by Cali MacKay
“Aye.” Conall didn’t know how well Maggie and Sean knew each other. Nor did he know their history. However, it was clear she didn’t like the man, and he was happy to take his cue from her.
“Sorry to see ye go so soon, Maggie.”
But she was already heading through the crowd, not bothering to look back at Sean or acknowledge him further. By the time they made it out onto the street, her pace was brisk and she was in one hell of a mood.
“Maggie…” She slowed a bit, turning to face him. Conall didn’t want to pry, but if Sean was trouble, he’d like to know. “Do ye want to tell me what that was about?”
“No. Not really.” She continued down the road when Conall slowed to a stop, forcing her to do the same, their hands still linked.
“We’re together now, aye?” He brushed her cheek. “And I’m not trying to pry-yer business is still yer own. But Maggie…I don’t like to be left in the dark, especially if someone’s been giving ye a hard time.”
“It’s nothing, love. I swear.” Though she cupped his cheek and kissed him, her lips lingering on his, there was a tension in her body that had yet to ease-and that left him worried. “He’s not important and it’s been over a year since I last saw him.”
Something still felt off-and he wasn’t blind. “Were ye lovers in the past?”
She sighed. “He’s the son of one of me da’s colleagues.”
He shook his head and stepped away, knowing she wasn’t being completely honest with him. “I’d appreciate the truth, Maggie. It’s not like either of us was the Virgin Mary before this, and I get that ye won’t always be able to tell me everything, but I won’t tolerate lies or half-truths.”
“Ye’re right, and I’m sorry. It’s not like it’s a big deal.” She sighed. “I did see him for a short while, but it was ages ago when I was young and stupid. It was never anything serious-no more than a summer fling-and I rarely see him anymore, except by chance.”
Some of the tension in his shoulders eased. She’d told him the truth, and though he’d prefer to not have to prod her into it, he’d only needed to ask once. “I appreciate yer honesty.”
“I’m just not used to discussing my past. I try to keep my focus on the present and the future.” She shook her head, her smile long gone. “It’s not always easy to do, ye know.”
So unlike her bubbly self, he pulled her into his arms to comfort her. Maybe he wasn’t the only one with a painful history. “I don’t want to be dredging things up for ye, love. We both have pasts, aye? But I don’t want things to feel superficial between us. I’ll say it again-I love ye, Maggie.” By the gods, it sent a pulse of fear and excitement through him to speak those words.
“And I love you, Conall. Don’t doubt it for a moment, for those aren’t words I speak lightly.” She fisted her hands in his jacket and pulled him near for a kiss, her lips tasting like honey and hops.
He brushed her hair from her eyes as the wind pulled it free, his touch lingering, the need to feel her close all-consuming. “Whatever’s in yer past won’t change the way I feel about ye. Ye don’t need to rehash everything ye’ve ever been through, but know that I’m here for ye. Don’t ever feel like ye can’t speak to me about something, no matter what it is. I’ll always be here for ye, love.”
“And ye’ll do the same?” Her eyes searched his, and for a moment, as he lost himself in those icy blue waters, it felt like their souls were linked.
“Aye, love. I will.” He wished he could kiss her worries away.
“So, then…the guitar? Don’t tell me there’s nothing to it.” With her ice blue eyes locked on his, he knew there’d be no avoiding the matter. And it was only fair that he now fess up to a part of his past.
“I used to play all the time, but after Janet…I don’t know. It was sort of like I lost that part of me.” Wrapping his arms around her, he held her close, leaning his cheek atop her head. “Maybe someday, aye?”
“Let’s head back to the hotel. I don’t want there to be any secrets between us. I’ll tell ye everything there is to know if you’ll do the same.” She looked up at him, her brow furrowed as if waiting for him to protest.
He found himself fighting back a flare of panic, but pushed his worries aside, knowing they had to do this. Neither of them could back down without leaving the other hurt or making them think they were hiding something. And given how quickly they’d fallen for each other, it would do them good to get to know each other better. Still…the whole thing had his muscles in knots, especially since he’d never really discussed his past relationships with anyone.
