Page 15 of Since We're Here
“Hmm. I guess so.” She bites her bottom lip and leans back in her chair, hair shifting in waves over the front of her dress, cascading around the curve of her breasts.
Her gorgeous fucking breasts.
No. Nope. Off-limits. No matter how cute she is, this woman isdefinitelyoff-limits now. Besides the fact that she’s Oliver’s fiancée’s little sister, she’s not just passing through, and that’s way too complicated. I need her out of here.
I give her my best morning-after-get-out-of-my-flat glare. Which isn’t hard, because that’s generally my default expression. It scares off most women in the light of day. Actually, it scares off most people, especially the ones who don’t know me well.
I’m good at scaring women away. After Cara, I tried to date a local woman in Dingle. But that experience only reinforced what Cara told me when we broke up: it’s impossible to be in a relationship with me. Cara was right. I was trying so hard not to ruin that new relationship, but I broke it anyway. It’s hopeless for me to try, so I stopped.
“First of all, call me Maddie, not Madison.”
But I don’t scare this person, apparently. She seems to settle in more with each second.
“I prefer Madison.”
“Ohhh-kay.” She tilts her head at me.
“What’s second of all?”
“Huh?”
“You saidfirstof all.”
“Oh, right. Second of all, I need help planning the road trip.”
“Jaysus. You mean to tell me you really flew across the Atlantic Ocean to do something that can easily be accomplished with a simple Google search?”
She blinks at me.
“You did, didn’t you?”
Maddie nods. “I don’t want it to be a normal Irish road trip. It has to be special. For example... what’s the coolest thing you’ve ever done in Ireland?”
“What?” I chuckle, and she waits for me to answer. “Kiss the Blarney Stone.”
“See, there we go!”
“I was being sarcastic. That’s a disgusting tourist trap.”
“Still, I’m adding it to the list.”
I groan. “Please don’t.”
“Even though there might be other reasons I’m here, planning the trip is definitely in the top, like, five.”
“You havefivereasons to be here?” What other possible reasons can this woman have to be in Dingle?
“Dingle’s one of the top tourist spots in Ireland, don’t you know that?”
“Yes, which is a great reason why it should be a stop on the road trip. Just like all the websites recommend.”
“Are you always this grumpy?” Maddie stretches her arms over her head and yawns.
“Yes.”
“Well, you weren’t last night.” She rolls her shoulders back and grins at me.
“My god, woman, that never happened, okay? If I’d known you were Reese’s sister, I wouldn’t have touched you, whether you asked me to or not.” I stumble over the last words. The lady balls on her. Christ.
