Page 37 of Highballs & Hexes

He groaned. “Are ya sure you’re wanting to start something here, love? It’s not as if we have privacy.”

She lifted her head, bringing a halt to the exploration of her mouth on his chest. With a frown, she glanced toward the cell door. “If we can’t hear anyone else, can they possibly hear us?”

“I’ve never known this place to be soundproof before you got here, so I can’t answer you with any honesty.”

“You’ve magic. Can you cloak us for a short while?”

Patrick visually followed the motion of his fingers as he brushed a lock of hair from her flushed face. “Do you believe this is a grand plan, Fionola? Mind you, it’s not no I’m saying, but would you feel as amorous on the outside?”

Her fingers tightened around him, and his eyes nearly rolled back in his head his pleasure was so great.

“I believe it’s a grand ride we’ll be having. But if you’re not interested…” As she began to withdraw, he clasped her wrist, holding her in place.

“Now don’t be hasty, woman! If you say it’s a grand ride, then I’m as interested as can be.”

She laughingly led him to the bed.

CHAPTER 17

Fi braced her forearms on Patrick’s chest and grinned down at him. His face was more relaxed than she’d ever seen, and the soft glow in his eyes was solely for her. The rhythmic stroking of his fingers along her spine caused her blood to thrum through her veins and amorous feelings to build again. After the ride they’d shared, she wasn’t certain once would be enough.

“I’m beginning to like it here,” she confessed. “With the exception of my worry for Tadhg, I could spend every day trading stories, stealing the tastiest bits of food, and licking Belgian chocolate off your skin.”

She felt his chuckle in her sternum, and when he lovingly brushed back her sweat-dampened hair, all her insides turned to goo. It had become a habitual gesture of his, and she was growing fond of the feeling his absent-minded action created.

“And I’d treasure each of those days if we had them,” he assured her.

Noah, practical and work-minded as he was, would never say something so sweet in return. He’d have laughed off her fantasy, smacked her bare arse, and told her he had to place an order for the pub.

But Patrick was proving to be a dreamer, like her. Sure, it wasn’t practical for two dreamers to coexist, but it did lend to romance in place of practicality. And Fi desperately longed for some in her mundane life.

“You’ve a beautiful soul, Patrick O’Malley,” she whispered past her thickening throat.

His blissful expression morphed into a troubled one. “Your heart is too soft, love. I’m not worthy of your praise, but damned if I’m not honored by it, all the same.”

“Why do you think you don’t deserve it? You’ve been kind to my parents, determined to help me find Tadhg, and even when you’re cross, you are gentle and considerate.” She traced his frowning brow with her finger, attempting to smooth it. “Yeah, you’re a bear when riled, but it doesn’t last.”

“It doesn’t last withyou,” he corrected. “Ask anyone else, and they’ll tell you I’m a right proper bastard.”

“I don’t believe it. Your family holds you in high regard. Their respect for you is endless.”

He smiled, soft and sweet. “My children are my blessing. And maybe my curse.” He laughed at her gasp. “Cian, he’s always looking for mischief, or he was as a child. Carrick is my quiet one. Fell in love with his forever mate when he was but a young boy.” Patrick resumed stroking Fi’s back. “Bridget, now, she’s as fierce as they come. She’s been in love with the neighbor boy, Ruairí, for as long as I can remember. In as much as I hate he’s an O’Connor, he’s probably the one good thing to come from that horrid family.”

“And your twins?”

“I didn’t get to know them well. I went out for a pack of fags, and on my return home, I was captured by Loman O’Connor. He kept me caged for years, and when I escaped, my family wasn’t my own.”

“What does that mean? They had to be worried about you?”

“They seemed to be thriving under Bridget’s care, and I wasn’t in my right mind, able to raise the twins.”

“Where did you go?”

“I lived the life of a traveler for a bit. Trying to learn tricks for when I sought revenge on Loman.”

“What happened to ya?”

“I lost myself for a time, and I could never get the better of that gobshite. It became my obsession.” Patrick sighed, shifted her, and rolled to a sitting position. His legs were bent, tenting the sheet but leaving his slim hip bare, and he leaned forward, draping his arms over his knees. With seemingly unseeing eyes, he stared at his palms as if they’d somehow failed him. “I wanted so badly to kill him, Fi. So fucking badly. But he won, time and again.”

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