“Why the hell not?” he drawled lazily.
He did this, I realized. When my temper flared, he went ice-cold calm—not emotionless, but ice-cold amused, like he was mocking me.
Thearsehole!
“Why the…I don’t even know you.”
“Aw, come on, Dee, I saw your bits today in the bathtub,” he joked.
I blinked. I couldn’t believe it. Here I was, mad as a bag of cats, and he was behaving like he was at a tea party inGone With theFeckin’Wind.
He rose and put his hands on my shoulder, bent his head to kiss my angry mouth. It was a brush, light, soft, sweet.
I softened.
He was unraveling me.
“I don’t want your money,” I said petulantly.
He cuddled me to him and kissed my hair. “Maybe you don’t want it, but you do need money, mine or yours or someone else’s. It’s just money, Dee. It’s not a big deal.”
“Only people who have a lot of it saygobshitelike that,” she grumbled.
He laughed. “Gobshite. I think I’m gonna add it to my swearin’ repertoire. I have to say my swear game has been on the up and up since I came to Ballybeg.”
“I doubt it very much,” I scoffed.
“Feckin’ gobshitedoesn’t know his arse from his elbow and wouldn’t find it with a map and a flashlight.”
I nuzzled his chest, letting him ease me. “Not bad, Yank. You’re gettin’ the hang of it.”
He pulled back and grinned widely. “Oh, I’m just warmin’ up. How about:feckin’ useless gobshite, thicker than a bull’s arse in fly season.”
That got a proper laugh out of me. “I can hear you’ve been learning from Mickey.”
“I’m a quick study.”
I’d never had a man hold me like Jax was—look at me like I was precious, enough, more than he could believe. He made me feel wanted, and….
I took a shuddering breath, halting myself from going down a rabbit hole. If memory served me, Alice didn't do all that well when she took a tumble and almost lost her head.
“It takes a lot of practice, time, and effort to swear like a proper Irishman,” I chided.
“Then it’s a good thing I’m planning on stayin’, isn’t it, darlin’ Dee?”
My heart raced. I licked my lips. “I like the thought of that,” I admitted.
This time, when he kissed me, it wasn’t sweet; it was hot and made me want to do all kinds of naughty things with Jax Caldwell, two-time PGL Champion, who I was afraid would break my heart.
CHAPTER 16
Dee
Idon’t know how it happened.
We were on our Monday walk, the day after that gobshite letter came and destroyed my peace of mind, and Jax asked about the big project Paddy wouldn’t stop talking about.
“He exaggerates,” I quipped dryly.