With her tucked in at her side, they wandered down the road and made their way back to their room, his mind still racing over what he’d tell her and how.
He locked the door behind them, the beat of his heart stuttering. He’d gone and dug himself one hell of a deep hole, and had little chance of getting out of it. At least she was right there with him in the same big hole and no doubt just as nervous.
Needing to feel her touch, he pulled her into his arms and then laughed at how on edge she’d made him. “Maybe we don’t need to do this.”
“Are ye wimping out on me, Conall?” She kissed the hollow of his neck, making him want to ditch talking and get her naked. “We can tackle the hard stuff tonight, like relationships. The rest of it-crazy nights, drunken escapades and college stunts-can wait for another day.”
Conall groaned, unable to ignore his growing need for her. “Can’t we leave the chatting ’til later?” Her hand slipped down his chest and continued south. “Bloody hell, woman. I won’t be able to put a coherent thought together if ye keep that up.”
“Might be fun to chat while getting naked. That way, we can easily distract each other if things start to feel too serious.” She bit his nipple through the fabric of his shirt, his self-control slipping another notch.
“That’s it.” He could take no more. No longer capable of thought, he picked her up and carried her off to the bed as she squealed with laughter. She was already wriggling out of her tight jeans while he made quick work of his own clothing, discarding them in a hurried heap before nestling himself between her naked legs. He nipped at her nipple and then trailed kisses down her side, murmuring against her soft skin. “By all means, feel free to start hashing out yer past.”
With a squeal, she pushed him away. “Okay, stop. I can’t concentrate when ye’re kissing me like that.”
“Ye recall, this was yer idea, aye?” He had to laugh. It was no wonder she left him dizzy.
She smiled apologetically, and pulled him towards her, giving him a quick kiss on the lips. “Sorry…I swear I’ll make it up to ye afterwards. And I don’t know about you, but I won’t take long. The last thing I want to do is linger on this topic.”
“No worries, aye? Take however long ye need.” Doing what he could to ignore his aching need, he grabbed the throw from the bottom of the bed and pulled her into his arms, kissing the top of her head. “I’m listening, love.”
“If we’re talking about relationships, it’s nothing more than the usual. Dated a bunch when I was younger and while at university, before things got pretty serious with this one guy. Oliver. We were together years, yeah? He was smart, funny-great in bed-and could be so sweet.” She shrugged, her fingers absent-mindedly playing with the fringe on the blanket as he tried not to picture her naked in another man’s arms. “We were young. I get that. But I gave him everything. My entire heart. I held nothing back. Unfortunately…”
Conall sighed, her story too familiar. “You were the only one giving fully.”
“And I was clueless. Didn’t realize it until he broke things off. Like I said, it’s not any different from every other breakup story, but it really caught me off guard. If there were signs, I hadn’t seen them. And I took it hard. Spent months in a hopeless darkness, severely depressed, and I swear it felt like I’d never escape it.” She let out a long, weary breath. “By the time I managed to pull myself free of it, I promised myself I’
d not waste another day-and if I gave my heart to anyone again, they best be willing to reciprocate fully. I don’t do anything by halves, Conall.”
“Aye, love. I wouldn’t expect ye to.” He kissed her, now understanding her so much better. “It’s why ye always say ye live life to the fullest, aye?”
“Yeah…when I finally came around, I realized I’d wasted nearly a year of my life. A year I wouldn’t get back. I’ve dated plenty since then, but…this…what we have feels different.” She looked up at him, worry lining her face. “I need to know ye’ll not hold back, Conall.”
“How could I hold back when ye’ve shown me what it is to truly love someone-and to be truly loved?” He kissed her, and then steeling himself, got ready to tell her his story. “I’ll tell ye now, my story’s not much different from yer own. Dated a bit, got to college and fell for someone there. Janet. Broke my heart. Then came back begging for forgiveness and I took her back only to have her break my heart again. I know, I was a fool to think she’d changed and that lying and cheating on me was just a one-off. But that sort of thing never is, is it? I left for the States to get away from her and go to grad school.”
