Page 36 of Fighting Fate
I’m sensing that this is another dynamic thing. Everyone is into each other’s business. Not much different from the way Mom and Orla are into all my shit.
“Don’t you have patients to see to?” Willow snaps at Beth.
“Talk about using and abusing,” she retorts. There’s an underlying quip in her statement from the way she saunters off with a “Cheerio, dears!”
“Here, let me see you out,” Jamie offers, already leading the way.
As we follow, Willow pauses, and before I can make sure she’s okay, her arms wrap around me. Surprise renders me immobile for a beat before I hug her back.
“Thank you,” she whispers before we carry on.
The girl is a tough nut to crack, but she’s as sweet on the inside as I knew she would be. She’s the kind of girl that could make a man fall hard. She’s the kind of woman that could change a man’s fate.
“You know, Chooch,” Jamie says when we reach the exit. He’s still watching us intently as though he knows our story doesn’t add up. “You should bring Rory here to Sunday dinner. Bet Mum would love that, and Dad…it would make his year.”
“Can you try to play it cool?” she tells him with a roll of her eyes. “God, it’s like you’re trying to scare him away.”
“I’m sure Rory doesn’t scare easy, right, mate?”
“Right,” I chuckle.
“Good. Make sure she brings you. 7:00 p.m. on Sunday…you should probably fast for a day or so because Mum’s a feeder.” Before Willow argues, he holds out his hand, and as we shake, he adds, “A man’s word is his salt.”
I get the feeling that I’m being set up here, but I play along because I’d do anything for the girl wrapped around me.
“Sure thing,” I tell him as Willow waves a passing taxi down.
“This is us.” She breathes out a sigh of relief when the car comes to a stop. “See you Sunday.”
“See you both at dinner.” He waves us off as we get in the taxi, and Willow tells the driver to take us back to her place.
She must be exhausted because the instant we start moving, she dozes off. With her head on my shoulder and her body flush to mine, she breathes evenly. When we reach her place, I almost feel bad for waking her.
“You can stay…if you want…” she tells me while I help her get the door open. Before I have a chance to reply, she adds, “You probably have training tomorrow, so…yeah, ignore me.”
“I can stay.”
“Are you sure? After Jamie’s full-on freaky shit and condom gate, I wouldn’t blame you for wanting to run for the hills.”
“It’s going to take a lot more than a split rubber to scare me away.”
Hoisting Willow into my arms, I get us up the stairs to her flat. Once we’re in the bedroom, she disappears into the en suite, and I do the best I can to fix the bed before she appears again. I’m gathering her clothes from our date that are still scattered in the small hallway when she stands in the open doorway. Black-painted toes curl as I stare at her elegant feet. I’m tracing up her body with my gaze, admiring her long slender legs, when a breathless hiccup breaks me out of my ogle.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, watching her turn away from me a second too late to hide her tears.
Maybe I shouldn’t have come up. She probably needed space to clear her head and get some rest.
Regardless of my thoughts, it’s too late now to back off. The last thing I want is for her to think that my intentions are fickle.
“Hey.” I coax her back into my arms when I catch up to her. Turning her to face me, I wait for her to drop her hands from her face. She doesn’t, though. “What’s going on, babe?”
“I…I don’t know…I…” With a shake of her head, she comes a little closer so that her forehead is touching my chest. “It’s just that you’re picking up after me and…and…why?”
“Because I’m being nice.” When she peers up at me from behind her hands, I brush her hair back from her face. Where she’s brushed it, all the tangles are out, and the long lengths feel like silk between my fingers. “It’s the least I can do.”
“What?” Those pretty eyes of hers widen on mine. Tear-lined and reddened, they make my heart stutter. A need to make her smile again twists my insides. “Any other guy would’ve left me to deal with the whole condom situation. They certainly wouldn’t be here clearing up after spending half of their night at A&E with me.”
A long sob bursts from her that turns into a bashful laugh while I wipe away the tears still streaming down her face.