Page 17 of The Irish Rogue

“And this is a problem because?”

“Because,” she stood up and flipped her still-wet hair out of her eyes, “everyone will know that I spent the night over here!”

He shrugged, but walked over to an open suitcase, pulling out a pair of jeans. He didn’t bother with boxers and, for some reason, the man going commando made her mouth water with that seemingly ever-present desire.

He spun around, his midnight blue eyes hard and angry now. “Are you ashamed of what we did last night?”

She bit her lip, not sure how to answer him. “Well…yes,” she replied honestly.

He jerked backwards as if she’d slapped him and Kennedi immediately wanted to take back her answer. “But Sean, it’s not what you think.”

His lips tightened and he pulled on a shirt. “I’m sure that you have a valid reason for being ashamed of our night together,” he snapped. “Unfortunately, I don’t have time to hear it.” He nodded to her, a jerky movement that warned her that he was livid. “Drive safely, Kennedi.”

Then he stomped out of the room.

Kennedi watched his stiff-backed departure and wanted to call out to him, to explain. But the need to get home, to quell the gossips’ tongues that were sure to be wagging by now, was higher on her list of priorities.

“I have to go,” she muttered, more to herself than Sean since he wasn’t even in the room anymore. She grabbed her phone, which had somehow ended up under the bed, stuffed it into her back pocket, then rushed through the house.

She barely paused when she spotted Sean standing by one of the windows. “I’m sorry!” she whispered, not sure if he heard her. But then she pulled open the door and rushed outside.

It took her only a few minutes to pick her way over the fallen logs, bushes, and stray leaves that littered the area between Sean’s house and Clara’s parents’ place. Thankfully, Clara was still there, so Kennedi wasn’t locked outside with her purse, and her car keys, inside.

“Well, well, well!” Clara teased as soon as Kennedi burst through the door. “We were all wondering where you’d disappeared to last night.” Her hazel eyes flitted to the house next door. “I suppose you had a better night than we did.”

“Please, Clara, don’t tell anyone that I was–”

She stopped when Clara lifted her hand in the air. “Too late, my friend. Everyone noticed this morning, and commented, on the fact that your car was still in the driveway, your purse on the countertop, and you were nowhere to be found.” She grinned, toasting her friend with the half-filled bottle of beer. “We all cheered you on, but I don’t suppose that you heard us.”

Kennedi groaned, tucking her hair behind her ears, then grabbed her purse, digging for her car keys. “Any hope that they won’t spread the news around town?”

Clara stood up and walked over to Kennedi. “I don’t think so, but just because you have a sex life, doesn’t mean that everyone will assume that you’re just like your mother.”

“Doesn’t mean they won’t,” she sighed, pushing her palm against her forehead. “This is awful!”

“Not so awful, my friend. Did you have fun?”

Kennedi thought about last night. No, he hadn’t touched her last night. It had been earlier this morning that they’d…over and over again!

“He’s a very nice man,” she told her friend.

“Nice?” Clara snorted. “That’s all? He’s just…nice?” She glanced over her shoulder and laughed. “I would have pegged him as being more than just nice.”

“Stop!” Kennedi grumbled. “I have to go.”

“Fine, but I want details when we meet for dinner next time.”

Kennedi didn’t respond as she rushed out the door. With one hand on the handle of her sensible hatchback, she glanced over at Sean’s house. She should go next door and explain. She’d rushed out of the house without any sort of explanation, and she knew Sean was upset.

But just as she walked by, two guys in a pickup truck drove past. As soon as they saw her, one of them pulled himself out of the window, leering at her. “Can I be next?”

Shame washed over her and she dove into her car, not bothering to respond.

Sean watched as Kennedi sped away, gravel spitting up behind her car in her effort to get away from him.

Cursing, he turned his back to her. Why the hell had he fallen for a woman who treated him like a leper? It was his father and half-brother all over again. Throughout his life, he’d vowed never to let anyone treat him like dirt, and yet, a pair of pretty blue eyes and a great body had reduced that vow to shreds with just a smile and a flick of her lovely hair.

Turning away from the window, he walked up the stairs while dialing his pilot. “I’m ready to leave,” he announced. “I’ll be at the airport in twenty minutes.”

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