by Mia Malone
Then Mac tried to intervene and made an attempt at joking about how Paddy and Jenny were friends, and how adding a few extra benefits had worked out well for Gibson.
That had been the wrong thing to say.
To say that Joke was unhappy would have been the understatement of a decade. Both Gibson and Mac moved to stand between him and Paddy, which pissed Paddy off. Did they think he needed their protection? Joke was solid like a damned tree trunk, but he knew how to fight if it was needed. Not like Gibson, but well enough to take down an angry brother. Or two, although they’d have to be a lot smaller than Joke for that to happen.
“Jenny isn’t like the other women you do, Paddy,” Joke growled. “How the hell could you fuck it up like this?”
“Jenny is a grown woman, Joke. Do you want to see her with Doug Hanes?”
“No. I just do not want to see her with –”
“Anyone at all?”
“What the fu –”
“You’ve warned every breathing dude away from your sister and what did that get you? Or her?”
That had been uncalled for and also not true.
“Fuck you, Paddy!” Joke roared and lunged. It took both Mac and Gibson to hold him back, and Paddy braced.
“Joke,” Gibson barked. “Get a grip, man.”
Joke looked at Gibson, and something passed between them. Gib put a hand on the side of Joke's neck and pressed a little.
“You’re gonna have to let go of her eventually, buddy,” he murmured quietly.
“I'm sorry, Joke,” Paddy said. “That was a shitty thing to say, and it wasn't true. Got pissed and didn’t mean it.”
“Huh,” Joke grunted, but he nodded once.
“Let’s sit down,” Gibson said, and he did it in a voice which didn’t allow any arguments, so they did.
“Is Paddy the worst that could happen?” Mac asked suddenly.
“What?”
“Okay, here’s what I think, and you can all yell at me later,” Mac went on calmly. “Joke. Who Jenny does is not your business. You want to protect her, I get that, but as her brother, it is not your business. Gib lets you do Lee, and as your sister, Jenny is staying out of it.”
“Technically, he’s actually not doing her,” Gibson murmured. When all heads swiveled his way, he raised his hands and added, “Just saying.”
Paddy felt the tips of his mouth twitch, but since it would be wrong on so many levels to suddenly laugh, he pushed it back.
“How do you do someone untechnic –” Mac cut himself off, turned back to Joke and went on, “Never mind. Bottom line is that Jenny does what she wants, and you have to trust her.”
Joke stared at him for a beat, sighed and grunted a sour, “Fuck it.”
“I will take that as a confirmation that you understood what I said,” Mac said calmly, and turned. “Paddy.”
Holy hell, Paddy thought. Mac suddenly sounded just like Principal Smiths back in their bloody high school. He decided not to share this and raised his brows in a silent question instead.
“I don’t know what your deal is with this, but you have a very thin line to toe here. We are all adults, but we’re also talking about Jenny.” He aimed a hard stare at Paddy and damned if he didn’t even look just like old Smiths. Mac kept talking in that stern voice, “You don't want to be called a man-whore, and that's fine, but out of the five of us, you're the one who has gotten laid the most, so –”
“Not so sure about that,” Gibson cut in.
“Damn it, Gib. This is not a joke, and it's not a competition.”
“Just saying.”
“How the hell old are you?” Mac snarled.
“Fifty-five. Three months younger than you. And you’re all making a huge pile of shit out of nothing.”
Joke was about to protest, and Mac was struggling to keep calm. Paddy's eyes met Gibson's, and he grinned in thanks for what Gib was trying to do. He’d made his move without thinking it through, and had no idea what to do next, but it still felt good. His feet weren’t exactly on solid ground again yet, but he needed to fix things with Jenny’s brother before trying to come up with some kind of plan.
“Stop squabbling,” he said loudly, and they did. “I know the line I’ll be walking on, but you know me. I’m not an asshole.”
He turned to Joke and looked calmly at a man he had known all his life. A man he liked and respected. He was still not ready to lay himself open. That had been for Gibson only, so he settled for a compromise and hoped it would be enough.
