“Not bad for a pair of deflated bagpipes,” Jax shot back, wiping his hands on his jeans and coming back to sit at the bar.
“That was awful,” I told him as I poured him a shot of my good Irish whiskey. The lad deserved it.
Jax leaned forward and beckoned me closer with a come-hither gesture of his fingers. I leaned over the counter, and he put his lips close to my ear. “Darlin’, what that was…was me showing you how my mouth can play your pussy.”
I straightened and looked at him with mock disdain. “Jax Caldwell, you have a big ego.”
“What else does he have that’s big?” Paddy yelled from the other end of the bar.
Jax raised his pint. “A big co?—”
“Don’t you dare say that out loud in my place of business, Jax Caldwell,” I warned dramatically, my hands on my hips.
“Co…ld.” He did put on a show of fake coughing.
Everyone applauded.
“You having fun yet, Yank?” I asked.
“Yeah, baby, I’m havin’ the time of my life.” He flashed me an easy, disarming grin, his dimples going in deep.
My stomach flipped with sheer lust.
“You’ve been on your phone and computer a lot.” I leaned my elbows on the bar. Now that the villageknew we were together—and, yes, having sex—I didn’t feel the need to hide it or pretend otherwise. I was a straightforward lass, and this was what it was: a fling. Something fun while Jax was here.
For how long, though?
He’d be leaving soon, I reckoned.
From the bits and pieces I’d overheard when he was on the phone with someone named Brad—who I guessed was his agent or manager—it was clear he had other responsibilities piling up, ones that couldn’t be ignored.
He didn’t miss a thing because he tilted his head. “I have a few things in the air.”
“Things that need you to leave Ballybeg, I assume.” My heart thundered, and I felt a pain in the deep recesses of it and knew when Jax left, it would hurt…a lot.
“Yes,” he admitted. “There’s a meeting in London with some sponsors. I have a thing I need to do in Dublin.”
I nodded, keeping my face neutral. “Sounds like you’ve got a lot going on.”
“Dee, darlin’, ask me what you want to ask.”
“I’m just making conversation.” I was about to walk away when he grabbed my hand from across the counter.
“I told you when I leave, I’ll come back.”
He looked at me then, his eyes searching mine like he was trying to gauge my reaction. And I could’ve toldhim I’d be fine when he didn’t come back because I knew he wouldn’t. Why should he? But that would have been a lie. So, instead, I smiled softly. “It’s okay, Jax. Ballybeg isn’t the center of the universe. You’ve got a life to get back to.”
“Dee—”
“No, really,” I interrupted gently. “I mean it. I’ll miss you when you go. But I’ll be alright.”
It felt like someone had wedged a stone in my chest, but I wasn’t going to cry. Or beg. That wasn’t who I was. I’d spent too much of my life learning how to let people go. Jax Caldwell wasn’t going to be any different.
He looked like he wanted to say something, but then the music shifted, and the sound of Mickey’s bagpipes gave way to a lively reel from Noreen’s fiddle. Someone shouted for acéilí, and before I knew it, half the room was pushing tables and chairs aside to make space for the dancing.
“Dance with me, Dee, and when I have you locked in my arms, I hope you’ll do me the honor of actually listening to me and not to whatever you’ve got going in your head.”
He wasn’t angry, not overtly, but I could feel the steel in his tone.
