Page 67 of Her Irish Boss

Simultaneously, thunder boomed and lightning struck again. This time, they both jumped and then lightly laughed. “It'll move through soon.” Without the lightning, his room filled with complete darkness. He felt her headangle upward. Her lips pressed against his jaw. It seemed impossible that it would ever get old. Selena. In his arms. In the dark. In his bed.

He took a guarded breath. Why wasn't the rest of life this comfortable with her?

Her lips found his. The flash of heat from before was gone, replaced with nothing more than raw emotions. A little painful it hit so deep within him. With every press of his lips and touch of his tongue, he spelled out how much he cared, hoping she knew.

Last night reaffirmed the same revelation he'd experienced with their first kiss. Something inside him clicked into place. Now, the darkness helped. He didn't have to face the questions in her eyes. Expectations. Responsibility.

In the dark, it was only their two souls. Calling it love, when they were both so open, seemed trivial.

What pulled them closer together was something deeper than he knew the words to describe. So he didn't try. He'd give what he had and take what she offered. Cherish this one moment and figure out how to live with or without it in the morning.

Selena scannedthrough her email on her phone as Brogan drove her back to her apartment to change before work. “I don't think Cathal went to sleep last night. The last few of these emails came in at six this morning. He didn't have to do all this for me.”

Fifteen emails. All with information about possible ways to afford Mimi's stay at a nursing facility. She'd barely touched on the topic at dinner, both brothers asking how her grandmother was doing. Or granny, as they called her.

And now, it seems she had a friend willing to help. Focusing on Cathal's emails prevented her from analyzing her night with Brogan. His hand rested on her knee as he drove. What they had between them felt real and significant. He seemed to feel the same way if she read his signals right. Would it last or would he revert back to the aloof man that only acknowledged them behind closed doors?

She was royally screwed at this point. Love. It might not make sense to anyone else, but she loved her grouchy boss. The tender way he'd held her, loved her, put a hitch in her breath when he turned his brooding gaze her way.

“What else does he have to do?” Brogan asked.

She cleared her throat from the emotion. “Does he have another job? He is a lawyer, right?” She'd tried to figure out how to get Mimi into a home, but, everywhere she looked, either said her insurance wouldn't pay for it at this stage, or she had to pay out of pocket. Each time it frustrated her. In a matter of hours, Cathal had a game plan.

“He works for a firm when they need him. Odds and ends from what he says. You should let him help you with this.”

She wrinkled her nose and stared out the window as they pulled into her rundown apartment complex. “I hate asking for help.”

He parked and turned off the car. “Think of it this way.” He tucked her hair behind her ear, pulling her face close and kissing her lightly. “You're helping me with the restaurant, so he can help you with your granny.”

Exactly how a family treated one another. The emotion from before welled up inside. But she couldn't tell him she loved him. There were too many hurdles between them.

“I still feel bad he spent his entire night researching this, but I will accept his help. As much as I hate asking for help,there's no denying I haven't been successful on my own.” She pushed open the car door as Tina appeared in the doorway with a frantic look on her face.

Selena bolted up the steps, taking two at a time. “What's wrong?”

“She fell. Just now. I called for an ambulance—”

Selena pushed past her, Brogan right behind her. Mimi laid on the floor beside her bed.

Selena dropped to her knees beside her, immediately reaching for her head, cradling it in her hands.

Tina's voice shook when she spoke. “She called for me and then I heard her fall. She won't let me touch her now.” Tina sobbed out something else and left the room.

“Mimi?”

Mimi pulled away, crying, looking between Brogan and Selena with wide, scared eyes. It'd happened this way before. She'd snap back into another time when something scared her. Hurt her.

“Let me help you up,” Selena tried again, but Mimi lashed out at her with her other hand. The hand she clutched to her chest looked odd, her wrist hanging unusually.

Selena's stomach rolled. “I think she's broken her wrist.”

“Aye.” Brogan's hands gripped Selena's shoulders and pulled her up and to the side. Without giving her grandmother an option, Brogan squatted down and picked her up, setting her gently back on the bed even though Mimi got one or two strong slaps in with her good hand across his cheek and forehead.

Mimi held her wrist and rolled toward the wall, muffled sobs shaking her frail shoulders.

Brogan brought his arms around Selena, and only then did she feel the tears on her cheeks. Helplessly, she stared atthe small form of her grandmother. This was why she needed the facility, with nurses who knew what to do. All she did was guess at what to do for Mimi.

The paramedics arrived, and Brogan left the cramped bedroom to give them space to work. They took Mimi's vitals and decided she did need to have a doctor look at her wrist. She still wasn't in her right frame of mind and flat out denied even knowing Selena. The paramedics asked Selena to meet them at the hospital in an attempt to keep Mimi calm.

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