Irish Sex Fairy

Chapter Fifteen

Another Tuesday-night bridge game was an excuse for Shane to come over and keep Keara company, and as usual they ended up in bed, hot, sweaty and sated.

Keara drifted on a floating cloud of near-sleep when she heard the noise from below. She blinked. Maeve home already? She lifted her head to peer at the alarm clock beside the bed. It was nearly ten. Maeve usually got home around eleven.

“Did you hear that?” she murmured to Shane. His arms tightened around her.

“Hmmmm? Hear what?” His drowsy voice was so sexy.

Then a crash had her sitting straight up in bed, head whipping around. “What was that?”

Shane too sat up, rubbing his eyes. “Maeve?”

“I don’t think so. I didn’t hear the alarm beep. What could it be?”

“I’ll go look.”

He climbed out of bed and headed toward the door.

“Put some clothes on!” she hissed at him, but he ignored her and with three long-legged strides he was out of the bedroom and gone. Heart pounding, she slid out of bed too, and grabbed her robe. She wrapped the silky garment around her, holding it closed with her arms as she tiptoed out of the bedroom after him. She waited at the top of the stairs as he thudded down them, his naked body a shadow in the darkness.

When he neared the bottom of the stairs another shadow appeared. Keara’s eyes flew wide and she gasped. Who was that? What the…

The other shadow was darker, fully clothed, even a dark shroud over his head, and with a muttered curse and grunt, Shane lunged at it.

“Shane!” She put her hands to her mouth. Should she run down there and help him? What could she do? Well, she had to do something, and she started down the stairs, her robe sliding open and billowing behind her, but she didn’t care.

As she trotted down the stairs the other person had already gotten to the back door. Shane leaped for him, but he had the door open and yanked from Shane’s reaching grasp on his shirt. Keara felt the cool draft as she continued her sprint down the stairs and she arrived just as Shane took off through the door after the guy.

“Shane!” She stood in the open door, trembling hands over her mouth, heart banging against her ribs, watching the dark shadow race down the lane. Dear God. Shane was running outside naked, never mind unarmed, chasing a burglar or whatever the guy was. He was crazy.

Shane stopped near his car parked behind the building. As if he suddenly realized he wasn’t exactly dressed to be chasing criminals, he turned and came back.

“Shit,” he growled. “Gotta phone for backup.”

Backup? What the hell did he think he was going to do? But he was leaping up the stairs two at a time, and when she caught up to him in the bedroom he was stumbling into his jeans while he barked orders into the cell phone.

He snapped the phone shut and tossed it on the bed, shoved both hands into his hair. “Shit, shit, shit.”

“What was that? Who was that? Oh, Shane.” Trembling, she went over to him. His body was tight and vibrating.

“Gotta go,” he muttered. “See if I can find that asshole.”

“Oh no.” She watched him leave, biting her bottom lip. He wore only his jeans and shoes now, still bare-chested, and he thundered down the stairs and out the door.

Again Keara followed him, her mind a whirlwind of thoughts. She stood in the open door again, still wearing only her silk robe, then realized she should close and lock the door in case the guy came back.

So she did that, stood there trembling, peering out the small window watching for Shane. How had the guy gotten in? She hadn’t heard a thing. Even when not armed, the alarm system always beeped when either door was opened, and the sound was clearly audible in the bedroom. She’d been drowsy but not that out of it that she wouldn’t have heard it.

Her mouth dry, she tried to swallow. This was crazy. It was like trouble was following her around. What was she, a magnet for criminals?

The police were still there when Maeve arrived home. Shane glanced up from where he directed one of his officers. Her eyes widened at the sight of a uniformed officer dusting for fingerprints in her shop.

“What’s going on here?” She stood there gazing around, taking in Keara and Shane, now fully dressed.

“Oh, Maeve.” Keara moved over to her and put a hand on her arm. “Someone broke into your shop!”

“What?” Her scarlet mouth dropped open. “How can that be? Where were you?”

“I was here.”

“Oh Jaysus. Are you okay, muirnín?”

“I’m fine. Shane was here with me.”

A knowing look flashed in her eyes but she immediately grew serious again. “Well, thank Jesus and Mary for that. What happened?”

“We don’t know how he got in.” Shane walked over to them. He didn’t want to alarm her, but she had to know. “There’s no sign of forced entry at all.”

