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CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE
Jillian
I’m spaced out on the drive back to my mom’s house, Eoghan’s words playing on a loop in my brain.
I’m going to spend all night inside you.
He holds my hand while we drive, Mom’s address loaded into the navigation. The sun has set, and everything looks so peaceful.
“Do we need to stop at a market?” he asks.
His question is so practical it almost makes me laugh. But it speaks to how he wants to handle everything. Only, I saw it as control. And it’s not. The doors, the never having to say thank you, and paying for everything. He’s…taking care of me.
Does he love me or something?
“Jillian?” he prods me with my name, startling me.
“Oh, sorry. Yeah, Mom still shops as if Dad and I are home. I end up throwing things away when I visit. We’ll take an inventory when we get there. We can eat her lasagna for dinner.” I slip my hand away to hold my middle.
“Are you cold, sparkles?”
“I forgot it gets so chilly up here in December. I didn’t grab a heavier coat before we left.”
“Fuck. That was my fault.” He looks at me with a pained sigh. “I didn’t think about telling you to bring a coat.”
“I have coats at my mom’s house.” I glance at him with a smile and squeeze his hand. “Mom kept some of my dad’s coats.”
That gets a smile. At a red light, he takes off his suit jacket and wraps me in it. “For now, take this.”
When we reach the two-story A-frame with red clapboard and a double garage I once called home, Eoghan nods. “This is nice.”
“It’s not a mansion.”
“So? I don’t live in a mansion. My brother took the mansion we grew up in.”
I look at him, my mouth tipped open. “Narrow that down, you have seven brothers.”
“I have six brothers. There are seven boys, and one girl.” He smiles. “Kieran, the oldest, took over our family home. He’s head of the family.”
“Where do you live?”
“I rent a loft above my sister’s dance studio in town. Classic pre-war with arched windows.”
“Which sister is this?”
“Lachlan’s wife. He’s in charge of our…protection.”
“He’s your enforcer.”
“Aye, sparkles. I love that you get me. Now let’s get you inside.”
I worry for a moment what the house looks like since Mom left in an ambulance.
“Yoo hoo, Jilly!” a voice calls out as we climb out of the SUV.
“Hi, Mrs. Briar.” I wave at Mom’s neighbor.
“Jilly?” Eoghan laughs. “I missed that your mom called you that.”
