Her voice floated toward him on the wind. "I suppose you don't just, like, never date until the right person shows up. And I wonder, I mean, what if you met the perfect girl but you were both six years old? Would you know then or would it wait? What if she moved away? What if you did? Would it mean you were absolutely definitely going to meet up again, or would it mean there might be somebody else out there who was just as perfect for you? I mean, God, what if she died?" Irina turned toward Mick, her face comically distressed. "It would be totally unfair if she was your one chance at true love and you knew you'd never be happy again without her! This is terrible, Mick!"
Mick blinked at her, astonished. "I never thought about any of that. I think it's…kinder than that? Like if I hadn't met—"He managed to just barely swallow sayingyou, and stumbled through, "—if I hadn't met—if I didn't meet—there's eight billion people in the world," he finally said. "Meeting the right one is always going to be a kind of magic."
Irina smiled suddenly. "That's true. All right, that makes me feel better somehow. So howdoyou know when you meet them?"
You should tell her,his gorilla said dryly, and Mick sort of thought it might have a point. "They feel right," he said as he got up to help bring the boat back into dock. "You find them attractive, obviously, maybe the most attractive person you've ever seen, but more than that, they feel right," he said again, a little helplessly. "Like you fit together like puzzle pieces. Like you want to share everything with them right away. Like they're a part of you that you didn't even know was missing."
"Sounds like you've met yours," Irina said a bit wistfully as the boat bumped into the pier and Mick sprang out to tie it off. "Lucky woman."
Mick swore that his actual soul groaned, and his gorilla examined him like he'd lost his head.Tell her,it repeated.
At this moment, Mick could hardly see a way around it without complicating things even more. So he offered Irina his hand while she climbed out of theFossey, and took a deep breath. "I have."
Her eyes widened again as she looked up at him. "Then why are you out on a boat with me, instead of spending time with her?"
He couldn't help a little smile. "Iamspending time with her."
"Well, I don't see how, since you're right—" Irina caught her breath, then flushed the prettiest dusky pink he'd ever seen, and whispered, "You don't mean…me? I'm your fated mate?"
"You are," Mick said almost helplessly. "I knew it as soon as I saw you at the wildlife park."
"Oh." Irina's blush deepened as she beamed up at Mick. "I think that's the most wonderful thing I've ever heard."
CHAPTER 9
If it waspossible to be wrapped in warm fuzzy joy from the inside, that was how Irina felt now. Coddled and cozy and safe and, well, warm and fuzzy. Strangely, Mick looked more like he felt relieved than happy, but Irina supposed confessing everything about shifters and fated mates might be more than a little nerve-wracking, so she couldn't entirely blame him for mostly being relieved. She said, "Hey," softly, and put her hand on his chest, though. "You okay?"
"I'm grand so." He put his hand over hers, smiling down at her, now with both relief and happiness. "I wasn't sure how you'd react, that's all. 'Wonderful' is better than I was hoping for."
His hand was so big over hers. Encompassing. Protective. Irina pressed her fingertips against his chest, wanting that connection. "I don't see how I could think it was anything else. I never would have imagined it, obviously, but now that it's here in my life and real, it's just…wonderful! I think it's the luckiest I've ever felt." She smiled impishly. "Maybe it'll help me do better at the competition tomorrow night."
"You did brilliantly last night," Mick said rather fiercely. "I meant it, Irina. You were robbed. I talked to one of the judges while you were doing the photoshoot and the man's a wanker. If you don't place well, it's because he's dead set against anybody but the Irish-born doing trad dance, so off he can feck, and his opinions with him."
A little twist of pain caught Irina's breath, then burst. "You mean it really might not be that I'm not very good?"
"Macushla, you're only brilliant, and I'll throw anybody who says otherwise into the harbor." Mick made a face at Irina's laugh. "Only I won't, because I'm a big softie even if I look like a proper thug."
"Hey! You don't. You're a big man, but that doesn't mean you look like a thug. For one thing, I don't think thugs dress as well as you do," Irina says, trying to tease, and to her relief, Mick ducked his head and grinned. She added, "Seriously, you dress amazingly. I'd love you to dress me."
A blush leaped to her face as she thought of the obvious reversal of that comment, but Mick blinked at her, obviously surprised. "You'd never."
"I totally would. You obviously know what you're doing. It was one of the first things I noticed about you." That and his thick, delicious thighs, but never mind that. "So many men, whether they're big or not, look like overstuffed sausages in tight clothes, but you…" She took half a step back to gesture at him. Although he was wearing jeans and a t-shirt now, they, like the slacks and sweater of the night before, fit him beautifully. "I don't know what it is, but your clothes really show off your body without looking like you're squeezed into them. It's really impressive. More men should dress like you do."
"D'you want to know my real secret?" Mick looked almost embarrassed, but Irina nodded eagerly. "I read yer man online, the menswear guy? I used to dress like those lads you're talkingabout, trying to show off all this—" He made a motion at himself, then lifted his shoulders like he'd actually try to hide inside himself.
"Hey." Irina put her hand on his chest again, then slid it to take his hand in her own. Both of her own, because his hands were huge, and it took both of hers to reallyholdhis. "Hey, listen to me. I don't know how much of allthis," she said with a nod at his big muscular self, "is because you're a shifter and that makes you be in crazy good shape, but I get the idea that they're not really related. Even if they are, you've obviously worked at being in top condition and you should absolutely not be embarrassed that you want to show that off a little. I would too! I do!" She gestured at herself. "I'm just not the same kind of big and strong that you are."
"You're tiny and perfect," Mick said, sounding dazed. "Thank you. Em. I." He wet his lips, looking honestly nervous. "Men aren't supposed to care that much, you know? But…you're right. Some of it's the shifter, like. I'm a big auld gorilla so. But I don't have to be this big as a man. I just like to lift the weights and get into that zone. So I want to look good, and…" He really looked mortified, until Irina simply couldn't stand it, and lifted up on her toes to press her mouth against his.
The kiss was salt-tanged, as fresh and sweet as the summer wind. Mick actually gasped, then wrapped his arms around Irina and lifted her off her feet. She wound her arms around his neck and kicked her feet, laughing into the kiss, which Mick broke so he could nuzzle his nose against hers. "Was I spiraling, then?"
"A little, maybe," Irina murmured. "Do you do that a lot?"
"I will if it gets me kissed!"
"You don't have to spiral to get kissed," Irina said, and kissed him again to prove it. The world went away around her, save for the warmth of the sunshine and the summer breeze, as she fell into the warmth and tenderness that was Mick's kiss. At leastuntil somebody whistled and applauded, at which point Mick laughed again, set her down, and took her hand.
"Maybe we should get off the piers, at least."
