Emily slept a bit on the drive over to her nana’s place. Conor tried to concentrate on the road but instead his mind kept going over the threats. If the cops found out it was a member of his staff, he would kill them. His knuckles whitened on the wheel. No, killing would be too quick. He would beat them to a pulp and then hand them over to the police. Nobody deserved to be treated the way Emily had been, and especially not a defenseless old lady like her grandmother.

“Emily, we’re here.”

“Oh, wow, I didn’t think I would sleep. Sorry. I hope I wasn’t snoring.”

“No, but the drooling was rather…interesting.”

He smiled as she pinked up, putting a hand to her mouth. “I don’t drool.”

“I know, I was teasing.”

Conor grinned at her. He knew he was acting like a stupid teenager but he didn’t care. She made him feel lightheaded and carefree. When he wasn’t thinking about the threats, that was. He couldn’t stop thinking of Emily, her smile, how sexy she was, her kissable lips…

“Earth calling Conor?”

“Sorry, miles away. Do you want me to come in with you?”

Emily looked from him to the home and back again. “I’m not sure. I don’t know if she will come with me if I go in alone but if you come, too, she might worry.”

“Maybe you can introduce me as your new friend and tell her we’re taking a short trip.”

Emily blushed bright red. He couldn’t work out what he had said wrong, but she wouldn’t look at him.

“What is it?”

“I don’t like lying,” she replied.

“You aren’t. Not really. We are new friends and we are going on a trip.”

“Conor, we’re going to stay with you at your place.”

“Exactly. You don’t have to say you’re going on a long trip.”

She looked at him, a severe look on her face. “You have a way of twisting words.”

“Ah, you know what they say about us Irish. We are the only people in the world that can tell someone to go to hell in such a nice way, they look forward to the trip.”

Emily stared at him for a couple of seconds before laughing. “I don’t know what my grandmother is going to make of you.”

“She will love me. All little old ladies do.”

Emily rolled her eyes but didn’t comment further. He parked the car and jumped out, opening her door before she got a chance to move.

“Come on, new friend. Let’s go get her.”

Emily stopped him by putting her hand on his arm. “If I forget to tell you, I want you to know how much I appreciate you doing this.”

His skin tingled from her touch. He wanted to pull her into his arms and kiss the fear from her eyes. Instead, he smiled. “My pleasure. I get to have a live-in baker. What’s your gran like at cooking?”

She batted his arm, grinning as they walked into the retirement home. Conor had to make an effort to mask his reaction. The place was nothing like the home his gran had lived in after his granddad had died. Gran’s retirement home had been filled with light and laughter. The walls were painted fresh colors and the beautiful indoor plants and flowers meant the air was sweet.

This place smelled like a neglected hospital with horrible odors he didn’t want to identify competing for dominance. The walls were painted a sickly greenish color and the corridor floors seemed to have missed a mop for over twenty years. His stomach turned and he had to fight the instinct to run back outside.

“I know. It’s horrible, but it’s all we can afford at the moment.” Emily apologized as they walked down one hallway, their feet sticking to the floor.

He obviously hadn’t masked his reaction properly. Hating the fact he had insulted her and pushed her to apologize, he put his arm around her shoulders. “We will find something nicer when this is all over.”

What was he doing promising things like that to someone he just met?

* * *

Emily looked up at him, her emotions caught between shame and gratitude. She was so embarrassed for him to see where her grandmother was living. She should be grateful to him for trying to make her feel better, but in reality his generosity was making her feel worse. If she had taken a decent job like Brian kept telling her to, she could have afforded better care for her grandmother. She should have insisted her nana sell the apartment and use the funds to pay the higher fees associated with nicer retirement homes. She had let her grandmother down. And now she had placed her in danger. What sort of person did that to the only family who cared about her?

“Is your gran ill?”

“If you mean is she senile or living with dementia, the answer is no. She has a couple of medical conditions that require regular checkups, so she moved into this place. I wanted her to live at the apartment with me but she wouldn’t. She said the stairs would kill her.”

Conor didn’t respond. Did he not believe her? She wasn’t the type of person to push her grandparent into a home but how would he know that? They didn’t know much about each other. They were still strangers. Strangers about to share a home. Why had she agreed to this? She could have stayed with Carrie. But then Carrie’s place was too small and her lifestyle would make her grandmother feel awkward. Jason had offered, but his place was even smaller. There was nobody else she knew well enough. Not that she knew Conor well, but for some reason she felt comfortable with him.

“The next room is Nana’s. I’d better go in first to check if she is up to receiving visitors.”

Conor nodded and stood at the door. As she moved to open the handle and hesitated, he gave her a quick kiss on her head. “It will be fine. Go on. Call me on my cell when you’re ready to leave.”

She forced a smile before entering the room with a cheerful, “Hello, Nana.”