She bit her lip to keep from laughing. “Behave, Gallagher.”
“No promises. Especially when you moan. The sound does things to me.”
By the time they finished dessert, Aisling’s stomach was full, her cheeks were warm, and her resolve was hanging on by a thread. She tried to blame the whiskey in the cake, or the flirty lighting, or the fact that Ronan kept brushing his knee against hers under the table like it was an accident.
But it wasn’t.
He did everything deliberately with calculated precision.
She was beginning to understand that about him. He didn’t say much unless it mattered. And when he did something, whether it was arguing, teasing, or kissing her like he was trying to rewrite her entire DNA, he meant it.
And she was absolutely, dangerously beginning to like that.
When the bill came, Ronan reached for it without hesitation.
“I told you I’d buy dinner,” she said.
“And I told you no,” he replied, handing off his card with that maddening confidence.
She leaned in as he signed the receipt. “You know, I could’ve tackled you for that.”
“And I would have let you.” He leaned back toward her, close enough that his breath warmed her cheek. “You’d have to straddle me then.”
She blinked. “You’re incorrigible.”
“You like that about me.”
Unfortunately, she really did.
“It could have been fun and the gossips…this poor town would have combusted with the knowledge.”
It was true.
When they stepped out into the night air, it was crisp, starry, and perfect—the kind of weather that made you want to walk slowly, lean into someone’s side, and pretend you had all the time in the world.
They didn’t speak much on the way to his truck. And yet, somehow, the silence buzzed louder than words.
Finally, as they pulled back onto the road, she tilted her head toward him.
“All right,” she said. “I’m full. I’m warm. I’ve been sufficiently wined and dined. Are you going to tell me where we’re going?”
Ronan smiled but kept his eyes on the road. “Nope.”
She groaned. “You’re a menace.”
“True. But I’myourmenace.”
And for the first time since she’d arrived in Mountshannon, since she’d found out she was the accidental heir to a feud-laced castle, since her goat humped a blanket, and Ronan insulted her prose, Aisling realized she didn’t want this night to end.
Even if it came with secrets.
Even if it came with surprises.
Even if it came with Ronan Gallagher, smiling like he knew exactly how to set her on fire, because, damn it, he did.
CHAPTER19
When they arrived at The Last Drop, Aisling paused on the threshold. The pub was packed. Banners of Irish clans lined the walls. People were in color-coordinated shirts, pint glasses raised high, and a sign above the stage read in bold Celtic lettering:
