Lucky This Isn't Real: MacBride Brothers Series St. Patrick's Day Fake Fiance Romance by Jamie Knight (digital e reader .TXT) 📕

It was a gambit but as close as I could get to hinting at some kind of grand romantic gesture. Like, for example, asking me to marry him for real before he went back to Belfast. We might be far apart, but at least we would have tied the knot. Long-distance relationships could work at least for a while, though I was seriously considering the idea of moving to Ireland to be with him full time. Gavin had moved to L.A. after all. It had taken a while, of course, but he’d made it work, not only getting to be with Maggie but also being in the best city in the world for his chosen profession. I was sure there were law firms in Belfast that needed assistants, and I already had the experience, so it shouldn’t be too hard to find a place. It would be a big change but not outside the realm of possibility.

In fact, the more I thought about it, the more possible it seemed.

“Planning an entire wedding seems like a headache. Though it seems like your mum would be keen to help.”

Not quite the answer I was hoping for but also not one that completely crushed my hopes, leaving me in a sort of strange emotional plane somewhere between crushing disappointment and complete elation. He hadn’t said he didn’t want to marry me nor confirmed that he actually did. It was all so cryptic.

“Hey, how about a walk in the park? Los Angeles does have parks, right?”

“Of course,” I said, trying to hide my disappointment.

“Prove it,” he countered with his charming smile, the one that made me love him despite myself.

Sadness crushed my heart. Sean would have to go home in a week, and when that happened, he would be gone from my life. Our relationship, as it had been for the last week, would be over, replaced once again by distance and pain. I really wasn’t sure I could go through that again. Particularly not after we’d already had sex, the separation would be too much. I’d barely gotten through the three months we were apart after Maggie’s wedding. I was not about to off myself, but I seriously considered blocking his email and changing my number. I already had enough reminders of him without his attempts to stay connected. I really couldn’t fault him for his dedication, but it made things just a little worse while waiting for his return, if I were honest.

Chapter Sixteen - Sean

I’d never had much use for sunglasses since Belfast was mostly under a blanket of gray rain clouds.

As with the suit for the garden party, Gav loaned me pair of his sunglasses. ‘You’ll thank me later,’ he said with a knowing smile. I didn’t love it when he pulled the wise big brother shtick, not least because he was only two years older than me, but I couldn’t say he was actually wrong.

“Snazzy and sexy,” Darcy said as I slid the aviators on.

“Gavin’s,” I said.

“Not a big call for shades on the Emerald Isle?”

“The sun only shines about two weeks out of the year,” I said, my accent already getting more American. Darcy’s was getting more Irish. We were definitely having an influence on each other.

I strolled to the park entrance in Los Angeles on a hot summer day, my shirt untucked and the top three buttons open, holding hands with my soulmate. Several things I’d never pictured myself doing. It probably showed a marked lack of imagination on my part, but, on the upside, I was more easily surprised.

Birds chirped happily in the trees, as well as in my pocket, or so it seemed. I stopped for a minute to assess the situation.

“I didn’t know birds could do ventriloquism,” Darcy said, suppressing a laugh.

Fighting the urge myself, I drew my cell from my shirt’s front pocket and tapped the green answer icon.

“Hello?”

“Well, if it isn’t the invisible man,” Gavin said.

“Eh?”

“I mean, I see the evidence of your existence on occasion. Clothes in the guest room closet, lunch dishes in the sink, hair in the drain. Are you in some kind of ninja training?”

“No, but that would certainly be useful,” I said with a chuckle.

“Fool that I am, I thought you were here to visit Maggie and me.”

“I was, I mean I am, I’ve just been—”

He laughed. “Oh, I think we all know very well what you’ve been doing and who you’ve been doing it with.”

I felt the heat rise in my cheeks as I began to blush. I stole a glance over at Darcy, who squeezed my hand.

“Aye, you’ve got me there,” I admitted. “I have been a bit, er, occupied the last week or so, sorry about that.”

“No need to apologize, I understand, better than most. Maggie and I would like to see you guys. How about we go for pizza later?”

“Pizza it is.”

“Pizza?” Darcy asked when I hung up.

“Oh, shite, sorry, it was Gavin. He was busting my chops about them not seeing me. Would you like to go for pizza? It could be like a double date.”

“I’d like that. We should probably let Maggie and Gavin know what happened yesterday at the garden party.”

“Probably,” I agreed.

I turned my phone to silent so we could enjoy the day together with no further interruption. Not that the one I’d had was particularly bad. I had planned on spending more time with Gavin and Maggie, but with Gavin’s job and me spending time with Darcy, we hadn’t really seen much of each other.

“I don’t want to get between you and your family,” Darcy said as we continued along the duck pond.

“Gavin was just kidding around. I mean, it’s true, I haven’t seen them much, but Gav,