Beers, Hens, and Irishmen (Warbler's Point Series) (18 page)

             
He made himself a quick burger and took a shower. He was going to catch the tail end of Fiona’s shift tonight and drop off a present. Once he toweled off he threw on some boxer briefs, the tight jeans she liked and a V-neck sweater with white shirt underneath.

             
When he arrived at the pub it was actually quite busy, busier than normal. There was a flyer on the bar door promoting the pubs Halloween party Saturday night. Then he remembered the costume Fiona was carrying when he went to Murphy Ryan’s ski shop. Looks like he needed to get himself a costume because there was no way in hell he would miss out on seeing her in the sexy get up Murphy picked out for her.

             
He spotted Fiona dusting off her pants and removing her apron near the bar. Right on time, Booker thought. She slipped past the bar and was headed to a door marked employees only. Booker caught up to her right before she entered and grabbed her arm twisting her so she was facing him.

             
“What the hell?” She looked up at Booker and then lowered her voice. “Booker, what are you doing here.” She looked over where Finn was watching their interaction. She gave him a quick smile and turned Booker away so he was out of eye sight.

             
He just smiled at her. “I came to give you this.” He handed her a little gift bag.

             
She looked down at it as if it was poison. “I don’t want your gift. I told you this was over Booker.”

             
He should have felt defeated and walked away with his tail between his legs but he felt more invigorated by the way her face flushed and her breathing picked up.

             
“Just open it.”

             
She rolled her eyes and opened the bag. She started to pull out what was inside until she saw what was inside and quickly shoved the object back in the bag while scowling at him.

             
“You left some personal affects at my place and I thought I would return them. Although, I was quite fond of the demi-bra and thong but I thought they would look better on you rather than me.” He chased his comment with a grin.

             
She pointed her finger at his chest and said, “How dare you come to my place of work and give me my underwear where anyone could have seen. What is wrong with you?”

             
Booker liked it when she got mad, she was very feisty. “I thought I was doing you a favor.” He threw his hands up in defense. She stormed off and went through the employees only door. He followed her.

                                                                                    ***

              Finn watched the Sheila follow Fiona up the stairs that lead to their apartment. She didn’t look too happy with him but he knew she could handle herself…hopefully because he didn’t have time to go check on her. The pub was busier than ever. Liam and Bradon were in the kitchen tonight taking orders. Fiona was off now but she probably should have stayed on a little longer. Finn was going to ask her to but he noticed she was having a bad night so he decided to lay off.

             
Was the Sheila the reason why she was having a bad night? Was something going on between them? There better not be he thought because she was supposed to be seeing Murphy, at least that’s what he last thought as well as his brothers.

             
Bradon came out to the bar and helped restock glasses that Finn was running low on.

             
“Jesus, my balls still hurt from your kick earlier today. I owe you an un-guarded blow to the nuts one of these days.”

             
“You owe me nothing, if I can remember you were punching me just as hard in the ribs. It was purely self-defense.”

             
“You broke the man code, bro. Never go for a guy’s junk, especially when they are supposed to score with a hot blonde later tonight.” Finn watched Bradon eye Tipper, Fiona’s best friend.

             
“Tipper?” Finn questioned.

             
“Jesus, no. Does it look like I have a death sentence attached to me? I wouldn’t touch that girl with a ten foot pole. She drives me fucking insane.”

             
Fin laughed. Tipper and Bradon were always at each other’s necks growing up. They never got along, even till this day they hated each other. It was one of the longest running grudges he ever witnessed.

             
“She’s hot though, you have to admit.”

             
“She’s the devil. Definitely not Tipper. The blonde next to her, uh I think her name is Stephanie. I don’t quite remember.”

             
“You might want to figure it out by the end of the night you know.”

             
“No need, all I have to do is replace her name with baby and she will be putty in my hands.” Bradon said while nudging Finn.

             
Finn just shook his head at his little whore of a brother. “You know you are going to start to run out of girls to fuck in this town.”

             
“Brother, are you kidding me? We live in a tourist town. It’s a constant rotation of pussies here and they are all ripe for the picking.”

             
“You have problems you know that?”

             
Bradon just shrugged and continued to reload the glasses. “Hey, where’s Fiona. This place is busy. We could use her help, did she take off already?”

             
“Yea, she seemed like she was having a rough night.”

             
“You think something is going on between her and Murph? Last time I knew they were a happy little couple.”

             
Finn thought of what he saw a few minutes ago. Booker and Fiona going up to her apartment, with a gift bag. It didn’t seem like Murphy and Fiona existed at the moment. He was going to keep what he saw to himself because if he informed Liam and Bradon Lord knows they would shut the pub down instantly and march right up the stairs dragging Booker out of her apartment by his California blonde hair.

