Love Like This (The Romance Chronicles—Book #1)

by Sophie Love

  “Ask away,” the woman said with a laugh and a hiccup. She was clearly tipsy. “I’m a seasoned pro here so a good person to ask!”

  “Oh?” Keira said. “A seasoned pro? You mean you’ve been before?”

  The woman leaned in and whispered loudly, “I come every year!”

  “So you’ve never had a successful match?” Keira asked, pleased to have evidence to back up her position.

  “Oh I’ve had a successful match, all right. I get a successful match with a new fella every year.” She winked and nudged Keira. “Works quite nicely for me.”

  Keira started making some quick notes. That someone would use the festival like a dating app was very interesting to her.

  “So you come every year just for a fling?” Keira clarified.

  “That’s a good way of putting it,” the woman replied.

  “Then you don’t believe in The One?” Keira pressed. “In a perfect love match?”

  “Of course not,” the woman exclaimed. “It’s the twenty-first century, there’s no such thing anymore. The way I look at it, there’s seven billion of us on this planet. What are the chances that you’ll even find The One, supposing there is such a thing? Best to have the one, two, three, four… you get my drift.” She started laughing again.

  This was perfect, Keira thought. If even the attendees at the festival were critics the piece would practically write itself!

  Just then, Shane came back with two burgers and a pitcher of beer.

  “Not more beer,” Keira groaned. “I can’t handle this much alcohol.”

  Shane grinned. “You’ll build up your tolerance soon enough. I bet by the end of the month you’ll be drinking me under the table.”

  Just then, the woman Keira had been talking to leaned over.

  “Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friend?” she said, flashing seductive eyes Shane’s way.

  Keira couldn’t quite comprehend the sudden surge of jealousy she felt. It was almost animalistic, instinctive. So powerful it was scary.

  Shane leaned over her and offered his hand to the woman. “Shane Lawder,” he said as he shook it, his eyes twinkling.

  “I’m Tessa,” she replied. “It’s very nice to meet you.”

  “And you,” Shane said with a wink.

  For the first time, Keira got a flash of a side of Shane she hadn’t yet been exposed to; the playboy side. She could see it in his eyes, in the way his pupils dilated. Shane got as much out of this festival as the rest of them. He probably had a fling once a year just like this woman did.

  Keira leaned back as the two flirted over her, feeling a whole host of unsettling emotions, from generally grossed out to downright rage. She grabbed her phone, seeking a distraction.

  On Instagram she found yet more pictures of Ruth’s wedding. For the first time she felt somewhat lonely, and a little homesick. As she scrolled through the beautiful pictures, she stopped on one with a sudden jolt of surprise. There in the background was Zachary dancing with Ruth’s friend Julia. And not just dancing, but dancing. His hands were on the small of her back, which was bare thanks to the slinky, sexy dress she was wearing. Julia was leaning into him with a coquettish expression on her face. They looked like a couple, rather than just a couple of people dancing.

  Keira felt instantly furious. Zach knew she’d see these photos. He’d purposefully done this to piss her off.

  She fired off a message to Zachary, attaching the picture with the caption: Jealous boyfriend grabs first available floozy.

  Then she grabbed the pitcher of beer and filled a glass. She took a deep swig. It was to become the first of many that night.

  *

  Keira wobbled her way down the street toward the B&B. She’d lost count of the number of beers she’d had, and the number of pitchers that had been purchased. It was a lot, and yet still not enough to numb her anger at Zach.

  “Hey, wait up!” Shane called, following her along the street. “It’s my job to make sure you get back in one piece.”

  He seemed remarkably sober for someone who had kept the drinks flowing all night.

  “I’m fine,” Keira mumbled. “It’s not like I can get lost. There’s only one road.”

  “Oh, it’s like that, is it?” Shane laughed, taking her elbow to help steer her. “Are there not enough roads in Lisdoonvarna to satisfy Princess Keira?”

  “I’m not in the mood to be mocked,” Keira replied. The picture of Zach and Julia was still burned into her brain, still making her upset.

