14. IF THIS IS LOVE
14
IF THIS IS LOVE
JACK
T he trip back to Dublin was so different from the journey to the FitzGerald’s. On the first ride, they’d been uncomfortable and talking that “just friends” fantasy shite. Jack almost didn’t believe that twenty-four hours later, all of it had changed. After the night they’d had, with all the inhibitions stripped away, where they were now was exactly where Jack had wanted to be since he’d seen Penny on that video. They were holding hands, laughing about their adventures and the more ridiculous things they’d seen at the castle.
Jack was still touched at how she stood up for him with Clarissa. Aside from the tough ladies in his family, no woman had ever held her ground in his corner so fiercely. He was used to handling squabbles with his fists, but her purely verbal takedown had been so elegant, so smooth, he could only marvel at it.
“I loved your lines. And the look on her face,” he said. “What are you gonna do to them if they don’t leave us alone?”
“Shit, I’on know. I was just saying stuff that I thought sounded cool.” They laughed. “What’s even funnier to me right now is the fact that you brought me out here thinking a wife would stop her from hitting on you. That was one cockblock gone terribly wrong.”
Jack glanced at her, groaning. “Not that again.”
“I’m just playing. I’m happy to block your cock from both of them. So…” she drawled, giving him that gorgeous mischievous grin. “Our big event is over. I’m heading to Athboy in the morning.”
“Púca,” Jack said, remembering her festival.
“Yup. Púca, Púca.” She pushed her finger in his cheek as though trying to create a dimple there. “I know you’ve already been away from the gym for two days. Would Charlie be angry if you wanted to take the rest of the weekend? Only if you’re otherwise free. If you want to go. It might not be your scene.”
Jack chuckled. She was so fucking cute. He tried to quell the excitement at her asking him to extend their time together.
“After last night, I’m discovering a lot of things are my scene,” Jack responded wryly. “As long as they don’t put horns on me.”
Penny shook her head. “No horns. I promise. Although they did make you look hot. We should’ve brought a pair home.” She sank back into her seat and hummed to the music he’d chosen with a grin on her face.
Jack’s heart probably swelled to twice its size. Then a thought occurred to him, and he swore softly. “Dammit. I forgot about Trixie. I only had her boarded for one night. I could call and see if I can get an extension.”
Penny considered that. “Maybe one more night. I don’t need to be there the whole weekend.”
“You sure? Don’t you need more interviews to finish your book?”
“I didn’t have anything formal set up. My plan was to wander around and drop into whatever drum circle would have me,” she said, and he laughed again.
Jack made the calls via speakerphone while Penny entertained herself by watching the scenery, grinning while Charlie cursed him out. They’d each brought an extra change of clothes, so instead of continuing on to Dublin, Jack changed the GPS destination for Athboy in County Meath, which would take them less than an hour.
“This is the place?” Jack asked when they finally pulled up in front of the hotel Penny had booked. It was on a main town artery sandwiched between a thrift shop and a bakery. Festivalgoers were all over the sidewalks.
“Yeah. It’s cute, isn’t it?” she said with a grin and bounced out of the car to stretch.
“It’s very cute.”
The exterior was gray and the interior was tan with a lot of brown wood. His mother had cleaned in a hotel just like this one when he was growing up, along with waitressing and receptionist gigs. And like that hotel, this one was run by a friendly older woman wearing a name tag that said “Elizabeth,” who recognized him the minute they approached the front desk.
“Well, if it isn’t our famous fighter, Mister Jack Valentine!” she gushed, putting her hands to her cheeks in a way that made Jack grin. “Are you here for the festival?”
“We are,” he answered, indicating Penny. “It’ll be under Penelope Mayfield.”
The woman’s eyes widened even further as she slid behind the computer and started typing.
“We do need to shorten the booking for just one night, unfortunately. We’ve got a pup to get home to,” Penny informed her with a grin.
Jack hadn’t known how good it would feel to hear the word “we” coming from Penny with regard to the two of them. They had a pup. What else would they have together? Would they have a home? A family?
He wanted that badly. Penny wearing his ring, permanently. Her body swollen and ripe with his baby. Penny holding that baby in her arms, smiling at him, loving him. He had to snap himself out of the fantasy to concentrate on the good of the here and now.
“Oh, a puppy! The little love. Alright. Here are your key cards. Breakfast starts at six in the morning, and the bar closes at half past midnight. Everything in between is up to you. There are three bands playing tonight in our bar. Enjoy the festival!”
“Thank you,” Jack said before he collected their bags and rolled them to the elevator bank. Under his breath, he murmured, “Déjà vu.”
