Kate Hoffmann - Conor

He yanked open the front door and stepped inside the dimly lit pub. The air was hazy with smoke and the jukebox played softly in the far corner. A few stragglers still sat at the bar and in the booths near the back. Conor slid onto a stool, then waved at Dylan who nursed a beer just a few stools away.

“You missed your party,” Dylan said.

“What party?” Conor asked with a wry smile.

Sean stepped up and placed a half pint of Guinness in front of Conor. “Where were you? We’ve all been out looking for you. Geez, Con, you’re a hard man to find when you don’t want to be found.”

“I had some business to take care of,” Conor said. He reached out for the Guinness and took a long drink.

Sean wiped the bar around him with a damp towel, then tossed the towel over his shoulder. “Well, you had business here, too.”

Conor shook his head wearily. “I wasn’t in the mood for a party,” he countered. In truth, all he wanted was to find Olivia. Unfortunately, he hadn’t been able to make that happen.

“He’s not talking about a party,” Dylan explained. “He’s talking about Olivia.”

Conor’s head snapped up at the mention of her name. “Olivia?”

Sean cocked his head toward the back of the bar. “Brendan’s keeping her company at the dartboard. She’s been waiting for most of the night.”

“For me?” Conor asked.

“No, idiot,” Sean muttered. “For his Holiness the Pope. If I were you, I’d get back there before Brendan has her completely charmed and she decides she came here for the wrong Quinn.”

Conor sat frozen to his seat. What would he say to her? What would she say to him? He’d made so many mistakes already, an apology was probably in order. But after that, the only thing he could think to tell her was that he loved her. “It all comes down to this,” he murmured. In just a few minutes, he’d know whether he’d found the woman he was meant to spend his life with or whether he’d made a mistake he’d regret for the rest of his life.

“Just tell her how you feel,” Dylan suggested, as if he could read Conor’s mind.

Conor had always been the one to provide sage advice to his younger brothers, but now he was on the receiving end of their advice and he wasn’t sure he should trust them. Besides, what about all those family legends about the Mighty Quinns? Was he willing to trust his heart to a woman, to risk that she might someday walk out on him?

“She loves you, Con,” Sean murmured. “She wouldn’t have come here if that wasn’t so. Don’t be a jackass and mess this up. Besides, it’s about time one of us tested that damn family curse. It might as well be you.”

Conor pushed off the bar stool, took another long drink of his Guinness, then wiped his mouth on the back of his hand. He started toward the back of the bar, and though he’d walked that same path hundreds of times before, this time it felt like he was walking a mile, every step filled with doubt and insecurity.

He walked past Liam and Brian, who were deep into a game of eight ball. Both Brendan and Olivia had their backs to him as they aimed darts at the board mounted on the rear wall. Olivia was laughing and Brendan was teasing her. When they both went to reclaim their darts and count the score, Conor held his breath. And then she turned and faced him and their eyes met.

Everything and everyone around them suddenly faded into the background. He didn’t hear what Brendan said and the music playing from the jukebox became just a jumble of sound. Instead, he heard her soft gasp, saw the light reflecting off her pale hair, smelled the scent of her perfume. It was all magnified a hundred times until his heart and soul was filled with her.

“Hi,” he murmured.

“Hi,” she replied.

Conor drew a shaky breath. “I’ve been looking for you. I went to your apartment and to the shop, but you weren’t there.”

“I was here,” she said, glancing around nervously.

He swallowed hard, the words he wanted to say catching in his throat. “You look beautiful.” It was all he could manage but it was the truth. He was stunned by the sight of her, shocked that his memories of her hadn’t even come close to the reality of the woman before him. Conor silently vowed that he’d never depend on memories again.

He took a step toward her. “I wanted to find you because there are some things I need to tell you.”

“There are some things I need to tell you,” she countered.

“Those last few days when we were together, I-”

“I know,” Olivia said. “They weren’t about the job, were they?”

“How did you know?” Conor asked.

“Kevin Ford told me that he cut a deal the day after you visited him, nine days before the trial began. You got around to telling me I was safe four days before the trial. So I had to wonder, what was going on for the rest of that time. Why didn’t you just take me home?”

Conor raked his hand through his hair, then tried to calm his nerves. “Olivia, I don’t know any better way to put it than to just come out and say the words. I love you. Hell, I’ve probably loved you since the very moment you kicked me in the shin and called me a Neanderthal. And I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to realize it, but I kept trying to convince myself that it was just part of the job. That my feelings of protectiveness were all mixed up with feelings I thought I had for you.” He drew a long breath. “But now I know that’s not true. I know how I feel and I don’t want to live another day of my life without you.”

Now that the words had started to come, Conor couldn’t seem to stop them. He grabbed Olivia’s hands and led her over to a booth, then slipped in opposite her. When they were both seated, he wrapped his fingers around hers and stared into her eyes.

“I suppose you’re wondering how I know I love you,” he continued.

“Not really,” Olivia murmured. “I just-”

“Well, let me explain,” he interrupted. “You see, when my mother left she just forgot all about us. We were her children and she just walked away. And I guess I always thought if it was so easy for our own mother to walk away, then it would be even easier for any other woman to do the same. Including you.”

“I would never-”

“And when we first met,” Conor said, “I tried to maintain my distance, but you needed me. And in the end, I think I needed you just as much.” He took a quick breath, then continued on, certain that if he stopped talking she’d find some gentle way of rejecting him. He had to lay out his whole case and prove the truth of his words. If he didn’t, she might just walk away. He drew her hands to his lips and kissed her fingertips. “You got inside of me, Olivia, and no woman has ever done that before. And I-”

“Can I just say something, please?” she asked in an impatient tone.

Conor froze, his lips just inches from her fingertips. This was it. She was going to brush aside everything he’d said and tell him that they could never have a future together. “All right.”

A smile broke across her face and her eyes glittered with unshed tears. “Would you please stop talking and just kiss me?”

Stunned, he stared at her for a long moment. In that time, he saw all the emotion, all the love that he had for her, reflected in Olivia’s eyes. With a low growl, Conor leaned over the table and did exactly as she requested. And as he kissed her, Conor knew that this woman would never bring him down. With every moment they spent together, he would become a better man. She loved him and with her love he felt as if he could rule the world.

He cupped her face in his hands and deepened the kiss until the need inside him grew to a soft ache. When they finally paused to draw breath, he gazed into her eyes. “Marry me,” he murmured. “Make me the happiest man in the world.”