Page 31 of Tee’d Up For Trouble

Iwas in week four of my impromptu stay at Ballybeg. The Porsche was still at Paddy’s garage, though it worked fine, which surprised me. I had to confess that I’d thought he’d definitelyfeckit up. I didn’t tell Nikolai about his car since he was in qualifiers for the European Championship. Last I heard, Denmark had beaten Finland in Copenhagen, and the team was getting ready to face Kazakhstan next. He had more to worry about than his custom Porsche.

Everyone in Ballybeg had decided that Dee and I were an item, except for Dee. She scoffed at the idea but let me sneak in kisses. This was theslowestrelationship I’d ever been in, and yeah, it was a relationship. We spent time together. We went on walks. We kissed. I jerked off, thinking about how it would be to have sex with her.

I knew she’d bought a vibrator because I’d seen the package and read the label, which wasn’t discreet at all as it came fromAnn Summersin Cork, and when I investigated, I found that it was a lingerie and sex toy store.

Maybe I had then sneaked into Dee’s room and shamelessly invaded her privacy and found the pink rabbit charging on her bedside table. That had been a bad idea because now I had visions of sexy Dee using the vibrator as I watched.

Blue balls were a real thing, and I was experiencing it for the first time. Usually, I wasn’t attracted enough to a woman to care whether I had sex with her or not—and if I did want to,usually, I just did. This was a new situation for me. Not an undesirable one but a challenging one. I liked Dee. I liked her a lot. I didn’t want to just fuck n’ forget as I was known to do, I wanted to…fuckin’ hell, I wanted to get to know her and see if we could sustain something between us. It was a pipe dream. We were different people living in different parts of the world. Whatever this was would end, and I hoped to hell I wouldn’t end up getting hurt or, worse, hurting Dee, which I didn’t want to do.

“Wait, wait, wait—let me get this straight,” my friend and confidante, Amara, exclaimed, her voice crackling faintly through the spotty reception from Charleston to Ballybeg. “You’re in Ireland, living above a pub, flirting with a fiery Irish woman who yells at you more than she smiles, and you’re enjoying yourself?”

“Yep.” I leaned back against the headboard of my bed in my room at The Banshee’s Rest. I had my earbuds on and my feet propped up as I talked to Amara, watching the gorgeous view in front of my window. Today, the sky was blue, and the sun was shining. After days of rain, everything was lush and neon green. I couldn’t wait to go for a long walk with Dee and find a tree or two to push her against so I could feel her up.

I hadn’t made out like this since I was a teenager, and it was exhilarating.

“And it’s cold there?”

“Fuck, yeah. It’s March, and even when the sun is shining, there’s a bite in the air.” I loved the South, I loved Charleston, but when it got cold, I got the hell out of there and went to some place in Hawaii where I could golf without wearing a freaking jacket, hat, and scarf.

“Okay, who are you, and what have you done with Jax Caldwell?” she teased.

“Very funny.”

“No, seriously.” She laughed. “You’ve gone full rom-com hero. Next thing you know, you’ll be buying sheep and wearing tweed.”

Why the hell not? I could buy a farm and….

“My stay here is temporary, Amara.”

“Uh-huh.” I could hear the smirk in her voice. “You keep telling yourself that. But I’ve known you long enough to know when a woman’s gotten under your skin. This red-headed pub owner—she’s something else, isn’t she?”

Amara had been a close friend for over two years now. I knew her husband, Lucas, well enough—we got along fine—but it was Amara and I who had clicked instantly. It just went to show that friendship wasn’t about how long you’d known someone but who they were. I told her the truth—at least when I knew it myself—and sometimes, she was the one who helped me find it.

“She’s absolutely beautiful. Stunning.”

“Go on,” she urged.

“She’s smart and tough as hell. And she’s got this way of looking at you that makes you feel like she’s seeing every damn thing you’re trying to hide.”

“Uh-huh.”

“She’s fuckin’ sexy without even tryin’. All luscious body and big heart. Those curls in her hair…the whole package is just…wow!”

“Jax Caldwell is speechless! I never thought I’d see the day,” she said. “It’s not a bad thing, you know, Jax, to fall for someone.”

“We’re very different people, coming from very different worlds,” I warned.

“You and Dani came from the same world, and how did that work out?” she challenged.

“You’re right.” I shifted to get comfortable on the bed. “We haven’t even, you know?—”

“Don’t you use the F word,” she admonished. “How come?”

“She’s not ready,” I told her about her sister, Cillian O’Farrell, and the resort development project.

“She’s carrying a lot on her shoulders,” Amara remarked. “You should help however you can.”

“She’s prickly as hell.”

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