“I’m not gonna sit here and share my fucking feelings when I haven't got shit straight in my own head, and she's over at the diner, probably talking to Lee, trying to get her own head in order. I don't know where this will end, but I know one thing. Mac was right, Joke. I am not the worst thing that could happen to Jen.”
Joke's face was hard at first, but as they watched each other in silence, it relaxed slightly. Paddy knew the message had gone through. Joke got what he was saying without the need for any flowery and seriously fucking embarrassing words, and Paddy sighed silently in relief.
“Don’t be an ass, Paddy. Of course, you're not the worst thing that could happen to Jenny,” Joke said exasperatedly, but his face hardened again, and he leaned forward to point at Paddy. “But if you fuck her over, I’m gonna be the worst thing that ever happened to you.”
There was a short silence as Joke leaned back, still looking at Paddy but more thoughtfully than angrily.
“Did you get that line out of a movie, Joke?” Gibson suddenly asked curiously.
“What?”
“Nicely executed,” Mac chuckled. “Finger pointing and all.”
“Fuck you,” Joke snorted although he couldn't keep himself from laughing.
“We good?” Paddy asked quietly.
“Yeah, man. We're good,” Joke grunted. “I'm taking your glass, though. I need whiskey.”
Paddy handed him the glass and snorted something unintelligible, mostly from relief. And anticipation. He had a date with Jenny that night. Or kind of a date, at least.
The glasses were empty, and they’d moved on to talking about the new group called Muerta and what their presence could potentially mean to Wilhelmine when Lee walked in. Her eyes met Gibson’s and something passed between them, but then Joke and Mac got up to leave, and she walked over to stare at him and Gibson.
“There’s only one way to do this,” she said calmly.
“What, babe?” Gib asked, and Paddy leaned back, wondering what the hell she was talking about.
“I’m going to hear things from Jenny, and I'm pretty sure Gib will hear things from you,” she said and pointed at Paddy. “We’re going to be smack in the middle, so there’s only one way.”
Shit. He hadn't thought about the position this whole thing would put all his and Jenny's friends in, and Gib and Lee more than the others.
“We’ll just not share what we know with each other. Simple,” Lee stated.
“Lee,” Paddy murmured. “I’m sorry. I don’t want this to come between you.”
To his surprise, they both started laughing.
“Paddy, honey, you're gorgeous, but you're also a little stupid,” Lee said with a grin. “Nothing you do could ever come between Gibson and me.”
He saw the grin they exchanged and knew it was petty of him, but he felt a small twinge of envy.
“I will give you this piece of advice, though,” Lee murmured, suddenly not grinning anymore. “You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar.”
What the hell was that supposed to mean?
“And Pad, if the rumors around town are true, you sure know how to give a woman a whole lot of honey.”
He wondered if he’d actually heard his jaw drop, and heard Gibson chuckle next to him.
“I don’t think she’ll mind a little Callaghan-sugar,” Lee added.
To Paddy’s thorough and most likely ever-lasting embarrassment, he felt himself blushing.
Gibson burst out
laughing, but Paddy was still reeling from her words.
Had Lee just told him to seduce Jenny?
“Lee?”
“Yes?”
“Your analogies fucking suck,” he said and couldn’t for the life of him understand why Lee started laughing hysterically.
Chapter Three
Jenny
I stared at Paddy’s door and wondered what to do. He’d grown up in that house, and when his dad died, he’d moved back there from his small apartment above Oak. I’d walked in and out of the house all my life, and we’d always entered everyone’s home the same way. You knocked loudly, opened the door and walked in shouting hello or whatever you felt like shouting. If anyone didn’t want you to enter unexpectedly for some reason, they’d lock the door.
So, there I was, feeling self-conscious and uncomfortable. Then I pressed the door-bell and waited. The look on Paddy's face when he opened the door was one of complete astonishment.
“You rang the bell,” he said, which I had so he wasn’t wrong.
“Okay,” I blurted out.
