Chapter 10

There was absolutely no way Clare was going to be able to eat now. Not after what had just transpired with Rory. Every time he got close to her, she lost her ability to even think rationally. Her heart was still pounding against her ribs, threatening to tear through and make a run for it.

Clare bit her lip, thinking about the sweat that had been glistening on his perfectly sculpted and wide biceps jutting out from underneath a loose tank top over long gym shorts. He had towered over her, making her feel so small, which she liked for some reason.

Casey, having just returned to the front counter, raised one brow as she watched her friend. “You look like you’re deep in thought there.”

“Huh? No, I’m not.” Clare tried to push the image of Rory’s flat, solid torso and his thick, muscular legs out of her mind, but she felt her cheeks flush, giving her away.

“I see our food coming and I’m starving, so I’m just going to pretend you’re not totally full of shit right now.”

“Your deliveryman is here, ladies!” Kane announced, waltzing in the door carrying a big brown paper bag.

“Finally!” Casey grabbed the bag out of his hands and tore into it, finding her sandwich.

“You’re welcome, Casey.”

Casey already had one end of her sandwich stuffed into her mouth, so she just nodded and waved her hand.

“Here, you’ve got the mutt, so I’m assuming you’re the one in charge of feeding it.” Kane handed Clare a wrapped sandwich that actually said Ace across the top in black marker.

“You’re delivering dog food now?” Clare grinned, taking the sandwich and unwrapping it, still unsure how she had wound up with the job.

“Hey, doesn’t this come with a pickle…” Casey piped up, trailing off as Kane shot her an irritated look. He grabbed his and Rory’s sandwiches and stalked off, muttering under his breath dramatically.

“You could have at least thanked him, girl,” Clare scolded lightly.

“Eh, yeah, but Kane is too full of himself. I like to knock him down a few pegs every once in a while.”

Clare placed the unwrapped sandwich on the ground and watched for a moment as the dog devoured it quickly. The women followed suit and ate their sandwiches, chatting for an hour before the gym started to get busy, forcing Casey to focus on manning the front desk. Clare had to be at work soon, so she headed out to take the short walk over to O’Leary’s. It was cold as usual, so she was glad that she was wrapped in a jacket, but she wasn’t eager to walk home tonight when it would be even colder.

She smiled as she shuffled into the bar, wondering if Rory would be there to walk her home tonight. She knew he would be, but every time he was, she couldn’t help but wonder if it was the last. She didn’t exactly have faith in him to be reliable, not with all the drinking he still took part in. And if her past had taught her anything, it was that men took what they wanted and left once they had it.

Despite those doubts and what she had learned to expect in the past, Rory had just stolen her phone number. She didn’t know what else to call it, but it definitely wasn’t the action of a disinterested man. The thought excited and terrified her all at once. She had agreed to a date. An actual date.

Do people even go on those anymore?

She was pretty sure her last date has been in middle school, way before Travis, and had involved going to the mall together to walk around awkwardly and grab a soft pretzel. The kind of date where you barely acknowledged the other one existed, and then bragged about it to all your friends in the cafeteria the next day.

“Clare, can you not give out our phone number to your friends? This is a place of business, not your home. Don’t you have a cellphone or something?” A barrage of accusations and questions were flung at her the moment she treaded through the back door into O’Leary’s back office.

“What are you talking about, Cian?”

“I’ve gotten four calls today asking for you! This is not a place to socialize. It’s a place to work.” Cian narrowed his eyes at her, then tossed his hands up and lumbered away.

“Uh, okay?” she said to no one in particular as she paced over to the employee lockers and put her things away, wondering who was calling her.

Her stomach was immediately in knots. Everyone she wanted to be in contact with had her new cellphone number, but no one from her old life knew where she was or where she was working. She didn’t have any friends here, unless you counted Casey and the Kavanagh brothers—but she had been with them all morning at the gym.

She tied her apron around her waist and walked out to the bar, pulling her hair back into a bun. Anxiety settled in the back of her mind as she breathed deeply and tried to push away the dark thoughts of everything she had run from. Everything that she had done.

It couldn’t be him; he couldn’t possibly know where she was.

She had been very careful to cover her tracks.

Luckily, the bar was already busy with patrons, so she was able to forget about her worries and focus on mixing drinks and serving customers. She was becoming better at making drinks, and people were starting to ask for her, becoming her regulars. Most of them were men who were just hoping they would get a chance to see her bend over, but hey, at least they tipped well.

Many weary, nonstop hours later, Clare closed and locked the front doors of the bar after saying good-bye to the last patron. She began putting the chairs up and wiping the tables down as Cian emptied the register and worked on counting the day’s profits. As Clare was finishing up the last of her tasks and collecting her things from her locker in the back of the restaurant, she heard a knocking on the metal back door.

“It’s almost two in the damn morning! What’s your boyfriend doing on my camera?” Cian shouted out from the office, a few feet away from the monitors for the bar’s security cameras.

“I’ll get it,” she responded, attempting to mask her excitement at the idea of Rory being on the other side of the door.

Her breath hitched when she opened the back door and the light from the restaurant fell over Rory, standing in the dark alley. His silver eyes were almost glistening, but somehow still held a darkness to them that made her shiver. She leaned against the doorway and smiled at him. All worries and thoughts about the strange phone calls earlier completely disappeared the moment she laid eyes on him.

Clare spoke first as he stepped toward her. “I thought you said one of these days you might not be here.”

He touched her shoulder, then slowly slid his hand down to her elbow. “I wouldn’t want you to miss me.”

She felt her skin heat beneath his fingers as she bit her lip. His arm was all muscle; from his bulging bicep to his rounded forearm, he radiated strength. She noticed an image on his forearm that she briefly remembered, but realized that she had never stopped to inspect it before. She couldn’t make out what it was, since it disappeared under the sleeve of his shirt.

“Are you done with work?”

“Almost. Why?”

“I have plans for us and I am not a patient man.” His voice was lowered, husky, and inviting. Her eyes flickered up to his.

“Oh, um, yeah, I’m done,” she stammered, lumbering back to hurriedly grab her purse and coat.

“I’m leaving, Cian!” she called out, as she followed Rory toward the door.

“You better have finished all your side work,” she heard him grumble, but she ignored him as Rory grabbed her hand and pulled her out the door.

“Where’s Ace?” she asked, glancing around them.

“I left him with Quinn for the night—he’ll bring him to the gym tomorrow. I felt bad the other night when I stayed over and forgot to feed him dinner. But tonight is about us.”

“Oh, yeah? What type of plans did you make?” Clare asked him as he wrapped his hand around hers, savoring the warmth of her tiny fingers between his. She stiffened at the intimate contact, although he wasn’t sure why.

“You never heard of a surprise, Clare?” He began directing her down a different street than they usually took home.

“Not all surprises are good ones,” she said softly.

He detected a hint of sadness in her voice, as though there was a story behind that lesson learned. He made a note to himself to find out more, but tonight was to be all about good things. Happy surprises only. Someone had definitely taken his time disappointing and breaking this woman, and Rory wanted nothing more than to build her back up.

“Mhuirnín, my surprises will always be good ones.” He lifted her hand to his mouth and pressed his lips softly against its back, catching her emerald eyes with his.

“So, you’re not going to tell me at all?”

“Not one hint.”

“What if you’re kidnapping me?” She giggled and he warmed, enjoying hearing her laugh.

“I would never do something you don’t want. Whatever happens tonight, mhuirnín, you will be begging me for it.” He winked at her, her cheeks turning bright red.

“Well, you can get those thoughts right out of your head, mister,” she said in an unsteady voice after a moment’s silence.

“What thoughts?”

“You know—all that stuff you were just insinuating. Just because the other night happened doesn’t mean it’s going to happen again,” she said uncomfortably, turning an even brighter shade of red that he couldn’t help but find adorable.

Rory couldn’t stop from laughing at her uncertain response. He could tell she was worried about not appearing easy to get into bed. He knew without a doubt that she wasn’t that type of woman—everything about her was poised and strong. Their night together hadn’t been common; no part of it would ever come close to that in his mind.

“It’s not funny!” Clare tried to sound mad, as she clearly didn’t appreciate being laughed at. It wasn’t very convincing, though, since her hand was still wrapped tightly in his and she was still willingly following him.

“Clare, would you feel better if I promised that you’re completely in charge of anything that may or may not happen physically tonight?” The moment he said it, he hoped she would say no.

He really didn’t want to make that promise and was shocked that the words had even come out of his mouth. His main concern was that he was already having a hard enough time right now not pushing her up against a wall and burying himself deep inside her. He was suddenly thankful that none of his brothers were around to see him fall so blatantly over a girl that he would fully give up the reins to her.

“Actually, it would.”

Damn it.

“Fine, Clare Ivers. You have my sworn vow that no matter how much you try to seduce me tonight, I will not give in to your temptress ploys and let you have your way with me.”

“Well, I didn’t say that,” she backtracked, smacking his chest playfully with her free hand.

“Then I take it all back,” he teased as they fell in step beside each other.

Things went quiet between them as they rounded the final corner to his destination. He knew that if it was daylight, she would already recognize where they were, but Woodlawn appeared much different at night. It was still, and sometimes gloomy.

“If you’re taking me to work out, that wouldn’t be a good surprise. It might even be a little offensive.”

“For someone who isn’t from here, you’re really starting to learn your way around, huh?” He saw her lift her chin in pride, and he resisted the urge to kiss her right then.

“Well, what are we doing, then?”

“Jeez, Clare, can’t you just let me have my moment here?” He pulled the keys to the gym out of his pocket.

“We’re having a moment now?” she responded sarcastically, pulling her hand out of his and crossing her arms as he fiddled with the lock on the door.

He got it open and turned to face her, grabbing her elbow and pulling her toward his chest. She was close, but not touching him. He could still smell the hint of vanilla she seemed to always walk around in. He paused just long enough to see her chest begin to rise and fall quickly and her lashes flicker up to meet his eyes.

“No, I’m having a moment, and you’re the woman I want to spend it with.” His voice was soft and sincere, and he meant what he said.

He had never done anything before like he was about to do for Clare. He didn’t understand it, but he didn’t want to stop, either.

She licked her lips, and as she turned from him and walked through the door he was holding open, he saw her tremble slightly, making him want to break his promise to her right then and there.