“Maybe.”
“Have you ever listened to it?”
“No.”
“Then how can you know you don’t like it?”
He opened his mouth, closed it, then shrugged. “Because it’s twangy?”
I chortled. “I’ll turn you yet. You wait.”
Cormac leaned forward, expression serious. “I don’t doubt that for a minute. Not with what I’m feeling.”
And then he kissed me. This moment proved different from the make-out session earlier and from our first featherlight perfection.
This kiss said,I know what you like. I know to nibble here and lick there. I know you, and I enjoy making you hot and bothered… And I want to do more of that.
I melted against him, my fingers gripping his biceps and soft moans issuing from my throat. Sure, Cormac lived in a fancy house and ate fancy food prepared by a fancy chef, but it washistouch—his kisses, specifically—that caused me to lose my mind and want to give him everything I had.
Something told me that the more time I spent with this man, the more willing I’d be to slide into his foreign world.
Chapter14
Cormac
Islapped my alarm, growling at its beeping. I finally raised my head and opened my eyes enough to turn it off before I flopped back against my pillow, wanting to return to sleep…until I remembered my night with Keelie.
I smiled as warm fuzzies blossomed in my chest. She was so cute. Funny, but with wit—not coarse humor like Cruz. I craved more of that, along with her empathy.
When she’d insisted she head home last night, I’d been disappointed. Sure, I knew she had work to do in the kids’ files, which she’d told me, but I still hadn’t wanted her to leave. For the first time in ages, I’d felt as if my house was a home. I’d missed that feeling of belonging. I grabbed my phone and sent Keelie a text.
Morning, beautiful. I hope you have a great day making kids’ lives better. I’m going to practice. See you at five at your place.
I’d asked her if I could come over today to see her DIYed ceiling, and she’d agreed. Three dots appeared and a moment later, she replied:Morning! I’m on my second cup of coffee and about to head into the classroom.
Don’t let those rugrats push you around.
I smiled throughout practice, and not even Cruz’s surliness dampened my mood. But the message from my mother that I received after practice did.
“Cormac, what is this I hear about you seeing a woman?” her voicemail began.
She spoke in French, her preferred language. Because of her frustration and disdain, she sounded much more nasally than usual.
“You are bound still to Shannon. You took vows in the church. How can you turn your back on your wife like so?”
She continued her tirade, but I’d heard it all before. Still, my mother’s words left me unsettled, annoyed. Much as I wanted to call her back and respond with my anger, that would solve nothing. My parents were good people—honest, hardworking…naïve.
I wouldn’t change them, not now, so the best I could do was learn to accept them as they were. Not a simple task, and another reason I didn’t visit often.
Late that afternoon, I left the rink and stopped at the store to buy Keelie flowers—big, bold sunflowers because they reminded me of her smile. Then I drove on to the address she’d given me.
I pulled into her narrow driveway in a residential area about ten miles from the Medical Center and the Galleria. Built in the early fifties, each of the neighborhood’s ranch-style houses had a brick façade and a jewel-green grassy yard with a few trees. The garages were behind the homes, detached and less convenient for bringing in cold items during the months-long summer.
I headed up the front path, noting the cracked concrete where a tree’s root must have risen too close to the surface—not an uncommon issue in the city. The flowerbed surrounding her large oak bloomed with a variety of flowers, mostly pinks, lavenders, and light blues. I wasn’t knowledgeable about the blooms, but they were pretty. Keelie took pride in her home and her space. I reached the front and knocked on the glass storm door. Keelie and a cat greeted me—Keelie with a kiss, the cat with a meow. I loved the kiss.
“Mmm… I like that greeting,” I murmured against her lips.
She smiled even as she kissed me again. Being with Keelie was so natural, soright. I didn’t know how else to explain it.
