She leaves the kitchen, and Lexi braces her hands on her hips. “Why wouldn’t we be working over the weekend?”
“Because we’re going to the cabin.”
She blows out a breath and shakes her head. “Maybe we shouldn’t go, Shawn. We really should finish things up so I can go home on Monday.”
The thought of her leaving doesn’t sit well with me, so I reach out and rub my thumb over the apple of her cheek before tucking a piece of hair behind her ear.
“We need a few days off to clear our heads. We can read through it with fresh eyes on Monday. It’s only one extra day, Lex.”
She bites her lip, thinking it over, and then nods. “Okay. The cabin it is, then.”
I grin and turn to the griddle, slap some patties on, and take a deep breath.
I get one more weekend with her.
And I’m going to make it count.
“Ooh, it’s chilly this morning,” Lexi says when we climb out of my car in front of the cabin. She pulls her blanket out of the back of the car, wraps it around her shoulders, and then reaches for her overnight bag. “Mountain air is a little different than ocean air.”
“Very different,” I agree. “It’s about the same temperature here as it was when we left. But ocean air is humid. This is a little drier.”
“Chilly,” she repeats and follows me up to the front door.
“You get settled. I’ll grab the rest.”
“And I’m going to let you because it’s warm in here,” she says with a smile. “I’m gonna check out the kitchen.”
She skips off, already feeling at home.
Being with Lexi is easy. When we aren’t working on the screenplay, she’s easygoing and funny. She isn’t high-maintenance at all.
She’s a happy person.
And just being around her makes me happy.
God, I sound downright sentimental.
I carry the last few things inside and then join Lexi in the kitchen.
“I’m starving,” she announces, pulling ingredients from the fridge and pantry. “I’m going to make waffles.”
“You know how to cook?”
She laughs and sets a dozen eggs on the island. “Of course, I do. I just haven’t needed to because you’ve been feeding me like a freaking queen. But I suddenly have a craving for waffles, so I’m making them. Unless you hate them.”
“I’d love a waffle,” I reply and sit on the stool, settling in to watch her sashay around the kitchen. “If I’d known you were starving, we could have stopped somewhere on our way up here.”
“I wanted to get here,” she says with a shrug. “And it wasn’t too bad until about fifteen minutes ago. I just crossed the line to give me food or I’ll rip someone’s face off.”
“Since I’m the only other person here, I encourage you to make that waffle quickly.”
She laughs and gestures to the waffle maker that she set on the counter. “Can you please plug that in and heat it up?”
“Sure.” I do as she asks. When I turn around, she’s holding the bowl under her arm, stirring the batter quickly, watching me. “What?”
“Nothing.”
She shakes her head and turns away. I sit on my stool again and narrow my eyes at her.
“Really, what is it?”
“I like looking at you.” She dips a finger into the batter, tastes it, and then adds a touch more vanilla. “Do you want berries in yours? We have blueberries in the fridge.”
“No, thanks.”
“Me neither.”
I’m still stuck on I like looking at you. I can’t get enough of looking at her. I brace my chin in my hand and watch as she moves about the kitchen, fixing her waffles and humming to herself.
Now that the screenplay is finished, it’s like a weight has been lifted off her shoulders. Was working on this project with me that difficult for her? I know we had our tough moments, especially to start, but all in all, I thought it went well. Even if one or both of us got frustrated, we worked it out.
And the finished product is really great, if I do say so myself. I’m looking forward to sending it off to Luke.
“Here you go,” she says as she sets a piping-hot Belgian waffle before me. “Butter and syrup are here.”
“Thank you.”
Relaxing in the kitchen, eating our breakfast and enjoying each other, is the best way to start our weekend in the mountains.
“What do you want to do today?” she asks after she takes her first bite of waffle.
“I want to take the canoe out on a nearby lake and do some fishing.”
Her fork stops midway between her plate and her mouth and she stares at me. “Fishing?”
“Yes.”
“Like, with a pole?”
“Since I’m not a bear, that is my preferred way to fish, yes.”
“Huh. Well, okay.”
“Nothing’s biting my hook.”
I laugh and cast my line out on the calm water. “We’ve been out here for fifteen minutes, Lex. You have to be patient.”
“I don’t think I have patience,” she says with a sigh. She blows a raspberry through her lips and then looks around the lake. “Are we trespassing?”
“I own it.”
“You own what, the property we launched from?”
“The lake,” I reply.
“Hold on. You own the whole lake?”
I reel in my hook and then cast again. “After Kane bought the cabin, and I came up a couple of times, I decided that I’d like to build something up here someday. Don’t get me wrong, I love the ocean, and because it reminds me so much of Ireland, I’ll always be there. But a small place to get away that’s all mine and not something I bum off my brother sounds good to me, as well. So, when this property came up for sale, I bought it.”
She glances around again. “How many acres?”
“About one hundred. The lake takes up almost half of that, which leaves plenty of space to build a cabin nearby.”
She’s staring at me now, but I see her pole moving with something tugging on it.
“You have a fish.”
