With a contented sigh, I leant down to kiss him gently.
“Kieran, I’m already yours.”
***
A week later, I was still walking on air. After a packed schedule of back-to-back dress fittings and appointments, I was glad to turn the shop over to Mum for the day. I yearned to spend it with Kieran, but Con hadn’t been joking about stepping up the training. He pushed himself from sun up to sun down. I had never seen such single-minded focus in anyone before, and I couldn’t be prouder. I was more than a little nervous about the fight, but Kier promised me that he wouldn’t lose. With everything in me, I believed him.
We snatched small pockets of time together whenever we could, making it work. He had invaded my thoughts so completely, it was hard remembering what life pre-Mr Doherty was like, much less why I’d resisted his charms in the first place.
I wandered leisurely down the aisles of the supermarket, taking my time just because I could. So consumed was I by thoughts of Kieran and how finely he’d trained my body to respond to his touch that I didn’t feel him coming up behind me until it was too late.
“Fancy meeting you here,” Alastair said, so close in my personal space that I could feel his breath on my neck. I dropped the peach that I was holding, and he caught it. Bringing it slowly to his mouth, he bit into it, sucking on the juice to stop it from dripping. To say that I was creeped out was a massive understatement.
“Um, hi, Alastair,” I replied. I couldn’t bring myself to spout out the usual pleasantries. It wasn’t nice to see him, and I knew exactly what he was doing here. This supermarket was five minutes from my apartment and more than half an hour’s drive away from his home across London.
“Hello, Marie. I wonder if you might spare me a few minutes to talk?” he said, looking at me intently.
“Umm,” I said, glancing around and trying desperately to think of a reason why I had to be somewhere else just then. “Sure, I guess, but I can’t stop long. I have an appointment in a little while that I need to get to.”
“Of course,” he said, smiling broadly in a way I was sure he thought was charming. “Look, I don’t really want to talk in the aisle. There’s a little coffee shop in the back. Why don’t we grab a coffee? Then I can leave you to get back to your day.”
I really felt awkward that, even after our last conversation, he still wasn’t taking the hint. It felt wrong to be doing this, but the fact that he was here meant that I needed to set him straight. Hiding from him wouldn’t accomplish anything. My basket was empty, so I left it by the door and followed him to the coffee shop. At this time of day, the place was pretty packed, which made me feel a little better. It wasn’t that I was uneasy about Alastair himself. I wouldn’t have continued our association in the first placeif that had been the case. It was more his persistence that a relationship between us could work that made me uncomfortable. Surely I wasn’t the only one to see that we had nothing in common and that there was no chemistry between us.
I sat down at a table, worrying over what I would say. When he joined me, Alastair brought a pot of tea and a blueberry muffin. I didn’t particularly like blueberry muffins, but now that I thought of it, he often took it upon himself to order for me.
“This is nice,” he said, pouring tea for us both. “I’m so busy at the office most days that I don’t often get to sit down like this, rather like you I expect.”
“I’m so sorry if I sound rude, Alastair, but what are you doing here? After our last conversation, I wasn’t expecting to see you again.” I hated to be so blunt, but it needed saying.
He stirred his coffee and dropped his spoon a little sharply. I sensed that he wasn’t particularly impressed with my directness. “I must admit you took me by surprise the last time that we spoke. I wasn’t prepared to hear that you’d abandoned any idea of a relationship between us and taken up with another man, especially without giving me a chance to plead my case.”
“Alastair, you shouldn’t have to plead your case. If I thought that there was enough spark between us to make things work, I would have said. We’re friends, but I’m not the kind of girl you need at all.”
He leant his elbows on the table and steepled his hands together while staring at me in a way that made me feel a little uncomfortable.
“Marie, the very first time I saw you, I knew you were the one for me. Call it love at first sight if you will. I knew then that I’d do whatever it took to get to know you and for you to get to know me.”
“But… our first meeting was completely random, wasn’t it?” I asked.
“Of course not. I don’t leave things like meeting the love of my life to chance. I’m the master of my own fate.”
“How can you believe we’re meant to spend our lives together from one look? You didn’t know anything about me.”
“There are somethings you just know, Marie. I never forgot about you. Never stopped engineering a way for us to meet. When we finally did, I was sure you would feel the same magnetic pull that I did. I was terribly disappointed when you didn’t, but I knew that, given time, once you could see the real me and understand the life I could give you, you’d come around. I know all about your heart. I know everything about you, and still I want you. This chemistry that you’re so worried about is there. You just need to get to know the person I am now to give yourself a chance to see it.”
I took a deep breath, but for the first time in a long while, breathing wasn’t that easy. I told myself to calm down, knowing it must be the stress of the situation causing my heart to beat so fast.
“Honestly, Alastair, I’m not sure how to feel about all this. The fact that you went to such great lengths to get to know me is flattering, but I feel uncomfortable that you won’t accept that I don’t feel the same way. Whatever compelled you to get to know me, I think it best to end things here and leave it at that.” I wanted Kieran so desperately right then. I knew if I called him, he’d come. But this was my battle to fight.
I got up from the table, and he looked shell-shocked, as though he couldn’t believe I’d walk away after everything he’d told me.
