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Chapter 5

Chapter 5

She lost herself in him for hours. It seemed hard to believe that they'd been nestled into a corner niche on the study floor of the library for the entire afternoon. However, as evidenced by growing darkness outside through the large panels of slanting glass to the left of their cubicle, night was quickly approaching. The long summer evenings had retreated into slightly cooler autumn nights where darkness fell before dinner.

They were wedged into an individual study cube since the library had been so full when they'd arrived, but Delaney certainly wasn't complaining about the close proximity to Fin. She'd learned that he smelled quite wonderful, a combination of worn leather and clean, simple after-shave. And she also learned that if perfection was a possibility that this was probably as close as she'd ever get to it.

She was intrigued to learn that his name was actually Finlay, which had been his mother's maiden name and most probably confirmed her suspicions that he was Irish. She looked up at him through her lashes thinking how proud her Nana would be that she'd found herself a good ole Irish boy, and was unable to keep her lips from turning up into a smile.

"What?" he asked, breaking into her daydream.

She felt heat rise up her neck, settling in her cheeks. Not for the first time she was glad he wasn't a mind reader. "Are you Irish?"

"Yeah, on both sides, actually." He watched her quizzically. "A couple of generations ago, our family name was Gaibrial—it was Americanized by customs."

"Hmm, I thought you were."

He widened his eyes at her in question. "So, is that a good thing...or bad?"

She smiled. "Good. Very good. I'm Irish too, and I'm sure you know all about that Irish pride."

He smiled in return, but it didn't reach his eyes. She realized how much she loved it when his face lit up and the skin around his eyes crinkled with a full, genuine grin. "A little bit, from when I was really small, from my mom. My dad doesn't really care about that sort of thing, and my mom died when I was pretty young."

"Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that," she said, completely at a loss.

"It's okay, it was a really long time ago, and my parents had already split up at the time. I didn't know her very well. Family drama." He paused; his normally bright eyes seemed to darken. "So who's Irish in your family?"

She could tell he didn't want to talk about his family anymore, and despite her curiosity she allowed him to change the subject. My mom is—and we even have a family crest," she added raising her eyebrows. "It's a big source of pride in my family. My dad is too, but we won't talk about him."

His eyes quickly met hers, the commonality of family drama bonding them even without shared details. "Well, we'll have to celebrate our heritage on St. Patty's Day." He grinned at her, his eyes twinkling.

She felt a soft flush of warmth spread from her stomach and through her extremities at the thought of making plans with Fin for several months away. "I would love that," she said before hushing her voice to a whisper. "It would be nice to celebrate with a real Irishman—none of these Irish-for-a-day types." She leaned in closer to him when she whispered.

He chuckled. "Green beer or regular?"

"None of that green beer, that's strictly for the posers. We have to have Guinness—a pint of Guinness."

He beamed. "Alright then. A pint of Guinness shared on March 15. It's a date. I'll put it in my calendar right now." He pulled out his phone and scrolled through the calendar to St. Patrick's Day. He selected the date and added an event. He proudly held up his phone to show her. "Guinness and a shot of Jameson Irish whiskey with Dee."