He hated having to think about it, and his mood had now soured. Until Maggie held him tightly. “I swear, Conall, I’ll only ever tell ye the truth. You can trust me, love.”
He kissed her, and with it went the hurt he’d been keeping balled up all those years. “I already do.”
***
“Just look at you.” Rowan was grinning ear to ear. “You’re…happy. I swear, I never thought I’d see the day. That must have been some trip to Dublin. Has Lara seen you like this? She’ll probably drop dead right there on the spot, ale and burgers all over the floor.”
Angus pulled her away, and nestled her against his side, silencing her with a quick kiss. “Quit harassing the poor man. Ye’ll make him self-conscious and then we’ll get the old scowling Conall back.”
Conall leaned back against the counter, his smile refusing to be contained. “Tease all ye want. Just remember, I know what the two of ye were like when ye first started dating and were mooning o’er each other-not that it’s changed any.”
“So, when are we going to have you and Maggie over for dinner?” Rowan’s eyes sparked with mischief and a grin tugged at her lips. “Maybe I should steal her for a girls’ night out first. That way I can get all the juicy details about Dublin beforehand.”
“I swear, lass, ye’re nothing but trouble.” Conall shook his head, thinking he should have snuck in to get Piper when they were away at work so he could spare himself Rowan’s inquisition and teasing.
“Did ye meet her family then?” Even Angus was looking curious.
He sighed, knowing it’d be near impossible to avoid discussing the details. Not that he really wanted to keep things from them. Rowan and Angus had become good friends, and he valued their friendship. “Aye, I did. Both her parents and her two brothers. The third brother’s the one who works with her. Been away on some other job they’ve got going.”
Angus scoffed out a laugh. “And ye made it back in one piece? They must have liked ye, then.”
Conall shrugged. “I sure as hell hope so.”
Rowan’s jaw dropped open and her eyes went wide, excitement thrumming through her. “No frigging way! You’re in love!”
He must have blushed a thousand shades of red. Yet there was no hiding it, and he certainly wasn’t going to deny it. Publicly acknowledging how he felt for Maggie was a huge step for him. Yet it felt right.
He ran a rough hand across his stubbled chin, a smile tugging at his lips. “Aye, I am. Well and truly a goner, I’m afraid.”
Chapter Eleven
Andrew was a nice enough guy, but Maggie swore he was on the jobsite just to get in her way and distract her from getting any work done. He kept wanting to chat and linger, and she had far too long a list she needed to finish if she had any hope of staying on schedule. Small problems with the job continued to pop up, making her wonder if the necklace had some sort of curse on it. Most of her jobs ran smoothly, but this one here hit one snag after another.
“How was Dublin? It’s been ages since I last got over there.” Andrew leaned against her worktable, his long legs stretched out in front of him as she soldered her connections.
“It was fine.” The man must be blind if he didn’t see that she wasn’t in the mood for conversation. Maybe if she were less subtle. “I’m really sorry, but I need to concentrate on getting this done so I can wrap up for the day.”
“Yeah. Sure. Didn’t mean to disrupt your work-and I probably should get back to mine. We’re finishing up the main addition.” He pushed away from her table and stuffed his hands in his jean pockets. “Don’t suppose you’d be up for grabbing a pint, seeing as it’s day’s end?”
“Sorry. I’ve got plans with Conall.” Andrew had to know she didn’t go to Dublin alone. The man couldn’t possibly be this dense. And Conall must have Andrew-ESP, since he was once more coming to save her. “Here he is now.”
“I’ll leave you to your work then.” Andrew wandered off just as Conall approached.
Conall wrapped an arm around her waist, his gaze on Andrew until he was gone. Only then did he give her a quick kiss. “I swear I’m not the jealous sort, but that man makes me want to put a fist through his face.”
“I don’t know what to think of him anymore. I used to think he was just bored and interested, but he can’t possibly be this determined or clueless.” She snuggled closer to Conall, liking the feel of his solid comfort and the way he smelled of wood fire and the salty sea.
