I blow out a breath as we get out of the car, I come around, and take her hand.
She takes my hand in hers, and she has a calming effect on me. My own voice is tremulous with the effort of keeping myself calm. “He may not be worth it, lass. But you are.”
She blinks, then swallows. “Thank you. Can we let it go for now? Please?”
“Aye. For now.”
“There it is,” she says quietly, pointing toward a pretty, dainty little yellow house on the edge of the street, with a little white fence and pretty, whimsical white flowers lining the walkway.
“Ah, it’s lovely. Looks like it could be a little fairy cottage, eh?”
She shakes her head and her face falls. “‘Tisn’t that one,” she says, pointing her finger at a house I can barely see from here, it’s that covered in weeds. “That one.”
I don’t say anything at first, since I’m not really sure how I’m supposed to respond. It’s nothing at all like what I expected, and I’m ashamed that a man of a Clan once owned this property.
The grass is overgrown, the bushes are in bad need of a trim, and the walkway leading up to the house is broken.
We head to the main door, and her hand easily slips into mine. It’s much smaller, and a little cold. I cup her cold hand with both of mine, and walk her up to the entrance.
“You promise you won’t judge,” McKenna says.
“Of course not.” I hold up a hand in salute, trying to show exactly how serious I am. “I might be bossy as fuck without a tender bone in my body. But I’d never judge someone for something they couldn’t control.”
She squeezes my hand back. “Thanks for that, Tully.”
I kiss her cheek.
She ducks her head. “Wouldn’t say you don’t have a tender bone in your body.”
* * *
Chapter 10
McKenna
It’s easy not to fall for a man who’s a chest-beating alpha, who’s uncompromising in his standards and doesn’t have a care in the world for anyone who contradicts him.
Arrogant! I tell myself.
Who needs a man like that?
But when he shoves you to the floor and protects you with his very own body because he thinks you’re in danger, using his very flesh as a tent of protection over you…
When he watches you with eyes that sparkle and dance, nothing short of admiration in his gaze when you’re in your element, doing your thing, pursuing your passion…
Sigh. And when he holds your hand when you go back to your family home, assuring you there’s nothing he will judge and nothing he hasn’t seen…
It’s a lot harder not to love him then.
Oh, sure, I’ve no doubt some women easily allow themselves to fall for the sexy man who serenades and sweet talks. But Tully does neither.
He doesn’t even try to woo me or to win me over. There’s no preening of the feathers, so to speak. No.
His devotion’s more… raw.
Unadulterated.
Sincere, even.
“Needs a little yard work is all. Bit of a clean-up,” he mutters, as we push through literal brambles.
“More like a fucking machete to break through the jungle,” I mutter. “Ohh!”
I scream when something furry and warm brushes past my bare legs.
“McKenna?” he spins around so quickly, I’m afraid he’s ready to draw a weapon.
Again.
“Looks like Mum has… a pet?”
Or several? A few little kittens purr, walking around my legs, as we head to the front door. I inwardly stifle a groan. If the front of the house looks like this, what on earth does the interior look like?
God, a part of me wishes we hadn’t come, but at the very least I’m glad that we didn’t bring Mary. She doesn’t need to see this. And another part of me feels guilty I haven’t been by sooner.
Tully holds my hand as I press the doorbell.
“Who’s there?!”
“It’s me, Mum,” I say, as loud as I can so she hears me.
There’s a pause, then a clattering of locks and chains and the door opens. Mum’s peering at me through the little space between the door and the jam.
“McKenna?”
“Aye, Mum. Remember I told you I was coming today?”
My stomach twists in knots at the smell that’s coming from inside. This is far, far worse than I expected.
Her eyes quickly go to Tully. “And who’s this?”
“His name is Tully.”
She takes him in quickly, then opens the door. “Come in, then.”
I look at him before we go in. Is he sure about this? He gives me a nod. “Go on, then.”
I take in a deep breath. I can go in, with his hand on the small of my back just so. I step into the house that was once my own. I shut my eyes to the stack of mail near the door, the laundry basket just a few steps in, and the dust that covers everything.