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“My dad is far too easy to please.”
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Sparrow. You might regret it if you don’t do it now.”
My smile starts to grow when he sighs and, albeit reluctantly, switches places with me. It feels like an even bigger win than it should be, but I don’t care. I sit at his feet and wait for him to lower himself into the same position I was in before wrapping myself around his shins. It takes a bit of careful maneuvering, but I manage to snap a few photos of him dangling over the ledge as well.
“Don’t let go,” I warn teasingly.
He doesn’t reply, just leans back and kisses the stone. When he pulls himself up again a beat later, his face is scrunched.
“I need some mouthwash.”
“Let’s go find you some, then. I’ll even buy it as a congratulations for taking a risk.”
“How generous of you, Addie. Thank you.”
I smirk, helping him onto his feet. “You’re welcome.”
“I expect you to share these photos with everyone you know so I get my money’s worth of this experience.”
A laugh escapes me as I loop my arm through his and say, “I’ll share it with a few people, but I want this moment mostly to myself if that’s alright with you.”
His next words are gentle. “Yeah, that’s alright with me.”
* * *
A Celtic tunemixed with excited, loud voices fills the pub the next evening. The energy around us is like no other. From the clanging of beer glasses and whooping hollers from every direction, I haven’t been able to stop smiling since we walked inside. Joy makes my blood tingle beneath my skin.
After a day full of exploring, this is exactly what I needed.
“Sweet or spicy, Sparrow?” I ask, setting my elbows on the table and curling my hands beneath my chin. Cooper glances up from his menu.
“What exactly are we discussing?”
“Chicken wings, of course.”
“Then spicy.”
I smirk, an idea taking shape in my head. “How spicy? Like mildly spicy orreallyspicy?”
He leans back, draping one arm over the back of his booth. The black button-down he’s wearing parts where he’s left the top two buttons undone, exposing a light dusting of brown hair over pale skin. I’m so used to seeing my brothers covered in black ink that it seems odd to stare at untattooed skin.
“Really spicy. Go hard or go home, right?”
Dropping my hands on the table, I grin. “I’ll be right back.”
Then I’m moving through the pub, my smile unwavering, even as I find a small opening at the bar and squish between two burly men. Their conversation drops as I lean my forearms to the counter and wait for the bartender, but I don’t pay them much attention. Cooper’s eyes burn holes in my back as I stand here, and for a moment, I wonder if he’ll stalk over here and pull me back to the table with a lecture, but he doesn’t. When I steal a glance at him, I find him waiting in the booth, looking ready to leap up at any moment, but he remains where he is, even as the seconds continue to tick by.
He’s giving me room to breathe. Watching but not involving himself where I don’t need him to. That realization shakes something inside of me, and I glance away.
The bartender is quick to take my order once he notices me, and even as his eyes stray to my minimal cleavage, my good mood doesn’t fade. I grip the two heavy mugs of frothy beer and slip back out with a mutteredexcuse meto the two still-silent men at my sides.
“I hope you like your beer extra frothy and your chicken wings on fire, baby cakes. I think we should have a little competition tonight, and we’re not leaving here until one of us has tapped out,” I say once I sit back down and slide Cooper his mug of beer.
He blinks at me, his expression giving nothing away. “You want to have a beer-drinking and chicken-wing-eating contest?”
“Damn right I do. Whoever eats and drinks the most by the end of the night wins. Are you in, or are you too scared I’ll wipe the floor with you?”
I don’t miss the way his eyes drift over me with subtle disbelief. My size might be my greatest advantage right now. He truly doesn’t know how serious I take my food, even after this past week together. I may have a small figure, but my stomach doesn’t always get the memo.
