"No, thankyou, it's doing me a favor. Tomorrow after we've seen what there is to see at Blarney, maybe?"
"Perfect." Tara smiled. "So I'll see you…well, bright and early, since I'm supposed to meet Ms Snootypants at nine."
Declan laughed out loud. "Snootypants?"
"Pretty sure that's her real last name," Tara said solemnly, and Declan laughed again.
"Sure and it's as fine an Irish name as I've ever heard. I'll meet you at the train station at…" He grimaced, thinking. "I'd say as early as eight, to get through the morning traffic. Will that be all right?"
"It will be if I go to sleep soon," Tara promised, and they parted ways so she could sleep and Declan could rush home and clean his studio, which wasn't fit for man nor beast, never mind his fated mate to do a photo shoot in. It kept him up far too late, and he had to stop for the world's largest coffee at his favorite local shop before meeting Tara at the train station. He brought her one, too, and when she emerged from the train with sleepy hazel eyes, her hair all tied up in a soft knot at the back of her head, and a sweet smile that lit into pure joy when she saw him and a takeaway cup, he felt as if he'd climbed the highest peaks and triumphed as a man.
And peacock,his bird said a bit sullenly.
Declan, halfway through the last sips of his own coffee, snorted the now lukewarm liquid and ended up giggling with coffee dribbling out his nose. Tara froze in the motion of taking her cup, eyes wide and confused before he mumbled, "My, uh, my bird thinks I'm not servicing him well enough?"
As soon as he spoke he knew he'd phrased it badly, and Tara's eyes brightened with tears of amusement that she managed to hold back long enough to say, "Are you telling me your cock isn't well-serviced?" and then turned so red, both from blushes and humor, that she actually staggered to one of the station's red brick walls and leaned against it, crying with laughter.
His peacock, offended and confused, said,Well, I'mnot!
"Lip service," Declan said desperately, knowing it was already far, far too late.
Tara threw her head back and absolutely howled, drawing attention from morning commuters and obviously not caring at all. "Lip service, Ibetyour cock isn't getting enough lip service!"
"I mean he thinks I'm not giving him enough credit, I mean—oh,God." Declan put his face in his hands, laughing while Tara near enough melted against the wall, weak with laughter. "I was thinking I'd done so well bringing you coffee!" Declan protested, still trying to make it better. "I felt like I'd done something amazing, like climbed Mount Everest! Like I was a triumph of a man!"
AND PEACOCK,his bird said again, and Declan, dying inside, gave up as Tara slid down the wall, giggling helplessly. She was absolutely beautiful, completely lost in the moment, a joy to watch, and Declan thought,God, I love this woman,before sinking down beside her and putting his arm around her shoulder. "I'm never coming back from this, am I?"
Tara tilted her head against his shoulder, still shaking with laughter. "No, but oh, man, you're perfect. Totally perfect. I've never laughed so hard in my life." She tipped her head up, looking at him, and Declan dipped his head to kiss her.
Chapter 7
Declan's second kiss was as good as his first one. Well, maybe not quite as good, because she was still laughing so hard her tummy hurt, but in its way, that also made it even better. Tara couldn't remember ever feeling so easy and happy with someone, and she was pretty sure she'd never laughed that hard before nine in the morning before. It almost felt like she'd spent her whole life waiting to meet this man, and that now she had, everything going forward was going to be just that little bit extra wonderful, forever. She stole another kiss, trying not to giggle any more, then tried to look stern. "I don't just go around kissing any man who brings me coffee, you know. Only ones with a—" She broke down again, wiping tears of laughter away as she wheezed, "with a beautiful cock," and threw her head back to laugh again.
Declan made a short sound of distress as she did, but it all happened too fast for her to stop the motion before she whacked the back of her head solidly against the brick wall she was leaning against. Stars shot through her gaze and she yowled, grabbing her head. Her hair, mostly: she'd put it in a thick twist that morning, and it had cushioned the impact. "I'm okay, I'mokay!" she said through the stars behind her eyes, then groaned. "Notgreat, but okay. Ow, but also, thank God I put my hair up today. See," she added severely, "this is what happens when you make me laugh before coffee."
"I'm so sorry!" Declan said with real dismay, and Tara couldn't help another, slightly pained, laugh.
"It's not your fault. All right, ow, okay, let's go. I'm going to sit in the nice safe car with the headrest that means I can't smack my head like that again, and drink coffee until I'mawakeenough to not smack my head like that again. Oh, Declan, that was funny." She smiled at him while he got to his feet, then let him pull her up to standing, too, and smiled some more. "This trip has been more fun than I expected already, if nothing likewhatI expected."
"Let's go see if we can figure out if this woman is harmless and then spend the rest of your holiday doing what you expected," Declan offered.
"She's not harmless," Tara announced. "And I'm not sure I want to do what I expected, anymore." Not if doing Declan McCarthy,not that she would ever think something that crude or in those terms,was a possibility. Aloud—too loudly, probably—she said, "I mean, this 'take the adventure as it comes' thing is turning out to be more fun than my tightly planned itinerary," and then she decided she should concentrate on drinking her coffee before she said anything irretrievably stupid. She really, reallylikedDeclan. It would be best if he didn't think she was a huge dork.
Although probably he didn't kiss people he thought were huge dorks. He probably especially didn't kiss people he thought were huge dorksthat well.
Tara drank her coffee and stared over the brim, eyes wide, while she lingered in the memory of those kisses. Eventually, several minutes into their car journey, she trusted herselfenough to say, "This is really good coffee," and Declan gave her a blinding smile.
"Three Fools. It's my favorite coffee spot in Cork. I can avoid workall dayby going there."
"And apparently by escorting random Americans around Cork on a whim. Do you just have a long list of ways to avoid work?"
"I've never tried the escorting tourists one before, and I think there's only one tourist I want to do it with. Assuming I meet her standards." Declan slid her a much shyer smile.
Warm happiness spilled through Tara, although she tried to sound as snooty as Colette Saunier as she said, "You'll do, I suppose."
Apparently it worked, because he laughed. "I should have asked some of the other peacock shifters to come out to Blarney with us today, so we could shed a lot of feathers and make certain to have the site security catch her in the act. Though if she's carrying that case of feathers around again…"
"I looked her up last night," Tara said. "Her actual last name is O'Connor, so I guess she comes by that Irish accent honestly."
