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“Yep. They’re likely boarding the family’s private jet as we speak.” She linked her arms around his neck, cooling his neck with the beer. “What. A. Day.”
“Do you want to run through the highlights of what happened after I left?”
“I’d rather make out with you for a while until my stomach settles and my mind stops spinning.” She blew out a savage breath. “There were a couple of moments there when I thought I was going to get sick. You being asked about Veritas at the podium. Later, hearing Malcolm is going after Veritas hard with a playbook I didn’t know about. When Ghislaine and I looked up Portraitgate online at the pub. In that moment, we both questioned our decision to move here. The whole story is insane!”
“As you know, big power brokers don’t like to be made fun of.” Liam led her to the couch. “I wasn’t joking about what I said. I’d go to jail to keep your identity secret.”
She laid her head on his shoulder after setting her beer down on the coffee table. “I don’t want tothinkabout that. I would never let that happen.”
He stroked the rigid line of her back. “Then let’s do what we can to keep positive and make sure it doesn’t. Taylor, there are a lot of people working to neutralize Malcolm, if not take him down.”
“Ghislaine says you’ve gone viral as my hot rescuer,” she said, lifting her head. “What with the whole romance we seem to be having after you swept in on your motorcycle and saved me from the big, bad wolf.”
He frowned. “Which you didn’t refute at the press conference. I noticed you didn’t tell them you had it all under control when I arrived. You’re no damsel in distress.”
She traced his frown with her fingertips. “People love that kind of stuff. Besides, neither of us can be sure what might have happened if you hadn’t come.”
Yeah, he’d had some bad thoughts on that score, ones he’d had to work hard to banish in meditation.
“The Kindness Sheep have gone viral again too,” she added. “Ghislaine and I think they might be the best media tool we have in our arsenal. We’re thinking up ways we can do more to feature Keegan and his sheep and Caisleán’s reaction to those cuddly little billboards.”
“That’s a good way of putting it.” He traced her face. “You need to shut your mind off for a while. Me too. I realized I was too worked up to make dinner when I got home. I wasn’t being present.”
“Oh, no,” she joked, flopping back on the couch and covering her eyes dramatically with her hand. “Not that!”
He tickled her right side, making her squeal with laughter. Covering her with his body, he propped himself on his elbows and looked down into her pale, but now grinning face. “You want to pick out the movie tonight?”
The routine they’d settled into gave her time to recharge. Sometimes at dinner, he’d catch her staring off into space, clearly exhausted. Even if safety weren’t an issue, he wasn’t sure he’d be suggesting they head out to a pub or take a night ride on the beach. Not with all that was going on around them. The truth was he liked cooking for her, or her for him, and talking to her at the dinner table. Sometimes they fed each other, and their awareness of each other would begin to build. The problems pressing them would start to fade, and by the time she was settled against him on the couch, he could simply fall into the joy of being with her, not needing to do anything at all.
She shook her head, the silky waves of her auburn hair calling to his fingertips. “Prepare yourself. I have something else in mind.”
Her brown eyes were filled with a new warmth, and the love he had for her rose up and seized him by the throat. He knew what she was going to say.
“I’m happy to report Sorcha was wrong for once.” She caressed his jaw, holding his gaze. “I love you, Liam O’Hanlon. With all my heart. And I want to be with you. Body. Mind. And soul.”
When she took a deep breath, he could feel his mouth curve. “Admit it. My assertion that I would go to jail to keep your secret today did the final trick, didn’t it?”
She worked her mouth before smiling grandly. “Yep! It shocked me too. But then I realized it shouldn’t. I mean, anyone can give a girl dinner and a movie, but saving a girl on a road from a bad guy and then following up with a vow to go to jail to protect her… Nothing beats that.”
Still, he made sure to hold her eyes, searching for her inner truths. She blandly stared back. Then he heard her chuckle.
“You think this is funny?” he asked, tickling her again. “I want to be sure.”
She grabbed his face between her hands. “Look to your heart’s content, Liam O’Hanlon. Here be your loony soulmate. In all her secretive, wacky wonderfulness.”
Loony, his eye. “I love you too,a stór. Come to bed with me.”
He was helping her off the couch when Sorcha appeared before them. Taylor let out a yelp, falling back onto the couch as Sorcha crossed her arms over her spectral chest.
“For the record, I wasn’t wrong.” She smirked. “I thought you’d be more open if I told you the wrong date. Plus, I knew you’d want to prove me wrong if you could. And I was right. Have fun, kids.”
When she vanished, Taylor threw up her hands. “How does that make any sense? She was just covering her invisible behind, which is really freaky by the way. Don’t you think?”
He helped her off the couch. “Do you want to debate the limits of Sorcha’s spirit form or make love for the first time?”
“Good point.” She stepped closer to him, running her hand seductively down his chest. “Aren’t you supposed to sweep me into your arms or something? I’ve never had soulmate sex, and I would think it would require some pretty big rituals.”
She was totally pulling his leg. Well, he was Irish. He could pull back. “I could light some incense. Chant a little. No, wait! We could meditate together. Set our intentions.”