“We didn’t hear the alarm chime,” Keara added, not wanting to mention that they wouldn’t have heard an earthquake if it had happened while they were in the midst of screaming simultaneous orgasms.

“Well, how did he get in, then?” Maeve fixed her gaze on Shane.

He grimaced and shoved a hand through his hair. “No fu—uh, no idea.”

“Hey, Chief,” one of the men called to Shane. “We found something.” He strode across the shop to where Jim Mahon stood in the Staff Only doorway.

“Some stuff looks like it’s been moved in this storage room, and I think we found some dirty footprints. Come see.”

Shane had to agree, but he called Maeve and Keara to ask if they’d moved some boxes in the store room. They both shook their heads, but unfortunately he wasn’t confident of Maeve’s memory.

“I’m sure,” Keara said in a low voice. “I just stacked those there yesterday.”

“Looks like he might have been hiding behind them.”

“Oh dear God.” She put her fingers to her mouth. “You mean he came in when the store was opened and hid here all day?”

“Who knows how long he was here.” He turned to Maeve. “Were you working today? Was Jayla?”

“Jayla worked from one to six today. I was in and out.”

“Keara? Did you work in the store today?”

“I was in and out too. It got busy around four so I helped Jayla.”

“I’ll need to talk to her too, but do you remember anyone coming in who seemed suspicious?”

Keara rubbed her forehead and squeezed her eyes shut. “I don’t think so.”

“The guy was shorter than me, smaller, and he was wearing a dark sweatshirt with the hood over his head. Ring any bells?”

Her brow furrowed as she concentrated, but shook her head. “Jayla will likely remember more, she was here the whole time.”

“If anything comes to you, just let us know.”

She nodded.

“I don’t understand,” Maeve said. “Was nothing stolen, then?”

“Doesn’t look like it, but again, we’d like you to look around. You don’t keep cash here, do you?”

“Um. Well…”

“Maeve.”

“Sometimes if I don’t feel like going to the bank, I take everything upstairs and put it in a safe place.”

“He didn’t come upstairs,” Keara assured her. “And as far as I can tell, nothing was taken from the store.”

“People don’t often break into a sex shop to steal vibrators,” Maeve stated and Shane swallowed a laugh.

“True enough.”

After Maeve had checked around, Shane told Keara to take her upstairs while they finished up.

“This is weird,” Jim said to him. “That the guy would hide in the store. What would his motive be if he didn’t want to steal anything?”

Shane pressed his lips together. There was something about all this that bugged him. Keara had thought her apartment was being broken into. Turned out to be nothing. Someone forced her off the road. They still hadn’t heard back from the lab about the make and model of the vehicle that had done it. Now this.

Fucking weird. He scowled and paced, then turned to Jim. “I’m worried about Keara.”

Jim gazed back at him blankly. “Okay.”

Shane shook his head. “Never mind. Let’s just worry about solving this case.”

He went up to check on Keara and Maeve. The way Keara had been feeling lately, this was the last thing she needed. His gut clenched as he imagined the fear she would now be feeling.

But when he got upstairs, he found her calmly and confidently reassuring Maeve. “I’m fine,” she said. He stood there and watched her pour the Jameson’s into two glasses. She looked up at him and the way her face warmed and softened was like a fist grabbing his insides and twisting. Holy shit. He was in deep trouble here. Fighting for composure, he walked over to them in Maeve’s small kitchen.

“Would you like one of these?” Keara lifted the bottle.

He stared to refuse then changed his mind. “Yeah,” he said. “I would.” So she poured a measure of amber liquid into a third glass and handed it to him.

“I was just telling Maeve that it wasn’t that bad. The guy didn’t get upstairs or anything. Nobody got hurt. Nothing got stolen. It’s weird, but it’s all okay. Right?” Her eyes met his steadily. He lifted the glass to his lips and sipped the burning liquor.

“Right.” He paused. “And we’ll find the guy.”

He wasn’t that confident they’d be able to, but maybe some prints would show up and they’d get lucky. Maybe Jayla would remember something significant. It was possible.

He wanted to talk to Keara more about the break-in at her home in LA, but this wasn’t the time. Maeve, for a change, looked more shaken than Keara did and Keara was doing a great job of calming her down. He smiled at her as he sipped his whiskey.

“Are you okay, Keara?” Maeve asked the next day. “I’m sure last night must have shaken you up.”

