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I swallowed and patted my lips with my napkin. “You can use chopsticks if you want, but when we toured in Japan last year, our translator told us to use our fingers.”
He picked up an eel roll and went through the same motions I had, though it looked a lot smaller in his hand. He chewed it and swallowed, all while maintaining eye contact with me, making me feel like he wished I was in his mouth instead.
“Better, right?” I asked.
He lifted his chin. “Much better.”
“And now when you go to Japan, you won’t be embarrassed struggling with chopsticks.”
The corner of his mouth hitched. “Pity I have no plans to go to Japan.”
I shrugged and picked out another piece of sushi from the boat. “We’ll probably go back there next year. You can come along.”
Ronan made a noise between a cough and a choke and I realized what I had said. Making plans for next year when we were only on our first date had probably horrified him. He’d been banking on me being this chill, detached girl, and here I was, already trying to lock him down for the future. Poor guy.
“Actually—”
He covered my hand with his. “Will you go to Ireland?”
My mouth opened and closed. It took my mind another beat to catch up and answer his question. “Oh. Probably. We have in the past.”
He nodded and proceeded to select a few pieces of sushi from the boat, transferring them to his plate. “I’ll want to come with you then too. I’ll take you to a real pub, not the tourist traps you’ve been to.”
I gently kicked him under the table. “I didn’t spend my time in tourist traps. Well, not all my time.”
Chuckling, he dipped his spicy salmon roll in soy sauce. “I’ll take you to meet my ma and da, and you can pet their dog, Eric.” He popped the roll in his mouth, chewing it with a grin.
“They have a dog named Eric?”
“They do. He’s a mutt but must have a lot of shepherd in him. Handsome fella.”
I let out a laugh, and Ronan’s head cocked in bemusement. “You should’ve run screaming when I mentioned Japan,” I said.
“Why would I do that?” He damn well knew why, but from his unbothered expression and no pause in his eating, he was enjoying the way I was squirming.
“Because this is our first date. People don’t talk about the future on first dates.” I slapped the table. “And you’re even worse, telling me you’ll introduce me to your mom and dad and their dog. What are you even thinking, Ronan?”
He grinned widely, the corners of his stormy eyes crinkling. He picked up my hand to drag his lips along my knuckles. “You’re adorable when you’re flustered. I like this side of you. I think I might have to bring it out of you more often.”
I shook my head. “We’re both first date failures, you know. And stop biting my knuckles.”
“No.” He nibbled each one of my fingers before setting my hand down on the table again. “I’ve been inside you. I think we’re beyond the first date. This has got to be our fifth or sixth.”
My thighs clenched at his mention of being inside me. I wanted that to happen again. Soon. In fact, I should’ve dragged him into the bathroom and mounted him to distract him from my clingy behavior.
“So, you think it’s normal to bring up traveling together a year from now on the fifth or sixth date?” I arched a brow, but he only chuckled.
“I don’t much care for normal, and I’ve accepted nothing about being with you will ever be average.” He took my hand again and kissed my fingertips. “If you knew the things I think about you that I don’t say out loud, you wouldn’t be the least bit mortified right now.”
I leaned forward, my elbows on the table, my chin on my fists. “What would you say your level of obsession with me is?”
Folding his arms on the table, he leaned in too, his eyes catching a spark of light from the votive beside the sushi boat. “It’s not obsession, Iris. I know what that looks like, and this isn’t it. You’re not an object I want in the palm of my hand. That would never work for either of us. You occupy my thoughts because you’re a sexy, fascinating woman who surprises me on every level. I want you to be mine, not because I want to lock you away from everyone else, but because I am so thoroughly yours, it’s only fair I get to keep you too. If you want to talk about the future with me, I’ll listen and enjoy the hell out of it. I’m not a boy who’s afraid of commitment and everything that comes along with it. I want to fuck you day and night, but I also want you to be a part of my life.” He lowered his lids and bit down on the corner of his bottom lip. “What do you think about that,meala?”
My heart thrashed about like a feral creature, unsure how to behave around these refined and forthright feelings. Ronan didn’t mess around in any area of his life. He stared back at me, unblinking, as though he hadn’t just said something big and intimidating.
“I think…” I let my eyes drift to the side, “this conversation is way too big to have over sushi.”
“Mmm.”
