AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“So, do you know if they are any good?” I pressed.
“Mm. I heard the owners are real pricks.”
“What?” I gasped. “Seriously?”
He shrugged. “Sorry. That’s all I know.”
“Oh. Well, I doubt I’ll ever meet the owners. I’m not even sure if my office building is the same one as the corporate headquarters.” I wet my lips but couldn’t find it in me to eat anything else. Reality was settling in.
“I read online that the McGregor family are into a little bit of everything. They even own an Italian soccer team. Or, I guess you guys call it football, right?” I was rambling now.
He snapped another piece of bacon in half and looked at me. His eyes crinkled around the edges as he smiled. “Aye, football.”
“So you know about Italian football?”
He popped his shoulders up in an innocent manner, giving me somewhat of a schoolboy look. It was the same look my younger brother would give me whenever he was keeping secrets. “I keep up with sports.”
“So why does an Irish—”
“—team own an Italian one?” he finished for me. “Beats the hell out of me.” He tossed his napkin on his plate. How had he finished that whole meal so quickly?
Then it dawned on me how rude I was being. “I’m sorry, I haven’t even asked what you do.” My eyes flitted to the watch on his wrist, and I wondered if he was well off. The watch looked expensive with its cream face and silver band.
He kept his eyes on me but remained quiet, which prompted me to tease, “What? Is that a tough question?”
Adam rubbed a large hand down his chin before his fingers settled on his chest and drummed over his heart. I couldn’t take my eyes off his tan fingers as they moved. “I don’t do anything all that exciting.”
I pressed my hands to the table next to my heaping pile of barely touched food. “Oh come on. You gotta give me more than that.” I pushed back in my seat, tilted my head, and narrowed my eyes at him, pleased by my sudden lack of tepidness. Acting bold—that was a point for the “things I never do” book. Scratch that—it was point three. Point one was coming to Ireland. And point two was sleeping under the same roof with a man I didn’t know!
Although that second point could very well go into the “stupid things I’ve done” column instead.
“Well. I’ll tell you more the next time I see you.”
“There’ll be a next time?” I hoped I didn’t sound too excited. Then again, I shouldn’t be spending any time with a guy while I was here. In fact, that was the exact opposite of what I needed.
He leaned in a little closer, and I tried not to swallow my unease. “If I tell you all my secrets now, how will I ever get you to see me again?”
“Hm. Your secrets must be pretty bad if telling them means I won’t want to see you again.”
His shoulders moved upright in time with his rich, velvety laughter. His white teeth flashed my way and wicked, unwanted feelings of desire zipped through me with full force.
Adam squeezed one eye closed for a second, eying me in a playful way. “You’re not all that you appear to be, are ya?”
“I guess you’ll have to see me again to find out,” I flirted.
Did I just say that? No. It wasn’t possible. I glanced over at my almost empty glass of OJ. Had Elise spiked my drink? Or was there something in the air that made everyone in Ireland a little bit feisty?
Maybe this trip would be exactly what I needed. Maybe I could recapture the confidence I’d lost in the last year.
“Damn.”
I wasn’t sure what made him curse until he slipped his hand beneath the table and pulled it back up with a vibrating cell phone. “I have to take this. I’m so sorry.”
I nodded. “Of course.” After all, it wasn’t like we were on a date.
“Hello,” he answered. “Okay. I’ll be right there.”
It was the quickest phone call I’d ever heard.
