That got a snort out of her. “Do you have your phone?”
He reached over and plucked it from the nightstand.
“Can you please look up ‘hello’ in Gaelic?”
“Irish or Scottish?”
She glared at him. “Am I the only one in this house who doesn’t know Gaelic?”
“I had a lonely childhood and a good cable package. I watched alotof BBC America.” Still, he pulled up a video and showed her.
“Huh.” She grumbled. “Okay then. I owe her an apology, I suppose. About that, at least. Not apologizing for her being in my house and getting attacked when she hadmycoffee mug.”
“Andmade a pass at your man.”
“That’sright! I—” She stared at him, at the adorable smirk curving his lips, and then took a breath.
Held it.
Let it out.
“I’msotired,” she whispered.
“I know, baby.” He tucked her hair behind her ears and then cupped her face in his hands. “I will go get your coffee, and your laptop, and make you a bagel with cream cheese. I’ll bring it up here, and we’ll snuggle for a little while and let you regain your center, and then we’ll respawn the morning from the last save point and try again. Okay?”
“I love you.”
“I know.” He smiled, and she finally felt like laughing for real with him.
He pressed a kiss to the center of her forehead.
“Sorry I blew my nose on your bathrobe.” It’d been laying in the middle of the bed.
“Hey, it’s laundry day, so no harm, no foul.”
* * *
Ninety minutes later,after a shower and getting dressed and with a second cup of coffee, the last of the cheesecake, two bagels with cream cheese, and six pieces of thick-sliced applewood smoked bacon in her, Dewi returned downstairs.
Everyone else—now with Beck, Joaquin, Martin, Stig, and Elliot, present—were gathered around the dining room table, and they all went silent.
She looked at them. “You didn’t need to bring in this many reinforcements to keep me from killing her,” she snarked at Peyton.
He smiled from where he sat at the head of the table. Only now did she realize how utterly exhausted he looked, too. “I wanted to hedge my bets, kiddo.” He stood and opened his arms to her and she let him pull her in for a long hug. “I’m sorry I didn’t warn you. It’s a long story, I haven’t slept in forty-eight hours, and happy almost-birthday and -anniversary to you. And Ken.”
“Did you remember or did Badger tell you?”
He laughed. “I remembered your birthday. I didn’t remember the almost-anniversary date.”
“Love you.”
“Love you, too, Dewi.”
She took a deep breath and rounded the table, where Aisling warily stood.
Then Dewi held out her hand. “Hi. I’m Dewi. I don’t know a single word of fucking Gaelic.”
Aisling smiled and shook with her. Now that Dewi was looking closely at her and not trying to kill her, she realized the woman also looked exhausted. “Aisling Walsh. And don’t worry—I can teach ye.”
