Beers, Hens, and Irishmen (Warbler's Point Series) (15 page)

             
She conceded. “You’re right Booker, last night wasn’t a mistake. I’m sorry I said that. One thing you do need to know is that last night was a one-time thing.”

             
“It was actually a three time thing…” he said with a smile.

             
“I’m serious Booker.”

             
“I’m serious too Fiona. I want more. I’m not going to settle for just last night.”

             
“Well I’m sorry but that’s all I can offer.” She got out of bed and started throwing on her clothes as quickly as possible. Where were her damn underpants? She didn’t care, she threw on her jeans and sweater, and shoes, grabbed her jacket scarf and hat and headed for the door while Booker grabbed his jeans and threw them on. She tried to overt her eyes from his gorgeous body but when she was zipping up her jacket she caught herself staring for a second. Damn her! Damn him!

             
She was just about to leave when he caught her arm.

             
“This isn’t over you know.” He said with a cocky grin. “I’m not going to just let you call the shots and tell me this, whatever is between us, is over before it got a chance to begin.”

             
“That’s exactly what’s happening. I’m sorry if I led you to believe there was more going on here but there isn’t.”

             
“Bullshit. I can see it all over your face and the way you stare at me. You’re holding back and I’m making it my personal goal to crack that wall you just put up.” He grabbed her by the shoulders and planted a kiss on her so fierce she thought her lips were going to come off. She lost herself once again in him, matching his kisses and tongue thrusts. Then he pulled away just as fast as he kissed her. “You can count on it Fiona, you will be mine soon enough.”

             
As Fiona was walking around to the other side of the pond via the service road to avoid any sighting by her family she thought about his last words. He was going to make her his? What kind of cave-like man says that? She didn’t pin Booker for such a territorial guy but there were a lot of things she didn’t know about him. They almost got in a wrestling match when she was trying to get out the door, he didn’t want her walking home, he was grabbing clothes to put on and drive her home but she wasn’t going to have any of that so while he was putting on his shirt she sprinted out the door leaving him in the dust. She heard him swearing in the distance but she didn’t care. She needed to get out of there before he started making headway on his promise of making her his. Whatever that meant.

                                                                                    ***

Booker was fuming. What turned out to be one of the most amazing nights of his life was instantly washed away by a couple of sentences uttered by that beautiful mouth of hers. He didn’t understand why she was so resistant about starting something with him. Yes he was just visiting Warblers Point but it wasn’t like she didn’t want to travel the world. It wasn’t like she was grounded to her hometown. She even told him her dream was to travel the world and work on improving her photography. If she gave him a shot in the future he might be able to give her the world.

He already felt such a strong connection with her, a connection he never felt before with any other woman so the fact that she was pushing him away when he knew she felt it too was driving him insane. Unfortunately ever since he became famous he always got what he wanted and he became accustomed to it. People dropped what they were doing to make sure he had everything his heart desired and now his heart desired the pretty little auburn haired waitress with the large whiskey colored eyes so he was going to do everything possible to please his damn heart.

He decided to stop worrying about the fortress Fiona threw up between them once she got out of bed and started focusing on how he was going to slowly over take that fortress. He was going to win her over if he had to spend a year in Warblers Point. He needed to get to know Fiona better to see if what he felt for her was real and make sure it wasn’t just lust.

He got in the shower and got ready for the day. He had to help out the O’Learys with the fence today which was going to be hard because flashes of the youngest O’Leary naked in his bed, hair spread out over his pillow kept popping up in his mind. He hoped he could hold it together until they were done with the fence. He knew if he let the fact that he was casually seeing Fiona slip while working with her family that would be by far the nail in the coffin of whatever was blooming between him and Fiona.

He threw on a pair of jeans, a thermal shirt and a puffy vest. Instead of doing is hair he opted for a hat figuring if he did his hair the guys would most likely make fun of him. Once he was set he locked up his cabin and headed for the breakfast area. Walking up to the main house his stomach growled, he could already smell the bangers, begging to be eaten.

When he walked into the dining area he was surprised to already see all three O’Leary boys feasting on breakfast while their mother watched over them, refilling their juices and giving them more helpings of bangers and potatoes. Spoiled, all three of them, spoiled rotten.

He grabbed a plate for himself and headed for the table.

“Why top of the mornin’ to ya, laddie.” Mrs. O’Leary headed his way, always wearing her white ruffled apron and sporting a smile, a smile that was all too familiar. Just the sight of Fiona’s mom had his mind spinning in all different directions. How was he going to make it through today without shouting out, “I screwed your daughter and it was the best I have ever had!” to everyone?

“Good morning Mrs. O’Leary. You are looking lovely this morning.”

“Oh hog’s wash but thank ya for the flattery. Come sit by me boys. Bradon, Finn scoot ya arses down and make room for this here fine young man.”

The O’Leary boys looked up and eyed Booker making him feel uneasy. Did they know about him and Fiona already? Were they spying on his cabin? No, he needed to stop being paranoid.

“Why is the Sheila sitting with us?” Finn teased.

“Finn O’Leary, don’t ya dare insult our guest.” Mrs. O’Leary walked over to Finn and smacked him in the head causing him to drop his fork and rub the swatted area.

“Gee m
a, I was only kidding. Isn’t that right…uh…”

“Booker.” Booker said helping Finn out.

“Yea that’s right, Booker. Hey, did anyone ever tell you, you look like that director who’s also named Booker?” Finn asked.