  Shane backed off. “Okay,” he said, his tone now more serious. “Well, here we are anyway.”

  They’d reached the door of the B&B. Keira fumbled with the latch.

  “See you in the morning,” Shane said as she walked inside.

  She didn’t reply, just wobbled her way through the heaving pub and up the rickety staircase to her room. Once inside, she flopped down onto the bed and sighed loudly. She kicked off her shoes and rubbed her sore ankles. It had been a long day. But it had also been inspiring. From her meeting with the matchmaker to the gray landscape of the Burren, from Shane and Tessa’s amorous display at the festival to Zach’s blatant attempts to make her jealous at the wedding, Keira wasn’t low on snarky things to write about. Elliot was going to love this piece.

  She just had to survive the rest of the festival.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Keira woke to a pounding headache and an overwhelming sense of embarrassment. She sat up and touched her head, wincing at the stream of daylight coming through the curtains. There was no way she’d get through this month if she continued to repeat this excessive drinking cycle.

  Suddenly remembering the snarky text she’d sent to Zachary, Keira grabbed her phone, expecting to see an equally snappy reply. But there was none, which was even worse somehow. It was like Zach had cut her off entirely, like he’d broken it off with her without saying the actual words. Keira couldn’t help but reassess her relationship, wondering if there was a relationship left at all.

  Keira realized then that she’d somehow overslept and that Shane would be arriving any minute. A sense of panic swept through her as patches of memory resurfaced in her mind of her inebriated state last night, of her jealousy toward Tessa. Had she said something to Shane about it? Something that may have betrayed her attraction toward him? Her memories were too sporadic for her to rely on them.

  Leaping out of bed, flustered, Keira grabbed her towel before realizing she didn’t even have enough time to shower. She’d have to get through the entire day feeling grubby as well as hungover.

  She dressed quickly, lancing pain shooting through her head with every hurried movement, then rushed downstairs.

  “Morning,” Orin said brightly from behind the bar as she emerged into the pub at the bottom of the staircase. “What can I get you for breakfast?”

  “I’m so sorry, I’m in a rush,” Keira said, yanking on her jacket. “I’ll have to miss it.”

  The door opened then, and Shane came in. He was smiling contentedly and Keira wondered whether he and Tessa had enjoyed more than just a dance after he’d dropped her back at the B&B.

  “Make sure you take this young lady out for breakfast,” Orin told Shane. “She’s missing the most important meal of the day.”

  “Honestly, I’m fine,” Keira said. The thought of food was making her feel queasy. “I had a huge dinner last night.”

  Orin tutted and shook his head.

  “We’ve got time,” Shane said with a cheeky grin, grabbing a bar stool and sitting down.

  It was as if he could tell that Keira’s motivation for refusing breakfast was because of her hangover. He certainly liked putting her in awkward situations.

  “I thought we had another day trip,” Keira said through her teeth.

  “We do, but it’s just up the road,” Shane replied. “It won’t mess up our itinerary if we set off half an hour after schedule.”

  Keira had no arguments left, so she pulled up a bar stool and sat
beside Shane.

  “Excellent,” Orin said, clapping. “What can I get you both? Eggs? Toast? Sausage? Bacon? Hash browns?”

  “Toast, thanks,” Keira said, selecting the plainest thing on offer that she might just be able to stomach.

  Shane leaned into her. “He means all of the above,” he explained. “It’s called a fry-up. It’s a great hangover cure.”

  Keira threw her arms up. She felt like there was no point arguing with these two. Between them they would make her obese by the end of the month. “Fine.”

  Orin disappeared into the kitchen to cook the fry-ups.

  “Why aren’t you hungover?” Keira asked Shane, leaning her elbow on the bar and propping her heavy head up on her hand. It came out like an accusation.

  “Irish men don’t get hangovers,” Shane replied. When Keira gave him a look, he burst out laughing. “Isn’t that what you’re going to write in your piece? That we’re all stereotypes with beer bellies?”

