65. CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE
I’m spaced out on the drive back to my mom’s house, Eoghan’s words playing on a loop in my brain.
I’m going to spend all night inside you.
He holds my hand while we drive, Mom’s address loaded into the navigation. The sun has set, and everything looks so peaceful.
“Do we need to stop at a market?” he asks.
His question is so practical it almost makes me laugh. But it speaks to how he wants to handle everything. Only, I saw it as control. And it’s not. The doors, the never having to say thank you, and paying for everything. He’s…taking care of me.
Does he love me or something?
“Jillian?” he prods me with my name, startling me.
“Oh, sorry. Yeah, Mom still shops as if Dad and I are home. I end up throwing things away when I visit. We’ll take an inventory when we get there. We can eat her lasagna for dinner.” I slip my hand away to hold my middle.
“Are you cold, sparkles?”
“I forgot it gets so chilly up here in December. I didn’t grab a heavier coat before we left.”
“Fuck. That was my fault.” He looks at me with a pained sigh. “I didn’t think about telling you to bring a coat.”
“I have coats at my mom’s house.” I glance at him with a smile and squeeze his hand. “Mom kept some of my dad’s coats.”
That gets a smile. At a red light, he takes off his suit jacket and wraps me in it. “For now, take this.”
When we reach the two-story A-frame with red clapboard and a double garage I once called home, Eoghan nods. “This is nice.”
“It’s not a mansion.”
“So? I don’t live in a mansion. My brother took the mansion we grew up in.”
I look at him, my mouth tipped open. “Narrow that down, you have seven brothers.”
“I have six brothers. There are seven boys, and one girl.” He smiles. “Kieran, the oldest, took over our family home. He’s head of the family.”
“Where do you live?”
“I rent a loft above my sister’s dance studio in town. Classic pre-war with arched windows.”
“Which sister is this?”
“Lachlan’s wife. He’s in charge of our…protection.”
“He’s your enforcer.”
“Aye, sparkles. I love that you get me. Now let’s get you inside.”
I worry for a moment what the house looks like since Mom left in an ambulance.
“Yoo hoo, Jilly!” a voice calls out as we climb out of the SUV.
“Hi, Mrs. Briar.” I wave at Mom’s neighbor.
“Jilly?” Eoghan laughs. “I missed that your mom called you that.”
I won’t tell him I was called Jelly-Belly growing up. By Daniel, who picked on me for being chubby. Eoghan will murder him.
Bundled in a coat, the older woman shimmies up the drive. “How’s your mom? I saw them take her away in an ambulance. I would have gone with her but I had the grandkids.”
“She needs a hip replacement, and…” I stop talking when I notice Mrs. Briar gawking at Eoghan. “This is my…friend. Eoghan.”
Mrs. Briar relaxes and laughs. “Friend. Of course. That makes—”
“I’m her boyfriend,” Eoghan states emphatically, showing our linked hands.
When did we decide this?
“Oh.” She purses her lips. “Your mom must be thrilled.”
“In between the pain med dosing,” I mutter. “I want to get inside to check on the house.” I turn to put my key in the door.
“Nice to meet you, Eoghan. Jilly is a great girl.”
“Yes, Jillian is,” he replies firmly.
I’m surprised he didn’t call me sparkles.
We get inside the house and the heat is on full blast. Shucking Eoghan’s suit jacket, I hand it back to him, and just the way he folds it over his arm is sexy.
Everything about him screams sex and raw male power.
“Kitchen is this way.” I slip down the hall, feeling him behind me.
Here we go…