Page 23 of Hot Irish Halloween

“A grown-ass man, who should be able to handle that I had a life before him. I just met him, for God’s sake. Am I supposed to change everything to suit a man I randomly found on an app looking for a Halloween booty call?” Penny argued.

Although she made it sound like she was joking, her heart was beating harder, the way it always did when someone brought up the idea of “moving on” from the most important relationship in her life. Like it should be easy. Like it was nothing.

“I’m not trying to argue with you, Pen. I want you to be happy, that’s all. And Jack sounds pretty cool. Just stay open, okay?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Penny grumbled.

“Anyway, Penny Pen, I’ve gotta go, speaking of dress fittings. I’m meeting Dani and the other bridesmaids to get measured for our dresses. I am so excited. We’re doing baby blue cocktail-length,” Jade gushed. “I’m still pissed she picked her sister for Matron-of-Honor, though.Ishould’ve been the maid of honor since I’m the one that got thatwholerelationship going.”

Penny grinned with fondness for her cousin. Even in her grumbling, Jade was so sweet. She was a hopeless romantic and genuinely happy when other people found love, even when her own love life was deathly quiet.

“You should put that in your next matchmaker contract,” Penny teased.

“I’m gonna beyourmaid of honor when you marry The Mountain. Just watch. In the meantime, let me know what happened when you get back from yourEyes Wide Shutparty.”

Rolling her eyes at the absurd suggestion of her marrying the stone-faced giant, Penny shook her head and laughed, ignoring that argument. “If I don’t turn up missing, you’ll be the first to hear all about it. Love you, bye.”

But the image rose in her mind the second she got off the phone, sharp-edged and heart-stoppingly beautiful. A fantasy version of Jack in a gorgeous dark suit at the end of an aisle, somewhere green and lush under a glorious blue sky. He was smiling at her, waiting for her.

Then reality crashed through the daydream when the real Jack texted, “I’m outside.”

Jack was pleasant enough when he said “hello” and got her settled in the passenger seat. It was nice and heated, as the day was an electric chilly blue. Penny set her water bottle in the available cupholder and stashed her purse and backpack full of their road snacks near her feet.

“What’s in there?” he asked, nodding at the backpack.

“Sammiches, fruit and snaquitos.”

Grinning, he said, “Snaquitos. Can’t wait to see what that could be.”

He placed her overnight bag and her beautiful party gown in its garment bag in the trunk of the car. And as it had when she’d seen him that week, Jack’s presence filled the interior when he sat beside her. Penny tried not to inhale the immediate scents of his skin and his woodsy cologne. It made it all the harder not to think about how that combination had overpowered her senses when he’d been in her bed, sucking on her nipples and grinding her into the best orgasm she’d had in ages. If he could do that to her with all their clothes on, he would utterly destroy her if he got his hands on her naked.

“All set? Do you need anything before we go?” Jack asked, thankfully interrupting those unwanted thoughts.

“I’m good.” Jack started the car and pulled away from the curb. Penny continued, “How did Trixie seem at the kennel?”

“Sad.” Jack wasn’t grinning when he said it, clueing her in that he might be feeling bad about leaving her, too. The idea of that warmed Penny to her core.

“Would you consider getting a puppy of your own when your parents get back?”

“Too much work,” Jack said and dropped the topic.

He drove down the street and onto a main artery leading out of the city. They passed through smaller villages and finally on to greener vistas, splashed with the persimmon and yellow of autumn. Penny looked at the peaceful scene with a sigh and settled back. It had been a while since she’d left the city. Out here, it reminded her of home, of Owenville Township, with its modest homes and dark forests.

This land was flatter though, its green hills not the mountains back home. And here was the smell of the Irish Sea rolling in from the nearby coast, not the lakes and waterfalls she was used to.

That made her think of the girl group TLC. With a grin, she hummed and then sang the popular chorus to their “Waterfalls” song. Jack smiled, listening until she trailed off.

“Sorry. Had a moment,” Penny said ruefully.

“You should have more of those moments. I’d love a private show.” Jack glanced over at her. He hadn’t been flirting since the encounter at her house but there was heat in his eyes and his words, whether he intended for his statement to sound suggestive or not. “Anyway, been wondering.”

“About what?” she asked in a soft voice. She held her breath, wondering if this was going to be about that night. It hadn’t come up since then, not even once.

“When you said you’d come to the ball, we didn’t discuss the sleeping arrangements,” he said, making a smooth turn with his palm on the wheel. The car obeyed his every direction like it was an extension of his body.

He’d dropped his leather bomber jacket in the barely-there backseat. Penny’s gaze ran over his powerful torso, the way the muscles in his arms worked under the dark gray shirt that clung to him like a second skin. What she was about to tell him was going to sound crazy even to her when her nipples were hard thinking about his mouth on them. Sucking. Biting.

“We can’t have sex,” she blurted out. Jack glanced at her with a quirked eyebrow like she’d just announced she was a visitor from Venus. “I know we’ll have to share a bed, and things might have gotten a little out of hand the last time we were in a bedroom together, but I think we should just not go there.” Jack stayed silent, staring at her, then back at the road with his grip tightening on the wheel to the point where the knuckles went white. “You’re cool. I like you a lot. I don’t hang out with anybody else here and for the short time I have left in Ireland, I think we could be good friends.”

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