35. Chapter 35
Chapter thirty-five
My phone started vibrating on the nightstand at the same time someone tried to beat my front door off its hinges.
What the actual fuck?
Isabella was curled against my side with her cheek on my chest and one arm draped across my stomach, somehow still asleep despite the racket. I kept an arm around her while I reached blindly for the phone with the other, found it on the second attempt, and squinted at Lucian’s name on the screen.
“What?”
“Good morning to you too. And sorry for—”
Another round of pounding echoed through the penthouse.
“Who the hell is at my door?”
“My lovely wife woke up, looked outside, and lost her mind over the snow. I called you twice. You didn’t answer, so she decided to inform you in person.”
Isabella’s head lifted from my chest.
“Snow?”
That one word woke her faster than all the pounding at the door.
She pushed herself upright, her hair falling around her shoulders, then scrambled out of bed, snatched the sheet around herself, and hurried toward the bedroom windows.
She stopped in front of the closed blinds and searched for a way to open them.
“How do I raise these?”
“Voice control.”
She shot me an incredulous look. “Voice control for the blinds? Is everyone in the US so spoiled that they don’t even have to pull a cord to raise them?”
Lucian laughed in my ear as Isabella gave up on the blinds, gathered the sheet around her legs, and darted toward the bedroom door.
I lowered my voice. “We may have made a tactical error putting those two next door to each other.”
“You’re only figuring that out now?”
I swung my legs out of bed and grabbed my joggers. “Fair warning—I told Isabella about your playroom.”
“What did you tell her?”
“That she should ask Scarlett.”
“You want me to tell her not to say anything?”
“No. Let Scarlett tell her. Once Mouse knows what’s in yours, she might decide I need one too.”
“It came with the penthouse. Although I’m not going to pretend Scarlett and I haven’t made good use of it.”
“That was more information than I needed before coffee.”
Lucian laughed, and I ended the call. I jerked on a pair of joggers and went after Mouse.
By the time I reached the living room, she had gone perfectly still in front of the windows, one hand pressed to the glass.
“The snow always makes the city look clean. It’s about the only part of winter I like,” I said, crossing the room to her.
“It’s beyond anything I could’ve imagined.” She spun toward me. “Lachlan, look at—”
The sheet tangled around her ankles, and she pitched forward.
I crossed the last few feet fast enough to catch her around the waist before she hit the floor.
“I promised I’d always catch you, Mouse, but if you face-plant when I’m out of reach, there’s only so much I can do.”
She laughed and twisted back toward the glass.
The storm had buried Manhattan overnight. Snow covered the terrace, rooftops, streets, and the waterfront along the Hudson. The cars below were half buried, while the buildings across the river rose from a white landscape that hadn’t existed when we went to bed.
“I knew it was snowing last night, but I didn’t know the whole world would look different by morning. It’s just so beautiful.”
Watching her light up over something as ordinary as snow made me want to show her every damn thing she’d never had the chance to see.
Then more pounding came from the entry.
“Wake up, you sleepyheads!” Scarlett shouted through the door. “We have to go to the park.”
I left Isabella staring at the city and opened the door.
Scarlett stood there already dressed for the cold, one hand still raised as though she intended to start pounding again.
“Mornin’, Scar. Thanks for the weather update.”
“You’re welcome. What’s wrong with your phone? Aren’t you always supposed to answer that thing?”
“Not always. Sometimes a man has other priorities. You, of all people, should understand that.”
Scarlett gave my bare chest a pointed look, then swept past me without waiting for an invitation, and went straight to Isabella.
“Oh my God, look at it. There’s nothing better than a big overnight snowstorm to wake up to,” Scarlett said. “But this won’t last for long. Give New York another day, and it’ll be gray slush, but right now it’s perfect.”
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Isabella said. “Last night was the first time I’d ever seen snow fall.”
Scarlett slipped an arm around her shoulders. “Then you’re going to lose your mind in the park. We’re meeting at Lacey’s first, and her friends Jae and Nat are coming too. We’ll build snowmen, go skating and sledding, and be forewarned: snow days always seem to end in a snowball fight.”
Isabella laughed.
Scarlett gave her a squeeze. “Go get dressed. We’ll meet you by the elevator in about thirty minutes. And wear something warm. Knowing Aria, there’s probably an entire winter wardrobe waiting for you in that closet.”
“Thirty minutes?” Isabella glanced down at the sheet wrapped around her. “I’d better hurry.”
She started toward the hall.
I caught her hand before she could go far.
“Not until you get some food in you.”
“But they’re waiting.”
“They can survive a few extra minutes.”
Isabella sighed. “Fine. Eggs, bacon, and toast won’t take long.”
Scarlett laughed. “I’ll let Lacey know you’re coming.”
The door closed behind her, and Isabella immediately turned toward the hall.
I scooped her up before she made it two steps.
“Lachlan!”
She caught my shoulders as I carried her back toward the bedroom, the sheet bundled around her.
“You’re the one who insists I have to eat, and now you’re taking me in the wrong direction.”
