A Rebel Without Claws (Southern Charm #1)

21. ~Ronan~

Chapter 21

~Ronan~

“What’s the occasion?” Uncle Shane asked when he walked into the kitchen the next morning.

I was at the stove, having cooked up plates of bacon, sausage, hash browns with diced peppers, and toast, and was now making scrambled eggs.

“If you’re hungry, grab a plate,” I told him.

He was fully dressed, his hands propped on his hips, ready to head to the shop. Then his nostrils flared, and his gaze went to my open bedroom door.

“Did you have a girl over last night?”

He had come in late, long after Celine and I were asleep.

“Yeah,” was all I said as I poured some milk into my bowl of eggs and then kept whipping.

“Oh, hell, Ronan,” he grumbled, then whispered, “Is that Celine Cruz? ”

I poured the whipped eggs into the pan, the butter and oil popping. Before I could answer, I heard her shuffle out into the kitchen.

“It sure is,” she said.

I glanced over my shoulder, my heart plummeting into my stomach when I saw her wearing her own jeans but one of my T-shirts. A harsh grunt of appreciation huffed up my chest, followed by a low growl. Shane’s wide-eyed gaze swiveled to me.

“Was that your wolf?”

Instead of answering him, I left the stove to walk over to Celine and kiss her lips, still minty from toothpaste. She obviously found the new toothbrush I’d left in the bathroom for her with a sticky note.

I’d run up to the convenience store a mile away when I first woke up. Waking with her in my bed and my arms was beyond exhilarating. I’d never been so blissed out, except perhaps last night when I’d come inside her.

After snuggling for a few minutes, I couldn’t get over the need to get up and do something, to be ready when she woke up. My need to make her happy had set me in motion.

“Good morning,” I whispered. “Come sit and eat.” I nudged her to the table.

Once she was seated, I rushed back to the eggs and stirred them, shaking some Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning into them. When I glanced over my shoulder, Uncle Shane was still standing there, awkward and puzzled.

“Have a seat, Uncle Shane.”

Then I poured the fluffy scrambled eggs into a bowl and set them on the table with everything else.

“Do you always cook breakfast like this?” Celine asked sweetly .

“No,” grumbled Uncle Shane, taking a seat as he scowled at me.

I laughed. Nothing could get me down today. I scooped some eggs onto Celine’s plate next to me, then passed her the plate of bacon and sausage.

“Oh, do you want some coffee?” I hopped back up, jittery and excited.

“Yes, please.”

“Cream or sugar?”

“Both.”

“Mmm. That fits.” I winked at her.

She smiled, staring down while a pink blush flushed up her cheeks.

“Well, fucking hell, Ronan.” Uncle Shane dished himself a heaping pile of eggs and then plopped the bowl down heavily on the wooden dining table. “You sure know how to get yourself into trouble wherever you go.”

“How is dating Celine getting into trouble?” I stirred her coffee, unperturbed by my uncle’s piss-poor attitude.

“Here, baby.” I set her coffee down gently, then moved my chair closer to her before I sat across from him. Not satisfied, I tugged her chair even closer to mine.

Celine simply smiled while she sipped her coffee.

Uncle Shane’s gaze flitted from me to her, then back to me.

“Damn.” He shook his head. “I’d have never figured that.”

He just realized she was my mate. Not sure what set it off, but it was either my obvious territorial and protective behavior or that my bite could be seen from the gape of my oversize T-shirt she was wearing .

I didn’t bother commenting as I dug into my breakfast.

“Did you get some hash browns?” I asked her. “My Aunt Sarah taught me to cook them that way.”

She forked some of the crispy diced potatoes and green and red peppers, then took a bite. “Oh, they’re delicious.”

She smiled at me, and my entire soul lit up with joy.

We both settled into eating again while my uncle sat in his chair and stared at us both. I ignored him, realizing how hungry I was after last night.

My mind had wandered to the next time I could get her alone when Uncle Shane blurted out, “Does your father know about this?”

Celine looked up. Calm and poised, she wiped her mouth with her napkin and nodded. “Yes. He knows we’re dating.”

“Huh.” He finally took a bite of the eggs on his plate. “But does he know it’s more than that?”

“He will,” she said confidently.

I’d never had the urge to howl like a wolf, but I did right then.

“He’ll know tomorrow, anyway,” she added, “when Ronan comes to family dinner.”

I paused, setting my half-eaten sausage on my plate. “I am?”

“Sorry.” She cleared her throat and sipped her coffee again. “I was going to ask you last night, but with the fight and, um, everything else, I forgot.”

“What happened at the fight?” Uncle Shane asked with concern.

“Nothing. Just Bowie got a hard hit.”

“Not a hit,” Celine added. “He was clawed down the back, but it was close to his throat. ”

I cringed when Uncle Shane made that disapproving grunt. “That shit is dangerous, Ronan. You should stop messing around in the ring.”

