Free Bottom Line: Callaghan Brothers, Book 8 by Abbie Zanders Page A

Can I have your number again?” 
    “Of course.” He pulled another Celtic Goddess business card out of his wallet and scribbled his personal cell number on the back.  He refused to ask what happened to the last card he’d given her.  It didn’t matter, though it did offer some insight into why he hadn’t heard from her.  Maybe she’d wanted to call and had lost the number somehow.  In any event, what was important was that she was asking for it now.
    “Thanks.  Do you, um, want mine, too?  You know, just in case something comes up and you can’t make it or something.”  She concentrated on petting Max, avoiding his eyes.  Aidan’s index finger curled lightly beneath her chin, gently urging her to look up into his face.
    What he saw there had another fist curling deep in his center.  She didn’t believe he would come back.
    “I would very much like your number, Mary,” he said.  “And I will be back on Saturday, as long as you’ll have me.  I promise.”
    Mary nodded, but her lashes fluttered down enough to shutter her pretty brown eyes.  She wanted to believe him, but she didn’t.
    “Do you believe me, Mary?”  His words were softer, his face closer than it had been only a few minutes earlier.
    “Yes,” she lied.
    “Good, because I never break a promise.” 
    Aidan closed the last few inches between them, allowing his lips to brush hers slightly in a light, barely there caress.  Her lips were so soft: her taste, so sweet.  One hand held tightly to the small potted plant; the other was clenched into a fist at his side to keep himself from pulling her against him and deepening the kiss. 
    It was chaste as far as kisses go; it had been a long time since Aidan had kissed a girl so innocently.  But it felt like so much more for all the effect it had on him.  Warmth rushed through his veins, his heart pounded in his chest, and for several moments, his lungs seemed to forget how to expand.  He hadn’t closed his eyes, but Mary had, and the look of her, face lifted, lips slightly parted, eyes closed, sent pulsating waves of need straight into his groin.  Images of her looking just like that, naked and flushed beneath him, flashed into his mind’s eye and he groaned.
    The rhythm of a thick, heavy tail against the tiles of the foyer helped Aidan pull back before he lost control completely, the urge to slam her up against the door and possess her a tangible thing.  “Till Saturday, then.”
    Her eyes opened slowly, so big and brown he could drown in them.  “Saturday.”  Her voice caught; Aidan was glad that he wasn’t the only one who seemed to be affected.  He reached down and petted Max.
    He stepped outside and paused.  Once again, he’d been so caught up in Mary he had no idea where he was or how he got there.  Mary noticed his confusion and chuckled.  “You don’t know where you are, do you?”
    He shook his head. 
    “Two blocks right, then one left will put you back at O’Leary’s.”
    He grinned sheepishly.  “Thanks.”

Chapter Six
 
    S aturday was four days away.  A lot could happen in four days, she reminded herself.  There were any number of reasons Aidan wouldn’t come.  A winter storm.  Horrible illness.  A better offer.  The sudden need to clean his bathroom.
    Mary shook her head and went back to dusting the cobwebs from the corners of the ceiling.  Aidan said he would come.  He would come.  She had no reason to doubt him.
    Yeah, right , the snarky part of her brain said.  Because gorgeous men like Aidan were beating a path to her door.
    Well , the optimist in her countered, it had been Aidan’s idea .  It wasn’t like she’d asked him and he only agreed to come so he wouldn’t hurt her feelings.
    As if on cue, the phone rang.  Mary’s heart sunk as she recognized the flashing caller id as the same number Aidan had written on the back of the Celtic Goddess business card.  The same number that had burned itself into her memory in case she