Page 135

I sit up, pulling the sheet with me. “You look like you’re about to ruin someone’s life before breakfast.”

“I have meetings.”

I look away first because his musky cologne had wafted all the way over to me, and I could quite literally get on my knees for him right now.

“Okay.” I tug the sheet higher against my chest. “Can you take me back into town on your way?”

“I’ll drop you at Eilish’s.”

“Drop me in Black Heath.”

“Heading into town with you in my car at this time of the morning creates questions neither of us wants to face.”

He reaches for his watch on the dresser and fastens it around his wrist. My pulse ticks at the sight of it.

“Eilish’s gives you a cleaner exit.”

I hate that he is right.

Mostly, I hate that he looks this good while being right.

“Okay, fine.”

His gaze moves over me in the bed. “I’ll meet you downstairs.”

“You’re lucky ya didn’t snore, or I would’ve suffocated ya.”

“You’re lucky I like you this much.” He heads for the door. “Or you’d be dead by now.”

I hurl a pillow after him, but he slips into the hall and pulls the door shut. It thumps against the wood and drops to the floor.

I scramble out of bed, drag on my clothes, and hurry into the bathroom to rinse my mouth and inspect myself in the mirror.

“Holy mother of––fuck,” I groan.

My eyes pop wide at the messy tangles of hair at the back of my head, and after teasing my fingers through it, I look less wild.

That thought makes my stomach flip.

That’s the way he likes me. Marked, wet, and wild.

Back in the bedroom, I pull my boots on, smooth my top, fail to do anything useful with my face, and leave his room without looking back at the bed we shared.

The house is quiet. First light streams through tall windows and lands across the main staircase in pale strips.

Fionn is waiting in the main hall with his suit jacket on. Phone in one hand. Keys in the other.

Every inch of him has returned to order, except for the faint red mark at the side of his throat where my teeth sank in.

“Coffee?” he asks.

“No, thanks.”

“Food?”

“I’ll get something at Eilish’s.”

“You had chicken and whiskey for dinner.”