Page 96 of The Voices are Back

After starting the boat, I waited for everyone to be seated and headed out.

With the biggest fucking smile on my face.

Goddamn, was this what happiness felt like?

I rubbed my chest and was sure.

This was definitely what happiness felt like.

CHAPTER 21

Him: just a word, yet one person came to mind.

-Morrigan’s secret thoughts

MORRIGAN

The doorbell rang about twenty minutes after Aodhan left for his overnight fishing charter, and I frowned when I got up to answer it.

On the other side were Danyetta and Bowie.

“Do you mind if he stays the night here?” she asked, looking worried. “I’ve had something happen at the restaurant that I’m fairly sure is going to take me all night. Faulty vent hood. But I can’t leave him alone, for obvious reasons.”

I winced at that.

“Damn, Bowie,” I teased. “There you go makin’ a mess of things.”

He flashed a grin at me, but surprisingly, he looked awfully hopeful.

“Come on in,” I said, waving at Danyetta that it was “okay.” “I was just about to order a pizza.”

Actually, I was about to do no such thing. I was about to go to bed without food because I was too tired to eat. Yet, a second wind came over me at the sight of the boy-man that was now taking up quite a bit of my—Aodhan’s—living room.

“Pizza sounds great,” he smiled gratefully. “Love you, Mom. I’ll be okay.”

Danyetta waved, then she was gone, all but running to her car.

Poor woman.

I would hate to have to answer to emergencies in the middle of the night.

Luckily, my coffee shop wasn’t open, and the apartment complex I owned had a night manager that dealt with anything that came up unexpectedly—though she was paid in free rent for that.

“What movie are you watching?” Bowie asked as he looked at the screen.

I grinned sheepishly.

“Actually,” I said as I pressed pause on the show to show him. “I’m watching old reruns ofChips. The old seventies show that had two motorcycle LA highway patrolmen. It’s one of the only things that my dad used to let me watch when I was a kid—he controlled every single bit of my childhood like that—and it’s one of those things that I turn on when I can’t find anything else to watch.”

“Ahh,” he sat down. “Do you want me to order from the app?”

He showed me his phone, and I sat down gratefully.

Truthfully, I’d been wavering in energy since the shower earlier.

Not that it wasn’t the best thing ever—to have sex with Aodhan—but damn, did it wear me out.

Not that I would ever tell him that, either.

---