  Keira just shook her head. Maybe in an hour or so, once the throbbing in her brain had subsided somewhat, she might be in the mood to deal with Shane and his constant teasing.

  Delicious smells began to emanate from the kitchen and Keira’s stomach rumbled in anticipation. Orin emerged with two enormous plates filled with food; fried sausages, fried mushrooms, fried tomatoes.

  “That’s quite a breakfast,” Keira said looking at the plate in front of her. It was a long way from the iced green tea and spinach juice she usually grabbed on the way to the office.

  “This is the secret to handling our booze,” Shane said, laughing. “Start the day right and you’ll be able to go all night.”

  Keira instantly tensed, wondering if Shane had been alluding to a night between the sheets with Tessa. She wanted to question him about it but knew she really had no right to. Plus, she didn’t want to know what kind of emotion it might bring up in her.

  They finished their breakfasts and went to get into the car. Remarkably, Keira felt significantly better. Her head wasn’t pounding nearly as much as it had been on waking.

  “So where are you taking me today?” Keira asked as they drove along the road through the now very familiar terrain, past debris left from last night’s party.

  “The Cliffs of Moher,” Shane replied. “Ever heard of them?”

  Keira shook her head. “Let me guess,” she said, recalling the Burren from yesterday, “they’re not actually cliffs.”

  “Oh, they’re cliffs, all right,” Shane said. “They filmed a bit of Harry Potter out here.”

  “Classy,” Keira replied drily.

  They drove out of Lisdoonvarna and along the narrow road, passing fields and hillsides as they went. Keira was too hungover for conversation, and so Shane put the radio on instead, where a female newsreader spoke Gaelic.

  “Can you speak Gaelic?” Keira asked.

  Shane gave her a look. “Of course I can. That’s like asking a Spaniard if he can speak Spanish!”

  Keira blushed and went back to her curled up position, gazing out at the rolling countryside.

  The road was very bumpy, dipping at times in a way that made Keira’s stomach flip. They were heading upward, spiraling and weaving up the tree-lined hillsides. Keira was glad she hadn’t had to negotiate such a landscape on her drive from the Shannon airport; she might just have had a heart attack on the way. Shane, on the other hand, seemed very confident on the roads and he negotiated them expertly, which helped calms Keira’s nerves, though she still felt like she was going to lose her breakfast any second.

  Finally they reached the top of the hill and pulled into the parking lot. As Keira got out of the car, she saw an unusual building built into the side of the mountain with a grass-covered roof. It was a bit like a Hobbit house.

  Wind ripped through Keira’s hair and clothes as she walked beside Shane along the hilly terrain, using the flimsy railings around the cliff edge to guide them along the trail which overlooked the beaches below.

  As they went, Keira thought it was breathtakingly beautiful, with a view that stretched on for miles and miles.

  They stopped to take a breather, and Keira clung to the railing for support as she looked out at the raging ocean.

  “That’s the Atlantic,” Shane explained from beside her. “Those are the Aran Islands,” he added, pointing across the vast blue expanse. “And the other side there are the mountains.” He crouched a little and came very close to her, pointing at a row of peaks she could just make out in the distance. “The Twelve Pin mountain range.”

  Keira felt her heart begin to race from the proximity to Shane. She took a step away, relieved to break the moment on one hand but instantly missing it and craving it again on the other.

  “Want to go spelunking?” Shane asked.

  “Is that when you swim in underwater cliffs?” Keira asked, raising an eyebrow. “I’ll think I’ll pass, thanks.”

  “You’re not very adventurous, are you?” Shane accused her.

  “Hey,” Keira said with mock affront. “I’m an American abroad. Do you know how many of us never even get a passport?”

  “Okay, I’ll give you a point for having made it abroad. But I bet you’ve never climbed a cliff like this.”

  “Nor do I have any desire to,” Keira said.

  “Are you kidding me?” Shane exclaimed. “Climbing a beauty like this is incredible! It focuses everything down so narrowly. It’s just you and the cliff. You and nature.” His eyes were sparkling as he spoke.

