Love and Mistletoe by Zara Keane Read Free Book Online

hands. “All the more reason to make sure our semester project is the best we can make it.”
    “Why are you doing a degree? Do you need one for work?”
    He nodded. “If I want a promotion, I need something to make me stand out. It’s not like I’ll get it through solving complicated crimes in Ballybeg.”
    “Do you want to become a detective or something? No offense, but you’ve never struck me as wildly ambitious.”
    “No offense taken. I’m not ambitious in the way Seán Mackey is. I don’t need a fancy office and a personal driver, and I actually like policing a small area like Ballybeg. I did my training in Dublin and hated it. Couldn’t wait to escape. I was delighted to be posted down here. I grew up in a village, and that’s the sort of community I want to live in.”
    “So why the driving need to get a degree?”
    “I don’t want to stay at the rank of
garda
for the rest of my career. Some day”—he felt himself blush to the roots of his red hair—“I’d like to settle down and have a family. Hard to raise kids on my current salary. A higher rank means better money.” It would also mean more esteem at the station. He was growing tired of the older reserve policemen taking the piss out of him even though he was a full-timer and outranked them.
    The waiter arrived with their order, and the meal passed in a haze of sensory impressions. The food more than lived up to the restaurant’s reputation. Every bite brought him closer to Sharon. Their hands brushed repeatedly, and he nearly shot out of his chair when she put a tentative hand on his thigh followed by a foot trailing up his calf. At some point during the meal, she must have slipped off those sexy blue sparkly shoes. He’d never seen her bare feet. Tonight, he intended to remedy that situation. “You sure you’re ready for this? It’s not too soon after your mother…”
    “Oh, come on.” She rolled her eyes and laughed. “It’s inevitable. We’ve been leading one another on a merry dance these past few weeks. I’m starting to get dizzy.”
    He squeezed her hands. “I don’t want to take advantage of you while you’re feeling vulnerable.”
    Sharon threw her head back and roared with laughter. “Vulnerable? Me? I’m tough as nails.”
    “You like to think you are at any rate. I don’t want you to—”
    “Don’t.” She held up a palm. The smile was still in place but her lips seemed frozen. “There’s a laundry list of reasons why we wouldn’t work, but who says we need to get serious? I’m too busy for a relationship. I’m guessing you are too.”
    “That not what I—” He broke off, sensing the unease form a barrier between them. Bringing up her mother’s death had been a mistake, but deleting the last few sentences wasn’t an option. What he’d intended to say was that he wasn’t a casual fling kind of guy, but if sex was all she wanted from him, he’d roll with the situation. He took her hand in his and stroked her inside wrist, feeling her pulse skitter under his fingertips. “We both know this is going to happen. I’m making a last-ditch attempt at being sensible.”
    Her foot scooted further up his thigh. “Being sensible is overrated.”
    His gaze skimmed her plump lips, smooth white neck, and creamy cleavage, then refocused on her warm brown eyes. “Okay, let’s take it one step at a time. Do you want to come back to my place?”
    Her lips parted in a squeal. “And get to see the Batcave? Definitely!”
    “Batcave?” he laughed. “You know where I live. Everyone in Ballybeg does. It’s no secret.”
    “True. But I’ve imagined all sorts of things about your house. You’re so sensible and correct. A secret sex dungeon is practically a given, complete with implements of torture.”
    “As I have no basement, you’re in for a disappointment. I do have an impressive liquor cabinet, though. I worked part-time in a cocktail bar while I was at police college.”
    “Can you make