“I have a what? Oh!” She starts to reel it in, and when the fish is close to the canoe, I reach down with the net and help her bring it aboard. “Look at that! My first fish.”
“It’s a good size, too. Looks like a rainbow trout.”
“How do you know?”
I turn the fish on its side. “See? It has a rainbow in the scales.”
“Beautiful,” she murmurs. “So, I can hike and fish. I’m a regular outdoors enthusiast.”
“Says the woman who just, five minutes ago, was over it,” I reply with a laugh as I unhook the fish and let it go back into the water.
“What did you do that for?”
“You mean you wanted to gut it and cook it later?”
She scrunches up her nose. “No. I didn’t want to gut it. But I thought we’d eat whatever we caught.”
“We can’t eat them without gutting them.” I laugh at the look of horror on her beautiful face. “This is just for fun. We get the sport of catching them, and they get to live.”
She’s sitting two feet away, staring at me.
“What?”
“I need more bait. That fish ate it.”
“So bait your hook. You saw me do it.”
Lexi clears her throat. “Listen. I know I’m a pro at this whole outdoorsy thing and all, but I don’t touch worms. Not today or any other day. So, if you want me to toss this godforsaken line back into the water, you’re going to have to impale the worm yourself.”
“Now you’re just being dramatic.”
But I grab her hook and quickly stick a squirming worm on it, and she casts the line back out into the water.
“I can’t believe I didn’t know that you own a whole lake.”
“It’s not a very big lake.”
“It’s a lake.”
I shrug. “I suspect there’s plenty we still don’t know about each other. Like when did you
get the tattoo on your shoulder?”
She smiles softly. “It was a stupid place to put it because I always forget it’s there. I got it after I published my first book. It says I Rise in French. I wanted to write for years. Actually, correction, I did write for years. I went to school to be a nurse, but creative writing really set my heart on fire. Anyway, I sent a couple of manuscripts off to agents and was told no a lot. Like, a lot. One agent told me I was a horrible writer, and I should stick to my day job.
“He was a complete dick.”
“And totally wrong, by the way,” I reply.
“Thank you. You have to have a thick skin in this business. And I do. But that one stung pretty bad. About a year later, I got up the nerve to attend a conference in New York, and I took some workshops from some incredible, very well-established authors. The thriller world is small, and it was awesome to network with those people. I made some friends, got some advice, and I was in the right place at the right time.”
“How so?”
“I was seated at a table with an agent. She started a conversation, and by the end of the evening, she was my agent. I’ve now published six novels, with a movie in the works. So, last year, after Luke approached me for the movie rights, I got this tattoo. Because I sure did fucking rise after that bastard basically told me I was nothing.”
“That’s the best story I’ve ever heard.” She looks up at me in surprise. “I hope your father knew you achieved this before he passed.”
“He did,” she says with a smile. “He was almost giddy with pride.”
She finishes reeling in her line, and I paddle us back to shore. Just as I’m pulling the canoe out of the water, Lexi stands and somehow ends up face-first in the lake.
Before I can rush over to help, she comes up sputtering, pushing her wet hair out of her face.
“Meant to do that,” she says. “Boy, that crisp water sure is refreshing.”
She stares at me, and then we both start laughing, big belly laughs that bounce off the trees and echo back to us.
“You’re a mess,” I say, taking her in. “Let’s get home and put you in the shower.”
“Yes, please.”
I lay my jacket under her on the seat of the SUV so she doesn’t soak the leather too badly, and thank the gods that the cabin is only a five-minute drive away. She hurries into the shower to warm up and clean herself off, and I decide to go downstairs to work out a bit in the home gym that came with the house.
I’m into my third set of pull-ups when I hear her scream.
“SHAWN!”
Chapter 13
~Lexi~
I don’t ever want to go fishing again. The lake is beautiful, and I enjoyed being with Shawn, but the fishing part was not fun.
Also, falling in the shallows wasn’t my favorite thing either.
I rinse my hair, ring it out in the shower, and then wrap it in a towel and dry myself off. I borrow one of Shawn’s black T-shirts, brush out my wet hair, and pad through the house toward the kitchen when I hear the front door open.
Did Shawn go outside for something? I thought he was down in the basement, working out. Just as I turn a corner into the foyer of the house, a man walks inside.
We both freeze, staring at each other.
“Well, it’s a mighty fine day in the life of an old man when he finds a lovely lass staring at him.”
I blink rapidly. This is clearly Shawn’s dad. And I’m standing here, half-naked.
Fuck.
“I’ll go find Shawn,” I say quickly and hurry away, running down the stairs. “Oh God, oh God, oh God.”
I search the cavernous basement and find the gym area on the opposite side of the house.
“Shawn.”
He doesn’t hear me. He’s wearing headphones.
I try louder. “Shawn.”
Nothing.
“SHAWN!”
He drops to the floor from his pull-ups, rips off his headphones, and spins toward me.
“What’s wrong?”
“Your dad is here.”
He frowns. “Where?”
“Upstairs. He came in the front door, and I was standing there…like this.”
His eyes roam over me and then he has the nerve to laugh. “I have to tell you, my da’s been in love with Ma for going on forty years, but I’m sure he enjoyed the sight of you when he walked in.”
“This isn’t funny. I’m not wearing any underwear.”
His green eyes flash up to mine. “He can’t see that.”
“But I know it. I just met your dad without any underwear on. There’s something just wrong with that.”
“It’s going to be fine. You go get dressed. I’ll go find out what they’re up to.”
I scramble up the stairs ahead of him and make a beeline for the bedroom we’re using as Shawn goes in search of his parents. I pull on underwear, jeans, and a sweatshirt, and then blow my hair dry. I don’t worry about makeup, but I feel much more comfortable facing Shawn’s parents now that I’m clothed and not obviously just out of the shower.
When I walk downstairs, I find all three O’Callaghans in the kitchen.
“There she is,” Shawn says with a grin. He gestures for me to join them and takes my hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. “I’d like to properly introduce you to my parents. Lexi Perry, this is Tom and Fiona O’Callaghan.”
“Hello,” I say with a small laugh. “I’m so sorry about the way you—”
“Nonsense,” Fiona says right away. “We didn’t ring anyone to let them know we were coming. Well, except for Kane. We wanted it to be a surprise, we did.”
“And it worked,” I say, shocked when I’m wrapped in a big hug by the older woman. She has the same red hair as Shawn’s sisters with just the beginnings of silver threading through. Her eyes aren’t green, they’re blue as the ocean. Her body has softened a bit with age, but she’s strong and beautiful.
“I should have rung the bell,” Tom says kindly, his green eyes dancing with mirth. “I beg your pardon, lass.”
I laugh and lean over to give the man—as tall as his sons and just as strong—a hug. “Let’s start over. Hi, I’m Lexi.”
“We weren’t expecting you guys for at least another month,” Shawn says as he pulls out crackers, along with some cheese and fruit from the fridge, and starts making his parents a snack. “This is a surprise.”
“We decided to come early to see our children, take in some mountain air, and relax a little,” Fiona says.
“You’ll relax all of two days before you go check on the pub,” Shawn says with a laugh. “But Keegan will welcome it.”
“Tell us about yourself, Lexi,” Tom says.
“I’m an author. I’ve been working with Shawn on a screenplay for the past month or so. This is our second weekend up here to relax for a couple of days between work sessions during the week.”
“I’m sorry we interrupted you,” Fiona says.
“Oh, it’s really fine,” I reply immediately. Shawn winks at me, and my spine tingles.
I guess we won’t be having much sex this weekend, which is a damn shame. But I’ll get to know his parents a bit, which is exciting.
I can already see where all of the siblings get their amazing looks. These two people are downright beautiful, so it only makes sense that their children are, as well.
But I can also see that they’re kind and full of humor.
While Fiona and Tom eat, Shawn gestures for me to follow him out of the kitchen.
“Do you want to go back to the island?” he asks when we’re out of earshot of his parents. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t expecting this.”
“No, if they don’t mind us being here, I don’t mind staying.”
“I think they’re curious about you. And my parents love people, so having you here won’t bother them at all.”
“Great. We’re staying. We just won’t have sex.”
I turn to walk away, but his hand catches my arm, and he pulls me back around. “
Excuse me?”
“No sex.”
“Did you hit your head when you fell in the lake?”
I laugh and lean over to kiss his arm. “No. Your parents are here, Shawn. I won’t have sex with you while we’re in the same house as them. It’s disrespectful.”
“Angel, I’ve been having sex in my parents’ house since I was sixteen.”
I scowl. “I don’t want to know that. Ew. And shame on you.”
“You never had sex in your parents’ house?”
“No.”
“How old were you when you lost your virginity?”
I narrow my eyes at him. “Twenty. I was in college. So, no, not my parents’ house.”
He leans in and kisses my nose, then tucks my hair behind my ear and smiles gently. I shift back and forth on my bare feet, suddenly uncomfortable under his scrutiny.
There’s nothing wrong with a woman waiting until she’s twenty to lose her virginity.
Shawn shifts closer and presses his lips close to my ear. “I’m going to spend plenty of time inside of you this weekend, Lex. This is a big house, with lots of space for privacy.”
He kisses my cheek and walks away, and I have to press my hands to my face and take a deep breath.
Why is he so damn hot?
“Tell me about Shawn as a child,” I say later in the evening. We’re all in the living room, playing Canasta. His parents picked the game up quickly.
“What would you like to know?” Fiona asks.
“Did he ever get into mischief?”
Shawn’s green eyes narrow on me from across the coffee table. I shrug a shoulder innocently.
“It was Shawn’s lot in life to test my patience,” Fiona says, smiling fondly at her son. “But there was one incident that almost got us slapped with a lawsuit.”
“She really doesn’t want to hear this,” Shawn says, shaking his head and wiping his hand down his face.
“Oh, I think I do.”
“She does,” Tom agrees with a grin. “Keep going, mo chroí. It’s a great story, twenty years later.”
“Perhaps Shawn should tell it,” Fiona suggests.
“Spill it.”
Imagine With Me: A With Me In Seattle Novel Page 12