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I tapped my fingers against the table as I let my gaze drift over him. Maybe it was a proprietary glance, maybe it was more of a scan, I’d never be able to say, but what I could say?
“If you’d broken his dreams, he’d have been angry. But he’d have figured out a way to temper the dreams and make them reality. He isn’t the kind of kid just to give up without a fight.
“You didn’t break his dreams though. You gave him hope. As dangerous as hope is, that you’re you, that your background is what it is, it fuels him further.”
“He told you what he wants to be when he grows up?”
I laughed, unable to stop myself, and he groaned, knowing full well what my answer was going to be.
“A lawyer. Or a cop, let me guess.”
The smile hit my eyes. “You’re in luck. A lawyer.”
He blew out a breath. “Thank fuck for that. Da’s getting on. He’s not as young as he used to be. If he found out his grandkid wanted to be a cop, he’d be the one having a heart attack.”
Probably.
“I was relieved as well, but I didn’t instill blind faith in the police system.”
“Smart lass.”
I shrugged. “Maybe. We both know what blind faith leads to.”
His mouth twisted. “Adoration?”
“Yeah.” I caught his eye. “What are we doing here, Declan?”
He didn’t act coyly, didn’t try to prevaricate. “You know what you’re doing here, Aela.”
“I can read between the lines, but you have a life that has nothing to do with me anymore. And vice versa. You probably have a girlfriend, maybe even a significant other.”
He snorted. “What do you think I am? A legitimate businessman? A significant other—” He hooted out a laugh like that was the funniest shit I could have ever said.
I scowled at him. “If you’re not going to take this seriously—”
“I’m taking it seriously. Very seriously. We’ll be getting married the second I can stand up to take a leak—”
Nose crinkling at his crudity, I grumbled, “Gross.”
“Thought you’d be used to worse with a teenager around the place.”
“He’s a lot more respectful than you are,” I said with a sniff.
“Wouldn’t be hard,” he agreed.
“What if I don’t want to get married?”
“The second you kept Seamus, you knew, someday, you’d end up with my ring on your finger. Don’t try to lie to me.”
“After Deirdre died, I thought you hated me. I knew it was a possibility, but…”
“But?”
“But you looked at me like I was a piece of shit on your shoes, Declan,” I murmured. “Sure, I knew you’d want to marry because of Shay, but I wasn’t sure if you’d ever be able to put yourself through it.”
He reached up and plucked at his bottom lip, tugging it from his teeth, before fiddling with the soft morsel. Once upon a time, I’d owned him as much as he owned me. If I wanted to bite him there, I could. I would.
Now? He was a stranger. A stranger whose body I knew intimately. Who knewmybody intimately.