  “You’ve climbed this cliff?” Keira asked, not quite believing him.

  Shane nodded. “And the Twelve Pins. Snowdon. Ben Nevis.”

  Keira was secretly impressed to discover this hobby of Shane’s. But she wasn’t about to let him know that. “Sounds a bit pseudo-macho to me. Man risking life and limb to conquer nature rather than just being at one with it.”

  Shane folded his arms. “And that’s you, is it? At one with nature, Miss NYC?”

  Keira looked away, ignoring him. They both fell silent, looking out to sea side by side.

  Finally, Shane put his hands in his pockets and rocked back onto his heels.

  “The sunsets here are the best you’ll ever see,” he said a little coyly. “If you didn’t have to be at the festival every night I’d take you to see one.”

  Keira looked over at him, frowning. “That sounds suspiciously like a date.”

  Shane pulled a look of mock disgust. “You’re barking up the wrong tree there, lassie, let me tell you.”

  Keira’s cheeks tingled as she smiled to herself.

  “So,” Shane said. “What are you going to say in your piece about the cliffs?”

  Keira looked back out over the beautiful scene. Just like before at the Burren, Keira felt a shift in herself, ever so slight but definitely perceptible. The air was so fresh compared to the polluted New York City air she’d known her entire life that it almost felt as if she were breathing in unadulterated oxygen, and it was making her giddy. Instead of craning her head to see the tops of skyscrapers, she was glancing out for miles at unbridled natural beauty, at nature unspoiled by man. Her ability to trash the place was wearing down.

  “I don’t know yet,” Keira replied. “I’m having a bit of writer’s block.” It was the closest she could come to the truth without giving away the fact she was supposed to be mocking this place and the people within it. “Hopefully I’ll get some good interviews tonight. The assignment is supposed to be first-person accounts, really. People’s experiences of the festival. Whether they’ve found long-term love or not. Marriage. That sort of thing.”

  Shane smirked. “You don’t think you’ll find what you’re looking for?”

  Once again, Shane’s question had some kind of underlying judgment contained within it. Keira had started to recognize the habit he had for doing that. It was almost as if he phrased statements and opinions as questions, forcing Keira to either refute or agree. She wondered whether it was an Irish trait, or specific to Shane.
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  She shrugged and leaned against her elbows on the railing. “I don’t know yet. So far I see a lot of people having a good time. I don’t know if anyone here is looking for love.”

  “What gave you that impression?”

  “Well, it’s all just drinking and eating, music and games. It’s all a bit bachelorette party.”

  Shane laughed then. “You sound so disdainful.”

  “Because I am,” Keira replied. “How do people think they’re going to find The One when they’re passing out drunk on Guinness every night? They’d have more luck coming out here into the real world. It’s such a shame when they’re surrounded by so much natural beauty.”

  She paused, and saw that Shane was watching her out of the corner of her eye. She didn’t want to turn to him and fully take in his smug expression.

  “I think our country might just be rubbing off on you,” he said.

  Keira ignored him. He was right but she certainly wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction of knowing that.

  “Anyway,” Shane said after an uncomfortably long pause. “You’ll have plenty of chances to speak to people tonight as I won’t be at the festival getting in your way.”

  “You won’t?” Keira said, looking at him for the first time in a while. She became aware suddenly of how much she wanted him there, how much his absence would be felt. The sensation shocked her in its ferocity.

  Shane shook his head. “I can’t. I have other things to do. And you know your way around now. You don’t need me holding your hand.”

  Keira couldn’t help but wonder about these other things he needed to do. Was it Tessa? Were they seeing each other again tonight? The thought ignited jealousy inside of her.

  “I thought you were supposed to keep me safe,” she replied. “Not leave me alone in the midst of amorous, drunk revelers. What have you got to do that’s so important?”

  Shane’s face turned serious. He didn’t answer her question. “I’d have thought you’d have gotten sick of me and want some time alone.”

  “Is that your way of telling me you’ve gotten sick of me?”