Page 33 of An Irish Hope

“God bless you.”

The call ended just as Aisling groaned.

“Ash, are you okay?”

“Yes. I’m just really tired.” She blinked again, and this time her gaze seemed more focused, steady. “I think I worked out too much and my legs went all wobbly.”

“That can happen when we don’t exercise for a while then resume it again.”

“I don’t like feeling fat. I never used to be this way. So I was trying to get fitter.”

So that explained it. “I don’t think you look fat.”

“Oh, you know the right things to say.” She smiled up at him. “I knew I liked you.”

The warmth in his chest meant his heart was obviously not getting the messages from his brain about not getting carried away. Lord, this isn’t part of my plan, so it can’t be from You. Please help me stay focused.

“What do you do for exercise?” she asked.

“I go running.”

“That must be why you’re so…fit.”

“It probably has something to do with it,” he agreed.

Her nose wrinkled. “Have you ever felt like you’re trapped in a vicious cycle you couldn’t escape?”

That had been his toxic relationship with Greta. “Yeah.”

“That was me, while studying for my exams. I just ate and ate all these bad foods. And now I’m dealing with the consequences.” She sighed. “You think it’s fun at the time but it’s a heck of a lot harder to deal with it after the fact.”

“So true.” With wrong food choices as well as those involving a wrong girlfriend.

She peered at him, her eyelids still heavy. “You’re really easy to talk to, aren’t you?”

His lips curved. “Apparently.”

She chuckled, winced. “Don’t make me laugh. It hurts.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.” She snuggled in a little closer.

Maybe a man made of ice would have the ability to pull away at this moment. But as he was red-blooded, and very conscious of the attraction she held for him, he couldn’t pull away.

Which was why when her mother appeared, it must’ve looked like they were canoodling, and accounted for her upraised brows. “Ash? What’s going on here?”

He cleared his throat, and drew back. But just as he’d suspected Aisling slumped, forcing him to hold her again. He glanced at her mother. “I came in and found her on the floor.”

She nodded as he explained, and was soon able to see that anything remotely romantic appearing was purely fuelled from Aisling’s side, as her daughter mumbled how much she liked Andy.

Maeve exchanged looks with Andy. “Poor thing. I think she’ll be quite embarrassed tomorrow.”

“I won’t tell her.”

“You are a good man, aren’t you?” She sighed. “Thank you for caring for her.”

“No problem.”