“What?”
Oh, God. Somewhere between ladling up the stew which had been today’s special and listening to the reasons Lee listed for why the halter top would be my best choice, I’d tried to figure out what to tell him. My plan hadn’t been to just throw it out there, but I had, and I kept talking.
“If you come up with a better expression than old lady because that’s ridiculous, then, yeah. Okay. For as long as it’s needed, I’ll be your… Whatever.”
Something flickered in his eyes, but it was quickly replaced by what I suspected was humor.
“Woman. And as my woman, you do not ring the damned doorbell. You don’t knock. You walk straight through.”
My belly turned, and I was about to try to say something when he put an arm around me to usher me inside. He snatched his hand away when it hit skin. The top made my arms look really good, but its back was also a crisscrossing of thin straps, cleverly hiding the built-in bra which virtually any woman past the age of thirty would be in need of.
“Right,” he muttered. “Dinner’s almost done.”
His voice had turned a little hoarse, and I glanced at him as we walked through the house. A muscle in his jaw clenched, but then he smiled his usual smooth smile. He wore faded jeans and a flannel shirt, which was what I’d seen him in all my life, but he looked different. The shirt fit closer to his slim torso, didn’t it? And had he unbuttoned it a step further than he usually did? Maybe he always did that when he got home, I thought. I could see his chest hair, and it wasn’t like I hadn’t seen it a million times before so why did it look different?
“Wine?”
“What?” I squeaked.
“Jenny,” he chuckled. “Do you want a glass of wine?”
He knew what I liked, so he'd already poured me a glass and was holding it out toward me. I decided to take it, slug it down and ask him for the bottle. My hand was shaking a little, and I reached for the glass with pathetic desperation. He was moving too, and not prepared for my imminent need for alcohol, so I knocked my hand into his, and wine sloshed all over his shirt.
Oh, God. I was such an idiot.
“Shit. Sorry, Paddy, I didn’t –”
He started laughing, and I stopped talking. I'd laughed with him my whole life, but it looked different too suddenly.
“Jenny, relax,” he murmured and started to unbutton his shirt. “Pour yourself some more, I’ll just go and change.”
“Okay,” I murmured, but he was already walking toward his bedroom, pulling his shirt off.
He was lean and hard with not an ounce of extra fat, and I watched his back as he disappeared around the corner. The yoga he did regularly had toned him, so he was muscular, but not like Gibson or Joke who were both huge and solid. What would he think about me if we ever –
I cut that thought off and topped up my glass, contemplating the wisdom of chugging down a few deep slugs while he was half naked in his bedroom but decided it would be beyond juvenile, so I didn’t.
“Jenny, can you put the glass down,” he said quietly.
“Okay,” I said and did.
He was right behind me, and when I'd pushed the glass further away on the marble counter top, he turned me gently.
“This is going to be weird for a while,” he murmured. “We’ll get through it, but it’ll be strange.”
“Thank you,” I said on a long exhale. “I thought it was only me.”
“Nope.”
We grinned at each other, and I relaxed. I hadn't expected the sudden attack of nerves, but I'd get over it. I wasn't sure if Lee was actually right and he'd just come up with this whole scheme to get me in his bed, and honestly didn't care. I hadn't heard gossip about him for a while, so maybe he was just horny. Maybe I was the only woman in the state he hadn't actually fucked. Maybe he suddenly decided that he wanted to do it with me. I did not care. I was going to pretend this whole old lady thing was a valid set-up and see where it went. I didn't look like dog-poop. I wasn't a sexual pro, but I knew my way around a man's body, so if it went where I seriously wanted it to go, then I could handle that. Couldn’t I?
“Let’s just take it one step at the time, yeah?” he said. “We’ll just act as a couple and see where it goes.”
Act like a couple? I suddenly felt like laughing because I’d been a part of a couple and it was not an experience I wanted to repeat.
“We’ll always be friends, won’t we?” I heard myself asking, suddenly needing to hear him say we would, no matter what.