Booker went completely still and felt his stomach hit rock bottom. The last thing he needed right now when he was trying to win Fiona over was for the cat to be let out of the bag about his real identity. Maybe it wasn’t the best idea to hide such information from Fiona but he sure as hell didn’t want to tell her right now. He had a fear that if she found out who he truly was, she would want to be with him because of his fame, not because of who he was
as a person. He liked people getting to know him for who he was as a person not for what he accomplished in his professional career. He needed to divert the attention away from him and quickly.

“Uh, yea but that guy is a total hippy. So when are we getting started on the fence?”

Finn and Liam who were both sporting matching shiners on their faces whipped around to Bradon and both said in unison while pointing their thumbs in Booker’s direction, “He’s helping?”

They said it as if Booker had some kind of contagious incurable disease. He fe
lt slightly insulted. He had been nothing but nice to the guys, whatever little interaction he had with them. Plus he was an easy going guy, he got along with pretty much anyone, they shouldn’t have a problem with him helping them out with the fence.

“He told d
a yesterday that he would help out. Said he wants to, of course da jumped right on having the extra help.” Bradon said while rolling his eyes.

Liam shook his head. “You would think three strapping young men would be good enough, nope have to add on a Sheila to help too.”
He scooped up a forkful of potatoes and shoved them in his mouth while continuing to shake his head.

“Hey let up a little. He’s a good guy.” Bradon defended Booker, as if he was not sitting right there with all of them.
Booker was a little shocked that Bradon stuck up for him.

Liam just grunted and shoved more potatoes in his mout
h. Then said, “Hey speaking of da, I should get this out before he gets here, Lord knows he shouldn’t hear this but Fiona never came home last night.”

Bradon and Finn’s face both shot up from their plates and looked at Liam. Booker’s stomach sank for the second time that morning. Holy hell it wasn’t even nine in the morning yet and he was already considering this an awful day. They wouldn’t figure it out he prayed. There
was no reason why Fiona’s brothers would know about the two of them. Sweat started to form at his brown so he pulled his hat down a little more so the guys didn’t see him sweating.

“What do you mean she didn’t come home?” Finn asked.

“What the hell do you think it means, she didn’t come home dumbass.” Liam replied.

“Where the hell did she go last night? D
id she have a date?” Bradon asked.

Liam confirmed, “Yea, she had a date but wouldn’t give me any details. Apparently it went well, which doesn’t make me too happy. I don’t like knowing that my baby sister is out there whoring around.”
Booker almost spit out the orange juice he was swallowing.

“Takes one to know one.”
Finn said under his breath but not quite low enough because Liam heard him and pounded the table with his fist in outrage. Booker almost jumped out of his chair. He was so damn nervous about Fiona’s brother’s finding out about last night that any slight movement spooked him. Why was he being such a…Sheila! He shouldn’t be so scared of these Irish men.

Booker looked at Liam who was fuming.
“I fucking told you nothing happened between me and Sophie.”

“What? You and Sophie? What happened with Neala, your wife? And what about Fiona.” Bradon asked confused.

“Shall I fill him in or do you want to?”

“It’s no one’s business Finn so drop it. And most likely Fiona was out with Murph last night.”

That comment made Booker’s blood pressure sky rocket. The thought of that hunky Irishman snuggling up close to Fiona, kissing her, holding her, making her cry out in pleasure only made Booker want to do violent things to people he didn’t know. Knowing Murphy was still slightly in the picture for Fiona made him mad. He wanted to be the only guy she thought of, not some tall dark and handsome Irish speaking man.

“Yea, she was most likely with Murph. I really hope it works out for them this time. They are good together. Plus who wouldn’t want Murph as a brother-in-law?” Bradon said.

Liam and Finn both agreed and then continued to talk about how great of a guy Murphy Ryan was and how he made their sister happy. He was getting sick of the homage to Murphy so he left the table because if he didn’t he was going to end up saying something he didn’t mean which would only lead to suspicion. Suspicion he needed to currently avoid.

He grabbed his plate and scraped off the left over bites he couldn’t stomach, thanks to the Murphy talk and rinsed his plate in the sink. He was supposed to put his plate in a dirty dish bucket but he felt bad
making Mary Margaret clean after him. He planned on staying at The Sleeping Potato for a while and it didn’t hurt to help out around the house, especially if it meant winning over Fiona’s parents. He would take any kind of praise he could get.

Mr. O’Leary walked in wearing a flannel red and black checkered shirt and a pair of very worn overalls. He was also sporting a baseball hat just like Booker’s, but Mr. O’Leary’s had seen better days.

Booker shook his hand. “Mr. O’Leary, good to see you this morning. I’m all ready to help when you are ready to go. Did you have some breakfast?”

“Aye laddie, thank ya. I had me breakfast earlier tis mornin’. And please call me Carlin, none of that mister blarney. I’m ready when ya’re. Boys quit bickerin’ over there and get your arses movin’. We don’t have all day.”

After the boys put their plates in the sink and cleaned up their spots they headed toward Booker and their da and that’s when Carlin noticed the black eyes on Finn and Liam.

“What the hell happened to ya two muppets?”

Finn looked at Liam with a smug grin but Liam beat him to it. “Don’t worry about it da, nothing a slab of steak on the eye can’t cure.”

“Ya two been fightin’ again?” Carlin looked serious, like he was about to knock his sons around for fighting, which didn’t make much sense.

“Look da, we just had a misunderstanding, everything is fine now.”

“That’s funny you say that because I never got an apology.” Finn added.
Booker pegged Finn as a well-established instigator, to the highest degree after watching him interact with his brothers.

Liam gave Finn the death stare sending secret signals to shut the fuck up, but they weren’t so secret because Carlin clued in on what was happening.

“Outside…now!” Carlin said with a glare that could kill.