Chapter 17

17

PATRICK

Monday, 10 March

I sleep like the dead next to Maddie Hart, waking up in the flat with my arms wrapped around her for the second morning in a row. Christ, how I wish I didn’t have to head to the brewery. But I do, leaving her warm and half-naked in bed.

When I arrive at Slea Head Brewery, Cormac’s just finishing up giving the fermenter a hot rinse with the pressure washer to remove any remaining germs. It’ll take about four hours to brew the actual beer, then four weeks to ferment the lager, then another few weeks to carbonate before it’s ready to try. I rub my hands together and imagine what it could be like to release Slea Head’s first autumn brew—Irish Oktoberfest—in September.

My mistake yesterday only puts us behind by one day. It hardly makes a difference, but still, I grind my teeth together. Half-naked American woman or not, I need to make sure I stay focused on what’s important in the long run.

But I can’t move Slea Head forward all on my own. Cormac needs to learn more about the process. Sean has the experience, but he makes my life difficult every damn step of the way. I’m determined to pull Saoirse into the business at some point. I know she’s settled working at the hotel for now, but I need her here, and I think if I could show her there’s growth potential and security, she’d feel more comfortable working with me.

For now, I have the new product innovation lead, Lola, starting Wednesday. We have an onboarding and brainstorming meeting all morning. I don’t feel prepared. I meant to put all of my plans into some kind of formal document, but it’s still only up in my head. Then again, that’s why I hired her, isn’t it? To put a plan together, think things through, make sure it all happens.

I’ve got my pitch almost ready for Wellington Pubs. The meeting is a week from tomorrow. Just have to finalize a few of the slides.

Sean’s listing all the potential problems with this brew, and I nod my head. I’m new to managing the brewery but I grew up around it, so I’m familiar with what can go wrong. I nod and tap a few notes in my mobile.

There’s something niggling at the corner of my mind. Something that tells me Maddie is distracting me too much. I’m ignoring O’Brien’s more than I want to, leaning too heavily on Maddie to run the place with the other managers, and even now, as I half listen to Sean, all I can think about is her. A woman who won’t even be here in a few weeks.

I don’t want to ever feel like I did after things ended with Cara. It’s interesting though, because the pain and regret I always feel when I see my ex wasn’t exactly the same on Saturday night. And it wasn’t just because Maddie kissed me. When she walked in with Liam and her boyfriend, I only felt empty. Annoyed. But then Maddie kissed me, and I felt something else. Something warm and sparking. The opposite of empty.

But if Maddie and I end badly, we’ll have to suffer through a twelve-day road trip together, and then Oliver and Reese’s wedding in Scotland. Disaster.

“Did you get that?” Sean says with a sharp edge to his voice.

Nope.

“Yes.” I lift my mobile, as if this proves I’ve been taking notes and not daydreaming. “Nice work. I’m going to do some paperwork in the office.”

I slip away from Sean and Cormac as they carry on with the list of brew day tasks.

Maddie sits next to me at a back table in O’Brien’s, perched on one of the old wooden chairs, telling me an animated story about a pair of locals who came in this afternoon. I lean on my elbow and watch her, a finger reaching over to trace circles on her bare knee.

“They were absolutely trashed, Patrick. It was two o’clock in the afternoon.” She emphasizes each word.

“That’d be Conor and Colin. They’re old blokes—brothers. They’ve been coming in for decades.”

“I’ve had tons of regulars in my jobs, so I get it. But these guys were just so drunk. And so... happy? Like, I felt bad cutting them off, but they were super nice and just stumbled out. One smashed his shoulder on the door as he left, and I thought I was going to have to call an ambulance. But he didn’t even react.”

I chuckle. “Sounds about right.”

The pub is getting crowded. It’s a Monday night, and the Irish band is warming up. The town knows to come out.

Maddie’s wearing one of those short dresses again—this is the black one she wore last weekend, sleeveless and showing off her collarbone and shoulders—and those gray boots. She shifts toward me and watches my finger move on her skin.

“I’m not sure how you’re dressed in such little clothing in Dingle in March.”

“Would you rather I wear a hoodie and leggings?”

