There was no denying it anymore. Keira had fallen for Shane, hook, line, and sinker. Back in her room at the B&B that night, she could still feel his lips against hers. The memory of their kiss lingered on her skin, tingled in her mind. All her concerns about Shane being a player seemed to disappear entirely. What did Bryn know? She hadn't been there, she hadn't felt what Keira had felt. The emotion in that kiss was mind-blowing.
Keira felt like she was walking on air as she got herself ready for the night's festivities. She dried her hair and styled it curlier than usual. She painted her lips red, rimmed her eyes with kohl, and slicked mascara onto her lashes. It was more effort than she'd put into her appearance since she'd gotten here, and she realized with surprise that she was dressing up for Shane. She wanted to impress him, dazzle him with her beauty. She wanted to throw herself into this thing, whatever it was, and see where it led her.
She spritzed herself with perfume and skipped out of her room. When Orin saw her emerge into the pub his eyes widened.
"Have you got a date?" he asked.
Keira shrugged coyly. "Might have." She giggled.
Just then Shane came into the pub. Keira felt her whole body erupt with tingling, like electricity was flowing through her veins.
Shane walked right up to her confidently, slid his arm around her waist and pulled her close to him. He planted a deep, sumptuous kiss onto her lips. Keira felt herself melt into him, the whole world disappearing around her as her entire focus was narrowed down to the sensation of Shane's lips.
When they pulled apart Orin looked surprised. His cheeks were a little pink. But he didn't say anything, instead busying himself with pouring pints, trying to make it look as if he hadn't seen a thing.
"You look gorgeous," Shane whispered into Keira's ear, his breath tickling her skin.
"So do you," she replied with a sultry voice.
Shane kept his arm around her waist, protectively holding her close to him. Then he led her through the pub, opened the door at the end for her, and gestured her through. Keira thoroughly enjoyed the courteous gentleman routine. She loved a bit of flirty chivalry.
Out on the street, the party was already in full flow. Noisy crowds of drunken revelers wobbled past them, singing loudly, arms tangled around each other's shoulders. But Keira could hardly see them. She was completely absorbed in her own world, a world that contained nothing more than Shane and his burning gaze that made her feel naked.
They went to one of the stalls and Shane bought bottle of wine. He poured two glasses and handed one to Keira.
"I thought Irish lads didn't drink wine," Keira teased.
"Irish lads will drink anything if it will impress a beautiful lady," Shane replied.
Keira's heart fluttered at the compliment. They settled down at a table and shuffled closer, heads bowed together.
Just then, Keira became aware that the vacant seat next to Shane had become occupied. She silently chastised the inconsiderate person who'd sat right next to a couple so clearly in the throes of lust. They must be so drunk they didn't even realize they were intruding.
But then the person in the seat said something that made Keira straighten up with surprise.
"Shane?"
It was a woman's voice. Keira looked up at its owner, taking in the sight of her thick wavy blond hair, her tanned face covered in freckles, the clumpy mascara on her eyelashes. Shane glanced over his shoulder. Keira noted the way his body tensed as he identified the woman in his mind.
"Aren't you going to introduce me?" the woman added, looking at Keira with an unimpressed expression.
Keira's mind instantly went to a bad place, a paranoid place. Was this another Tessa? Another one of Shane's conquests?
"What are you doing here?" Shane said, ignoring her request to be introduced to Keira, the fact of which made Keira feel worse. Could he not remember this woman's name either? Or worse, was he choosing not to introduce Keira in order not to ruin any possible future liaison with this woman?
"I came here hoping to see you again," the woman said.
Shane folded his arms. He looked tense and uncomfortable, like two worlds that should never collide had. Keira felt herself growing hot with panic.
She stood.
"I should get back to my room," she said. "Get on with writing."
"Don't go," Shane said.
"No," Keira refused. "I need to."
She hurried off, leaving Shane with the smirking woman who looked triumphant at her success in scaring Keira away.
Feeling like a fool, Keira hurried through the cobbled streets back to the B&B. She burst through the door into the crowded pub, shoving her way past people in her haste to get upstairs.
