Page 40 of Until Ireland

“Hey,” Landon called out, placing my food on my desk. “Hunter said he’ll be here in about an hour. These the parts?”

I nodded as I went to the sink to clean up. “Yep. I’m almost done taking everything out that needs to be changed. By the time Hunter gets here, we should be ready to rock and roll.”

“Sweet.” My brother grinned. “Want to eat together, then you can tell me about your wild weekend with Mack?” He wiggled his brows, and I snickered.

“Sure. Then you can tell me about your latest conquest I’ll never be meeting.” I dried my hands before strolling to my desk.

Landon rolled his eyes. “I’ll have you know I’m a changed man. I’m waiting for the right girl.”

That would last two weeks. Tops. “What brought this change about?” I glanced at him as I pulled my lunch from the bag.

He shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess seeing you with Mack and now Jackson with Waverly, I wanted what both of you have. I can’t keep settling on getting laid. I have to grow up, right?”

“I guess.” I took a bite of my burger and groaned. “You think it’s love though?”

He shook his head. “You might not see it yet, Ireland, but Mack loves you, I’m one jealous son of a bitch.”

Well. Then. When he put it that way... “Then go find love, Landon. Just remember, I’ll kick anyone’s ass if they break your heart.”

“Same goes for me, for you,” he said. “Now, tell me, on a scale of one to Aston Martin, how excited are you to work on this vehicle?”

“Very.” I followed my brother toward the car in question. With all of Landon’s talk of love, I wondered about Mack and I. Stupid, because of everything going on, but could he possibly love me? Did I love him?

I think I did. I might have fallen in love with him the night of our date. Guilt ate at me. If I was in love with Mack Redman, then why the fuck hadn’t I? Better yet, why hadn’t I told him the truth this morning?

That was the million dollar question I didn’t have an answer to yet.

Chapter Eight

Mack

Work was hectic,hence why I hadn’t yet hauled my ass to Ireland’s garage to find out what the hell had happened this morning. I wasn’t blind. There was a notable difference between the Ireland who rocked my world twice before breakfast and the Ireland after receiving the phone call which sent her running out of the house.

The woman in question wasn’t talking to me either.

Rather, she went the route of sending me racy pictures over text with her and the Aston. Not that I wasn’t grateful for them—I was. They’d go into my spank bank for consumption later on. I could also admit I was jealous of the hunk of metal. If she kept it up, when the Aston was finished, I was going to drive the car to my house, park it in my garage, and fuck Ireland on the damn hood, just so we could both work out a little pent-up aggression.

Right now, however, I had to get a grip on my temper. Whatever caused her to rush out of the house also stopped her from talking to me. I had a feeling being pissed off wouldn’t help the situation either, and she wouldn’t be willing to explain what happened if I jumped feet first into her shit. I knew that like I knew the sun would rise in the east and set in the west every damn day.

“Mack?”

“Yeah?” I said, lifting my head from the report in front of me to focus on the beverage manager of Flame.

“How do you want to handle it?” he asked.

“Handle what, Jack?” I inquired nonchalantly, praying no one noticed my lack of concentration.

“You didn’t hear a word I said, did you?” Rather than answer, I stared at him until he huffed and finally asked his question again. “It looks like we’re going to have an issue keeping stock on the Grand Maya Tequila. The distributor is recommending another brand. Did you want to try it?”

Fuck, I’d completely zoned out on the entire conversation. Hell, the entire meeting. It wasn’t like me to fuck off mentally, and I wasn’t proud of it, but I wouldn’t admit that to Jack. My business was important to me, and my employees were well aware of my focus and drive when it came to both when leading my teams.

I shook my head. “No, the Grand Maya pairs with our Seafood Tower, and it’s a major selling point for both. If Johnson can’t find it, we’ll find someone else who can.” I paused. “Anything else?”

Jack shook his head. “I’m good.”

I glanced at each of my other managers sitting around my desk for our weekly meeting. When none of them raised a concern or issue, I dismissed them all and picked up my phone to dial Hunter’s cell before my office door even closed. I wasn’t risking calling the business number on the chance my little wildcat would pick up the phone.

Hunter answered after the second ring. “Banks.” The other man sounded flustered. Word had gotten out how I’d taken some of my work to their garage, and now it seemed the sleepy family business was in demand.

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