Irish Sex Fairy: Ellora's Cave by Kelly Jamieson (free books to read txt) 📗

around too long her muscles would just tighten up even more. Tiny hammers swung in her head but she followed Maeve to the kitchen. While Maeve bustled about heating up soup, Keara found a box of soda crackers and munched on a couple, hoping that would help her stomach. She hadn’t eaten all day and had been taking strong pain meds, which could also be making her feel sick.

This had to stop. She could not go on this way. She’d gone from prickly fear and pervading anxiety to numb and lethargic, then to annoyed—hey, it was better than dead—and yes, turned-on, and was now full circle back at clawing panic. She focused on taking in slow, regular breaths.

Why did this have to happen now? Was her mind playing tricks on her and making her think someone did this to her deliberately? It was just like the break-in at her condo all over again. She’d sworn someone had been out there, but the police were equally certain no one had been. That her paranoid imagination had just taken off. And now it had again.

Her stomach tightened and as Maeve slid a bowl of soup onto the table in front of her, she peered down at it in dismay. She picked up her spoon, knew she should eat, but felt repulsed and her stomach protested.

“You should eat something,” Maeve murmured, taking a seat at the table.

“I know I should.” She dipped her spoon into the creamy bowl. “What is it? Cream of mushroom?”

“My special mushroom chowder.”

Keara tasted it. “It’s delicious.” She ate another spoonful. And another. “I don’t think Shane believed me.”

Maeve met her eyes. “He said there was no reason not to believe you. But they won’t likely be able to find the person unless there’s some kind of evidence.”

“I know.” She huffed out a breath. “Asshole.”

“I’m going to assume you’re talking about the other driver and not Shane.”

A little snort of laughter escaped her. “No, I wasn’t talking about Shane. He was very nice to me today. A little bossy, but nice.”

“He was worried about you.”

“Well.” Keara lowered her gaze to her soup again. “He doesn’t even know me. Really. He doesn’t need to worry about me.”

“You said he was flirting with you.”

Keara sucked in her bottom lip. “Oh. Yeah. I don’t know what got into him.”

“You’re a pretty girl. Why wouldn’t he flirt with you?”

Keara laughed. “I’m not going to talk about this.” She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I’m okay, Maeve. I’ll be moving a bit slow for a day or two, but I’m okay. This was just a stupid accident.

Even as she said it, her face grew hot and tight and her throat closed up. She blinked at stinging tears, feeling as if her world was spinning out of control. If she didn’t even have control of her mind, if her brain could play tricks on her like it had been, what did that mean? How could she control anything?

She looked at Maeve and blinked back the tears. “I didn’t tell you exactly why I came here.”

Maeve regarded her solemnly. “Well, I knew it wasn’t for a holiday.”

“No.” Keara gripped her hands together in her lap. “The robbery shook me up.”

“It would shake anyone up, going through something like that.”

“But it seems to have affected me…a lot.” She rubbed the back of one hand across her nose. “I’ve been off work ever since the robbery. I was seeing a psychologist. They told me I had to, to deal with the trauma. I was supposed to go back to work last week, on Monday. Two days before I called you, I had gone in to work for a visit. I…had some kind of strange episode. Apparently it was a panic attack. Just slightly humiliating.” She struggled to get the words out, hating the way her voice was all shaky and pathetic. “And then, the night before I called you, I thought someone tried to break into my condo.”

“Oh no.” Maeve’s eyes widened and she set down her spoon.

“Except, it was nothing. I called the police and they came and it was all very embarrassing, but there was nothing there. My nerves were still shot from the robbery thing.” She swallowed. “Then I was terrified to stay there alone. That’s why I came here.”

She twisted her trembling fingers tightly. “Now this happens. And I did it again. Let my nerves get to me. I probably thought that SUV was closer than it was, and I panicked and overreacted and…I could have killed myself. I’m just glad nobody else was with me.”

“Oh, muirnín.” Maeve’s face softened and she stood up and held out her arms. “Come here and give me a hug.”

Keara stood, muscles aching, and stepped into Maeve’s embrace. She held onto her aunt, let her hold her, soothe her.

“It will be okay,” Maeve murmured.

Keara gathered up everything she had and stepped out of Maeve’s arms. She had no right to dump this on her poor old great-aunt, no right to worry Maeve, when she was just being silly.

“Yes, I’ll be okay,” she agreed with a tight smile. “Actually this week I was feeling pretty good. I had fun last night at Dunstans’. And then flirting with Shane kind of took my mind off things.”

Maeve drew back and smiled at her. “See? I was right. Sex is what you need. A good round of hot, shake-the-bed sex.”

The sound that emerged from Keara’s throat was half laugh, half sob. “Maybe you are right,” she said, dragging her fingers across wet eyes. “But now it’s going to have to wait until all these bruises are gone.”

“Perhaps.” Maeve returned to her chair and picked up her spoon again. “Eat your soup. And tell me about the robbery. Maybe it will help to talk about it.”

“I talked about it to the psychologist.” Keara obediently lifted her spoon. “I don’t need to talk about it anymore.”

“Well, I’m not a psychologist, but people tell me I’m a good listener. And keeping