Maybe this was what she’d called reflectin’ once.
She blinked at me and then cleared her throat. “Are we going somewhere specific?”
I gave her a blank look.
“Do we have reservations? I didn’t even think—” She looked down at herself. A long, cream-colored sweater, another one underneath, and a brown skirt with a delicate flower pattern. She wore brown stockings with brown boots.The diamond band on her left finger winked at me in the darkness. If she ever took it off, she would be naked to me.
“You eat whatever you want. We go wherever you want.”
She smiled almost shyly at me. “What if I want you to decide someday?”
“I decide then.”
“Good,” she said. “Because I’ve been known to wear a place out. I like the food at the pub across the street from the bookstore. I could eat there every day. Delaney said getting me to eat somewhere else is like encouraging me to do something wild and crazy.”
I made a sudden turn. Keenan and Fiona both started yellin’ at me from the backseat. I grinned, and so did Maeve. I squeezed her hand. I wasn’t fuckin’ good at this relationship business. I’d learned how to kill a man before I’d even touched a woman like I had my wife. I was behind. Kinda lost. These outings were to teach me the ways of my woman. I was goin’ to fuckin’ learn how to be her husband. I already knew how to be a beast.
“Are you sure about this?” Maeve looked at me and then at the pub.
I gave her another blank look.
She sighed. “Good thing I can read you so well, Cian O'Callaghan. I wasn’t sure about theCraigs.” She whispered the last name. “I know they come here.”
I led her toward the pub, Keenan and Fiona followin’. “I won this part of the war for you already. I have men all over this area now.”
She was speechless. I took that as a good sign. She was pleased with what I’d done. The pub workers knew her and seemed excited to see her, but they were tamin’ it down. They knew who I was, even if they’d never seen my face uncovered before. I’d used to roam the streets wearin’ a hooded sweater to conceal who I was. Even if the wind took it down, my hair had been a fuckin’ mess.
Maeve didn’t seem to notice, or she didn’t care, about their reactions to me. She told us her favorites to order, and we all settled in for burgers and Guinness. Music played in the background, and when Ruairi Merrick came on, Maeve started crackin’ up at Keenan’s sour face. Fiona and I grinned, and he turned the face on us, accusin’ us of being traitors.
My hand was on Maeve’s slim neck as we left the pub and walked across the street to the bookstore. She kept sighin’ and leanin’ into me. Every time she would think of Keenan’s face, she would start laughin’ again. Even though he gave her sour looks, when he met my eye, he winked. Keenan could be flirty when he turned on the charm.
The bookstore was quaint, and Maeve fit there. It was filled with some late-night readers browsin’ the shelves. Maeve stopped before we reached the counter. Delaney was behind it, checkin’ customers out.
“Ms.!” Maeve grabbed a book and held it up. “How much for this one?”
Delaney went to hold her hand up, to probably tell Maeve to wait her turn, but when her eyes landed on my wife, she screeched and ran toward us, leavin’ everythin’ at the counter. She wrapped Maeve in a hug that almost rocked her on her feet. Maeve held her back and they started to sway, almost like they were dancin’.
Once they pulled apart, Delaney kept her hands on Maeve’s shoulders. She looked at me. “Are you bringing her home for good?”
“We move together,” I said.
Maeve smiled at me and then turned back to Delaney. “We’ll be here for the indefinite future. Maybe we’ll go back to the castle in Ireland from time to time, but…this is where we’ll be most of the time.”
Delaney screamed, like she was about to start clappin’ or somethin’. “Please. Please.Pah-lease, tell me you’re coming back to work? I thought I was going to die here without you.” She looked at me. “You have no idea how much of this girl stayed behind after she left. Her touch is everywhere. I didn’t even want to dust the shelves. Robert made me do it.” She turned back to Maeve. “I’ll even give you half of this place if you come back.”
Maeve laughed, but it didn’t sound as free as it usually did. She glanced at me before she looked Delaney in the eyes. She grabbed her hands. “We’ll see.”
“You know I’m not going to take no for answer, right?”
“Ms.?” The girl at the counter, the one who was being checked out, called at Delaney.
“Oh! Be right back, Mae!”
“Go!” Maeve made a shooin’ motion with her hands.
After Delaney got back to business, Maeve stood quietly next to me. Her entire mood had changed.
I didn’t fuckin’ like it.
