Page 20 of Beer & Broomsticks

Her gaze dropped to his lips, and a becoming blush colored her cheeks. If asked, he’d have said Bridget had seen more than most and didn’t possess a shy bone in her body, but her reaction made him curious how much of herself she held back from others. She’d always seemed like a free spirit, but perhaps she didn’t allow herself to let go as she once had.

Turning more fully and lifting a leg to rest his forearm, he created a more intimate position for them. When he reached for her, cradling her nape in his palm as he drew her forward, she showed no reluctance, and instead shifted to her knees to meet his mouth halfway.

The second their lips touched, he was transported. Back to when it was the two of them against the world, and they lived for the time they could sneak away to meet at the old ruins to talk and makeout for hours. Each brush of her tongue fired his desire, made him eager to get her beneath him once more. His heart sighed its contentment as she moved within the circle of his arms and straddled his lap. Her clever fingers explored whatever skin they could find and tangled in the hair above his ears. Even in the throes of passion, she was mindful to avoid his injury, and the care she showed made his love for her swell. His Bridget possessed a hard outer shell, encasing a soft center, and the little ways she showed her caring and concern made them all the more momentous.

When they drew apart to suck in air, they simply stared at one another. Her irises were now a deep forest green, and the sight sent a shiver of awareness through him. Those were the eyes of Wanton Bridget. The woman who intuitively knew how to rock his world and make him beg for her special charms. Oh, how he’d dreamed of her, of this, of the way she would tease and toy with him before they joined in a perfect mating dance only the two of them knew the steps to.

Cupping her beautiful face, he caught her full attention. “I love you, Bridget. More than any other person or thing on Anu’s green earth, I love you. And I’ve paid a terrible price for the eejit boy I was. But here, now, as a man who knows what he wants, who’ll promise you he’ll never so much as look at another, I’m humbly beggin’ you for another chance to prove my worth.”

When she remained silent, his heart dropped to his stomach, hitting as hard as a pebble crashing upon the jagged rocks of Moher.

“You said no, yesterday. You might say no today, tomorrow, and all the days after that, but I’ll not stop askin’. I’ll not stop trying to win you back,” he declared hoarsely.

Her expression softened into a faint smile. “And I’ll enjoy every minute of it, I will. But you have to swear there will be more snogging with the tryin’.”

He closed his eyes in relief. Bridget had given him leave to woo her, and woo her he would.

SeeingRuairí’s relieved reaction to her teasing clarified Bridget’s decision to give him a second chance. Yes, she’d make him work for it. Prove he was as worthy as he claimed this time around. But she intended to enjoy herself in the process.

He was right about one thing; he’d been an inexperienced boy who didn’t know the first thing about women. She was his first as he’d been hers, and they’d not had the knowledge between them to deal with the situation properly at the time. But life was for learning and using those lessons to make better choices in the future. Until now, Bridget had let his kiss with Molly Mae define her actions toward him and other men. Never trusting. Never giving one hundred percent of herself to another. She wasn’t positive she wanted to give that much of herself even now, but she was open to the possibility of change. Of love.

“I said I forgive you, Ruairí, and I do. Just give me time to remember how to trust again, yeah?”

The hope in his eyes was humbling—and flattering to boot. All the years he’d tried to make the mistake right made her feel like a fool for rejecting his overtures. He wasn’t the one who had wasted seventeen years of their lives;shewas.

“I’m sorry I didn’t forgive you sooner,” she whispered past her tight throat. “You deserved better.”

“Oh, Bridg,” he whispered back, as if he, too, was fighting not to cry. “I deserved everything I got, and if you decided to never give me another chance, well, sure, and I deserved that, didn’t I?”

Cupping his face, she blinked away the moisture blurring her vision. “No, Ruairí, ya didn’t. But I was too hurt to see any other way. I loved you that much.”

His arms tightened around her, crushing her to his chest in a fierce hug. “I’ll earn your trust again. And if you should find it in your heart to love me like ya once did, I’ll never give ya another reason to cry,mo ghrá.”

Clapping hands ruined their tender moment, and Bridget looked over her shoulder.

Cian was leaning against the doorway, suntanned and arrogant in the way only he could. “It’s about bleedin’ time the two of you got out of your own way. The rest of us were taking bets on when you’d finally shag.”

Embarrassment at being caught on Ruairí’s lap burned Bridget’s cheeks, but she lifted her chin as if the teasing meant nothing to her. “And shame on you for interrupting a private moment. It’s like you were never taught manners, which I happen to know you were.”

“Should I leave and come back later, then?”

“Why are you home so soon?”

Cian’s expression and tone turned serious when he said, “Aeden.”

Bridget scrambled up, careful not to knee Ruairí in the process, and lent him a helping hand to stand. “What’s going on, and why has no one told me there’s a problem with Aeden?”

“That I don’t know. It’s why Piper and I teleported home the instant Carrick’s text came through. Did he not text you to meet him here?”

“My mobile’s in the other room,” she said irritably. Scarcely ever did she leave it behind for reasons just like the one they were dealing with. That she’d gotten so caught up in finding the sword and failed to remember the phone was disturbing.

Ruairí gave her shoulders a quick rub. “Tell me where,mo ghrá, and I’ll fetch it for you.”

After he left, Carrick and Roisin walked in, followed by Holly and Quentin.

“Where’s Piper, and what’s the emergency?” Bridget demanded.

“She’s agreed to watch the little ones,” Carrick said and gestured for the others to sit down. “Aeden’s had a message from Anu. He—” With a wary look for Ruairí as he returned to the room, Carrick paused his dialogue.

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