to Odessa.”

He nodded. “Aye. And I’ve a mind to get it back.”

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