Page 51 of The Bossy One

I imagined her dabbing perfume on her wrists and neck, one tiny bit of femininity before she spent her days chasing after a rambunctious child. I imagined her soaping herself off at the end of a long day, in a hot shower, using her own delicate scented soap instead of whatever my housekeeper stocked.

Fuck.I shifted, trying not to get hard. Trying to hide it if I failed.

“Wait, why is she turning into a human now?” Olivia asked.

“Because they’re on Fionn’s land now. Her curse breaks when he brings her into his home.”

Olivia tilted her head. “That’s kind of lovely.”

“Sinead likes that part too,” I said. “Actually, she likes this whole movie. I don’t know why.”

Olivia sent me a knowing look. “Is that why you picked it tonight?”

I didn’t answer that.

We watched as the heroine introduced herself as Lady Sadhbh. Fionn instructed his people to care for her. Sadhbh met Fionn’s sister, and the two became fast friends.

“The sister’s not in the original legend,” I pointed out.

“I’m guessing the 70s folk-rock music isn’t either,” Olivia said.

“No, that part’s original,” I joked, but it felt hollow. Olivia hadn’t pressed me to keep talking about Sinead, and I felt oddly disappointed. A part of me wanted to talk about her now, I realized. Maybe because it was easier to talk about important things when we were both staring at a dumb movie, instead of each other.

“I don’t know who Catie’s father is,” I admitted. “I always assumed Sinead didn’t know, or at least that he was someone she barely knew and that was why she never tried to get him involved. But today she admitted she was basically in love with the fucker. And yet, she won’t tell me who he is because she thinks I’ll judge her.”

“And that hurts you,” Olivia said quietly, understanding.

“No,” I protested. Then I relented. “Maybe a little.”

Olivia reached over and slipped her hand in mine. “Just do your best to keep showing up for her, and give her time. She’ll tell you when she’s ready.” She gave my hand a brief squeeze, and then let it go.

I fought the urge to reach for her.

Onscreen, the movie had moved on to the sequence where Fionn courted Sadhbh. So far he’d picked a wild rose for her, sang a throaty folk song, and hit a man who insulted her. “Do women really find this romantic?” I asked, mostly because I needed to change the topic to something light and easy.

“It’s not the things he’s doing so much as the way he’s doing them,” Olivia said.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You see the way he looks at her, like she’s the best thing in the world? And the way he holds on to her until the last possible second, like he doesn’t want to let her go?” She made a show of fanning herself. It was kind of cute.

I grinned. “Is that what you’re waiting for? Some guy to moon over you and hold your hand?”

Olivia snorted. “In real life, guys aren’t waiting to fall in love with you. And when they are, it gets creepy fast. That’s why I love movies.”

I frowned. I didn’t like the idea of Olivia doubting that any man would be lucky to have her. And I definitely didn’t like the idea of some guy making her uncomfortable or ruining romance for her.

“It sounds like there’s a story there,” I prompted.

Olivia made a face. “It’s not a big deal. Just a bad experience with a guy on a dating app.”

Everything in me went still. “Olivia. What do you mean by ‘bad experience?’”

If some bastard hurt her…

“It started off fine. We matched on the app, went on a few dates, et cetera. But when we were getting to know each other online, I mentioned this silly blog I ran on Snug. So then he created an anonymous profile and used it to get to know me online, pretending to be a random reader.” Olivia pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, protecting herself as she told the story. “He didn’t tell me until we’d been dating for like a month.”

“What a creep,” I said.

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