We’re a tangle of sweaty limbs as we try to catch our breath. I’m not sure I can move, even if I wanted to.
But Keegan finds the strength to roll to his side, taking his weight off me, and then cups my cheek gently.
“Did I hurt you?”
“No.” I kiss his palm and roll to face him. “You didn’t hurt me.”
* * *
I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I know, someone kissing my neck and shoulder wakes me.
And Lord have mercy, it feels damn good.
“Well, hello there,” I murmur and turn around to find Keegan smiling down at me.
“Good morning.”
“Morning?” I sit up and push my hair out of my face. “It’s morning?”
“Yes, ma’am. Nine a.m., in fact.”
I stare at him in surprise. “It feels like I slept for like twenty minutes.”
“You were out,” he says. “I should have just let you sleep.”
“No, it’s okay.” My phone rings, surprising me, but Keegan just goes back to kissing my shoulder.
“Ignore it.” His hand dives under the covers and slips between my legs.
“Talked me into it.”
He laughs and continues the delicious torture, but several seconds later, my phone rings again.
“Just ignore it.”
“What if it’s an emergency?”
Keegan sighs and reaches for my phone. His eyes narrow, and he answers, putting it on speaker.
“Yes, Mary Margaret?”
“Oh. If you’re answering, Izzy must be with you.”
“I’m here,” I say. “Is everything okay?”
“That’s what I was wondering. When I got up this morning and saw that you didn’t come home last night, I worried.”
“You knew she was with me,” Keegan says.
“I’m just making sure she’s safe, that’s all.”
“Mary Margaret.” Keegan sighs as I get out of bed and reach for his T-shirt. “I know you mean well, but you’re a bloody cockblocker.”
I giggle as I slip the cotton over my head.
“Okay, I can take a hint,” Maggie says. “See you both later.”
She clicks off, and I turn to find Keegan lying on his back, his hands under his head. “Come back here.”
“No way. Let’s go get some breakfast. I’m starving.”
“And then can we come back here?”
I shrug. “Sure.”
“Promise?”
I laugh. “I promise after you feed me, we can come back here, turn off the phone, and have sex all day.”
“It’s a deal.”
Chapter 8
~Keegan~
“Well, hello there,” I greet my gorgeous—and very pregnant—sister-in-law. She’s sitting in the sunroom at the back of the house, her hands folded over her belly, watching the water past the cliffs.
“Good morning,” she says with a sweet smile. “Whales have been playing out there this morning. I was just watching.”
“It’s a good spot for watching. When will the wee one be here?”
“In the next week or so.” She rubs her belly. “Not soon enough. I can’t make my cakes anymore because I can’t reach everything I need, and I can’t lift them. I’m bored out of my mind, except when I’m cleaning everything because I’m nesting. Also, my ankles are always swollen. Anyway, what are you up to?”
My mind swirls with that information dump, so I shake my head and refocus.
“I came to chat with your husband, but I think this is much better for now.” I sit next to her and let out a long breath. “You just can’t beat this view. Reminds me of Ireland.”
She smiles over at me. “That’s what Kane says, too. It’s why he bought this property.”
I already know that, of course. I was with him the day he bought it.
“When are you going to buy yourself something like this?” she asks, surprising me.
“Well, if you’d asked me that a few months ago, I would have said that I’m content above the pub.”
“And now?”
I shrug a shoulder, not sure I want to give voice to the thoughts recently filling my head. Suddenly, I think I might want more than just the pub.
“You can tell me,” she insists and reaches over to pat my hand. “I’m a vault.”
“Oh, that doesn’t concern me.”
“What does concern you, Keegan?”
“I suppose it’s normal for a person to have a change in plans at some point in his life. I have always been absorbed in the pub, and I liked it that way.”
Her lips twitch. “Do go on.”
“It’s nosy you are, Anastasia O’Callaghan.”
She laughs and then nods her head. “True enough. Only because I love you and I want to know how you are. Izzy seems like a special girl.”
“She’s that,” I agree without elaborating.
“You don’t have to make decisions about the future today. But it’s telling that you’ve had a passing thought or two about what you want in the future. There’s nothing to be ashamed of when it comes to wanting a home with a sweet woman.”
“If I ask her to be mine,”—I have to pause to swallow hard—“I can’t expect her to be content with living above the pub.”
“I think she’d probably be happy there for a while,” Stasia says slowly. “But if you have children, the apartment is small.”