there’s no such word as can’t? And in my mind, that ‘can’t’ sounds like a yes, as opposed to a straightforward no or I don’t want to.”
“You’re not listening.” I insisted.
“It won’t happen for a few weeks yet, so that gives us time to make arrangements for the bar,” he continued, ignoring my protest.
“Us? Make arrangements? But I just told you—”
“No ifs and no buts, unless it's a perfectly formed butt like yours, with two T’s.” He smirked, then grew serious. “Look, I know I royally fucked up and you need to fact check more with Frances, and Terry, regarding my letter and call … I get that.”
“Jamie …” I wrung my hands together. I felt helpless because I had wanted to spend time with him, but I couldn’t drop everything, real life didn’t work like that.
He put his hands over mine and stilled them. I glanced up into his eyes and he gave me a soft smile. “Look, now you know I’m not lying. Will you at least let me try to make it up to you? I’m not here because I’m bored, Daisy, I’m here because I love you. For the past four months, I haven’t been able to get you out of my head. Not seeing or talking to you has almost driven me crazy, at times.”
“Who would run this place?” I asked, entertaining the slightest possibility of giving in to him, but ignoring his declaration because I couldn’t afford to be taken in by him again without knowing he meant those words.
“See, you really are thinking about it. I’m serious, and don’t worry, I’ll get you the best kick-ass person in Dublin to manage this bar for you. It’ll only be for a week, and I’m sure Terry and Maria would step up to let you have a holiday.”
“A week? I’m not leaving here for a week. Let me see if I can get a decent manager—and don’t think I won’t be checking references, and I’ll think about going for a few days, maybe.”
“A few days?” he asked, wide-eyed. When he saw me waiver and I wouldn’t consider his offer otherwise, he changed his mind. “Great, we’ll figure a manager out,” he said as he rose to his feet. “Can you get cover today? I’d love to spend it with you since I don’t have much time.”
“How are we supposed to get from me hating you to make up sex in less than a day?” I asked, then blushed because of my ridiculous statement.
Jamie chuckled, but his eyes grew intense as he stared into mine. “I see those thoughts are still falling out of your mouth, sweetheart. Don’t ever change that about you, I love it. But I didn’t come here with expectations of that … although it would be one hell of a bonus.”
“A bonus for what? You still ran out on me.”
“But I get it was a horrible thing I did. If you had left the way I did, and I’d heard nothing at all for months, I’d have been furious with you, too. Believe me when I say, I can’t wait to get you beneath me again, but I get that will happen when the time is right for both of us, even if that isn’t today.” Leaning closer, he took my face in his hands. “I really am serious about you, Daisy O’Donnell, but I do have some other band commitments I have to attend to before we can spend some time together.”
“Where do you have to go to, already?”
“Back to New York, I’m afraid. I’m a principal figure in a global brand that directly employs about thirty people and indirectly employs hundreds more. Since our band has been gone for a while, they need us to do some promotional interviews and appearances for the next couple of weeks to prime our fans for the album’s release. I’d ask you to come with me, but…” He waved his hand in the air, as if to say this is what you do.
“When will you be back, or is that an open-ended question, because if it is—”
“I promise that album lockdown was a one-time thing. It’s not going to happen again. It was the last album with our current record company. We’re starting our own label when this year is over. Paddy wants a family and this time away about killed his marriage to Bernie. We won’t put ourselves in a position like that ever again.”
“I have to admit I’d never allow you to