Page 13 of Gorilla in the Groove (Shamrock Safari Shifters #3)

For a woman who said she couldn't dance in clogs, Mick saw Irina out on the floor as he worked, her red dress a beacon that drew his eye.

It was after midnight, but well before his shift ended, that she waved goodnight, and despite the after-show buzz that usually kept him awake for hours, he was more than happy to go home and get some sleep so he could meet with his fated mate for the afternoon.

And she was waiting for him beneath the Shandon Bells, a tall clock tower built on one of Cork's many hills, an integral part of its cityscape.

Her neck was craned back, studying the clock face above her, and her dark hair fell down her back in smooth waves that he wanted to sink his hands into.

She was dressed for summer, and he hoped the weather would keep obliging her—right now it was in the low twenties, almost as warm as Cork ever got—and her pink-checked sun dress looked both refreshingly cool and unbelievably cute.

She reversed her gaze from studying the clocks and found him with her eyes, waving and smiling. "You're right," she called. "They all say something different. Not very different, but different."

"They're doing some refurbishment work," Mick said as he crossed to her and fought the impulse to scoop her up into a kiss.

"I'm sort of afraid they'll add some kind of digital management or something that will lead to them all saying the same time.

It would be an actual crime." He brightened, though, remembering something.

"On the other hand, they made them keep the shake in the shaky bridge. "

"The what?" Irina didn't seem to feel as much uncertainty about whether they should embrace, because she put her arms up to hug him, and squeaked with laughter when he picked her up. "God, you're tall!"

"I am. You're also small. But I am big. The Shaky Bridge.

It's just down over there." Mick swung her in the right general direction, then put her back down.

"It's a hundred year old footbridge that shakes when you walk on it, and it needed repair a while ago and they got it in writing that it had to still shake after the repairs were done.

We can have a go after we've done the bells and the museum, if you like. "

"And after we eat, because I wasn't hungry until I got here and smelled something delicious nearby.

" Irina literally followed her nose around the corner from the bell tower, then clapped her hands in satisfaction.

"Oh my God, it's Middle Eastern food. And now I'm prepared to eat my way through an entire mezze platter.

Look, it's even called the Four Liars, so that means we're definitely going to the Four Liars, right? "

"You know, I can't fault that argument." They went in to lunch, where Irina didn't eat anything like an entire mezze platter, but she did have Mick handy to take up the slack.

Afterward, full and content, they went next door to the Butter Museum, where Mick took a delighted pleasure in Irina finding it as charming as he'd thought she would.

Her expression was bemused as they left an hour later.

"I had no idea the history of butter would be that interesting. None at all."

"Right?" Mick felt like he'd developed the whole museum himself, he was that pleased.

"I went in there once when it was lashing and I had nowhere else to hide, and came out determined to tell everybody I ever met that they should visit.

People think I'm mental when I tell them they should go there, but?—"

"But you're right!" Irina said gleefully. "Thank you for bringing me. Are we allowed to ring those bells?"

Mick breathed, "You can ring my bell any time, baby," and got a wide-eyed blush from Irina, whom he hadn't really intended to hear that. "Ah, sorry."

"Not that it doesn't sound like a great idea," Irina said through her blush, "but the thing about sex when you haven't had it for a while is that it leaves all kinds of unexpected muscles sore, and the last thing I need before a dance competition is a random leg cramp!"

Mick blinked once, then again, then cackled with laughter. "I hadn't thought of that. Not that I meant to be pressuring you anyway, but that's a fair point like."

"You weren't," she assured him. " Those bells, though, not your bells." She pointed back toward the Shandon Bells, and Mick grinned.

"Yeah, we can ring them. They've even got sheet music to tell you how to play 'Mary Had A Little Lamb.' I'm sure the lads who live around here love that." A few minutes later they were at the top of the tower, Irina leaning against one of the windows and sighing.

"Oh, it's beautiful. Look at that view." She went around to the other windows, taking pictures of the whole of Cork City, while Mick beamed like he'd built it all himself. There was nothing like someone seeing it through new eyes to make him appreciate what he had.

Her eyes are not new, his gorilla said cautiously, like it was concerned it might be wrong about that and couldn't figure out how it would work.