Keara tipped her head to one side and thought about that. Strangely, she’d slept fine. Probably still sated from all the orgasms Shane had given her. Ha. Doped up on…what was that? Oxytocin? Endorphins? She hadn’t even been nervous. Shane had made sure the building was locked securely and the alarm system working before he’d left. What were the chances the guy would come back? And who knew why he was even there?

Keara had her own theory. She was a little worried that the sex shop might attract some unusual characters. Perhaps someone a bit unbalanced had some strange idea about hiding in the store and then trying things out—maybe someone with a strange fetish. This had never happened before, according to Maeve, but after seeing some of the customers come in, like the guy who was so embarrassed he kept his hood over his head, it wasn’t that farfetched.

And it wasn’t likely to happen again, but Shane had talked to Maeve about having a lock on the Staff Only door, maybe a keypad or a system with a card they could swipe to get access. That way there was no danger of any customer walking back there unnoticed. That satisfied Keara.

“Actually,” she finally said to Maeve, a small smile breaking through, “I’m fine. I like Shane’s idea of getting a security system on that door…” She nodded to the back of the store. “In fact, I plan to call someone today about that.”

“Shane said he would do it.”

Keara sighed. “Shane doesn’t have to do that for us.”

“For me,” Maeve pointed out gently. “He’s doing it for me.”

“Well, I’m here, and I’m perfectly capable of handling that.”

Maeve’s brows lifted and the corners of her mouth quirked up. “Yes, of course you are. Well, I’ll let the two of you fight that one out. I think it’s a good idea too. I wish I’d thought of that before, but of course, I never thought something like this would happen.” She paused. “I’m glad you’re handling it okay. I was afraid that after thinking your condo was almost broken into, this would scare you.”

Keara shook her head, bemused. “No. They’re completely unrelated, of course.”

“It’s the sex.”

Keara gaped at her aunt. “Uh…what sex?”

Maeve laughed. “The Irish Sex Fairy strikes again. See? You’re feeling so much better.”

Keara felt her cheeks heat up to red-hot. “Coincidence.”

“I think not.”

They shared a smile, Keara still a little embarrassed. “Whatever.” She waved a hand. “What security company do you use for your alarm system? I’m going to call them and get them to give us a quote on security for that door.”

She’d just hung up from making the arrangements when the phone rang again. It was Shane, calling to check on them.

“We’re fine,” she said, leaning against the counter.

“Did you sleep okay?”

She sighed again at the interest in her sleep, first Maeve, now Shane. But it was kind of nice that they cared. “I slept great.”

“Good. So, tonight…wanna come to a movie?”

She blinked. “A movie?”

“Yeah. My buddies Dillon and Joey—I think you know Dillon?”

“Yes, I remember him.”

“They’re taking their wives out to a movie tonight and they invited me to come. I thought you might like to join us.”

It sounded almost like a date. Keara nibbled her bottom lip. “Um…I guess so.”

He laughed. “Don’t worry, they’re harmless. It’ll be fun. I’ll pick you up at seven. We’ll probably go out for a drink after too.”

Fun. What a concept.

She and Shane had had a lot of fun together lately, just the two of them. Meeting his friends added a new dimension to the whole sex relationship thing.

But his friends were fun. After the movie, they all went to O’Doole’s Pub and argued about the movie and laughed and teased Shane about the first girl he’d kissed and how her mouth had ended up bleeding from Shane’s braces. Joey and Dillon shared Shane’s sense of humor, and their wives Lisa and Gwen included her in conversations that she might have felt left out of, not knowing them and their clearly long and friendly history. When Shane dropped her off at Maeve’s near midnight, he walked her upstairs into the quiet apartment, one lamp on in the living room, Maeve’s bedroom door closed.

Shane pulled her into his arms and kissed her, and she found herself responding with a deeper intensity of feelings, a new warmth and affection for him after the casual, relaxing fun evening. So when he pulled back to smile down at her, she couldn’t help but smile back, loving the circle of his arms around her.

“I’m off tomorrow,” he murmured. “We should do something.”

“Like what?” All they usually did, until tonight, was have sex. Hot, bone-melting, sheet-ripping sex.

“Let’s drive to one of the wineries nearby. There’s a nice one near Santa Ynez. We can have lunch, do the tour, taste some wine…”

Her eyes widened. It sounded like another date. It sounded…amazing. “Okay.”