Page 130 of Where We Bloom

It was dark when we arrived in Galway last evening, so I didn’t get to see the view from Connor’s mansion. But I could hear the water crashing against the cliffs, and the air was heavy with salt and sea, so it made me long to take in the view.

Connor’s still sleeping beside me when I wake and discover that the sun is just starting to come up. His arm is wrapped around my shoulders, holding me against his side, but he lets go when I gently move away.

After quickly using the bathroom, where he was true to his word, and all my toiletries were waiting, I make my way into the closet that rivals the size of the ones in New York and Montana, and tug on some leggings, a T-shirt, and because the air was so chilly last night, I borrow one of Connor’s hoodies.

The material is well-worn and soft, so it’s obviously one he’s had for a long time, and when I pull it over my head, I’m surrounded by his cedarwood scent.

God, he smells good.

I wonder if he went to Cambridge? Or was this a souvenir?

Something tells me he wouldn’t buy a hoodie like this unless it was his school.

With a shrug, I slip into sneakers and head downstairs, where I brew myself a cup of coffee, then slip out the sliding glass doors off the massive kitchen onto the expansive grassy area that leads to a path overlooking the sea.

When I reach the end of the path, roughly twenty yards from the side of the cliffs, I take a long, deep breath and stare out at the ocean.

It’s fucking gorgeous here.

Birds fly overhead, floating on the wind. The water crashes on the rocks below, sending up a symphony of sound that drowns out everything else. For the first time since I can remember, there’s no traffic in my head. The white noise from the ocean drowns it out, and I can just …be.

The sun has barely crested over the green hills, casting the sky in light pink, and I take another long, deep breath, pulling it all in.

I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anything more beautiful. I’ve heard stories of Ireland being green, but it’s …green.As if it invented the word. And it’s the same color as my man’s eyes.

I turn to look at the enormous stone mansion and see Connor walking toward me in black joggers and a hoodiesimilar to the one I’m wearing, holding his own mug of coffee, those Irish eyes smiling at me over the rim.

He’s happy here.

“I needed to come see it,” I say when he reaches me and wraps his arm around me to pull me into his side. “I couldn’t wait.”

“You should have woken me, angel.”

I wrinkle my nose at him and sip my coffee. “Did you grow up in this house?”

“No. Ma and Da still own that house. It’s about fifteen kilometers from here. Unless you have objections, we’ll be going there this evening for dinner.”

“I don’t have any objections. I like your parents.”

I was able to spend some time with them in London when we were there for Skyla and Mik’s performance, and Connor’s parents have been to Montana several times.

They’ve been nothing but nice to me. Of course, that was before their son and I were a couple. I wonder if they’ll be as welcoming, knowing that we’re in a relationship.

“Don’t overthink it.” He kisses my head, and we turn back to the ocean. “It’s going to be fine. What do you think of the view?”

“Meh, it’s fine.”

I feel him staring down at me, and I can’t hold back the laughter.

“Are you kidding me? Holy shit, Connor, this is gorgeous.”

He grins, and his eyes drift down to the hoodie, and they narrow. “I like that.”

I sip my coffee. “The fact that I stole your sweatshirt?”

“You wrapped up in my alma mater,” he says, those blazing green orbs returning to my face. “Fascinating.”

He’s more relaxed here. I noticed it the second we stepped off the plane last night. It’s like he’s in the one place where he can drop his guard, and although I love him every day, this side of him is dreamy, too. And we all know how much I love his casual side. Connor is as sexy as sin in a suit, but Christ on a cracker, the things he does to me when he’s let his proverbial hair down and is in relax mode?

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