“Sending Daniel, Patrick, and Ciar back out the front door was the best part of this evening. I’ve never met a bigger bunch of tattletales in my life,” Mags griped.
Her nephews and Ciar had waltzed out to their back garden while they were grilling, acting as though they weren’t trying to gather intel for her brothers. The girls finally told them to fuck off back to their house. Bébhinn wouldn’t lie. She’d taken immense pleasure doing it.
“Even without their dads pushing them to snoop, those three are nosy gossips,” Blair signed while making an exasperated growl in her throat.
They’d decided to go to the cinema and were leaving in fifteen minutes when someone knocked on the front door.
“If that’s the neighbors,” Gray groaned, “tell them we aren’t buying Girl Scout cookies.” Bébhinn loved that Gray’s mom and her mom both grew up in Oklahoma, so they both got the USA references.
Mags threw the door open and spoke to the visitor. The door blocked whoever it was.
When she opened the door wider, Bébhinn gasped while Mags announced, “Bébhinn’s boyfriend looks like an O’Faolain. I’m scared. Incest is illegal, right?”
Bébhinn almost choked on her own tongue. Dagr was outside. At her house. Unannounced.
Her legs got the memo to move, and she was shoving Mags out of the way and yanking the heavy wooden door in until Dagr, in all his blue jeans and black tee glory, was within touching distance.
“What are you doing here?” Realizing that sounded like he was unwelcome, she added, “I’m so glad you’re here.”
He stepped over the threshold without an invitation, probably realizing her surprise voided her manners. “I didn’t get to tell you goodbye.”
“He chartered a jet to tell you goodbye properly. Keep him, Bébhinn,” Gray hollered from the living room.
They stood for what felt like an hour staring at one another while her friends watched them like a zoo spectacle. He looked so serious, so ridiculously handsome, and such a welcome sight that she decided action over words was the better path.
Without warning, she stood on tiptoes and slipped her hands across his broad shoulders until they clasped behind his neck so she could pull his mouth to hers, and the instant he deepened the kiss, it became as explosive as last night. Dagr lifted her against his chest, making it easier for him to devour her mouth. Aware that they had an audience, she stifled her whimper as she slowly forced herself to pull back.
“Blair said she didn’t know the romcom we were going to see had a soft porn intro,” Mag quipped.
They both snorted in amusement. “Is this a hello or a goodbye?” Bébhinn whispered in his ear.
“Both. I couldn’t concentrate worth a damn since I watched you walk out this morning. I didn’t like you leaving me without a reminder,” Dagr answered.
“A reminder?”
His hesitation had her heart rate spiking. “That you’re?—”
“That I’m?” Bébhinn lapped at his bottom lip, producing a groan from Dagr.
“Mine.”
“I approve,” she said softly. She didn’t mention that his cheeks were reddened in embarrassment because this was, hands down, the most romantic gesture. She took his hand and led him over to her friends for introductions.
Mags, of course, had to state the obvious. “I’m not saying you look like her brothers, but Jesus, it’s creepy as fuck.”
“You must be Mags.” He held his hand out for her friend to shake.
“Ahh, my perfect personality precedes me,” Mags said as she took his hand in a firm grip.
“I’m Gray MacGregor. I’m a fan,” she teased Dagr, increasing the blush.
“Nice to meet you. I’m sure I have your father to thank for whatever background check that’s been done on me.”
“Oh, for sure,” Gray laughed. “Her dad would also be responsible.” Gray turned toward Blair and pointed.
He turned toward Blair, too, and did something that made her fall for him even harder than she already had.
In BSL, Dagr signed, “Forgive me. I just learn. I am Dagr. Nice to meet you, Blair.”
