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“Why don’t we go to the Storehouse?”
“The Guinness place?” One of the other interns—I think it was Kate—came up from behind Rick.
“Aye. I can get us past the crowd and up to the rooftop bar.”
“Oh, I’ve been dying to go and see that view!” Kate grabbed hold of Rick’s arm and squeezed it.
“Come on, let’s get out of here,” Anna finally spoke, her eyes narrowing on me.
I encouraged the group of interns to follow me through the crowd. It was hard to keep myself from cradling Anna’s back with my palm.
I ignored another “McGregor!” being shouted as we made our way out.
As we neared the door, I spotted Donovan at his usual booth. His eyes were on me, a smile firm on his face. The bastard.
I flicked my chin up at him and swung the door open.
“Rick, Craig—you guys are from here. What the hell were you thinking, bringing ladies to a place like this?”
Rick shrugged. “My brother works at the bar. He was due in soon, so I thought we could get some free pints.”
Shit. If his brother worked there—did Rick know who I was? Really was? I eyed him cautiously.
“Don’t you have better things to be doing on a Friday night than hanging out with us interns?” Anna asked as we all started down the footpath.
“Plans changed.” Her text certainly had changed things . . . Jesus, thank God she had told me where she was. I didn’t even want to imagine her back in that bar, the place crawling with thugs.
“I guess it’s our lucky night.” Kate flashed me a smile.
Yeah, some feckin’ luck.
“I love these.” Anna’s voice stopped me. I turned around to see what she was talking about. She was pointing to one of the traffic signal boxes by the curb. “The pop art is amazing.”
“People got bored of the gray boxes everywhere, so they decided to have artists paint them,” Craig answered before I had a chance.
Anna smiled, her eyes lingering on the box as we continued past. I barely noticed what my city looked like anymore. I’d gotten some sort of tunnel vision, but I wondered what it’d be like to see my city for the first time through a pair of fresh eyes. Through Anna’s eyes.
It took us about ten more minutes to get to the Guinness building. I did my best to avoid looking at Anna as we walked, only joining in on the interns’ conversation every once in a while. I had let her take the lead on how we should behave in front of them.
When we arrived, I sought out a familiar face.
“What’s up, man?” James, the manager, fist-bumped me and slapped his hand on my back.
“Can we jet right up to the top?” I asked.
James studied my group, and his blue eyes found mine again. “Anything for you, mate.”
“It’s the girls’ first time here,” I told James once we made our way to the top floor, which offered a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view of Dublin.
“Ah. Nice.” James winked at the girls and tipped his head at me. “Enjoy.”
“Why don’t you all find a spot, and I’ll get everyone some pints—on me.”
“I’ll help you,” Kate insisted, and I rubbed the back of my neck, trying to come up with a polite way to reject her offer. Anna had already disappeared with the others to find a table.
“Sure.” I moved toward the bar.
After I had ordered, I shifted to face Kate, not wanting to be a complete arse. She was still my employee, after all.
