Page 49 of After Indigo Irish Nights
He kissed the side of her neck, making her eyes close in sheer bliss. “So do I. Let me show you how much.”
He already knew how to inflame her senses slowly, and he took his time, using his hands to urge her slowly to her peak. She crested over it easily, the ride smooth and luxurious. When he didn’t join her, she knew what he had planned next. This time, he gripped her nape and kissed her, sucking her bottom lip until she opened her mouth and let him in. Their tongues dueled, and the pressure of his hands at her waist increased as he rocked against her.
Her system flew into the urgent need to mate, and she shifted to tell him so. He broke the kiss and stared into her eyes before fitting her on his lap so he could slide inside her. They both groaned as he began to move. She bowed back to take more of him, and he held her suspended against him as he thrust and thrust and thrust until they both cried out, holding each other tightly.
She floated on a cozy sea as the scent of oranges enveloped her, and this time, she whispered, “Do you smell the oranges?”
He laid a warm and heavy hand on her side, tucking her closer, as he replied, “Yes, but I’m not ready to tell her she’s all the way in the right yet.”
She didn’t have to ask who he meant. Sorcha never seemed to be far away. With his arms around her, she realized she was close to giving the ghost credit where credit was due. They might very well be the soulmates Sorcha had claimed.
The realization wasn’t as scary as she’d imagined it would be.
CHAPTERTHIRTEEN
Linc had already doubled their money.
Bets was sure her mouth gaped like a Ballina salmon at the grinning man who sat sprawled in one of the chairs around the table at the arts center’s first official board meeting. They’d decided to hold it at the large table in the kitchen.
Linc had asked to kick the meeting off with some good news.
Talk about good news.
“Let me get this straight,” Bets said after checking out the shocked faces of her other board members—Donal, Eoghan, Nicola, and Carrick and Jamie Fitzgerald. “You took the one million euros your daughter donated and turned it into two million euros. In two months!”
He shrugged his big shoulders. “Actually, I only invested five hundred thousand after you and I talked about it briefly, Bets, and you added me to the bank account since I’m the treasurer and financial advisor. Remember? You had some green mask on your face because you were getting ready for a date with Donal.”
He was a mad lunatic, as the Irish said. “I remember you mentioning it in passing when you suggested we open an investment account for the center after Ellie’s donation. Where did you find the time?”
“Some people meditate in the mornings. I spend thirty minutes of mine playing the markets.”
“Jesus, Mary, Joseph,” Eoghan said in a thin voice. A cut near his eye attested that he was in the thick of boxing training with the others. “I can’t imagine such a thing.”
“Me either,” Donal said, shaking his equally bruised head, “but good job. My God, Linc, how much do you plan to make for us by the end of the year?”
“Fifteen hopefully,” Linc said, cracking his knuckles. “Plenty to cover Kathleen’s new design and then some, although we’ll still go after funding. Oh, and plenty of money to cover the art room, lessons, and field trips you were thinking of for the kids, Jamie.”
“I don’t know what to say,” Jamie breathed out. “My students screamed at the top of their lungs when I told them you’d asked me to be on the board so we could find a way to involve them in the arts. This is more than anyone expected, I think.”
“Damn right,” Bets said, blowing out a breath. Well, that took care of the other item on her agenda. Holy hell.
More exclamations ran through the room, the kind that involved a good number of saints and sinners, catch phrases only the Irish could deliver with aplomb.
Bets gripped her knees, trying to stop her mind from spinning like a Tilt-A-Whirl. “When you talked about investing part of Ellie’s donation, I didn’t realize we were talking about these kinds of numbers. It’s a lot of money to manage.” Her belly quivered. Had she gotten in over her head?
“That’s why you’ve got me working for you on the endowment, Bets,” Linc kicked back. “We’re going to need big money to pursue loans or grants to build things like a museum or pay for other big installations at the center. Everyone okay with that?”
Eoghan raised his bony hand. “I’m fine with it and more. Only I’d like to propose we hire Linc to teach investing at our beautiful center so we can all become as rich as he is. Surely it’s an art.”
“You can also come teach at my school anytime, Linc,” Jamie said, his eyes wide. “Maybe if they start learning as early as they are, they can become as successful as you.”
“And I thought his lassoing classes were groundbreaking,” Carrick said, rubbing his forehead.
She’d heard about the lassoing classes around town. They’d been so successful catching the sheep, the hardware store had sold out of rope. “Go figure,” Bets added.
Linc’s boisterous laugh rumbled out. “Markets and lassoing are pretty similar, actually. I wouldn’t go so far to say either is an art form, but there is acertainart to making money and reeling it in. I’m happy to help y’all, of course. Only I wouldn’t have a clue how to teach.”
Lord help her. If they offered that class, they would have people from around the world signing up. And they still didn’t have a place for them to stay. “We’re getting off track,” Bets said, staring at the agenda she’d prepared.
