He made a querying noise and broke the kiss, eyebrows rising curiously. "Do I kiss funny?"
Aoife laughed. "No. I was thinking about conditioning your lion's mane."
A pained expression crossed his face. "It wouldn't like that at all. Lions don't like water very much."
"Then I won't." Aoife smiled at him from up close. "Sorry. I couldn't think of another way to get you to stop talking."
"Please know that you have my permission to stop me from talking in that fashion at any time," Elliott told her formally, and then a little more shyly, said, "So it's not too much?"
"Oh, it'ssomuch," she assured him. "But I've spent all day just really feeling like you've got my back and you understand me and that we're connected somehow, and it's, one," she flicked up a finger, "nice to know it's not just me, and two," a second finger, and a little grin, "pretty cool to realize it's actualmagic. I mean, talk about fairy tales come true."
"I just don't want to put this weird pressure on you," Elliott said apologetically. "But it seemed like something I shouldn't hide, either. I really am, and will be, here for you. Although I'm kind of stuck at the wildlife park for a lot of the next week."
Aoife's grin widened. "Well, you're in luck, because so am I." She grimaced. "At least, assuming Dr. Kelly doesn't fire me for totally blowing it with the investors today.
"She won't," Elliott said with confidence. "If she tries, I'll bite her."
Aoife laughed out loud. "Oh, that'd go over just brilliantly. What is she? Smaller than you?"
"I don't actually know," Elliott admitted. "And it's kind of rude to ask. I just assume most shifters are smaller than me. Lions are big. Grizzlies are bigger," he said with wide eyes. "Especially shifter grizzlies. And the birds. I told you about the birds. But I outweigh them…."
"Tell you what. Let's have dinner andnotget in any fights with other shifters," Aoife suggested. "And then I guess I'll send you back out to the park to tuck yourself into your nice cozy lion den? I can't bring you home," she added. "I've three housemates and a squeaky bed."
To her delight, Elliott blushed furiously. "I wouldn't have presumed!"
"Ah, youarea sound lad, aren't you?" Aoife kissed him again, reveling in the softness of his mouth against hers, then had to climb out of his lap and return to her own chair as the waitress brought dinner. "Well, then, if you're my destiny, Elliott Harkness, why don't you tell me all about yourself?"
CHAPTER 12
“Your destiny is from Iowa,” Elliott said, as if they hadn’t covered that already. He felt like he suddenly had no idea how to talk to her, though. She’d taken the news about fated mates so well, and now he was just a big dumb lunk from Iowa. “Land of corn and potatoes.”
"My kind of state," Aoife said with a laugh. “What made you decide to come to Ireland?”
“The corn and potatoes,” Elliott replied solemnly.
Aoife laughed again. She had a deeper laugh than he would have expected, almost furry in its softness. “Well, I have bad news for you on one front, then, but Ireland will never disappoint you in potatoes. C’mere to me now, do you want to go out to the pub after we’ve eaten? There’s a trad pub up the street and there’ll be music tonight.”
“A ‘trad pub?’”
“Where they play traditional music and have céilís. A party,” she said before he asked. “And it’s spelled C E-fada I L I-fada but pronounced kaylee.”
“Ee-fada?” Elliott asked hopelessly.
Aoife’s grin suggested she’d done this to him on purpose. “It’s just the accent mark over the letters. It means the E and the I are pronounced A and E, in this case.”
“It’s like a foreign language,” Elliott said, wide-eyed, and Aoife snorted.
“It is, pet. It’s Irish.”
They ate their way through a remarkable amount of Chinese food, although when Elliott finally pushed his plate away, Aoife examined her own, then, straight-faced, said, “Looks like you ate the lion’s share.”
He felt an expression of complete dismay slacken his face. Aoife threw her head back and pealed laughter at herself. “All right, come on, let’s pay and go for a walk, it’s too early yet for the céilí.”
“It’s almost eight o’clock!”
Aoife gave him an amused, almost pitying look. “You Americans and your early nights. It’s an hour before half of them will even show up, and more than that before the party really gets going.”
“Hey, cats like to sleep!” Elliott rose and managed to pay for dinner before Aoife could object, then, feeling pleased with himself, accepted the fortune cookies they were offered, and followed Aoife out into the city. He’d follow her anywhere, he thought, and not just because watching her walk was a revelation in how sexy a small woman could be. She simply made his heart sing.