“I’m aware.”
I set her beside the bed, and the sheet slipped to the floor.
Fuck, maybe I should have left her in the kitchen. Now I was no longer hungry for food.
I caught her face in my hands and kissed her. She kissed me back for a few seconds, melting into me, then planted both palms against my chest and pushed me away.
“Stop it. People are waiting for us.”
“You’re standing naked in my bedroom. My priorities shifted.”
“I have to cook. Remember, you’re the one who insisted on breakfast.”
“I did. Then your lack of clothing distracted me.”
She laughed and glanced toward the bed. “Where’s the T-shirt I was wearing?”
I opened the closet, pulled a clean one from the shelf, and handed it over.
She tugged it on, and I gave her ass a firm smack as she turned toward the door.
“Hey.”
“I couldn’t resist.”
She started out, then realized I hadn’t followed and looked back.
“Well? Come on. You’re the one insisting we eat, so you can help.”
She headed toward the kitchen, and I followed.
She wasted no time once she got there. While a generous amount of bacon crisped in the oven, she cracked eggs into a small frying pan and put me to work.
“Get the plates out for me and start the coffee.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“And grab the butter and jam.”
“You’re enjoying this.”
“Very much.”
She scrambled the eggs and dropped bread into the toaster, and before long our plates were loaded with eggs, bacon, and toast.
Isabella didn’t even bother sitting. She stood at the island eating as though every bite cost her valuable snow time, while I took the stool across from her and enjoyed my breakfast at a reasonable pace.
“The park isn’t going anywhere. You can chew.”
She ignored me and finished her toast.
“You can clean up. I need to get ready.”
“Bossy.”
“Efficient.”
She deposited her plate in the sink and disappeared down the hall.
I laughed and started clearing the kitchen.
I hadn’t seen Isabella this excited about anything yet, and I fucking loved it. This playful, bossy side of Mouse was quickly becoming one of my favorites, and I had a feeling there was a lot more of her I hadn’t discovered yet.
By the time I finished cleaning up, Isabella was in the guest room going through the clothes Aria had stocked.
I headed into my bathroom and faced the mirror.
Five days without shaving had left me with more beard than I usually wore. I trimmed it close, ran a brush through my hair, and was about to leave when my reflection held me there.
Nearly a week ago, I hadn’t known Isabella existed. Now I couldn’t picture coming home and not finding her there.
Worse, my brain had already skipped several years ahead to Isabella and me sharing a home with a bunch of kids underfoot.
Christ.
That should’ve sounded insane after knowing her for less than a week, but it didn’t.
The image came too easily, and with it came everything ugly attached to the life I led. Every enemy who would see a wife or child as leverage. Every bastard who knew hurting the people I loved was the quickest way to hurt me.
For the first time, I truly understood why Mam and Da had walked away.
They hadn’t chosen the farm because it was easy.
Farming was hard, relentless work, but it gave Lucian and me a childhood of sheep and chores instead of bullets, blood debts, and some family deciding Byrnes sons made useful bargaining chips.
Mam and Da had done everything they could to give us a safe, ordinary life.
Then Lucian and I, convinced there had to be something bigger waiting for us, left them behind and crossed the ocean to America. Somewhere along the way, chasing more became a less-than-legal life, and we kept going until we were deep in the same underworld our parents had tried to spare us from.
I remembered Mam begging us not to leave Ireland.
Da had barely said anything.
At eighteen, I’d taken his silence for acceptance. Now I understood he’d probably been scared shitless and too damn proud to let his sons see it.
I wasn’t about to move back to Ireland and start herding sheep, but I needed to go home soon.
I needed to sit across from my father, look him in the eye, and tell him I finally understood what he’d tried to do for us.
Then maybe Lucian and I could start setting right some of what we’d broken when we left.
But those worries were for a different time.
Right now I had a girl who’d never played in the snow or seen anything more than my building, and I wanted to give her the best time of her life.
I finished dressing in black jeans, a black sweater, and boots, then grabbed my long wool coat and gray scarf.
I had just reached the entry when Isabella hurried out of the hall and stopped dead.
Well, hell.
Aria had found her a pink snowsuit trimmed in white fur over a cream V-neck sweater, with white boots and pink mittens tucked into one pocket. A quilted pink bag hung from her shoulder.
Her gaze traveled from my boots to my face and stayed there.
I leaned against the wall. “If you keep standing there with your mouth open, Mouse, I’m going to be tempted to fill it.”
Her mouth snapped shut.
“You’re impossible.”
“Yet you’re still staring.”
“You look incredibly handsome.”
Her saying it outright shut me up for a second.
Then someone knocked.
I took the pink bag from her shoulder and opened the door to find Lucian and Scarlett waiting in the hall.
Lucian’s attention immediately dropped to the bag in my hand.
“Nice bag, brother.”
“Fuck off.”
Scarlett laughed, and Isabella failed to hide hers as she stepped into the hall.
I pressed my palm to the elevator scanner, and the doors slid open.
“Come on, Mouse. We’ve got a snowball war to get to.”