‘Really well, thanks for asking.’ The smile remained, his gaze hooking on mine for a moment before it dropped to where Bod was back snoozing on my lap. ‘It’s nice that one of you has noticed my return.’ A quick scan of the café told me quite a few people had noticed him, but that didn’t appear to have registered. I’d once dated a man who liked to see exactly who was checking him out every time we went anywhere, and wasn’t averse to throwing back a smile to those whom he approved of. Needless to say, that particular relationship hadn’t lasted very long. Lorcan might be a bit of a player when he wanted to be, from what I’d heard about the trail of broken hearts behind him, but I had to give him the fact he certainly wasn’t vain.

‘Has he been asleep the whole time?’ he asked, scratching the top of the dog’s head, who had now finally deigned to open one eye to see what was going on. Of course, once he saw his master, there was a sudden flurry of paws, fluff, ears and tail as he scrabbled to leap from my lap into Lorcan’s arms, whereupon his owner’s smile became a laugh, his whole body relaxing into the moment, the hard planes and frown of his face softening at the dog’s antics. I watched, enjoying the loving warmth reflected from the scene. I liked this side of Lorcan. I’d seen glimpses of it over the weekend, especially when he gave up his Saturday evening to keep me company. I still blushed a little at the memory. I hadn’t asked anyone to stay and keep me company since I was a child. Typical that the first time I did so, it would be Lorcan O’Malley that I made the exception for, even if it was through a drug-induced haze.

I couldn’t help wonder if the mysterious Siobhan we’d run into this morning had something to do with him developing that tough shell he protected his softer side with. Either way, I was glad to see this crack in it, glad to see the light getting in and showing the world the true nature of this man who, in the short time I’d known him, made me think that he was the most infuriating man I’d ever met – but also the kindest. Lorcan O’Malley was someone whom it would be very easy to fall for if one was so inclined. Thankfully, I was definitely not inclined so that was good. Right. That was that cleared up, then.

24

‘You look as if you’re very deep in thought.’ The melodic tones drifted around me as I watched Bod greeting him as though he’d been away for months, not a few hours.