Riordan said nothing to that, but neither did he let go of Wade, shifting his grip to fold his fingers around Wade’s and hold his hand for the entire drive back to the hotel.
Wade was just glad he didn’t crash the car.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
They’d madeit down to the Ritz-Carlton lobby after the afternoon meeting in Wade’s penthouse suite when Saoirse abruptly stopped walking and spun around to face him. Riordan nearly tripped over his feet to stop himself from crashing into her.
“Go back upstairs,” Saoirse said, jabbing her finger into his chest.
“What?” Riordan asked dumbly.
“You’refixated.” Her gaze softened, even if the next jab of her fingers was just as hard as the first. “Donal is going to drive me home while you spend time with Wade.”
Riordan opened his mouth and made a strangled-sounding noise. “I’m not fixated!”
Saoirse rolled her eyes. “Please. Youfedhim, and you couldn’t keep your eyes off him during lunch. Go back upstairs.”
“How am I supposed to get back home, then? We’re not traveling alone.”
“Have Wade drop you off. Or don’t come home,” Donal said, raising one eyebrow.
Riordan palmed his face and groaned. “I’mfine.”
“You are twitchy as hell, boyo.”
“My jacket is at home.”
“That’s not it, and you know it.” Donal thumped him on the shoulder before shoving him around and giving him a push back toward the private elevator they’d come down in. “Give Wade a call. He’ll let you come back up.”
His terrible, interfering siblings left Riordan alone in the lobby of the hotel, and he couldn’t find it in himself to run after them. The idea of staying caught in his thoughts made him turn on his feet and head back to the private elevator accessible only by a key card he didn’t have. But he did have Wade’s phone number now, and he only hesitated a second before calling.
“Hey,” Wade said in that cheerful voice of his. “Did you forget something?”
“No, but can I come up anyway?”
“Sure, I’ll come down and get you.”
Wade ended the call, and Riordan shoved his phone into his back pocket, ignoring the way he could feel the eyes of the man at the concierge desk staring at him. Riordan’s clan had money, and his siblings had more than that with their pub business, but they weren’t flashy with it. Riordan knew he didn’t look like he was wealthy, but he’d never get to the level that Wade was casually comfortable with.
All thoughts of money and not belonging fled his mind when the elevator doors pinged open and Wade stepped out with a smile and smelling like the cookies he’d devoured at the tail end of the meeting. “Did you still have something you wanted to discuss?”
“Not about Niall. I was wondering if you had any other food spots on your list? I could take you there if you do.”
Wade tilted his head, some of his dark brown hair flopping across his forehead. “Are you even hungry?”
“Not really, but I don’t mind feeding you.”
He didn’t tell Wade it was a courting aspect of the kin, that offering food was a way to show he could take care of the other man. To prove that he couldgiveas opposed totake. That if Wade were a selkie, then his sealskin would be safe in Riordan’s hands.
Wade didn’t know that—couldn’t know that—not with Niall having cornered Riordan’s clan. But Riordan could pretend, for however long they had together here in Boston, that this fixation could turn into something more.
It would be a nice dream if he had to trade his skin for Saoirse’s. Something to keep him company in whatever nightmare Niall had planned.
“I eat a lot,” Wade warned, the fingers of his right hand tapping against his thigh.
“I’m aware,” Riordan said dryly. “I don’t mind.”
Wade beamed at him, eyes crinkling at the corners. “Is it walkable, or do you need air-conditioning because you’ll wilt like a flower?”
