As I step into the elevator, my phone vibrates in my pocket, Tiernan’s name flashing on the screen.
“How was it?” he asks when I answer the phone.
“Fine.”
If he was Shay, my one-word answer would have pissed him off.
But Tiernan takes it at face value.
“Good. That’s all I need to know,” he says, ready to end his check-in on today’s outing, but when he doesn’t I know he can sense my hesitation on the line. “Unless there is something else you want to add?”
“Shay is right,” I grunt, thankful the asshole isn’t here to hear me say it.
“That must have been as difficult to say as it was for me to hear,” Tiernan jokes halfheartedly. “And just exactly what is my pain in the ass brother right about?”
“Take her home, Tiernan. Or I will.”
Chapter 10
Rosa
Tiernan curls his hands into fists only to unclench them open a second later. I’ve been transfixed by the nervous tick for most of our car ride to Back Bay. To say I was surprised when he came home early tonight and told me to pack up my things because we were checking out would be the understatement of the year. I was starting to believe that The Liberty Hotel was going to be my permanent home throughout my entire stay in Boston. It was only when I began to pack my things into my suitcase that I remembered that Boston is my home now. Not just a place I am visiting.
But I guess today has been a day full of surprises.
I wasn’t expecting Colin Kelly to show up on my doorstep either this morning. Much less spend the day with him at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. All in all, this was probably the best day I’ve had since I left home. Alejandro had made it a point to warn me off Colin, almost hinting at the fact he was far more dangerous than my husband and brother-in-law, Shay, combined. But after spending a full day in his company, I don’t see it. Colin was intellectually precise in his musings, even if he couldn’t appropriately articulate with them. He was thoughtful, kind, and at times even made me laugh with his spot-on commentary. For the first time in God knows how long, I forgot the treaty, my homesickness, and for that matter, even my husband.
I’m just worried that Tiernan might spoil my budding new friendship with his cousin somehow. That he’ll see this small speck of happiness inside me and decide to crush it with his bare hands before I get used to the feeling. It’s not like he’s given me any proof to the contrary, that he wants me to be happy. In fact, Tiernan Kelly has gone to great lengths to ensure that I’m not.
My first week being married to him has been less than pleasant. Since our wedding night, he has barely said two words to me. Coming home at all hours of the night, smelling like whiskey, cigarettes, and cheap perfume. I think I even saw glitter on the lapel of his collared shirt once, evidence that he was at some strip club before he decided to come back to the hotel suite.
Not that I would demand justifications to his face. In fact, I made sure to always be in bed when he came home. I would fake being asleep and watch him from under my eyelashes, going into the bathroom to take his usual nightly shower before he retreated into the living room to sleep on the couch.
One thing I’ve learned about my husband is that the man is a creature of habit. He likes things to remain a certain way, in their proper spot, and to deviate from that just sets his teeth on edge.
Hence my surprise when he told me he was taking me to his home in Back Bay. I’m positive that his abrupt decision to take me home is the reason why he can’t stop balling his fists every five seconds.
It’s the lights from the SUV trailing behind us with our security detail that grab my attention away from Tiernan’s nervous tic and onto the man himself.
“Will I need so many bodyguards if I’m living at your place?”
“Why?” he retorts, using that same cold tone of his that I’ve begun to detest.
“I would think Colin would suffice. I don’t see the need of having four men guard me when one can do the job.”
If I expected him to explain why he sent Colin to be my personal bodyguard this morning, then I’m bitterly disappointed when he refuses to answer me.
“I doubt anyone would dare ambush me in the great Tiernan Kelly’s private home,” I try again, hoping my hit to his ego will incite a reaction from him.
“Are you saying that when you lived in Mexico, your father didn’t have guards with machine guns guarding his property?” he says, acknowledging my presence for the first time since we got into his town car.