Page 12 of Highballs & Hexes

She laid her hand over his fisted one, entwining her fingers with his when he twisted his wrist and exposed his palm. “I trust you, Patrick.”

“I’m after headin’ back to Dublin tomorrow if you’re interested in going with me.”

A small thrill shot through her. Should she? Did she dare be alone with him for any length of time? What did she really know about him?

“She has a job,” Noah stated flatly. “She’ll stay.”

His highhandedness was the determining factor.

“I’ll go,” she said.

“Fi.” His usual seductive timbre was gone as he voiced his frustration in that one syllable.

“He’s my brother, Noah, and he’s hurting.”

His breathing turned erratic, and a wild expression entered his eyes. “I don’t like it, and I don’t trust him.” Noah nodded toward Patrick. “He looks at you like…” With a shake of his head, he guzzled the contents of his pint glass and slammed it on the tabletop. “Yeah, and you’ll do what you want. You always do, so I’ll shut my gob now. But be careful, love.”

With that, he rose and stalked away, leaving Fi to stare at an empty seat as she considered what he’d said.

“You can stay if you fear me,” Patrick said quietly. “I’ll not take offense.”

She met his compassionate gaze, and his consideration for her feelings strengthened her resolve. “When do we leave?”

An emotion remarkably similar to satisfaction flashed across his face, and a smile curled his too-tempting mouth. “I’ll come for you at half past nine. That should give you plenty of time to inform your mother and father where you’re going.”

Fi touched his wrist and felt the zing throughout her body. After sucking in a sharp breath, she blew it out slowly.

“I feel it, too,” he said in a low voice. “This thing. If it’s not what you want, if who you want is him, ’tis best to stay behind and let me locate Tadhg. I’ll find him and bring him home to you.”

“If he’s paranoid and on the run, he won’t welcome your help, Patrick.”

His open expression vanished, and he nodded.

Frowning, she lifted her pint and wet her dry throat. What had she said to cause him to close up tighter than a drum? She replayed their conversation in her mind and did a mental forehead slap. Her answer had sounded as if she didn’t really want to be with him, but she would suffer through it for her brother’s sake.

With a careful study of his face, she said, “I didn’t say I wanted Noah.”

“Aye, but you didn’t say you didn’t.”

Her lips twitched. His salty expression pleased her. Maybe it was the honest emotion behind it, but he gave the impression of not liking games, and Fi couldn’t be more on board with it.

“True. So let me say it straight. I’d like to go with you to find Tadhg, Patrick O’Malley. And if you’d like to request another kiss or five, I’m willing.”

CHAPTER 6

Morning came too soon and much too bright. Where was the overcast day to hide the blinding sun when Patrick needed it to temper his hangover? The last thing he remembered was picking up a bottle after a stroll in the moonlight with Fionola. He’d dropped her at her doorstep with two of those five kisses and the promise of a half-nine visit before he’d hightailed it home. Stealing the whiskey from Lucky O’Malley’s storeroom was an eejit move, but he’d needed it to drown the temptation of returning to steal the other three kisses from her temptress lips.

With a groan, he rolled toward the nightstand and lifted his smartphone, promptly swearing. He’d forgotten to charge the fecking thing. If he gave it a magical boost, he risked destroying the components. After plugging it in, he staggered to the bathroom to splash frigid water on his puffy face, wincing when he met his bloodshot eyes in the mirror.

Jaysus! He looked a sight!

Then and there, he swore it was the last time he’d overindulge. Despite his troubles—and of those he had plenty—he was useless as tits on a bull after an all-nighter.

The moment the phone’s battery held enough life, the chiming began, alerting him to the fact he’d missed his window to meet Fionola. She’d have his arse for certain. As he wove his way back toward the nightstand, the bedroom door flew open.

He didn’t know who was more shocked, Fionola or himself.

Her eyes flared wide as she took in theentirepackage, pausing overly long to linger on his cock. Never in his life had he worried about nonsensical things like modesty, but he’d been caught in the raw, and his instinctual response was to cover the family jewels.

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