*
Maggie leaned into him and pressed her lips to his, effectively putting an end to his description of exactly what he was going to do, and it was a good thing, too. Over the last few days Maggie discovered just how explicit and descriptive the good doctor could be.
“I think your brothers are here.” Michael cursed under his breath in Irish. Maggie wasn’t quite sure what he said, but she’d heard her grandfather utter something similar enough times to get the gist.
Through the frosted window, they watched as the powerful H2 pushed through the snow, the V-shaped plow mounted in the front making a clean path down the long lane to the house. Maggie heard the earsplitting thump of bass well before they drew close. Michael shook his head, but smiled.
Michael identified each one as they became visible. Ian was the first to pop out, followed by Kieran, Sean, Shane, Jake, and Kane. Dressed in black coveralls from head to toe, they looked more like a black ops team from Call of Duty than a bunch of brothers heading for a tux fitting. Maggie said so jokingly to Michael, but he barely cracked a smile. When his eyes met hers, the intensity shocked her.
“That is the last time you drive the Hummer,” Sean was saying vehemently, clutching his stomach as they moved en masse toward the house, but even Maggie could see that he was hamming it up.
“True that,” his twin, Shane agreed.
Kieran roared with laughter, a smile on his boyish face so bright it would have been blinding had the snow not been so gleamingly white. The three others – who look slightly older and mature – just shook their heads. It was clear to see the blizzard had been nothing but an excuse for them to get out their big toys and have some fun.
“Mick!” The shout was accompanied by an insistent pounding on the front door. “Come out, come out wherever you are!” Another round of laughter reached them inside. George, coaxed from his doggie bed in curiosity, now ducked his head behind the couch.
Michael opened the door with a look of complete martyrdom. “Jesus, grow up, will you?”
It only made them grin wider. Maggie shrank back a little. The closer they got to the door, the more apparent the size of them became. Grinning boys in the bodies of massive men, all with the trademark jet black Callaghan hair and blue eyes. She wondered absently if her old porch could possibly withstand the weight of them all without collapsing.
“Come on, Mick. Invite us in. Where is she?”
“Yeah, we want to meet her.”
“Fuck off.” He slammed the door in their faces and looked at Maggie apologetically, whose expression must have been somewhere between amused and terrified. “Sorry about this. I didn’t know they were all coming.”
“They’re... um ...” Words failed her. Big, loud, gorgeous, forces of nature – those might have scratched the surface of her initial impressions. They hadn’t seemed quite so – intense – when they were sitting down and behaving themselves in the Pub (of course, the several shots she’d had that night in the midst of her performance anxiety probably skewed her perception a wee bit).
“Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.” He leaned down and gave her a tender kiss that had the blood surging through her veins. How did he do that? “I’ll call you, okay?”
“Okay.” The word came out sounding breathy, making him smile as a familiar heat filled his eyes. She loved that look, and wished fervently he could stick around to see it through.
Maggie rested her back against the door as it closed behind him, listening to the good-natured ribbing Michael was taking, her cheeks blushing on his behalf. When she heard the Hummer start up again, she slid down to the floor and gave George a reassuring rub along the back of his neck.
The sudden knock startled her so much she unintentionally pulled George’s ear, making him yelp. She rose slowly and opened the door a crack. A glance up the driveway revealed Michael being physically held back by five of his brothers. One striking blue eye of the sixth was looking through the small opening at her now.
This one had eyes just like Michael, as well as the same lopsided grin. He held out a small envelope, made even smaller by the sheer size of the man who wielded it. Dear Lord, she wondered, were they all this big?
She glanced at the envelope, then at the man (whom she believed to be the groom-to-be, Ian), whose grin only widened. “Here,” he said, his eyes twinkling with amusement and curiosity. “I’m under orders to deliver this personally.”
He extended the envelope, pushing it at her through the door. When she finally took it, his grin widened and he winked. “Great cookies, by the way.” Then he turned around and jogged back to the vehicle.