“Oh, Jenny,” he sighed. “Yeah. We are, and we always will be. Let’s eat, you must be tired.”
I was, but I also liked standing so close to him, so I stalled for a little more time.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Always.”
“Why don’t you have a dog?”
His brows went up, and I felt like kicking myself. I'd wanted to stay there right in front of him, but that had been a stupid thing to ask.
“Marybeth wanted a damned teacup poodle. I refused. Never got around to it after she left.”
Well, shit. Okay, that was not the answer I wanted, and he saw it on my face.
“We’ll talk about Marybeth later, baby-girl. Let’s eat now.”
Then he turned toward the stove, and I stood there with a warm feeling running through me. Baby-girl. He'd called me that when we grew up. He'd stopped doing it when he was around twenty, and since I'd been sixteen, I could see why. It still felt so sweet to hear it again.
“Get your glass,” he said and put two plates at the kitchen table.
I did what I was asked. And then I started laughing.
On the table stood two plates with fettucine, coated in olive oil, and a smell of garlic hit me as I walked over to sit down. On top of the pasta, he'd lined up a few nicely fried prawns.
“You didn’t?” I asked, still laughing.
“Figured you’d appreciate the joke,” he said with a chuckle.
“Paddy, really?” I asked and took the bag of grated parmesan cheese he handed me. “Gibson’s wanna get laid-dinner?”
He grinned at me, but there was something in his eyes that made my pulse heavier, and I felt a blush creep up my throat.
“He says it works,” Paddy said with a grin and a wiggle of his brows, and his voice was casual, but it was also a little hoarse. “You gonna have any of that?” he added with a nod at the cheese when I just stared at him. “If not then hand it back, Jen.”
I quickly sprinkled cheese over my plate, and we started eating. Paddy mentioned a phone call from Annie, so we talked about her, and work, and settled into a routine that was familiar and soothing.
“Coffee?” he asked when we’d cleared the table, and I nodded.
Then we sat on his couch, not close-close, but not far apart.
“You need a hair-cut,” I said.
“I know. Haven’t had time.”
“You used to have lon
g hair,” I murmured. “Looked good.”
Why the hell had I told him that?
“Yeah?”
His beautiful face was too close, and he looked too good. Smelled too good.
“Paddy we need to talk,” I blurted out.
I had told myself I'd simply go with the flow, but I just couldn't do it. I'd dated, and I knew how to do that, but this was Paddy. I had to get a few things laid out, or my head would explode.
“Ouch,” he said.
“What?”
“You’re gonna break up with me?” he asked with a grin.
“What? How could I even… Paddy. Stop grinning like that.”
“I don't think I've ever seen you confused like this, Jenny,” murmured and leaned forward to put his cup down.
I held on to my own as if it would save me from drowning.
“I like.”
“Well I don’t,” I snapped. “I don’t work like this, and you know it. I need –”
“Rules?” he cut in, still friggin grinning.
“Yes,” I said primly.
“Jenny,” he murmured. “I don’t have any rules to give you. Hell, I’m not sure what it is we’re doing here.”
“Okay,” I said when he didn’t continue and waited for him to explain.
“I do not want you to be Doug Hanes’ woman. And, Jenny, we’ve known each other a long time… but I want to see what happens if we shift things around a little, and since you’re here and also not throwing things at me, I think you do too.”
I blinked. Nothing about that had been clear. Okay, the part where he said he didn’t want me with Doug had been. The other part? Shifting things around? Not so much.
“So, we’ll pretend we’re a couple,” I said.
“Yes.”
“Would we, um… you know?”
What the hell was wrong with me? Why had I even asked that? And when I did, why had I sounded like a damned teenager?
“I don’t know,” he said.
He didn’t know?
“I might have to kiss you a little,” he murmured and grinned at me.
He'd tilted his head to the side, and a lock of hair had fallen into his forehead, and I wasn't sure what was in his eyes, but nothing could have made me look away. He'd said he'd kiss me and I'd be totally on board with that.
