Page 42 of Her Irish Treasures
:They don’t know that you can talk in my head.:
:No,:Warwick answered.:They cannot hear our conversation despite their own spokes in your mind.:
:Why?:I asked again.:How is this possible?:
:You’remo stór. Remember that, no matter what happens. You be treasure for me too, Riann Newkirk.:
Which wasn’t an answer at all.
2
Ireally had to sell a painting soon, because I was going to owe Viviana a fortune after all this was said and done.
I had to use the credit card she’d given me to rent a hotel room for a few nights. I knew she wouldn’t mind in the slightest. I did text her first, though I wasn’t surprised when she didn’t answer right away. After we’d freed Doran, she’d ridden off into the sunset on the back of Hammer’s motorcycle, her glorious red hair blazing like a banner.
She probably would have told me just to take everyone to her house, but that would have been awkward as hell once she came home. She hadn’t said how long she’d be gone, but I imagined at least the weekend. She made a fantastic salary and had always been frugal with her money—though she did have a weakness for designer clothes. I knew she could afford it, but I still felt like shit for using her card again.
Growing up poor had affected both of us, though in different ways. I still wondered if part of why I’d fallen into marriage so quickly had been a desire for financial stability. I’d even given up my painting to work a job that I hated because it was the sensible and financially smart thing to do.
Vivi had made it her life’s goal to become indispensable, wherever she worked. She was certainly indispensable to me. My only friend, my rock that had gotten me through the horrible divorce. A place to live while Jonathan dragged me through court over and over and over. Money for an attorney I couldn’t afford, even at a fraction of the price I’m sure she would have made on anyone else, likely as a favor to Vivi or her boss.
She loved the challenges that came with working for the best defense attorney in Kansas City. Perhaps even the state. I’d certainly hire him if I ever got into legal trouble, though I didn’t currently have two pennies to rub together.
I was running on fumes by the time we got checked in to the local Comfort Inn. At least we’d have free breakfast in the morning. I couldn’t even muster amusement at watching Doran react to modern technology. Sitting on a shelf in a leprechaun’s bar, the gargoyle hadn’t seen many motorcycles, elevators, or cellphones.
I’d managed to get a suite so we had two queen beds and the couch pulled out into a full-sized bed. Hopefully that would be enough surface space for anyone who didn’t want to share a bed.
I zombie-walked my ass into the bathroom to take a shower, while Aidan, Keane, and Ivarr played rock, paper, scissors to decide who got to sleep with me and Doran, because evidently they thought there’d be enough room for another unreasonably large man’s body in addition to the massive gargoyle. A queen-sized bed had never seemed so small.
Standing under steaming hot water, I tried to wrap my brain around everything that had happened. In a matter of days, I’d begun painting again like a mad person, driven mercilessly by Doran to find him and break the curse trapping him as the gargoyle.
Before that, I’d been pretty alone in the world, other than my best friend since childhood. My ex, Jonathan, certainly didn’t count. I didn’t have much family, at least not that I remembered. Most of my childhood was hazy, as if I’d blocked it out for a reason.
I’d never felt like I fit anywhere.
Vivi was my only family.
Now I’d suddenly gainedfivelovers.
Who was this person? Not boring, geeky Riann, that was for sure. I’d rarely ever had boyfriends growing up. At least, I didn’t remember any before my ex-husband. I suppressed a shudder as I turned off the water and toweled dry. I was free of him, and my new men were nothing like him.
But are you sure?A tiny part of my mind whispered.
What did I really know about them? I’d only met Doran in person a few hours ago, though he’d been haunting my dreams. I couldn’t deny the intense pull I’d felt for all four of the treasures from the very beginning. Going so far as to grab Aidan’s junk the first time I met him, simply because he was being an arrogant ass.
So unlike me.
It was unlike me to do any of this. Paint like a maniac again. Go off on adventures. Fuck some men I just met on top of a bar…
My cheeks blazed as I looked at myself in the steamy mirror. I’d asked them to come on me while Doran fucked me. Even the leprechaun. I’d enjoyed being ravished on top of that bar. Of having cum from five men on my skin.
Me. The plump, short, mousy unemployed, broke painter.
Now they waited for me outside the flimsy bathroom door. I didn’t have a change of clothes. No money. No job. No place to live.
Plus there were undercurrents between the four men and Warwick that I didn’t understand. It made me feel uneasy, as if something important was unsaid between the five of them, and I didn’t have a clue what it was. Other than Vivi, Warwick had been the only one to help me. If they decided they needed to try and force me to choose them over the leprechaun…
No. Doran had welcomed him into the fold, so to speak. I wasn’t going to doubt their dedication to me the very first night we were all together.
