Deklan
“I think so.” I laugh. “He’s definitely built.”
“So, what about the guy you were supposed to marry?”
My skin goes cold even thinking about Sean.
“I’m really glad I’m not with him.”
“Deklan is that good, huh?”
“Sean is that bad.”
“You seemed to be into him before.” She leans back against the pillows and waits for me to explain.
I know with Kathy there is no judgment. She knows more about me than anyone else in the world, and she’s always taken the time to understand my position.
“I was, I suppose.” I take a deep breath. “I didn’t really know him, of course, but there’s more to it than that. He’s different than the times I met him before.”
“How so?”
“He’s crazy. I’m not just saying that, either—I think he’s one hundred percent nuts.”
I tell her the details of the day Sean said I was going to marry Deklan, the things he said to me during the reception, and his comments to me afterward—both at the Foley house and in the coffee shop.
“Damn, girl.” Kathy lets out a long whistle. “You really dodged a bullet there.”
“Yeah, funny you should put it that way. Deklan is making me carry a gun whenever I go out, but it didn’t even occur to me to get it when Sean came into the coffee shop.”
“A gun? Really?”
I go to my purse and pull out the .22. Kathy looks it over and whistles again.
“I went out with a guy who was into guns,” she says. “He took me out to the range a few times, but I’ve never owned one.”
“It feels weird having it in my purse,” I say. “I don’t think I’d ever actually pull it out.”
“You never know.” Kathy hands the pistol back to me, and I shove it deep inside my purse. “Someday, you might not have a choice.”
“Let’s hope it never comes to that.”
“It proves my point, though,” Kathy says. “Deklan is obviously very into you if he’s worried about your safety. Does Deklan know about Sean coming to your work?”
“No,” I say with a shake of my head. “I honestly don’t know what he would do if I told him. He’s very loyal to the Foley family. I don’t want to come between that.”
“You’re afraid he’d choose them over you.” Kathy’s words are not a question.
“I don’t know…maybe.”
“You are.”
“What if he did?” I feel tears burning behind my eyes. “What if I told him, and he told me that Sean was his boss, and I just needed to shut up and deal with it? What if he tells Sean to just take me back?”
“Do you think he would?”
“I have no idea.”
“Really?” Kathy sits up and crosses her legs. “From everything you have told me, Deklan is seriously into you. Yeah, it wasn’t what he was expecting, and he didn’t ask for it, but he’s way into you now.”
“You think?”