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“I would if it was necessary.” He wasn’t sure if it was a lie or not, but Aidan didn’t seem to believe him either way.
“Who is she?”
“I told you.” James shoved his hands further into his jacket pockets while Aidan wiped his on a towel. “She’s an employee who needed a favor.”
“Oh shit.” Aidan threw the towel on top of his toolbox and shut it with a clang. “You like her.”
“Contrary to your own personal experience, cousin, it is possible to be nice to women without wanting to bang them.”
“Okay, well, that right there is proof you like her. You only deflect with sarcasm when you’re avoiding telling the truth.”
James turned and stalked back toward the kitchen door to the pub, jabbing his key into the lock and yanking it open. “Marriage has made you perceptive. I hate it. Do you want some coffee?”
Aidan set his toolbox down by the door. “Yeah, coffee’s good.”
James led his cousin upstairs to his apartment. No need to dirty the pub’s kitchen when they weren’t even open today. He didn’t normally drink hot coffee, but he had the stuff on hand and one of those pour over contraptions. He kept his hands busy boiling the water and setting up the filter in the pour over.
“So?” Aidan said while the kettle hissed its way to boiling. “Who is she?”
“You don’t know her.”
Aidan scoffed. “I know everyone in our age bracket in the syndicate. You didn’t vibe with Aisling, so I imagine you didn’t try for another Donahue. You’re too decent a guy and wouldn’t want to make things awkward.”
The kettle whistled, and James turned to pour the water over the grounds, watching intently as the coffee dripped down through the tip of the cone and into the glass mug. “She’s not in the syndicate. She helped me out in a pinch when Maizy was a no-show, and I offered her a job.”
When he turned to set the cup in front of Aidan, his cousin was staring at him. “You can’t do that.”
“I’m not doing anything.” James pulled milk and an iced coffee for himself out of the fridge. “I hired her. I fixed her car. That’s it.”
“I know you, James. I know”—Aidan gestured up and down James's frame with his finger—“this. You like her.”
“I barely know her.” James twisted the top off his iced coffee and slowly placed it in the recycling bin to avoid his cousin’s gaze. “You’re reading entirely too much into a friendly gesture.”
Aidan stared at him for a long moment. “You know you can’t be with someone who’s not in the syndicate.”
James raised a single brow. He didn’t need every goddamn person reminding him of what he couldn’t have, what he shouldn’t want.
“Viv wasn’t in the syndicate last I checked.”
On a sigh, Aidan added milk to his coffee and stirred in some sugar. “As much as I love my wife, you know why that’s different. She was chosen for me, and she was born into this life, same as us. You can’t bring a civilian into our world. It’s a recipe for disaster.”
“I’m not bringing her into anything. I know the unspoken Callahan rule as well as anyone else. Dad drilled the story into me from the first moment I told him I had a crush on some random girl at school when I was ten. But like I said, I barely know the woman, so you have nothing to worry about.”
Aidan studied him over the rim of his coffee mug and, seemingly satisfied, changed the subject. “I heard the training went well the other day. That little Timmy McBride got his ass kicked by a girl. Rory seemed pretty pleased by the news.”
James snorted. “Kid deserved it. An asshole in the making who needed to be put into his place. Bonus points that it was a woman who did it without even trying. How’s Evie doing with all of it?”
“More worried than I’ve ever seen her about anything. More worried than Declan even.”
“Declan’s worried?”
Aidan shook his head. “Not really. If he didn’t think this would end well, he wouldn’t have allowed it.”
“Brogan said about the same.” James leaned back against the edge of the counter. “Still, it’s a heavy thing to turn things upside down.”
“Most people think she’s turning them right side up. My wife included. Evie’s right. It’ll be our daughters sitting at that table in forty years. They deserve to lead a syndicate that doesn’t look down their noses at them because they’re women.”
“There will still be challenges. Push back.”
