Page 26 of Irish Fire and Forbidden Love
I cleared my throat, willing away tears that threatened to fall. It was easier than I expected picking up my guitar, almost like it was any other time I used to play on stage, and just like when I used to play on stage, I strummed that old familiar tune I did right before a show. I used to love this moment. This anticipation of what was to come. There’d been a handful of times where I’d held a guitar and played a tune, but it had always been in the quiet solitude. Early morning hours at the pub when everyone else had gone home, and I’d sing, just like I used to, shedding all the layers off my body, pretending my ex had never told me the truth about my singing. Pretending for just a moment that I was actually good enough.
I did that here now, too. I closed my eyes and let my mind drift away, let the two dozen eyes melt into the black, and it was just me and my guitar in the wee hours in an empty pub.
Chapter 10
Rory
Maeve closed her eyes.She played a few chords. They were sloppy at first, but it became smoother, more confident the longer she played. It was a slow and steady rhythm, and then she sang. It was something an angel might sing or someone from the Fae. It was soft yet high, complemented surprisingly well with the minor key.
My own love said to me
“My mother won’t mind
And my father won't slight you
For your lack of kind”
He went away from me
And this he did say
“It will not be long, love
‘Til our wedding day”
She opened her eyes at that and stared deeply into me. I felt the earth move with her words, vibrating around her visage like she was an angel and I was peering into heaven. I’d never beenso happy as I was right then. Never had known such peace as what I felt when she looked at me, when she sang to me.
“Rory!” Frank grabbed my bruised arm. I winced, but I didn’t relent. I’d thought he’d left after I made myself clear the first time, but here he was, pinching my upper arm.
“I’m done talking with you,” I said, shaking him off.
“Like hell you are!” he snapped. Frank’s cheeks went red— a shade darker than I’d ever seen them go. He and I were of equal height and size, but he got me by surprise, grabbing me by the throat and thrusting me on the ground. A black fog crowded around my vision, and I couldn’t tell if my hearing had gone too or the music had really stopped, but then there was silence, apart from Frank’s breath on my face.
Then Frank was off me. Color returned to my vision and I noticed two things happening at once. The first was Frank restrained on the ground by Officer Phillips, hands cuffed behind his back, and the second was Maeve dashing off the stage, and pulling me into a kiss.
Her lips were the sweetest chocolate, the richest steak. She was my everything, giving life back into my spirit, my mind, and I only reluctantly let her pull away.
“You’ve got a cut where his nails must have struck you,” she said, touching the side of my neck. “I have some bandages in my office.” She turned toward Eliza, then said, “Would you mind taking over as MC?”
Eliza nodded and Maeve led me into the office, shutting the door behind her.
“You know, I don’t really feel anything. Maybe it’s not so bad,” I said, turning to a mirror on the back of her door. There was no scratch, and the only marks were from his fingers wrapped around my neck and the deep wounds from the accident. “What?—”
Maeve eased me toward the wall. She leaned in and tickled her lips against mine. I reached for her, but she pulled back, a smile spreading across her face. She ran her fingers along my cheek, my neck, over my shirt and to my pants.
“I’m sorry,” I choked out.
“I know,” she said.
“I never wanted to hurt you.”
Again, she said, “I know.”
With an aching slowness, she unbuttoned my trousers, running her hands along my thighs. She looked back up at me with eyes brown like a treeless forest. Gold like the sun peeking through the branches.
Finally, she pulled my pants down and kissed my inner thighs, lacing her hot breath across my skin, a sensation that almost tickled, but I held myself steady, though rigid, but it just took her mouth on my manhood, even just over the fabric of my boxers to make me melt.
Then in one quick motion, she pulled my underwear down and sucked on me hard, running her lips up and down my shaft, tickling the edges between my thighs, my balls. The pleasure was steadily increasing. My hips heaved toward her and she sucked harder, but right on the precipice of euphoria, right when I was about to lose control, she pulled off me, her eyes twinkling.
