Luck of The Irish (Getting Lucky)

"You saw the guys that work out here. They've all had some sort of issue with Seamus. Some more than others, but the one uniting element—they all hate Seamus. He wouldn't dare step foot in this place. Underneath it all, Seamus is a coward. Coward's usually only pick on those weaker than them. The men in here have turned their lives around, and they’ve also toughened up in the process. Anyone of them could take Seamus. He’s not coming in here, trust me."

"You're really not at all what I was expecting," I said, smiling at him.

"Oh," he said. "What were you expecting?"

"A self-absorbed, gym rat, preoccupied with looks. Like someone who would spend more time in front of the mirror than I did. I took in his hard ridges and cut muscle lines before glancing down at my curves and soft belly. "I really didn't know what someone like you would want with me. I thought your type only went after bubbly arm candy."

"What’s that supposed to mean? Come on, just say it, you thought I was thick, a real cabbage head, didn’t ya? Well, I tell ya what, just because we boxers get knocked about the head a bit, it don’t mean we ain’t got feelings.”

“You’re right, I’m sorry.” I didn’t mean to offend him.

“And what’s more, don’t you go around insulting your looks in front of me, Erin.

From where I'm sitting, you’re looking incredibly sexy. I don’t believe I’ve ever set eyes on a more beautiful woman."

His words made me warm from the tips of my toes, straight up to my cheeks where color presumably blossomed on my cheeks, a trait from my Irish dad that had been my Achilles heel throughout childhood. I felt a little bit uncomfortable but in a good way. Anxious and excited all wound up together in an indistinguishable gust of emotion that put a lump in my throat and quickened my heart beat. I didn't know what to do, so I started picking up plates and tossing them in the garbage bag he held open. When our fingers touched, I felt the undeniable surge of desire overcome me. I wanted to reach my arms around his neck and melt into him, disappear into his massive arms.

“You’ve done enough here. Can I make you a cup of tea?”

“I’d like that,” I said and excused myself to the bathroom. While I washed my hands in the cool water from the sink, the girl staring back at me in the mirror was a vision to see. Her eyes were sparkling like they hadn’t in far too long and the rosiness of her cheeks looked like the color of a young girl in love with life and opportunities to come. While I walked back to his office, I could feel energy humming at the back of my neck, and I was overcome with a tenderness to this man that felt like a wave of warm bath water.

When I opened the door, his back was to me as he poured tea into a small mug and set it down to steep. The gesture was so intimate at the hands of this hulking man. His incredible physique obscured his goodness, underneath the toned body, was a giving soul who went out of his way to protect the most vulnerable. This quality spoke to me so deeply that I felt weak in the knees when he turned to me and looked deeply into my eyes.

“Erin, I didn’t mean to trick you into a date if you didn’t want one. But I’m grateful you came, glad to know you a bit more.”

“Aiden, I’m glad you did this. Sometimes my stubbornness can make me miss what’s important.”

He walked to me then and the meeting was seamless. We collided into one another and my body folded into his. Aiden was huge and dwarfed me immediately; if felt like getting swallowed up by pure comfort, a protective and warm blanket. We hovered in one another’s arms, in a tentative embrace until Aiden grabbed my chin and tipped my head back to gaze in my eyes. I opened my mouth to speak, without knowing what to say, and in the same instant, he lowered his mouth to mine and connected our fate.

We kissed like I’d never kissed before, like two lost souls finding their twin flame, as if we could spill a universe of time into that single touch. It was like meeting the missing piece of myself and all of the broken parts falling into place. I opened to Aiden and surrendered myself before him; the trust was instant, it was unconditional, and I knew that I belonged to him.

His tongue dove into my mouth and his soft lips slid over mine like velvet. His arms came around me and felt like home as he cradled my whole body in his. I’d come to Ireland looking for my father and never expected to find myself, but in that single kiss from Aiden, I knew I was exactly where I belonged.