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Had he not been standing in front of me, I never would’ve believed that such words had just been spoken by Daire. I’d always suspected there were emotions behind that tough-guy persona, a softer side, that he wanted someone toseehim. I just never expected that someone would be me.
I felt as though I was getting a glimpse behind the curtain in the Emerald City—only I wasn’t disappointed in what I found.
“Thank you. It means a lot to me.”
He looked back to the glass case and pointed inside. “There any in here you like the look of?”
I screwed my nose up and sighed, disappointed at the sparse selection. “No. I’ve been searching for something super specific. It’s a rare silver pocket sundial and compass by Michael Butterfield, Paris, circa 1700, and I swear every time I’m close to finding one, it gets snatched right out of my hands.”
“You do know there’s this invention called the internet, right? I hear you can find just about anything.”
I rolled my eyes. “But that’s…I don’t know, cheating. I want to find it the old-fashioned way.”
“By rummaging through antique stores and coming up with jack shit?”
“By persevering and getting immense pleasurewhenI finally discover the elusive thing.”
“Right.” Daire leaned back on the case. “I’ll take your word for it.”
With a final sigh, I leaned into his side and rested my hands on his shoulder, staring up at him. “Wanna get out of here?”
Daire turned and grazed his lips over mine. “You sure? We can look some more. I thought you said there were others you wanted to stop by.”
Damn, I was in so much trouble. I’d already been crushing on Daire when he was all grumpy and scowl-tastic, but this new side had a whole lot more than casual hookup emotions surfacing. The fact that he was willing to spend some time doing somethingIcared about gave me a strange feeling of rightness that I couldn’t explain.
“I’ll make you a deal.” I reached for his hand, wondering if he’d pull away, but as with everything else today, he didn’t disappoint. In fact, Daire laced his fingers though mine.
“What’s that?”
“We go find a bakery and grab a coffee and some yummy pastry to eat. Then I drag you around at least five more stores.”
“Digging for your elusive compass?”
I beamed up at him, not able to remember a time I’d ever felt so happy. “Of course.”
“Deal, but it better be a big fuckin’ pastry.”
“The biggest.”
THIRTY-FIVE
daire
“WEST JUST SENT us a few texts.” Gavin rubbed a towel over his wet hair as he walked out of his room later that night, chuckling at whatever was on his phone.
Fresh from his shower, probably to get off all the dust from those antique shops, he looked relaxed and sexy in a t-shirt and loose jeans that hung off his hips.
“Yeah?” I said absently as my gaze trailed over him. I’d heard the alert of our group message thread on my phone, but I’d ignored it. Why did I give a shit what they wanted when this was my view tonight?
Gavin dropped onto the couch beside me and curled his legs underneath him. “It started with ‘Where the hell are you two? You’re not answering’ and has now progressed to ‘I swear to God if we have to break into your apartment to see you two have axed each other to pieces, I’ll make sure you both have dicks tattooed on your remaining body parts.’” Gavin looked up and grinned. “Isn’t that nice?”
“Or disturbing.”
“Which means you approve?”
“Of them breaking in? Hell no. Text him back and tell him to fuck off.”
“Then they’ll know we’re together.” Gavin went suddenly still and then started to backtrack. “I mean, not, like,togethertogether, just in the same room?—”
