Page 19 of After Indigo Irish Nights
Looking down at her old Patriots sweatshirt and lacy red boy shorts, she thought,oh what the hell. He was the one showing up early at her cottage. She hadn’t expected any visitors but Ellie or Brady.
She swung the door open, wincing as rain splattered her face and cold rushed over her legs. “I’d say don’t wake the neighbors with your pounding, but there aren’t any. I guess you’d better come in since it’s pouring, but you should know, I’m not sure I’m happy to see you this early.”
She was such a liar.
He shut and latched the door after they stepped inside. “Seeing you in that outfit, I’m glad I decided to run over here this morning after some early training. Is that lace on your shorts?”
His hand skimmed her thighs, and she swatted it away as her body flushed with heat. They needed some ground rules. “What are you doing here, Declan?”
He sniffed the air. “You have coffee. It’s an Irish custom to offer someone a cup.”
She devoured him with her eyes, the slightly dripping hair now jet black, the smoldering blue eyes with long lashes now framed with mist, and the positively wicked curve of his mouth that made her think of kisses. His kisses. “I’m American. We only offer coffee to our friends.”
“That’s why I’m here. We need to be friends. Whether we do more is something we both need to consider. Hard. We should talk about that kiss, Kathleen.”
He didn’t sound too happy about it, so she went with snark. “What kiss?” she quipped, laughing as his face darkened. “Oh,thatkiss! You want to do it again?”
He scowled, looking very much like the sullen man Ellie had described to her. “I tossed and turned all night. I still haven’t decided.”
“Seriously?”She nudged him with her hand like she would the boys back home. Not a thing a girl wanted to hear.
“We don’t have the time or luxury to hedge.” He blew out a harsh breath. “Not after last night. Yes, I’ve thought about it, since practically the moment your lips left mine. I’ve had the day of your return firmly in my mind. Every morning I tore aside the day on the calendar at the butcher counter and thought of you.”
She locked her jaw so her mouth wouldn’t gape. “You still don’t look happy about it. Did it unsettle you too much, Ace?”
His level stare made her smile.
“All right, I’ll throw you a bone. You’re a butcher, after all.”
He didn’t blink at her humor.
She steeled herself for honesty. “That kiss unsettled me too, and I’ve thought about you. I’m tempted by the pleasure, but I want to bypass anything too intense. I’m not into discomfort anymore.”
His rude sound filled the air. “YourHeartbreakseries is a study of discomfort, is it not? The metal men and women are all twisted together with hard edges and agonizing expressions.”
Color her surprised. “I had something to express, and I expressed it. Kind of my way of doing a post-breakup purge.”
His dimples flashed—God, he had dimples! They’d transformed him in an instant to the boy next door. Her heart up and sighed on her. She had her weaknesses, God knew, and they included Dunks coffee, cuddly puppies, and bad boys with dimples.
Shit.
She was doomed.
“The purge, eh? I like that. When my ex tossed my heart to the crocodiles, I worked like a dog and thought things not fit for polite company.”
She admired his honesty. Some tough guys—her brothers included—wouldn’t cop to being hurt. “I like that image. It’s fitting. I won’t lie. I had some thoughts about taking my blowtorch to my ex’s unmentionables. It’s how my design for the series came together in the beginning.” But after she’d pounded out the anger, she’d dropped into the hurt—and ultimately the healing.
His blue eyes fired. “Are you over him?”
She didn’t need to think about it. She’d searched her heart every day for a year to finally have herI’m over himvictory. She didn’t think about Axl anymore, and oh how that would piss him off. “Who?”
He laughed, the sound dark and rich like an Irish coffee. Speaking of which, she should probably pour him a cup…as soon as she managed to look away. She was riveted by the change his humor brought to him. His blue eyes had turned cerulean. The hard edges of his face had softened. Not all tough guys had humor, and she found that attractive.
Just like that, he’d become less like a hot guy to drool over and more like someone she wanted to know better.
Double shit.
“You’re funny, Yank. Not too many people make me laugh.”