“Iain said they’re nearly done with most of the construction. Hopefully that means Andrew will get sent to supervise a different job.” He tilted his head towards the door. “Do ye have a minute? I was going over some of the data coming in off the security measures I have in place, and wanted yer opinion. I brought my laptop so ye won’t have to head all the way back to my house. If we could use yer office, though, that’d be great.”
“Yeah, sure.” She quickly packed away her tools and headed for the bus, quickly overriding the security to let them in. Conall grabbed a seat and set up his laptop on the small table, the rest of the surfaces covered with her own equipment. Maggie looked over his shoulder at the information he was pulling up. “What do ye have?”
“Honestly, it could be nothing. But ye see here?” He pointed to a running list of data taken from the security checks run by his scanners. “This feels a bit off to me. Like someone was pinging our walls to test the threshold of what would trigger a reaction. What I need is to look at yer systems to see if there’s anything similar.”
Maggie pulled up a seat beside him and accessed her security systems. She was decent with computer stuff, but she didn’t quite see the pattern Conall was finding in his data. “Here…take a look. It’s just one more thing, yeah? I swear, I’ve never had so many problems with a job before. Just small stuff-loose connections, snagged cables, chewed up wires. But it’s starting to take its toll on my deadlines.”
“Old places like this can be like that, given the moisture and age of the place-not to mention the rodent population. Until it’s sealed tight and the environmentals are running, I’d imagine ye’ll still hit a few snags.” He tilted his head towards the screen. “Let me see what ye’ve got.”
She slid over so he could take a look, his eyes already scanning the information. He worked quickly, keying through the information, his focus complete. And she had to admit, it was a complete turn-on to see him work. Not only was he ruggedly gorgeous, he was brilliant-and that was like catnip to her. He was absolutely irresistible.
“I don’t know. It’s not really anything conclusive, but I do want to keep an eye on it. I’ll throw up additional precautions and monitoring for the entire system.” He let out a sigh, and then spun to face her. “Don’t suppose I can interest ye in dinner?”
“That all depends on what ye’re offering for dessert.” She flicked her eyeb
rows up with a teasing smile, not sure she’d ever get her fill of him.
He pulled her close and kissed her until she was breathless, her head spinning and her body thrumming with need. She got to her feet and pulled her t-shirt up over her head, eliciting a smile from him. “Dessert first, I take it?”
She shrugged with a flirty look and wandered towards the bedroom in the back of the bus. “Life’s too short to wait until after dinner.”
Conall certainly didn’t need a lot of encouragement, his lips already on hers as his hands wandered over her skin. Still kissing him, she made her way onto the bed, ridding him of his shirt so she could glimpse his hard abs in the moment before he covered her with his body. His scent filled her head as he trailed kisses over her face, leaving her desperate to have him once more.
“Maggie! For fuck’s sake.”
Bollocks! She scrambled to get her shirt on, grateful that Conall had been in the way and her brother had already disappeared back into the other room. Conall silently groaned, his eyes rolling upward. Once they were both dressed, Conall took her hand, kissed her quickly, and then led her into the living area of the bus.
“I’m Conall.” He extended his hand and Liam hesitated a moment before shaking it.
“Liam-her brother.” Those last words were spoken through a clenched jaw as Liam scowled at the two of them. But Maggie was having none of it.
“Ye could have called to let me know you were coming.” It wasn’t the ideal situation, but he had no right to get angry. “And you can leave yer attitude at the door. I’m an adult-not some teenager. I make my own decisions and do as I wish, Liam. You should know that by now.”
“As if I could forget.” He shifted his gaze to Conall. “And you-do ye really think ye’re up to the challenge of dealing with our sweet Maggie?”
Conall shrugged and threw her a smile. “I’ll try my best, at any rate.”
“Yeah…good luck with that.” Her brother scoffed, still glaring at them. With arms crossed and a final shake of his head as if realizing there was nothing he could do, he gave up. “So, any decent place around here to get a bite and a pint? It feels like we’re in the middle of fecking nowhere.”
