Between Mrs. O’Callaghan walking in on us and driving me insane with this wedding, I’m pretty convinced I can’t live a decent life with her here trying to dictate it. Like she does with Lena, she’s tried it on me. How I dress, how I act, what I do, and even when I’m gonna have kids. Sorry, but I’m not sorry, I’m not dealing with this. Like today, I’m standing here, looking down at the clothes she has picked out for me, and I want to just cry. I am so tired of these ugly, plain tea dresses, the damn shoes that hurt my feet, and just being so proper all the time. I don’t even want to go to tea, but I’m trying to make my life easier.

A happy Mrs. O’Callaghan means she doesn’t bitch at Declan.

“You don’t have to go,” Declan calls from bed. He’s gloriously naked, only the sheet covering his naughty parts, from where we just caught the bed on fire with our lovemaking. While I was a beginner before, I’m catching on and can make his body sing with my touches. Smiling at him, I shake my head.

“If I don’t go, she’ll flip her shit,” I say, crossing my arms over my stomach, trying to decide which dress I want to torture myself with.

“This is true, but I don’t care. You obviously don’t want to go.”

“I don’t.”

“Don’t, then,” he says, sitting up and pulling me down on top of him. Grabbing my butt, he presses himself into me, a grin growing on his face. “Stay in bed with me.”

I laugh as I glance at the time while he nibbles on my neck. “For what, ten minutes? You have a meeting this morning.”

He groans into my neck, biting softly before pulling back to look at me. “Fine. I’ll go to the meeting, and when I come back, I want you in this bed, naked.”

I scoff. “So you want me to lie in bed, naked, all day, waiting for you?”

His grin grows. “Now that’s a vision to keep me warm all day, yeah?”

He rolls me over, getting on top of me before kissing me hard against my lips. Pulling back, he kisses the side of my mouth before looking down into my eyes. “Ya happy, my love?”

I grin up at him. His eyes are shining, his face flushed, and I can’t believe how much I love him. It’s all-consuming. Life-altering. Wow, that last thought is truer than I realized. Cupping his face, I know I can’t lie to him. “I am when it’s me and you.”

He leans into my hand, his lashes kissing his cheeks as he rests in my hand. “They still driving you mad?”

“I don’t like that while I’m having sex with you, I worry about your mom walking in on us.”

“Yeah, I tried talking to her about that, but she doesn’t think it’s her fault. It’s ours for not waiting till we are married. Apparently when we’re married, she won’t be coming up here.”

“I don’t believe that,” I say quickly and he smiles.

“Didn’t think ya would,” he says, kissing my palm before looking back down at me. “I really don’t want to move out of this house.”

“I know,” I say, biting my lip. “But I don’t think I can stay.”

“That’s a problem.”

“It is.”

“So you still want to move out?”

“I do. Buy our own furniture and make a house a home.”

He pulls in a deep breath through his nose before rolling out of bed. He reaches for a towel, throwing it over his shoulder. He looks down at me, and I smile as I drink him in. I kinda feel bad for asking this of him, but am I wrong? I’ll have to talk to Fiona. We are going to pick out her bridesmaid dress tomorrow. I didn’t want her to have a traditional one; I wanted her to have one she could wear later to a ball or something. We’ve both been busy with registering for school and then starting that, so this is the first day we can do it.

Three weeks before the wedding.

“I gotta get in the shower, but we’ll talk more later?”

I go to nod but before I can, a knock comes to the door and then it opens, Mrs. O’Callaghan poking her head in. Covering myself with the blanket, Declan glares as she laughs, saying, “Declan, my goodness, son, put some clothes on.”

“Ma! I don’t know if ya realize, but this is my room, our room. We’re gonna be naked. Knock on that damn door and wait!”

She keeps laughing as she waves him off. A part of me is starting to think she likes catching us. “Ah, you’re fine. I’ve seen ya naked before.”

“For fuck’s sake,” he mutters as he ties the towel around his waist. “What do ya need?”

“Checking to see when Amberlyn will be down for tea,” she says, looking at me.

I go to answer, but Declan beats me to it. “She isn’t going. She’s tired, Ma, working and going to school plus planning the wedding is taking its toll. She’s gonna sleep a bit more this morning.”

I want to kiss him even more than I usually do.

“Oh, that’s disappointing,” she says and her lip actually juts out, looking at me as if I am going to do the opposite of what he says.

I’m not.

“Yeah, too bad. Now please leave.”

“Declan!” she scolds, but he shakes his head.

“I’m naked, my fiancée is barely dressed. Let us be, Ma. Start knocking.”

“Well, lock the door if ya don’t want people coming in,” she says before shutting the door. To make a point I guess, he goes over and locks the door before turning to look at me.

“When I’m about to take ya to bed, remind me to lock the damn door!”

I laugh as he heads for the bathroom, but before he reaches it, I call out, “Or we could move. At least then we can have sex on every surface and no one can say anything.”

“Ah, knowing my ma, she’d come all the way there just to walk in on us.”

The door shuts and I roll my eyes. He’s probably right, but I’m sure it wouldn’t happen that much. When the door opens again, he looks over at me and says, “But I’ll think on it, okay?”

I smile. “Thank you.”

His mouth pulls up at the side and then the door shuts. As I lie there, I’m a little torn. A part of me wants to leave so that I can be with Declan with no interruptions, but the other part of me wants him to be happy too.

I did sleep some, but when I wake up, I can’t just stay in bed naked. I check my online schooling and text Fiona, but she doesn’t answer me back. I know I can’t bother Declan. He has meetings all day, and I think my uncle is supposed to come to the distillery today too. Declan was really excited for that. After getting dressed, I decide to head to the library, explore the house a little bit. Since I have come to live here, I’ve seen one room and that’s Declan’s. Time to check this place out.