As soon as there was no one around to see her, Keira let her tears fall. She hurried up the stairs feeling like a complete idiot for trusting Shane, for ignoring her gut instinct, for crying over another goddamn man!
She ran into her room and slammed the door, tugging off her stupid shoes, wriggling out of her slinky dress. She chucked them on the floor and stood there, panting, tears falling from her eyes, furious with herself and furious with Shane.
She wrapped herself up in her dressing gown and paced back and forth across the room. Then suddenly, for the first time in weeks, Keira felt a real spark of inspiration. She sat down at her desk, grabbed her laptop, and began to type. She directed all her hurt and rage into her fingertips. Angry, snarky words flowed out of her and onto the open document before her.
What happens in the town of love when you're a veteran? Did the matchmaker ever stop to consider the awkward encounters that may come about when old flames meet new, or when his services are used not by the lovelorn lonely but by players searching for simultaneous dating experiences? Virtual dating apps aside, there is surely no better place to procure a stream of gullible, vulnerable prey than at the matchmaker's meat market.
Keira kept on typing until her fingers were almost numb, battering the keys like a pianist playing a passionate concerto.
Then she was interrupted by the sound of a knock at the door.
"I'm busy, Orin!" she called out.
"It's Shane," came the voice on the other side.
Keira stopped typing. But only for a moment. She wasn't going to let Shane sweet talk her out of this place she'd finally found. To think she'd almost ruined her career for that stupid man! The last thing she was prepared to do now was let him in. She typed again, her fingers bashing against the keys with increased fury.
"Can you let me in?" Shane pressed. "I'd like to talk to you."
"NO!" she shouted. "Go away!"
Shane clearly wasn't about to respect her wishes. Keira heard his muffled voice come through the door again.
"Pretty please?" he said.
"I said NO!"
There was silence for a moment. Keira hoped that meant Shane had gone away. But then she heard his pitiful, pleading voice once more.
"If you're jealous about that woman or whatever then don't be. That was Caroline. My ex."
She turned angrily and thundered to the door. She unlocked it and yanked it open.
There was Shane, looking sheepish, his eyebrows raised halfway up his forehead. Even while infuriated with him Keira couldn't stop the sensations that took hold of her at the sight of his gorgeous face.
"I'm not jealous!" she yelled. "Why should I be jealous?"
"I didn't mean you should be," Shane said, backtracking. His features twisted with consideration. "I just figured you might be because you ran off when she sat down."
He scratched his neck nervously and looked at her like a lost lamb. Keira let out a grunt of annoyance at his utter cluelessness.
"Well, I'm not," Keira snapped. "Contrary to popular belief, women aren't constantly measuring themselves against each other while competing for the attention of stupid hairy…men."
Shane looked tickled by her comment. He pressed his lips together, clearly in an attempt to not laugh.
"Stupid hairy men like me, you mean?" he said, his usual cheekiness beginning to eke back into his tone.
"Yes. Like you."
"I see," he said, diplomatically. "So you weren't jealous of Caroline because you're not competing for my attention because I'm stupid. And hairy."
Keira pouted. "Don't mock me."
Shane pressed his lips tightly together. "I'm sorry. You're just cute when you're mad. Makes me want to make it up to you." He reached out and touched the collar of her dressing gown.
Keira jerked away and batted his hand off. "Oh, I bet it does. I bet everything makes you want to…you know. I know men like you. I know how you operate."
Shane looked mock offended. "I'm not a robot!" he said. "I don't come with an operating manual."
"You're a player!" Keira shouted. "A user. A serial one-night-stander!"
Shane burst out laughing. "What on earth are you talking about?" he said as his shoulders shook with amusement.
The sight infuriated Keira further. First he'd lured her into this trap whereby she thought she wanted him, and now he was laughing at her for figuring out the truth!
"Caroline tonight. Tessa! How many others are there, Shane?"
"Other whats? Women? Last time I checked just shy of three billion."
"Other women you've slept with!" Keira bellowed.
Shane looked bemused. Or was it amused? Keira couldn't quite tell which.
