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Her sisters. She had told her sisters about me. Well, hot damn. That was promising.
I wasn’t quite ready to talk to them yet, so I went ahead and dove into “The Three Wishes,” at Eoin’s preferred dangerously fast pace. The rush of energy from being displayed to the sisters made me feel equal to it. I looked at the sisters and gave them a big, friendly “here I am, so check me out” grin.
They gave each other wide-eyed looks, and giggled. Then they took turns whispering into Nancy’s ear and giggled some more. Nancy turned brick red.
I freaking loved it.
I was sorry when they left not long after. They ran off before he had a chance to chat with them, maybe make a good impression. Nancy probably glared them away.
Maybe I’d soon get another chance to charm them. Get them onto my side. In a less noisy environment, maybe. Dinner at my place, maybe. I’d push for that. Maybe I was getting ahead of myself, but what the hell. I cooked a good dinner, when I made an effort.
I looked at my watch when the other musicians started packing up, astonished to find that it was well past two in the morning. Eoin was already wangling a ride with Nancy’s friends to his next seisiún, hopeless tunehead that he was.
“I should be getting home,” Nancy said.
“I’ll walk you to your car,” I offered.
“Actually, no,” she admitted. “I found such a good parking spot for it yesterday that I couldn’t bear to move it, so I just took the subway.”
I stared at her, appalled. “You’re joking, right?”
She looked uncomfortable. “Uh, no. It was perfectly safe. The trains were crowded when I came out. The Seven got me within two blocks of here, and it was full. I always take the subway, whenever I can. It’s so much faster, and I?—”
“You’re not taking it tonight. I’m driving you home.”
“Oh, don’t worry about it,” she scoffed. “I won’t take it home. I had every intention of calling a car to get home, given the weird things that have been happening, so?—”
“Have you not been listening?” My voice got sharper than I meant it to. “Did you hear what Charlie said? I know you’re not stupid, so do you have a death wish?”
Her mouth tightened at my scolding, but there was no way I could have suppressed that. “I do not have a goddamn death wish, Liam. I just try to get through my days as best I can with the resources I have at my disposal, that’s all. Plus, I don’t like inconveniencing people. And what about Eoin? Didn’t he come with you?”
“Eoin’s fine. Your friends are taking him to a late-night seisiún someplace in Brooklyn. He’ll play tunes all night and wake up God knows where, if he sleeps at all.”
She bit her lip. “It’s so far out of your way. An Uber would be fine. Really.”
It occurred to me that Nancy wasn’t used to the people around her giving a damn whether she got home safely. Not any more than she was used to being kissed.
Well, too bad. She was just going to have to get used to it. I wasn’t going to ease into it. I was full-on, one hundred percent.
When it came to keeping her safe, I was dead serious.
Chapter Thirteen
Nancy
I clasped my hands nervously together in Liam’s truck. Being alone with him in the dark made all my doubts come rushing back, mixed with a big dose of simmering lust.
So strange, to think how convinced I’d been that I was in love with Freedy, Ron, and Peter, but I’d never felt like this with them. Not ever. This hot buzz. Raw, thrumming, glowing. A live wire with the casing peeled off.
I cast around for something neutral to talk about, but I was too flustered. “What a stroke of luck to find Eoin,” I said. “He solves all our problems in one go. Plus, he seems like a total sweetheart. How old is he, anyway?”
“Twenty-one, if I remember correctly.”
“God. Just a baby. Looks like he hit it off with Matt and Eugene, too. And he’s available for the tour, thank God. Does he have a green card?”
Liam hesitated. “We’re working on it,” he said guardedly.
“I can help with that,” I assured him. “Uilleann pipers are rare. It’s a highly specialized skill. I’ll write a raft of urgent letters to the INS about how desperately we need him for this gig or that gig, this recording or that tour. It may take a while, but they’ll come through eventually.” I caught his smile before he turned away. “Why are you smirking? Do I amuse you, Liam Knightly?”