‘I don’t know. Sometimes I can read you like a book and sometimes you’re like a diary with the key turned, locking your thoughts away,’ Lorcan said, lifting up the dog with one hand and placing him on my lap. ‘And don’t worry, he’s not going to wee on you.’

‘That wasn’t what I was worried about,’ I said quietly, cuddling the little ball of fur to me. ‘I didn’t know how flying with pets worked and I was concerned about him having to cross his legs for the next however long.’

‘I know,’ Lorcan said quietly. ‘I realise that now, and I’m sorry that I snapped at you earlier.’

‘So why did you?’ I turned to face him, still cuddling the dog to me. I wasn’t angry any more, or upset – just curious. From the little I’d been able to figure out of Lorcan O’Malley so far, he could be cynical and blunt but also incredibly kind. The effort he had gone to to try and find Peyton’s Irish ancestors, for example. And not minding that his date had to cancel on him in order to watch over a poorly dog, instead sitting with her and then falling in love with a tiny ball of fluff. Lorcan was like an onion – only with more layers.

‘It doesn’t matter,’ I said easily, smiling to show him that I meant it.

‘No, it does matter. The whole thing about Patrick telling me not to bring the dog to our first meeting?’

‘Yes, I did wonder about that. He must know how attached you are to him.’

‘A while ago Bod was sitting on Peyton’s lap in, apparently, a very expensive dress. Peyton, that is, not the dog.’ He flashed that grin and I couldn’t help but giggle. ‘He’s really good. He housetrained super quickly. But this night he began to get fidgety and it wasn’t like him, so I decided to take him home. As I lifted him up he…’ he leant over and put his big hands over the dog’s ears, which effectively hid Bod’s entire head ‘… had a little accident. Peyton was actually fine about it, considering, which was good of her, but I did feel awful. Patrick’s not really a dog person and kind of went off the deep end. We didn’t talk for two days, which is unheard of for us. He never used to be this uptight. I think this bloody wedding is freaking him out more than he lets on.’

‘Are you sure that’s what it is? Maybe it’s something to do with work.’