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Lorcan’s eyebrows spring up. “Your mother? Doesn’t she live in another state somewhere? Social worker or something?”
I almost laugh. So he checked my backstory. Thank the Lord it held up both times. “Used to be. She’s moved into this area in the last few years. It’s one of the reasons I agreed to take this job. She’s sick.”
He’s impeaching on my personal space, but I don’t mind. His hazel eyes are filled with sympathy. “Serious?”
“She’ll never recover.”
“Wouldn’t wish that on anyone.”
The tenderness in him almost undoes me. “She needs me. I have to go.”
“Let me come.”
“She doesn’t make a lot of sense anymore. Rambles. Says things that aren’t true. Half the time she doesn’t even recognize me.”
His fingers graze my cheek. “You don’t have to be an island.”
I lean into his touch. Saying yes is dangerous, insane. And yet… “You can’t come into the room.”
“That’s a fair compromise.” One side of his lips quirks up in that familiar way.
With my thumb, I brush the dimple peeking out of his scruff. “Lorcan,” I murmur.
His lips brush my temple, and I close my eyes. He gathers me into his chest and sighs. The stench of whiskey is overwhelming.
“You sober enough to drive?” he asks. “Lord knows I’m not.”
My heart beats a strange rhythm in my chest. The risk I’m taking right now is astronomical. I must still be drunk. “Yes.” I step back. “I want to go before Finn and Carys get up.”
Lorcan goes to the lockbox on the wall and takes out a set of keys. He grabs his wallet off the desk and shoves it into his front pocket. “She stay with him last night?”
“Think so.” I shrug. “She’s not in her room.”
He nods. “Gonna make your job tougher with him.”
“I think seducing him is off the table.” Lorcan’s scent still surrounds me. The idea of being with anyone else is the last thing on my mind right now. I want to forget about my job, my mother, everything, and lose myself in Lorcan.
“Perhaps Carys can be of some use.” He places his hand on the small of my back, guiding me out of his office and down the hall.
Dragging her deeper into this isn’t an option for me. “I’ll figure something out.”
“Resourceful as always.” Lorcan looks at me, a half smile playing at the edges of his lips.
After we slip into the car, I put the key in the ignition. I half expect the car to explode, disintegrate, taking us along with it. I bite my lip and squirm in my seat. He’s staring at his phone, absorbed in something else.
“What was eating you?” I start the car.
He examines me for a beat and then goes back to his phone. “You, Finn, my father, my mother… Once you fall down that hole, there’s not much chance of coming back out.”
I frown and put the car in gear. “What’s that mean?”
He tucks his phone into his pocket and runs his hands along the thighs of his jeans. “I get enough booze in me, and I wish I could go back to when I was fourteen. Save the world.” He gives me a wry glance. “You got a time machine tucked into your back pocket there?”
“Why fourteen?”
Lorcan crosses his arms. “So many reasons, Kim. So many. Can’t go back, though. Gotta keep looking forward.” Tiredness is written on his face. “Bit tough when you don’t even know what that’s going to look like.”
“I’m trying.” I squeeze his hand. “Finn’s giving me a list of contacts to feel them out.”