Mick chuckled. No, it means she's never seen it before, that's all.

A sense of relief washed through him as the gorilla settled down again, satisfied with the answer, though a minute later, as they began ringing the bells, it gave him a look mixed between indignant and outraged. It's loud!

But musical ! Mick said cheerfully. And you don't mind the club so much!

You wear an ear hat when you play music for the dancers, the gorilla muttered.

Mick loved that it grasped the idea of hats—he'd seen plenty of wild and zoo gorillas in pictures, using various things as hats—but that 'headphones' remained beyond it, conceptually.

After they'd played a single song, Mick leaned toward Irina with an apologetic smile.

"My gorilla would like us to find another way to have fun. "

"It would? Why? How do you know?"

"Because the bells are loud, and it doesn't like loud noises," Mick explained, a little embarrassed.

"Oh! Oh, poor thing. Sure, of course. Does that mean you don't like them?"

"No, they don't bother me. But it complained to me."

Irina's brown eyes widened. "It talks to you?"

"Sometimes. It's pretty laid back, but I should have brought noise-cancelling earbuds to save it the headache here."

"Are you really not carrying earbuds around?"

Mick ducked his head, a little embarrassed. "I usually use over-the-ear headphones, so I tend to forget the little ones even exist."

Irina shook her head, obviously amused. "I'd lend you mine, but I use the smallest size…

" She waggled her fingers at her ear. "You know, the silicon outer part that fits into your ear.

I don't know what they're called. The tips, I guess.

Anyway, mine are tiny and they'd probably fall right into your ears. "

Mick couldn't help putting a finger in his own ear, like he was testing it for size. "I'd like to think the entire bud wouldn't fall inside…"

"No, they'd probably just fall out ," Irina agreed.

"I'd never thought about how differently-sized peoples' ear canals were until I got my first earbuds and had to wrestle the tiniest tip into place so they'd fit in my ears at all.

Otherwise they were like…" She made an outward-explosion motion with her fingers. " Sproing !"

"I've never once thought of somebody's ears going 'sproing' before," Mick said, smiling, as they headed back downstairs.

"Because you've never had earbuds sproing out of your ears before," Irina said darkly, or as darkly as she could through the laughter she was trying to fight down.

At the foot of the stairs she stopped suddenly, putting her hand on his chest and gazing up at him.

"This is nice. This time we're spending together, it's just…

it's nice. I've laughed a lot the last couple of days, and I've seen places around Cork that I probably wouldn't have without you, and I'm happy to see you even if we've only been apart a minute. It's really… nice ."

It's perfect, his gorilla said, and Mick was inclined to agree.

Aloud, though, he murmured, "I'm glad. I'm loving every minute of it, too.

I knew it was supposed to be good, obviously.

When you met your mate, I mean. But I didn't understand how comfortable it would feel.

How…yeah, how happy I'd be to see you even if all I've done is turn around! "

Laughter sparked in Irina's eyes and she nodded, but let him go on with saying, "I'm glad you feel it too. I had no idea…well, you're right. How nice it is."

Irina took a couple of steps back up toward the bell tower, putting her at level height with him so she could wind her arms around his neck and lean in to steal a soft, warm kiss.

"Let's hear it for nice. It's underrated.

I'm really glad I met you, Mick." Then she groaned and slipped her forehead to against his shoulder, mumbling, "But now I have to leave you. "

Alarm leaped in Mick's chest and even his gorilla woke up in a burst of worry. "You do?"

"Well, yes. I have to go get ready for the competition tonight." Irina leaned back again to smile at him.

"Oh!" Relief burst out of Mick in a laugh. "You scared me there!"

"I meant to be dramatic, but not that dramatic! I'm not leaving Ireland or anything, or at least, not this week—" Her face fell, and Mick couldn't stop himself from gathering her close and tucking his nose into her neck.

"We'll figure that out," he promised in a low voice.

"Let's not worry about it right now. You've got the competition to think about, and you and I will get sorted somehow.

We have to. It's fate." He smiled into her shoulder, and she held on harder, giving a little sniffle before lifting her head again to smile at him with softly shining eyes.