“Nope, this is completely appropriate.” I reach out and pull the leg of the chair to me in a swift motion, the stuttering of the wood on the floor causing a few heads to turn.

But I don’t give a feck, even though some of the locals let their eyes linger on me sitting so close to Maddie.

“Well, hello,” she whispers now that the chairs are touching. I move my hand up her inner thigh until it’s just at the edge of inappropriate, creeping up past the hem of her dress, and lift my face toward hers. At this angle, we’re only a beat apart, and my heart pounds in my chest. Maybe I can even hear hers.

“Hello.” I move my fingers a few centimeters up, between her warm thighs, and she breathes in quietly.

“It’s remarkable how much nicer you are to me now than when I first got here.” She leans in and her lips tickle my earlobe. “Is it because I’m sleeping with you?”

“Do you think I’m that easy to manipulate?”

She laughs, her hot breath on my neck. “Maybe.”

Christ, this woman. My cock hardens.

“Come with me. I want to show you something in the pub office.”

“Now?” Maddie pulls back and blinks at me, her brow furrowing.

“Now.” I stand and pull her behind me, and we dodge people standing around as the band begins their first song, starting with a fiddle and a violin.

There are so many things I should be doing and thinking about besides this woman, but right now, I don’t care about any of them.

She follows me down the dark hallway and I stop in the spot where she asked me to kiss her that first night. She knows exactly what to do and presses her back against the wall, pulling me against her.

“Kiss me?” she says.

I crash my lips into hers and pull her hips roughly against mine for a beat, reaching down to slide my hand up her inner thigh, swiping between her legs just once, feeling how much she wants me.

“Anyone can see,” she whispers.

“Let them.”

“Patrick . . .”

“Office. Now.”

We part for a second and I follow her into the pub office, shutting and locking the door behind us.

“What if Declan needs to get in here?”

“I don’t want to hear another man’s name out of your mouth while I’m doing this to you.” I back her up until she bumps into the desk.

“Doing what?”

I pull her dress up and slide my finger back and forth over the thin, soaking fabric of her underwear.

“This. And you’re already wet for me, Madison.”

“Oh.” She leans her head back and breathes hard, arching her back so her breasts spill out of the top of her dress.

I slide a finger over her, gliding it back and forth, feeling her move against my hand. I unzip my jeans and tug my boxers down until my cock is free. I slip a second finger into her and pump them slowly inside her, rubbing my thumb on her clit as she moans against me.

“Say my name, Maddie.” I run a hand over myself. “Say it.”

“Patrick,” she manages and groans.

I tug her underwear down roughly and pick her up, sitting her bare arse on the desk and knocking over whatever’s in the way. Papers go flying. A laptop slides across the table and a glass of water precariously shifts next to it.

“Open your legs.” And she does. I rip a condom wrapper open with my teeth, sliding it onto my cock as fast as possible. “Come here.” I use two hands to pull her hips toward me and bury myself inside her.

She opens her eyes and looks at me, and for a second, there’s so much there. It’s not just lust. It’s more. So much more that my heart aches and I feel the most vulnerable I’ve ever felt in my life.

And in her eyes, there’s hope. Trust. Vulnerability of her own.

This isn’t just sex.

“Jaysus, Maddie.” There’s so much I want to say. “I love... the feel of you.”

Her soft look blinks away, and the only thing left is raw need.

“Me too. Now do it harder,” she gasps, wrapping her arms around my neck and crashing her lips on mine.

There is nowhere I’d rather be in the entire world than with Maddie Hart in the tiny, dark office of O’Brien’s.

What is this spell this woman has cast over me? I’m overthinking this. I must be. Kissing her, our tongues are rough in each other’s mouths. I feel like I’m drunk, but I’m not.

I’m overwhelmed. I want nothing but to be with her, but deep down I know it won’t last—it can’t last, and I need to focus. My family are the only people worth investing so much time and energy in. I know that. I know I’m not someone any woman can get close to. Not close enough to last, anyway.

But for now—feck it.

I close my eyes and wait until I can feel her muscles contracting around me, until she yells my name, too loud, but the Irish music covers up the sounds of what we’re doing in here.

A climax as intense as any I’ve had in my life hits me, and with dread, I recognize that I’m falling for Maddie Hart.