"Well," Shane began, tapping his finger. "There's Deidre, my dead wife-"
"Shane," Keira interrupted. Laying on a guilt trip about his dead wife was the last thing she wanted.
"What?" he exclaimed, still laughing but also evidently becoming exasperated. "You're talking crazy. I don't even know who this Tessa you keep going on about is!"
Keira looked at him with narrowed eyes. "Really? You really don't remember? Way to prove my point." She folded her arms. "Tessa. As in that woman you slept with on the first night of the festival"
Shane's face practically cracked from the power of his shock and amusement. He took Keira by the shoulders.
"I didn't sleep with her!" he exclaimed. "We had a drink and a flirt and a dance. That's all. If you're going to accuse me of anything then it should be my charm. Because a player is the last thing I am. Jeez, I even told you I was married once. Isn't that enough to make you realize I'm not a player? Because you know they don't usually tend to be the settling down types."
"That was years ago," she refuted. "You can change."
The fact that Shane seemed more amused than angry at her accusations made Keira feel even more stubborn. She stood there staring at him, fuming, not wanting to back down. But even while angry with him, Shane was irresistible to her. How much nicer it could be to believe him, to back down, give in. She wanted it more than anything.
"But I haven't," Shane implored her. "I've had three sexual partners in my entire life."
Keira wasn't sure whether he was down playing his sexual history to strengthen his argument. Three seemed impressively few. It was far less than she had, she realized a little guiltily. She felt herself start to back down.
As if realizing she was weakening, Shane slid his hands from her shoulders down her arms, then stopped at her hands. He took hold of them both and gave her a reassuring look.
The physical contact awakened all of Keira's senses. She felt her resolve starting to weaken.
"I really thought you'd slept with Tessa," she said.
Shane shook his head. "Nope. I'm actually very careful with my sexual partners. I don't just jump into bed with anyone. And I never have two girls on the go at once. When I like a girl, I'm all in. One hundred percent. And I'd already met you before I met Tessa so I was never going to do anything with her."
Keira felt the warmth radiating from his hands. She paused, letting his words sink in.
"Wait. What do you mean?"
Shane's smile twitched on his lips. "I mean I was already falling head over heels for you, dummy."
Keira frowned at him, unable to contemplate what he was telling her. "You hated me when we first met," she said. "You thought I was a snob. A princess. You called me Little Miss NYC."
Shane smirked. "Nah, I'm pretty sure it was you who hated me. I thought you were a babe from day one. I just wasn't going to act on it because you had a boyfriend. I was pretty bummed out about that. I thought it was just my luck to have found a sexy, smart lass like you and to find out she was already taken."
"But you went to the graveyard because you felt guilty over Tessa."
"I felt guilty over you."
"Oh," Keira said, dumbstruck by his words. She didn't even know how to respond to Shane now. If this was just him sweet talking her, then boy, was he good at it! She was falling for it completely and utterly.
Their hands still clasped, Keira backed away from the doorway, taking a step back into the room, tugging Shane in with her. She noticed her laptop still open on the desk, the angry tirade up on the screen. She let go of Shane's hands and rushed over to shut it before he got a chance to see what she'd written.
By the time she turned around he was there, right in the middle of the room, just a foot away from her. It was the first time he'd been inside her bedroom and Keira felt a thrill as she saw him standing there. She felt her insides gnawing, yearning for him.
He gazed at her adoringly, his tight-fitting gray shirt showing off his physique. As if possessed, Keira found herself suddenly unable to hold back. She flung herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck, pulling his body in close to hers, pressing her mouth against his. Shane responded with equal passion, his hands sliding beneath the cotton fabric of her dressing gown, finding her bare back and tracing his fingertips against her hips. She thrust her hands deeply into his hair, entwining her fingers in it.
They pulled apart, both panting, the gaze between them burning like fire. Then Keira's hands were on his shoulders, pushing him gently backward toward the bed, wanting him more than she'd ever wanted anyone in her life. Mouths feasting greedily upon each other, they tumbled down onto the mattress.