Page 42 of Beneath the Quiet

Katie makes a face. “No. I don’t have the patience.”

I smile in understanding. “To be honest, I’m not sure I have the temper for it, either. I like to run. Stay active that way.”

“Because of your job?”

I nod at Aidan. “That’s partly the reason, yes. I love running in the early mornings the most. It quiets the mind.”

He nods, a thoughtful look in his eyes. “I don’t think I’ve seen you run much since you’ve arrived at Cloonmara.”

I shake my head. “No, I…I can’t run much these days, but hopefully soon I’ll be back at it.”

He opens his mouth as if to say something, but then closes it again.

“Well, if you’d like to get to know more people in the village, you should come to one of the park runs. We have them most weekends during the warm seasons.”

I smile in thanks to Rosie before turning my attention back to the food on my plate. I’m already stuffed, and unease settles inside me about all the food going to waste.

“Maeve?”

I raise my head and meet Aidan’s eyes across from me. He rests his hands on the table and looks pointedly at my plate. “You can take the rest of it home with you if you want. Have leftovers tomorrow.”

I smile in earnest and lean back in my chair. “Thank you. I’m sorry. The food’s delicious, but I can’t manage more tonight.”

He shakes his head once. “Don’t apologise. Mum thinks everyone needs more meat on their bones.” He leans closer to Rosie and kisses her cheek, chasing the sting of his words away. “I’ll find a container for you.”

I scrape the chair back, wincing at the sharp sound on the floor. “I’ll help.”

I turn to the kitchen, plate in hand, and wait patiently for Aidan. Katie starts chatting with her grandparents, and I relax a hip on the counter. He turns his head left first, then to the right, and my lips quirk in amusement.

“Still can’t find half your stuff?” I tease softly.

He catches my low chuckle and shakes his head. “I’m hopeless, I know.”

“Not hopeless, no, but perhaps a little lost.”

His lips turn down, and he lifts his shoulders in a shrug. “Right.”

I jerk my thumb behind me. “I’ll check this one, and you take the cupboard at the other end.”

He nods, and we turn our backs to each other and walk in opposite directions.

“Perhaps they’re in the same cupboard where you keep your thermos,” I offer before I reach up on my toes to open one.

“You could be right. The problem is that everything’s been moved around a lot since I started renovating the kitchen. That’s why I keep forgetting which goes where. Feck it.”

I toss a look over my shoulder and watch him turn back towards me again. His annoyed scowl really shouldn’t be adorable at all, and yet it is. He takes a stride towards me, and I stretch up into the cupboard, fingertips skimming blindly over the shelf for the container, all too aware of his warmth at my back. Finally, my fingers close around the container, and I sink back onto my heels. When I twist around, my hand holding it in triumph, Aidan’s gaze snaps up from my backside a second too late.

Wait. Did I just catch him staring at my arse?

I raise a brow at him. My pulse quickens from seeing the faint colouring high on his cheeks, but he doesn’t back down. The intensity that shines back at me almost takes my breath away. There’s wanting there, heat, and the way he clenches his fists at his side tells me all I need to know.

He’s attracted to me, and he doesn’t like it.

I don’t know what to make of this, but I’ll examine it later.

Right now, I need to focus on getting out of here and home without being rude. It’s a good thing I’m trained to handle myself in high-risk situations, because the only sign of Aidan affecting me in more ways than I care to admit is a light sheen of sweat on the nape of my neck.

I wet my lips and wrench my eyes away from him, concentrating on the task at hand, and go to the kitchen counter to move the leftovers from the plate into the container. Fits of laughter erupt from behind me, and I can’t resist looking back at the family. Katie is giggling, her grandparents at her side. It’s the picture of happiness.