She scowled at him but eventually rolled her eyes and admitted, “You know I am.”
“Through good times and bad, baby. I just have to survive your dad, and we’re golden,” he teased.
“Christ, have mercy,” she moaned. “Dad.”
Her grimace said it all. Thomas MacGregor would be a tough sale. “Don’t stress, baby. If my offer goes through, which it will, I want to be in by Christmas. Can you manage the new pub, our home, and school?”
Her head hit his chest, and her groan of exasperation vibrated his collarbone. “You’re a shithead, Ciar Murphy.”
“But you love me anyway?”
“I do, fool that I am.”
thirteen
GRAY
An hour later,and Gray was still kicking her ass over the love comment. Why had she said that? Why in the hell had she admitted that?
“Christ, Gray, you airheaded numpty.” No amount of whisky shots could erase that she’d admitted her feelings to Ciar. Groaning in mortification, she leaned heavily against Blair’s spare frame, wishing her friend could put a Harry Potter invisibility cloak over her shoulders to cover her shame.
Blair leaned into Gray and rasped “What?” in her ear.
She faced Blair, so signing wouldn’t be necessary. “I may or may not have told Ciar that I love him.”
Blair, bless her, faced Gray, turning her back on their friends so she could sign privately. “Do you?”
Gray covered her face with both hands, wishing she could bang her head against the bar top at her back. Facing her friend, she admitted, “Yes, but I hadn’t planned on admitting it quite so soon, damn it.”
Ciar never blinked an eye, but he also didn’t reciprocate the sentiment. His attentiveness never wavered, and Gray couldadmit that she liked their relationship being open—but the not knowing how he truly felt about her sucked.
Despite not loving her back, she had made a commitment to their relationship, and because of that, she called her parents earlier to break the news, not willing to chance Daniel or Jonathan telling one of their parents and it getting back to Scotland.
She phoned her mom earlier, knowing it was a weekend and that her dad would be close. Her mom answered, “Gray, sweetheart, I’ve been thinking of you. Isn’t Colorado crazy amazing?”
“I love it here. I’m not ready to come home. It’s been so much fun. Is Dad around?”
Her mom hollered for her dad to come to the kitchen. “Okay. You’re on speaker. It’s Gray,” her mom told her dad, who must have joined her.
“Hey, Dad.” She made sure her tone was upbeat and confident.
“Gray. What’s wrong?”
Of course. There was no faking anything with that man.
Mom chided, “Thomas. Lay off, will you?”
“Nothing’s wrong, I just wanted to tell you both some exciting news.”
“Oh?” her mom asked, starting to sound nervous.
“What the fuck is going on, Gray?”
Dad never did well with his youngest daughter coloring outside the lines. She decided to just come out with it and deal with the fallout from a continent away.
“Ciar and I are…we’re dating. He’s my boyfriend,” she winced at how juvenile that sounded. Her mom oohed and aahed. She’d always had a soft spot for Ciar. Her father didn’t take the news the same way.
“Tell that tattooed bastard that I’ll be expecting him on my doorstep sooner than later.”
