Page 43 of A Dark Mafia Christmas

“My mom taught me.” He swallows a mouthful of freshly brewed coffee. “She said no son of hers would grow up expecting a wife to cook for him.”

It feels surreal sitting here alone late at night, the two of us, knowing how our bodies react to each other. It’s like we’re tethered by desire. Or is it lust? How am I supposed to know the difference?

I want to ask him what this means for us. It changes everything, doesn’t it? He can’t deny that he wants me as much as I want him, but I’m still acutely conscious of the fact that the ring on my finger means nothing. We might have spent the last twelve hours having the most incredible, mind-blowing sex, but it doesn’t mean that he wants to marry me.

“Don’t, Mary.” He leans across and kisses me on the lips. “Let’s not talk about what happens after the holidays. Let’s just enjoy the moment.”

And we do. Because what Emmett O’Hara wants, Emmett O’Hara gets, and if he doesn’t say the words out loud, I can pretend, just for tonight, that this is real.

The following morning,we sleep in late. Emmett sneaks me back to the guest room while the house hums with sounds from the kitchen and the living room downstairs, kissing me on the lips as we part outside my door.

I want to tell him that everyone will have guessed why we didn’t come down for dinner yesterday, but he seems so contented that I can’t bring myself to do or say anything that will burst our bubble and send us careening back to reality. I know I’m clinging to false hope, but it’s all I have right now, and like a drowning shipwreck survivor, I’m not letting go.

When I finally wander downstairs, Emmett isn’t there. I try not to let my disappointment show on my face as I help myself to coffee in the kitchen and sit down carefully with Fianna and Emmet’s grandmothers who have started a jigsaw puzzle across the table. My sore pussy chafes against the seam of my jeans and I hide my face behind my coffee.

Granny Nina peers at me from behind the puzzle lid, frown lines creasing her forehead. “Where did you and Emmett get to yesterday? You missed Erin’s cottage pie.”

“Mom!” Sinead sucks in a deep breath and flashes a warning glance at her mother that goes unnoticed. “I told you they wanted some alone time.”

The heat rises in my cheeks.

“Missed breakfast as well.” Granny Mary arches an eyebrow and winks at me as she hands the other woman a jigsaw piece. “I think this is the piece you’re looking for.”

“I saved you some breakfast.” Sinead is already slicing a homemade loaf of bread while Erin uncovers a plate of grilled sausages, bacon, and mushrooms. “You must be starving.”

I almost choke on a mouthful of coffee.

Next to me, I hear Fianna chuckling softly. “If I can tear you away from my cousin, do you want to drive into town with me? There’s something I’d like to show you.”

“Is that okay?” I ask Sinead.

“Aye, we don’t have any plans, and don’t you dare be asking my son for permission to leave the house either.”

“That’s settled then.” Fianna eyes up the doorstop sandwich in front of me. “Eat up.”

I’m excited to go into town with Fianna. I’m intrigued about what she wants to show me, but also, every experience I have here helps me to imagine the kind of childhood Emmett must’ve had. Because now that I’ve had a taste of him, my appetite will never be satisfied.

We drive into Laragh and out the other side of the village, when Fianna stops the car outside a derelict low-rise building. She kills the engine, and faces me in the passenger seat, an eager smile on her face.

“I want you to keep an open mind, Mary. Try to see beyond the way it looks now and imagine how it could look once it has been renovated.”

“Okay.” I feel a twist of excitement somewhere deep inside and try to quell it for now.

Fianna lets us in with a key.

The building is even more dilapidated inside than it looks from the outside. Some of the internal walls have blown, plaster collapsing into heaps on the floor. There’s a hole in the ceiling of a downstairs room allowing us to see straight through into the room above. The kitchen looks as if it hasn’t been cleaned in years and is devoid of any equipment, loose cables hanging from wall sockets, and we quickly close the bathroom door without venturing inside.

“Well, what do you think?”

Fianna faces me in the middle of a large downstairs room, the only redeeming feature of which is a huge ornate fireplace.

Deep breath. “It needs a lot of work.”

She smiles. “My dad knows plenty of people who’ll carry out the renovations for me.” She crosses the room and peers out the window, gesturing for me to join her.

When I look outside, my breath catches in my throat. The land behind the building is vast and green, surrounded by hills,woodland, and a stream, the scene completed by a waterfall tumbling over a rocky promontory in the distance.

“That was my reaction when I first saw it.” Fianna points at the waterfall. “This view sealed the deal for me.”

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