“I know this is probably exactly the wrong thing to say in these circumstances, but do you have any idea how hot you made me out there when you were putting Kristen in her place and staking your claim on me?” he asked.
She blinked at that. It was the last thing she’d expected him to say. “You thought that fight was hot?”
He nodded. “Oh, yeah.”
“Why?” she asked, bemused. “Because it was all about you?”
“No, because it told me that you are not through with me, after all.”
“Well, that was hardly in doubt, was it?” she asked, a hint of self-loathing in her voice. “I don’t know about you, but my feelings don’t turn on and off like a faucet, Luke. Just because I was ready to call it quits doesn’t mean that I’d suddenly fallen out of love.”
He smiled in a way that set her nerves on edge. It was the smug smile of a man who thought he’d won the battle, if not the war.
“You’re still in love with me, then?” he asked, clearly intent on confirming the information, or just because he liked hearing her admit it.
“Yes, though right at this second, I’m wondering why. You’d test the patience of a saint, Luke O’Brien. You truly would.”
“But I haven’t run you off for good, is that right?”
She sighed heavily at the question. The answer was probably too obvious to be denied, whether she liked it or not.
“No, you haven’t run me off for good.”
He gave a nod, his expression filled with satisfaction as his gaze held hers. “Okay, then, fair warning.”
“Warning?”
“I’m going to kiss you now. If you don’t want me to, if I’m violating some principle you’re hung up on at the moment, all you have to do is say the word and I’ll back away.”
Moira thought of all the reasons why she should stop him, why she shouldn’t let herself be swayed by desire, not when there were so many bloody principles at stake.
Then she thought of the one reason that outweighed them all: she wanted to be kissed. By him. Right now.
She lifted her hands to rest on his shoulders, stood on tiptoe to angle her head just so and then waited as his breath feathered over her face, as his eyes glittered with passion. And when his mouth eventually covered hers, she sank into the kiss, letting it smooth away yesterday’s heartache, letting the wonder of it dissolve all her doubts.
For now, for this one quiet moment, she was exactly where she wanted to be—in Luke’s arms. How had she ever thought she could walk away from him so easily? The truth was, she knew with every fiber of her being that this was where she belonged. She supposed she was just going to have to be reasonable—a tricky business for a woman of her passionate nature—and give him a little more time to catch up.
Luke could have kicked himself for starting something there was no time to finish. There was no way he could drag Moira off to his apartment, as he desperately wanted to. There were too many things that needed to be done right here before the evening crowds descended.
And despite the promise of the way she’d melted in his arms, he knew well enough that they still had plenty to resolve. All those things that had sent her bolting from Sally’s yesterday were still hanging in the air between them.
Ironically, he realized that he had Kristen to thank for the truce. Seeing her here had obviously sparked Moira’s possessive streak in some way and sent her right back into his arms. He doubted, though, that sending Kristen a note of gratitude would be appropriate.
For now, he sighed against Moira’s lips and reluctantly released her.
“That was nice,” he said.
She smiled. “Better than nice.” Her smile faded. “But we still have things to work out, Luke.”
“I know that, and we will. If I’m sure of nothing else, I’m sure of that.” He touched a finger to her chin and forced her to meet his gaze. “We will,” he added firmly.
“Okay, then. Bryan’s probably wondering if you’ve banished me for causing a scene. I should get back to check on things in the kitchen.”
Luke nodded. “Before you go, though, is he working out okay?”
“He’s wonderful,” Moira said at once. “He’s grasped everything Nell or I have told him and taken it a step beyond. If I didn’t know better, I would have sworn his experience was in a Dublin pub and not a deli in Baltimore.”
“That’s my impression as well. And the waitstaff? Is everyone working out as we’d hoped? Everyone’s pulling their weight?”
“Terry’s a little slower than I’d like to see, but she’s catching on, and the customers seem to love her just the same. Josh has an awful lot of Irish blarney for a kid who came from the Bronx. He’ll do.”
Luke was relieved by her assessment. The last thing he wanted was to have to shake up the staff this early on. He wanted a reliable team who’d be here for the long haul, though it was clear he was likely to have Josh only until he completed his computer courses at the community college and went off to launch some dot-com business that eventually sold for millions.
That, he reassured himself, could be a while, since Josh was working his way through school, taking only a class or two at a time as he could manage the expense. He’d come to Maryland chasing after a girl, then stayed on when the romance ended. That had been several years ago. He’d taken an instant liking to Moira, but then so had all the staff. If she so much as whispered a desire for something to be done, they all swarmed to do it.
“Luke, you can stop
