Chapter 14 #3
A floorboard creaks behind me. The sound is quiet but it still feels deafening. My body goes completely still.
"Lost something?" The voice is pleasant.
I turn around and see Roisin standing in the doorway. Her posture appears relaxed, but her eyes are anything but. They flick briefly toward the safe behind me before returning to my face.
My mind begins working instantly. "Oh thank God."
I force out a nervous laugh. "I've been wandering around this place for ten minutes."
She says nothing.
I continue anyway. "I was trying to find a clean shirt for Lucien and somehow ended up here."
The silence that follows feels far too long. Roisin studies me carefully which somehow makes it worse.
Eventually she smiles. "Yes. The manor can be confusing."
The words sound polite. The look in her eyes does not.
"Come on. I'll help you find what you're looking for." She steps aside and I leave the room with her.
But the feeling follows me. The certainty that she knows I was doing something other than searching for a shirt. The certainty that she simply hasn't decided what to do about it yet.
By the time we return to the main hall, I am still thinking about that look. When Roisin immediately returns to the couch.
She sits close to Domenico. Far closer than necessary. Her shoulder brushes his arm as she examines the fresh bandage. Her fingers rest casually against his skin while she checks the wound.
The reaction inside me is immediate. And irrational. A sharp wave of irritation twists through my chest before I can stop it.
I hate it. Not because of what it means. Because I don't understand why it exists at all.
Domenico is not mine. This relationship is not real. Everything between us is a performance. Yet watching another woman touch him still leaves an unpleasant taste in my mouth.
I cross the room and hand him the water. "Here." My voice comes out shorter than intended. Roisin glances between us.
If she notices anything, she keeps it to herself. "You can take over." She stands and gestures toward the medical supplies. "Clean it properly." Then she leaves.
The silence she leaves behind feels immediate.
I sit beside him and begin cleaning the wound. The dried blood comes away slowly beneath the damp gauze. Neither of us speaks. At least not at first.
Eventually, Domenico's voice breaks the silence. "You looked ready to murder her."
I don't bother looking up. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
A low chuckle vibrates through his chest. "You should hear yourself."
I press the disinfectant against the wound harder than necessary. He doesn't react. Which only annoys me more.
"You are imagining things."
"I don't think I am."
I finally look up. Our faces are much closer than I realized. Close enough that I can feel his breath. Close enough that the room suddenly feels smaller.
The teasing disappears from his expression so gradually that I almost miss it. One moment he's looking at me with that familiar amusement, and the next something darker settles into his gaze, something quieter and far more dangerous.
His eyes drift downward, lingering briefly on my mouth before returning to mine. The movement lasts less than a second, but it is enough for me to notice, enough for my pulse to stumble unexpectedly in my chest.
Neither of us says anything for a moment. The silence stretches between us, thick and uncomfortable, made worse by how close we are sitting.
I can feel the warmth radiating from him, can feel the steady rise and fall of his breathing as I finish securing the bandage around his arm. Then his hand lifts slowly, deliberately, as if giving me every opportunity to move away before he reaches me. I don't.
His fingers settle against the back of my neck. The touch is light. Barely there. But it still sends a rush of heat racing down my spine.
"What did you find around the mansion, baby?" He asks quietly.
The nickname catches me off guard almost as much as the question itself. My breath stalls. Because he knows.
Before a single word can leave me, the doors swing open behind us.
"Let's go, gu…" Roisin’s voice cuts through the quiet room. She stops so abruptly that even I notice it immediately. Her gaze flickers from me to Domenico and then back again, taking in the distance between us, or rather, the lack of it.
A slow smile spreads across her face. "I seem to have interrupted something."
Heat floods my cheeks. I move away from Domenico so quickly that I nearly knock over the disinfectant and send the bandages tumbling to the floor.
"No." The denial leaves my mouth far too quickly to sound convincing.
Roisin's smile only grows wider. Across from me, Domenico looks completely unbothered by the situation.
In fact, the corner of his mouth twitches as though he's enjoying every second of my embarrassment.
The bastard actually looks entertained. Which somehow makes the entire situation infinitely worse.
I have come to Ireland expecting to battle the Keegans. But I am beginning to suspect they weren't going to be the most dangerous part of this trip. Not even close.