Page 74 of Wild Irish

“I’m not sure about that.”

She chuckles. “Go make it right.”

I nod, kissing her forehead, then releasing her and jumping in the back of the car.

“The Navy Pier,” I tell the driver.

The traffic is heavy, and it takes longer than I expected. Or maybe it’s just that time seems to have frozen.

“There,” I shout to the driver.

My chest constricts when I see her. She’s sitting on a bench, hoodie pulled over her head, arms wrapped around her chest.

“Pull over here.”

“I can’t stay here.”

“Circle around. Give me ten minutes.” Hopefully that’s enough time to convince her I’m not the complete asshole she thinks I am.

Delaney stands when she sees the limo, but I see her freeze when I exit the car, and even in the dim light, I see her lips turn down.

“You.” It’s an accusation.

“Before ye start laying into me, ye need to listen.”

“Listen? To what? More excuses. You took off this morning. Without even a note. Why are you here?”

“I left ye a damn note.”

“No, you didn’t.” She crosses her arms, and juts her chin out stubbornly.

I walk towards her slowly, afraid she’ll dart away from me if I move too fast. “We’ve got to stop doing this, love.”

She takes a step back and looks over her shoulder as if searching for an escape route. “Doing what?”

“Not trusting each other.”

“You’re the one–”

“Yeah, I’m the one who fucked up. More than once.” I capture her around her waist, ignoring the small protest when I run my other hand up her back, then pull her hoodie down, so that I can see her face clearly. “But I didn’t leave ye this morning.”

“You did.” She pushes on my chest, but already I can feel her body giving into me, melting against mine. It’s her mind that I need to convince I’m not the enemy.

“Ye already gave me yer heart, Delaney.” I tip her chin up, making her look at me. “Now give me yer trust. Believe me when I tell ye that I didn’t abandon ye this morning.” I can’t help the small grin that tugs at my mouth. “I went shopping.”

She purses her lips and tries to pull away. “Shopping?”

I hold her tighter and rest my forehead against hers. “I wrote ye a message on the other side of Maeve’s list. Ye wouldn’t be so angry at me if ye would have read it.”

She relaxes slightly, but her tone is still strained, and I can see that battle she’s struggling with – whether or not to believe me, to let her guard down.

“What did it say?”

That she even asks is a breakthrough.

I cup the back of her head, tangling my fingers in her hair and smile. “It said I’m madly in love with ye, and I don’t want to spend another day without ye.”

Her mouth opens, then shuts. She blinks and shakes her head. “It didn’t.”

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