Shane froze, closing his eyes. “Do that again,” he commanded softly. She did, feeling the ache start to blossom all over again when he gave an involuntary shudder of pleasure. Shane turned, his eyes that lovely glowing sapphire, and placed his lips over hers. “You know how to give a man incentive, don’t you?”
Lacie squeezed her thighs together at the husky quality of his voice, just as he dipped his head lower and kissed her.
By the time he released her, she was barely lucid. She thought she heard him speaking to someone briefly. The next thing she knew, he was sliding into the driver’s seat, giving her his sexy male grin.
It just made the evening’s events more suckish. “Spending this evening in the ER is not what I had in mind,” she grumbled.
“Don’t worry, sweetheart, we won’t,” he winked. “My brother Michael is at the hospital tonight. We’re getting express service.”
––––––––
Michael Callaghan was every bit as kind, soft-spoken, and gorgeous as his younger brother. He had a gentle touch and easy manner about him that Lacie liked immediately. Lacie asked about Maggie, and they spent a few minutes chatting about the farm and how much her “kids” enjoyed it every year.
“Well, everything’s where it should be,” Michael said a few minutes later while he examined the images. “Just continue to be careful and you’ll be fine.”
*
Lacie thanked him. While she visited the ladies room, Michael pulled Shane aside. “I like her,” he said with approval. Of course he would. A Callaghan croie would naturally fit in with the rest of the family.
Shane nodded. It was hard not to like Lacie. But he knew his brother well enough to know that Michael hadn’t pulled him aside to tell him that. “Spit it out, Mick.”
“Is she... accident prone?” Michael asked carefully.
Shane thought back to the first time they’d met a week ago. She’d been a bit clumsy at first. When she stood up and discovered him so close she’d tried backing away, tripping on the desk in the process. And when they’d walked outside, she’d run into the doorframe, whipping around the moment she felt his hand at her lower back. Both times had been a reaction to some small gesture he’d made, almost defensive in nature.
Now that he thought about it, Lacie hadn’t stumbled, tripped, or bumped into anything in the times he was around her after that. At the restaurant. In her apartment. At the Pub. On the contrary, her movements had been smooth and graceful. Until tonight. Until she’d been trying to step away from Craig Davidson. Something unpleasant wriggled in his gut.
“Why?”
Outwardly, Michael’s expression didn’t change, but Shane was adept at reading people, and was damn near psychic when it came to his own family. “It looks like that hand has been broken several times,” Michael said quietly, keeping his tone neutral. “Bones heal over time, but old injuries often show up on the higher resolution images.”
Shane’s silence confirmed his suspicions. Michael glanced down the hallway to where Lacie was emerging from the ladies room. “If this were Maggie we were discussing, I’d keep her as close as possible.”
Shane nodded, understanding Michael’s message. Michael had already figured out that Lacie was Shane’s croie, and the need to protect family was a strong one.
After thanking Michael again, they left. “Your brother is really nice,” she said. “I’m glad Maggie married him.”
Shane glanced at her and offered her a little smile. “Mick and Maggie, they were made for each other. I can’t even imagine one without the other anymore.”
Lacie was quiet for a moment, then asked, “Do you believe in soul mates, Shane?”
He didn’t hesitate. “Absolutely.”
“You sound awfully certain.”
“That’s because I am,” he told her. “I’ve seen it happen five times in as many years.”
“Your brothers,” she guessed.
Shane nodded. “They knew right away when they met the women who eventually became their wives. My father says a Callaghan man will always recognize his croie, and when he does, there is no other woman for him.”
“Croie?” she repeated, entranced.
“Heart,” Shane translated. “It is how we refer to our soul mates, the one and only woman capable of capturing and holding our hearts.”
“How incredibly romantic,” she whispered.
“It’s a lot more than romance, Lacie. Our croie really is our heart. She becomes the center of our whole universe, our very reason for being. We would do anything for her.”
“Your brothers told you this?”
“They tried to explain it to me,” Shane said slowly, forcing his eyes to the road in front of them instead of to the beautiful woman at his side, “but it’s not something that can be adequately expressed in words. It has to happen to you to gauge the depth of it.”
“Oh.” The silence was broken only by the subtle hum of the car for several heartbeats while Lacie thought about what he said.