Page 35 of On The Rocks

No, it wasn’t.

But I loved it all the same, because the very moment Callum stopped the ceremony and roared at the guests to get out, warmth wrapped around me.

I prided myself on being a modern woman who was capable of changing the oil in my car along with the tires. I could even put Ikea furniture together relatively well. Still, the way Callum looked after me during my wedding ceremony made me feel safe.

Pulling my knees up, I snuggled into the passenger seat, noting how well my husband drove. A frisson of excitement went through me at those words floating through my head.

My husband.

My strong, protective, kind husband.

I turned to face him, admiring his beautiful hands and long fingers controlling the steering wheel with so much confidence it rolled off him in waves.

“You’re a good driver,” I blurted out.

Callum side-eyed me with a grin. “My dad taught me when I was fourteen. I like driving. It relaxes me. Nobody can beat Tadhg behind the wheel, though. He says he can feel everything, like the vehicle’s an extension of him.” He shrugged. “Though, I guess he should be good to last this long at competition level.”

“Fourteen seems young to drive,” I mused.

“I guess. Hambleton’s a little oasis of a town in a rural setting. All the boys learned to drive young. Still do. Some of my buds helped out on their family farms when they were just kids. They’ve operated tractors and heavy machinery since they were young. It’s a different way of life to the city, that’s for sure.”

“I hope I fit in,” I murmured without thinking.

“You’ll love it,” Callum assured me. “Aislynn will go back to her internship next week, and T needs to get back on the circuit, but Ma and Donny will be there. I’ll introduce you around. My buds are part of the local MC, so I’ll ask if their women will come over and welcome you to town.” His eyes flicked over me almost dismissively. “They’re good people who will accept you for who you are, Maeve. They won’t judge your quirks.”

I opened my mouth to reply, but the words stuck in my throat.

What did he mean by quirks?

A strange feeling prickled through me, but I ignored it. Callum had been nothing but kind. I was probably overreacting after a fraught day.

“MC? As in motorcycle club?” I snorted. “I definitely won’t fit in with them. I’m hardly biker babe material.”

“No, you’re not, but then neither are they, though they’re hot enough to be.”

My stomach dropped, and I flinched at his words.

Definitely not an overreaction then.

“Kennedy’s the town lawyer,” he went on. “Sophie’s head of general surgery at the local hospital. Freya, the new president’s sister, is another doctor, but she’s at a different chapter in Virginia. Cara was a teacher; Layla’s like Mother fuckin’ Earth and keeps popping kids out. One of the retired members, Abe, is now the town’s mayor, and the ex-prez’s wife, Elise, runs a charity for victims of domestic violence. She even donated a safe house for women and kids escaping abusive relationships.”

“Wow,” I exclaimed, my mind still stuck on Callum’s blatant dig. “I’ve usually just got my head stuck in a book. It’s where I’m happiest.”

“That’s great, sweetheart,” Callum replied, his tone conveying quite the opposite, “but while you’ve got your head in a book, life’s passing you by, and it’s not helping you socially.”

“What do you mean?” I whispered.

“Living in the real world gives you the tools to deal with people.”

A heavy feeling tugged at me. “I don’t understand.”

Callum glanced at me, then back to the road. “You okay with me laying it out there?”

That didn’t sound good.

“Please do,” I invited, knowing he would anyway.

“Okay, it’s like this. You don’t deal well with people socially. Orla and those girls ran rings around you, whereas the women I’m used to would have nipped that shit in the bud immediately ‘cause they live in the real world, and they don’t got their heads constantly stuck in a book. You need to learn to deal with conflict.”

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