Same old speech. I was about to tell him to keep his opinions to himself when Celine piped up again.

“Oh, it isn’t messing around. It’s a well-recognized sport. And Ronan is amazing in the ring. He’s an incredible fighter. You should come and see him.”

Then she dug back into her hash browns like she hadn’t just rocked my world.

She had defended me to my uncle like it was nothing, telling him something I would never have been able to get him to understand on my own.

Uncle Shane didn’t comment, likely out of politeness to Celine, and kept eating. We ate in silence after that. Uncle Shane shoveled his breakfast down fast, then he hopped up to put his plate in the sink.

“Well, thank you for breakfast, Ronan.” Then he clapped me on the shoulder and leaned down to say, “Sure wish I was a fly on the wall when you meet the whole family.” His chuckle to himself was downright sinister as he headed outside. “See you around, Celine.”

“Bye.”

That was a little disturbing. I knew that Celine had a big family, but I’d already met her brothers and a few cousins. I wondered what could be so ominous about the rest of them.

“Can you give me a ride home?” Celine snapped me out of my reverie as she stood and set her plate in the sink.

“Actually, I was going to let you take my Bronco.”

“What will you drive? ”

“They’ve got a bike in the garage that’s sort of community property at this point.”

“What?” She laughed as I followed her to get her purse from my bedroom, lamenting the fact we weren’t still cuddled under the covers.

“Some rich guy left it a while back.” I took her hand once she put her purse over her shoulder and guided her back through the house and outside. “He sold it to Uncle Shane for next to nothing, and he lets anybody use it when they need to.”

“What if I wreck your Bronco?” she asked as we walked down the porch and the walkway to the drive.

“You won’t. And if you do, she’ll protect you. She’s sturdy and tough.”

“I see.”

I turned her at the driver’s side and gripped her waist, lean- ing into her against the car. Tucking her hair behind her ear, I said, “Thank you for last night.”

“No, thank you for last night.”

We were both grinning like smitten teenagers, and I didn’t give a fuck. That’s how I felt. This was new and fresh, so different than anything I’d felt before.

“So I meet the whole family tomorrow?”

“Yeah. About noon at the Cauldron, my aunt’s pub.” She exhaled a heavy breath. “Sorry I didn’t tell you before. I didn’t want to worry you during the week with the fight ahead of you.”

“Why would it worry me?”

“My family can just be a handful, but they’re going to love you. I know it. ”

I suppressed the feelings of doubt, not wanting to taint this perfect morning. “As long as you’re there, I don’t care what anyone else thinks.”

“It’ll be great.” She brushed a lock of my hair off my forehead that had fallen over one eye.

“And thank you for telling my uncle what you did,” I told her. “I meant what I said, but I can’t pretend it doesn’t worry me.” A line formed between her brows. “I was so worried when Bowie got hurt last night. I don’t know what I would’ve done if it had been you.”

“It’s part of the job. But no one gets seriously hurt.”

“Never?”

I had seen a guy mauled near to death when a fighter shifted into his werewolf form and got hold of him before they darted his ass. But I wasn’t going to tell her about that.

“Don’t worry, Celine.”

“Did you find out if Bowie is all right?”

“He is. I texted him this morning.”

“In between buying me a toothbrush and cooking me breakfast?” she asked playfully, lightening the tension.

She pulled out the sticky note from her back pocket and held it up to me. She’d folded the sticky part back, so she could slip it easily into her pocket, still revealing my messy scrawled words.

Good morning, beautiful. I bought this for you to keep here, hoping you’ll be using it very often. ?Ronan

“You gonna use that toothbrush a lot?” I squeezed her hips.

“So often I’ll need a new one by next month.” She kissed the note and tucked it back into her jeans pocket .

“I like the sound of that.”

Then I kissed her softly, savoring the sweetness of her mouth in the early-morning light.

“Yo, Reed! Stop kissing your girl and get your ass to work!”

We both looked over at the body shop to see Zack waving me over and grinning like the Joker. Rolling my eyes, I opened the door and handed her my keys.

“Drive careful.” I leaned in and gave her another kiss through the open window.

“See you tomorrow.” She smiled up at me, the golden sunlight shining across her hair, the copper strands glowing. My angel’s halo.

“You’re so beautiful it makes my heart hurt sometimes.”

“Ronan.”

She took my hand and kissed the center of my palm. I don’t know why I didn’t just tell her I loved her, because I did. She had to know that I did. I suppose I was afraid to let those dangerous words out of my mouth because you can’t take them back. And if she didn’t love me like I loved her, then I’d be devastated.

The hard fact was that I was willing to take whatever affection she’d give me. Being mated with someone didn’t force you to love them. Love was an action and an all-consuming emotion that made you bare your heart and soul to someone else. If she didn’t return the soul-shattering love I had for her, I think I’d lose my mind.

So I kept those words inside my mouth, then smiled and waved. I pressed my palm to my sternum, trying to stifle the pain of watching her leave.