“Goodbye, Alastair. I hope that someday you’ll find what you’re looking for.” I leant down to give him an awkward hug.
Abandoning any thoughts of food shopping, I headed home. My head throbbed unbearably, and as I willed one foot in front of the other, I wondered if I could keep going long enough to face plant in the middle of my bed and sleep the rest of the day away.
Chapter Thirteen
Kieran
Meeting Stella Kelly was hands down the scariest thing I’d ever done. I felt like I was on one of those game shows where you put one foot wrong and you fell into the water, disqualifying you from the game permanently. Irish loved her family fiercely, and from what she’d told me, they were all very close. It only took five minutes for me to see where she fit into the family dynamic. She might have been the first-born child, but her Ma and brothers closeted and protected her as though she was the youngest. Something told me that, with her heart condition, it was something they’d always done. They all still respected her though. In a loud family, she was by far the quietest, but when she had something to say, everyone listened. Still, I wondered if she liked me well enough to keep me if her family didn’t approve. My palms were sweating as I worried on it. I’d never given a shit about whether anyone liked me before, but I never had my heart riding on anything like I did then.
“Why don’t you like me pasta then, Kieran?” Stella asked me, as she piled green vegetables on her plate and then passed the dish to me.
“It’s not that I don’t like pasta, Mrs Kelly. I’m sure that yours is delicious. It’s just that I have a professional fight coming up soon, and my trainer will skin me alive if I eat anything that isn’t on my diet plan. But if you’ll have me, I’d love to come over and try some when my fight is done,” I replied.
Tristan snorted in amusement at my sucking up to his ma. She caught him, gave him a filthy look, then smacked h
im on the arm before turning back to me. I tried not to look smug, ’cause Irish’s other brothers were all still staring at me like they’d like to drag me down into the basement and take turns beating the crap out of me. Sensing my tension, Irish slid her arm under the table and squeezed my thigh, leaving her arm resting there. I was sure she meant it as a gesture of affection and support, but damn if it wasn’t making my dick jump. If I didn’t get this fight over with soon, I was going to end up walking around with a permanent hard-on. No doubt it would have given my boys a laugh, but here? Walking around with a hard-on was likely to get me castrated.
“Of course you are invited to come back here and eat,” Mrs Kelly said. “As long as you and my Marie are courting, you are always welcome here. And please call me Stella. I feel too young for you to be calling me by my mother-in-law’s name, God rest her soul.” Stella did the sign of the cross as she said it, and I paused to look at what everyone else was doing before deciding whether I should too.
“So, Kieran,” said Luca, “what are your long-term career plans?”
I held back a smile at the serious, almost condescending tone in which he said it. Then I remembered that Luca was only asking questions that Irish’s da would have asked me if he’d been there. I knew all about stepping in for the man of the house, so I decided to answer with the respect I would given if her da had still been there.
“I’ve worked construction since I left school. It’s what my da did before he died,” I explained. “But I’ve been fighting since before that. I enjoyed building, but unless I open me own firm, I was never gonna earn a great wage. So when me best friend Con became a professional fighter and asked me to come on board as his full-time trainer, I knew that’s what I wanted to do. I love boxing, and I’m good at it. Plus, the money is a lot better, so I’m actually getting to put some away now.”
It was like being at an interview for the most important job I’d ever applied for. My profession likely wouldn’t be as impressive as if I was a doctor or a lawyer or something, but I wasn’t ashamed of what I did. I was bloody good at it.
“And where do you boys all work, if you don’t mind me asking,” I said. Of course, Irish had already told me, but I was hoping to deflect the conversation away from me.
“Wow, Marie can’t like you that much if she hasn’t told you about us,” Matt said. Of course I’d shortened Matteo’s name in my head. It was pretty much the only way I could pay back the dick while he sat round a table with his ma. Turns out that Stella had my back, and she gave Matt a smack to the head this time.
“Stop intimidating him, boys. Kieran is a nice boy, and you’ll scare him away,” Stella said.
“If he scares away that easily, then he’s not good enough for Marie,” Luca pointed out, making me smile. I was beginning to like this guy more and more. I could see where he was coming from too. They’d been protecting Irish their entire lives, but it was my turn now. Her heart was in my hands, and it was mine to protect. There was no one on this earth that could protect her and care for her like I could.
“Luca,” Irish chastised. It was a gentle rebuke though because she knew what they were doing. She’d warned me that, as she’d never brought a guy home before, she expected them to be pretty much feral.
“Cool your jets, little sis. We just want to make sure this one’s an improvement on the string of douchebags you’ve dated in the past,” Tristan said.
“Well he is. He’s the most wonderful man I’ve ever met, so I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t terrorise him,” she said, and I couldn’t hold back a smile any longer. The twins rolled their eyes, making us all chuckle.
“I’m sure our sis has already explained, but we’re roughneckers. We work on an oil rig out in the North Sea. Two weeks on the rig, two weeks off,” Luca explained.
“That’s pretty intense,” I said, wondering how I’d feel if I had to go away from Irish every two weeks.