             
“How about we try to stay out of Fiona’s personal life. She’s old enough now to handle herself.”

             
Bradon scoffed at him. “Who are you kidding? When have we ever stayed out of her life? The reason why she is still as pure as she is, is because we interfered with her personal life. Could you imagine how fucked up she would be if we didn’t?”

             
Finn couldn’t argue with that, but maybe Fiona hadn’t found love yet because of their interfering. Or maybe she still was waiting tables at the pub because they were too protective and trapping her in this small town instead of letting her live her life. A horrible thought hit him. Were they holding Fiona back? If they were, Finn would never forgive himself. He was going to have to have a talk with Fiona at some point.

                                                                                    ***

              Fiona made it up her stairs and then realized Booker was right on her tail following her. At first, she didn’t realize he was behind her because she was stomping up the stairs like some kind of petulant child. She was so mad at Booker all she wanted to do was slap him across the face and then pull his head down and match her lips to his until her legs were wobbly with need. What was wrong with her?

             
She twisted around so fast she smacked right into his chest, his hard muscular chest.

             
“Get out of here. You are not allowed up here.”

             
Booker just smiled down at her which annoyed her even more.

             
“What the hell are you smiling for?”

             
“You’re so cute when you get all mad. I kind of like it.”

             
“You are disturbing.” She turned to let herself in her apartment and felt him right behind her. Before she opened her door and he let herself in she turned to face him again.

             
“Booker, please go. I don’t want you here.”

             
“You might be saying that but your eyes are telling me a different story. Why do you keep denying what’s going on between us Fiona. We have something good here, why not ride it out and see where it takes us.”

             
She pressed her finger against his chest and said, “You want to know why? Because once you have had your jollies with me and find yourself bored in this small town you are going to just up and leave, leaving me behind to pick up the pieces of my heart that you broke. I refuse to let that happen.”

             
“How do you know I’m going to leave?”

             
Fiona laughed. “Who are you kidding Booker? You have some cushy job in California where you get to travel the world. Why the hell would you leave that for some small town pub girl like me? No, you wouldn’t so please don’t drag me down in your holiday fantasies of hooking up with some girl while you get your rest away from your hectic life. Spare me, please.”

             
Fiona watched Booker, it looked like he had rage in his eyes but also what seemed like understanding. She knew she was right about him. He would never want to stay in such a small town with her when he had the world at his feet. It made no sense.

             
“You know Fiona, you are so quick to judge people. Maybe instead of grouping all of us ‘tourists’ together in a pile, maybe you should actually get to know us individually. You might be surprised to find that my life in fact isn’t as cushy as you would think and actually I’ve been absolutely miserable for the last couple of years. This past week has been one of the best weeks of my life, I have never felt so free and I have never met such kind and caring people. At least who I thought were kind and caring. So before you get up on your high horse, maybe you should get to know a person before you are so quick to judge them and turn them away.”

             
With that Booker left her in her hallway to think about what a jerk she was. She let herself in her apartment and went straight to her bedroom, she didn’t care to take off her clothes. She just flung herself on her bed and cried herself to sleep in her pillow. What the hell was she supposed to do now? How was she supposed to protect her heart when she knew that starting up something with Booker was only going to lead to heartbreak for her.

Chapter 9

             
Booker had not seen or heard from Fiona since he went to the bar, threw a temper tantrum in her hallway and stormed off. He raked his hand over his face. What was going on with him? He acted like such a child but damn that girl for burying herself under his skin. She was like a tic in his heart, there was no way of getting her out. He didn’t understand what was wrong with her, why she just couldn’t take a chance with him.

             
It sounded like she was burned before by a tourist, which made sense why she wouldn’t want to get involved with him but Booker thought he made it quite clear that he had no intentions of leaving and if he had to he would easily be able to come back. He had more money in his bank account then he could spend in a lifetime so if he wanted to fly coast to coast every day, he could.

             
He thought about that for a second. He was getting way ahead of himself. He was acting like they were engaged or something, flying coast to coast? He shook his head. He needed to focus on scoring another date right now, not figuring out some kind of long distance relationship because right now their relationship consisted of an amazing one night stand.

             
Tonight was the Halloween party at the pub, he already talked to Mary Margaret and Carlin about the party and they pretty much didn’t take no for an answer when he decided he didn’t want to go. He was going to go at first to be closer to Fiona but after what happened the other night and remembering that she was dressing up as with Murphy, the visual helped him change his mind to not going. The O’Learys could care less though so now he found himself looking at the pirate outfit Mary Margaret gave him to wear. He was going to look ridiculous.