“Déjà vu about what?” Penny asked, pushing the button.
“It’s the second time this weekend someone’s told us to enjoy a festival. Starting to wonder if there’ll be a naked high priest waiting for us in the room.”
When they saw the bed, they stopped and stared. It was tiny, even for Penny alone.
“All this ass was not going to fit on this bed,” she noted, staring at it with her hands on her ample hips. “How are the two of us supposed to fit, Hulk?”
Jack wrapped his arms around her, then slid his hands down to said ass to give it a big two-handed squeeze.
“Mm, Hulk loves this sexy ass. Hulk want to smash.”
Penny squeaked when he bit at her neck playfully, then moaned when he pressed his burgeoning hard-on against her.
“Don’t you break this bed. I’m not paying for a replacement,” she warned him.
His response was to toss their bags near the closet, pull down her track pants and her panties and fuck her hard on that tiny bed. Somehow, they managed not to break it.
It was nearly sundown when they reached the grounds of Trim Castle the next town over. Penny was armed with a camera slung over her shoulder and an all-access pass she’d snagged. Jack was surprisingly excited.
“Bran brought me and Mam here the first year they were dating,” he told Penny as they walked onto the festival grounds. She snapped pictures as they went. “I’d been a mean little arsehole to him when he first came around. You know, boys overprotective of their mothers, thinking every man is a piece of shite up to no good. But when we got back to Dublin, I told Dierdre, ‘Mam, you should marry him.’”
“Aw, that’s sweet,” Penny said, pausing from taking her shots. “What did he do to win you over?”
“Snaquitos,” Jack said. “He bought me every sweet or greasy thing I wanted. That whole weekend was pure gas.”
“Bran knew what was up. That’s cool you’ve been here before. I came too, years ago.”
Penny’s smile grew softer. The space between Jack’s shoulders tensed slightly, but if she was headed down memory lane, he’d let her wander. She’d given herself to him last night; no old memory with Brendan could change that. She shivered and squeezed his hand as they stopped to look up at the towering heights of Trim Castle, lit up against a starred night sky with colorful floodlights.
“Too bad we missed the lighting of the bonfire last night,” she remarked. “But, as crazy as things went down, I’m gonna have to say the one at the FitzGerald’s was way more memorable than anything I would have seen here.”
“Last night…” Jack started, then paused for a second. “That celebration and this one feel totally different. But they’re supposed to mean the same thing. Putting away old things. Making way for the new.” He wasn’t going to push her, knew he shouldn’t rush her into a solid commitment, but he needed to make his own intentions clear. “I hope we’re making way for something new together, Penny. I’m not doing the ‘just friends’ thing with you.”
Some revelers dressed as ancient spirits danced by. They were getting closer to the stage. Penny had that little wrinkle between her eyes, the way she did when she was pensive about something.
“I’m here for another couple of months to finish my book, as you know.”
“Yeah, I’ve heard that rumor,” Jack said, and she grinned. His gaze lingered on her eyes and her smile. There was a strong doubt in his mind that he’d ever get tired of looking at that smile. He’d always want to be the reason it lit up her face.
Rolling her eyes at him, she said, “Yeah, well, I’m here in Ireland for another couple of months. I’ll be going home to see the fam like I promised, but I might come back around. Stay a bit longer. Just to see where things go. Are you good with that?”
“I’m good with that.”
He lifted her left hand, still bearing the ring he’d put on it for their act. Jack pressed his lips against it softly, looking into her eyes.
“Will you keep this on in the meantime?”
He was still wearing his ring. Penny rolled her eyes again but then sighed, settling her shoulders.
“If you insist,” she drawled teasingly. “Yes, Jack, I’ll keep it on.”
It was not his way to make huge public declarations or displays of affection. Never had been before Penny. But he couldn’t help himself when he picked her up in the middle of all the beautiful fairy lights, the laughter, and the music and kissed her long and sweet, kissed her like he was dying of thirst and the honeyed well of her mouth had been offered up for the quenching.
“Well, as I live and breathe, as I live and breathe !”
Whoever was talking was too fucking close. Jack swiveled his head to behold a dark-skinned man wearing a striped beanie and sheepskin jacket on his big frame.
Penny gasped when she saw him. She didn’t have to tell Jack who this was. It was her old bandmate, Lemon “Squeeze” McGill, master of the slack guitar and the standing bass.
“Squeezy, you’re here!”
Penny pulled out of Jack’s embrace and traded him for Squeeze, leaving him suddenly cold and missing her warmth. Then he sighed.
Oh well. Looks like the past wasn’t going anywhere any time soon.