“Don’t let your mother catch you with that,” Liam reminded him, “or it will be both our arses she’ll be having.”
With a heavy-handed pat on his shoulder, his father moved away. Jack’s eyes once again slid over to where he’d last seen the girl, but she was no longer there. He stood up straighter and began to scan the area, looking for a flash of black in the twilight. She was a little thing, so she would be harder to spot among the crowd. He was up on his toes when the hair on the back of his neck prickled, and an unusual heat warmed his groin.
He turned around and looked down to find the clearest, most beautiful emerald eyes he’d ever seen staring up at him. The noise of the crowd faded away, and his world was suddenly reduced to only her.
In that moment, time stopped, right along with his heart and lungs.
“Kathleen,” he whispered.
Those pretty eyes widened in surprise. “You know my name?”
Get it together, Jack. “How could I not know the name of the prettiest girl here?” he said, curling up one half of his mouth in a lopsided grin that girls seemed to like. Thankfully, Kathleen O’Leary seemed to like it, too.
She smiled and blushed, adding color to that lovely, perfectly smooth skin. This close, he could see a smattering of freckles trailed over her nose, in contrast to her pale skin and thick, dark hair and lashes.
“Oh, a charmer, are you then?” she teased, her voice holding a touch of Irish brogue. “My Da warned me about men like you.”
Jack’s smile grew. Not only was she lovely to look at, but her voice was music to his soul. Soft and lilting, he wanted to hear it again and again.
“Men like me? What kind of man would that be, then?” He allowed his own brogue to color the words. It felt natural; growing up as he had with two Irish-born parents, it was more of an effort to speak without it than with it.
“Tall, dark, handsome men with sweet-talking tongues. I’ll tell you right now, Jack Callaghan, that it will get you nowhere with me.”
His confidence grew. Maybe his old man was right. “You know my name, as well.”
That pink tint darkened and she shuttered her eyes, embarrassed. Then she seemed to gather her courage. Her chin lifted and she looked him right in the eye again, commanding his full and undivided attention.
“Aye, I do.”
Good thing she did, because damn it, when she looked at him like that, he was hard pressed to remember his own name. It would have made introducing himself awkward.
“Then perhaps, Kathleen, you will see fit to tell me what will get me somewhere with you.”
Her lips quirked. “You are a bold one, aren’t you?”
“Not typically, but I’m a bit short on time to do things right.”
She nodded, looking him up and down; he fought the urge to preen. “That you are. Guess we’d better get to it, then.”
Jack tilted his head and raised a dark eyebrow. “What exactly did you have in mind?”
“Come with me and find out,” she dared, her eyes now twinkling with mischief.
There was nothing he wanted more, except maybe to tease her a little. “I’m not sure I should. My mother warned me about girls like you.”
She laughed. If joy had a sound, that was it. “Oh, and what did she say?”
“I’d rather tell you what my father says on the subject.”
“And what’s that?”
He paused meaningfully, wanting her complete and undivided attention. “That should I be lucky enough to find one, I should follow her anywhere.”
Her features softened, and Jack knew in that moment that he really would follow her anywhere. Because he’d just found his croie.
Chapter Three
September 2015
Pine Ridge
“Got it! Let’s move!” Michael said, when he felt his father’s pulse flutter beneath the pads of his fingers. He tossed the portable defibrillator pads off to the side. “Time to go, Dad.”
A multitude of hands shot out to lift him smoothly and secure him to the makeshift litter, then slide him into the customized back end of the Hummer. Michael and Shane climbed in with him, while Sean kissed his wife and replaced her in the driver’s seat. Jake jumped in on the other side. Kane, Ian, and Kieran hopped onto the running boards while they made their way up the hill, jumping off when they reached the top.
Anxious faces peered toward the tinted windows. Nicki went to give them an update on the situation, while the brothers concentrated on mobilizing and moving out. Similar scenarios had played out enough times over the years, and they moved together seamlessly, each having a job to do and doing it well. They hadn’t lost a man yet, and they had no intentions of breaking that streak.
“Mick?” Sean asked, looking over his shoulder as Michael skillfully started an IV and positioned a clear, plastic mask over Jack’s nose and mouth to supply pure oxygen with each shallow inhalation. There were so many questions unspoken in that one word, but no more was necessary.
“Good to go. Fast and smooth.”