He shrugged like it was nothing, before answering. “We’re used to it. We’re all engineers, but the money on the rigs is far better than we’d get anywhere else. We’re all single, and although none of us have bought a house to live in, we’ve all invested in buy-to-let properties that are tucked away for our retirement. Two weeks hard work followed by two weeks hard partying while loading up on Mum’s food isn’t a bad life,” Luca explained.
“It’s a dangerous job though, isn’t it? More dangerous than fighting even?” I asked.
Luca frowned and gave me the big brother stare down.
“Yes it is. Very, very dangerous. I have one girl with a heart condition and three boys who are trying to give me one. It’s a miracle they haven’t put me in the grave by now with all the worrying I do,” Stella protested dramatically.
The twins launched into their reasoned arguments about how dramatically health and safety measures have improved to make it a safer working environment and how she had no need of worrying. Amidst all the noise and banter, Stella winked at me, and I smiled as I carried on eating my meal, knowing exactly who wore the trousers in this family. The wink told me that Stella had shifted the focus of the boy’s inquisition to allow me to eat my meal. Stella Kelly was indeed a legend.
The guys laid off after that, and it was kind of fun listening to them tell stories of their time on the rig. I ate my chicken and vegetables, looking on enviously as everyone heaped on potatoes and mushroom and white wine sauce. When all the guys opted for seconds of dessert while I stuck to water, I knew they were likely doing it to fuck with me. But when this fight was done, I was gonna come back and eat Stella out of house and home. Maybe I’d wait until they were back on the rig, then text them selfies of me ploughing into their ma’s home-cooked meal just to fuck with them back. The thought was little comfort when the warm chocolate fudge cake smelt so friggin’ amazing.
After the meal was over, Irish and her ma cleared the table. I stood up to help until Matt stopped me.
“Give us a hand carrying Ma’s spare chairs back downstairs, Kieran?” he asked. I sighed, knowing I was better off getting this over and done with. There were two chairs to be taken down, and Matt could have carried them both one handed. Lifting the one he left behind for me, I followed him down the stairs to the basement. Seconds later I heard footsteps behind me, and the door closed with a gentle click.
“So what’s the deal then? You looking to fuck around with our sister then drop her? Because we go back to the rigs tomorrow, and I’d hate to have to spend the next two weeks worrying about which part of the North Sea to dump your body,” Tristan said.
Both he and Matt stood legs apart and arms crossed in an attempt to be intimidating. They weren’t small guys and even looked like they’d be handy in a fight. But I’d trained every day for over ten years with a world-class fighter. Odds were I could take them both and be on my merry way. I didn’t think Irish would appreciate that much though. Before I had a chance to say anything, the door opened and shut again and Luca walked down the basement stairs.
“We’ve got this, bro,” Matt said to him.
“I have no doubt,” Luca replied, relaxing against the counter, “but it amuses me watching you give the ‘big brother speech.’”
“You mean you’ve done this before?” I asked, kind of glad that Irish had so many people looking out for her.
“She never brought anyone home before, so we never needed to. The fact that she brought you over when she knew we were home tells us this is serious. For her at least,” Tristan said.
“It is for me too. From the minute I met her, she knocked me off my feet. I don’t know what she sees in me, and I know that she’s too good for me, but you won’t ever find a guy that wants her as much as I do or will take care of her as well as I can,” I replied.
“That’s fine and dandy now, but what happens if the shit hits the fan? Do you know what it takes to watch someone you love get put to sleep, knowing that they may never wake up again? Or that if she exercises too hard, her heart might give out if she can’t get medic
al assistance fast enough? Marie’s had seven surgeries. Seven surgeries since she was a kid, and two of them were open heart. There’s only so much her little body can take, and if her last treatment fails, then a valve replacement or transplant might be the only option left open to her. Now, if we get on that helicopter tomorrow and leave her to fall in love with you, then we need to know that you’re going to be there when the chips are down. Because she can’t fight for a heart if it’s broken. If you kick her when she’s down, it will kill her, and then I will be fucking dumping your body at the bottom of the North Sea,” Matt said passionately.
He was breathing kind of hard from his outburst, but other than that we were quiet while we thought over what he’d said. Tristan looked as pissed as his twin, but Luca just stared as though he was trying to get the measure of me.
“I know what it’s like to watch someone strong and healthy getting sick, to watch their body wither and die in front of you, knowing that you’d give your own life to swap places with them. That you’d give anything, promise anything, to have them with you for just one more day. I know all of that. So don’t take what I say next lightly. For as long as she’ll have me, I will never leave her side. Whether it’s a year or fifty, she’s it for me. So you can warn me off or try and scare me. Shit, you can take a shot at me if you’re feeling brave enough, but there’s only three of you, and it’s gonna take a fuckload more than that to keep me away from my girl. Now don’t get me wrong, lads, I ain’t meaning to get on your bad side. Hell, if I had a sister, I’d be doing exactly the same thing, but the fact is that we’re gonna be seeing a lot more of each other in the future. For Marie’s sake, I’d like for that to be on good terms,” I argued, holding my hand out to them.
The twins looked at each other and nodded curtly.
“That’s good enough for me, brother,” Tristan said, shaking my hand.
The Storm Page 11
