He took another small step my way and studied me. His eyes were so dark under that furrowed brow. As if the day wasn’t warm enough, his skin seemed to radiate heat as well. “I am.”
I blinked.
“Viking and Irish if the family tree is to be believed. My mother is a silversmith. She gets a kick out of making jewelry for her boys.” He tapped the buckle and thumbed the heavy silver ring on his left hand. “I confess I may have leaned into it more than my brothers.”
“Brothers? There’s more of you?”
He chuckled. “Lochlan and Niall, my older brothers. Niall actually lives in Ireland. Businessman type. Finance or some shit.”
My eyebrows shot up. “Some shit?”
He shrugged. “Boring money guy. Now there’s one whose eyes sparkle at the idea of the green.”
I covered my middle with my iPad. He was so damn big and smelled like earthy ginger. I was so sweaty and gross, but I didn’t want to back down and make him realize how uncomfortable I was.
Something I’d learned while working with men for the majority of my life. Never show weakness.
“The green?”
“His words. His favorite color. He’s picked up the vernacular since he’s lived over there for so long.”
I licked my lips and tried to follow the conversation. The idea of two more men who looked like this one seemed a little cruel to the women of this world.
The Manning boys were objectively hot, but I’d slotted them firmly in the brother column for so long I didn’t notice them that way anymore. And they certainly didn’t make my skin prickle in all sorts of places likethisman.
“Are they…big like you?”
That eyetooth flashed again. “Not really. I might be the youngest, but I was definitely not the runt of the Parrish litter.”
“Oh. So you were the freakishly big one?”
“Lochlan is tall like me, but he’s more the runner type. I’d rather get on my rowing machine than run.”
And now I had the image of all those bunching muscles in my head. Great.
Focus, girl.
“You came here from Chicago, right? Your parents live in the Midwest too?”
He shook his head. “I grew up in Portland, actually. I liked it well enough, but I never felt connected to the damp and the gray. Hiking,” he muttered with a snarl. “Give me contact sports any day.”
“And yet, you came here.” I laughed. “Wait until you get into your first winter. Endless grayandsnow. Oh, and people also like to hike around here too.”
“With all the lakes so close, I’m sure I can cope. There’s something about this land. I knew it the moment I drove past that weathered Happy Acres sign. When I followed the signs to the taproom, the feeling only grew stronger.” His cheeks flushed a little as if he’d realized he had overshared.
I folded my other arm over my iPad to hug myself. “Now that I get. And I felt the same way when I first started working here when I was seventeen.”
“And you never left?” He tipped his head. “No college?”
The pang was a bit duller these days, but it was still there. “No college. Wasn’t in the cards for me.”
And I liked that he didn’t know the reason why, unlike every other person in this town. The family I’d created at Happy Acres didn’t hold my past against me.
That wasn’t the case everywhere, however.
“You sure you don’t need any more help? I’m good at moving big things.”
“Kira? You back there?” The voice coming from the front of the building saved me from any bad ideas I might have about making Ronan show off those arms any more today.
