Silver at Midnight: A Paranormal Romance Urban Fantasy (The Keepers of Knowledge Series Book 5) Bridgette O'Hare (ebook offline .txt) 📖

stack of books from my arms. Still a little unsure what to say or how to react, I didn’t argue with him. I reached back into the car and grabbed the last stack and pushed the door shut.

“So, what is it you want t’ talk t’ me about, Darek?” I asked flatly.

“Ya don’t know?” He sounded surprised, and maybe a little confused.

“Is there an artifact you have a question about?” I asked as I started walking away from the car, leaving him stunned for a brief moment before he followed me toward the cottage.

“Umm. No . . . Aish, I’d like t’ talk about us.”

“What about us, Darek? I’m not sure what ya think there might be t’ discuss,” I remarked keeping my tone neutral. When I made it to the door, I placed my stack of books on a small table situated between the front door and one of two rocking chairs. My plan was to not invite Darek into the house. This conversation needed to be short and then done.

“Seriously?” He placed the books he’d carried next to mine on the table and positioned himself to face me, shoving his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. “Ya really think I came here because of an artifact?” His gaze held mine, unflinching and intense.

I maintained my careful façade. “I have some translating to finish up, so why don’t you tell me what you came here for.” I knew what he wanted to talk about. Of course, I knew. I just didn’t want to have that discussion. However, it would have to happen sometime. Best to get it done and out of the way, right?

“Ya didn’t get to answer my question earlier. And I need to know . . .” he trailed off and took a step closer to me. The air grew thin around us and flashes of memories with Darek played in my head again. “Do you still feel something for me, Aish?” He waited for an answer I wasn’t sure how to give.

I stared back at him like a deer frozen in headlights, unable to blink or speak.

“Well?” he asked after a moment. “I just need you to say it, Aish. I know the answer, but I need to hear it.”

“I . . . I will always care about you, Darek. I’m not sure what else it is you’re wantin’ me t’ say.”

A satisfied smile turned up one side of his mouth and his eyes crinkled. Sunlight hit them just so, igniting the golden flecks until they danced like fire and matched the light auburn highlights of his hair. Under different circumstances, at a different point in my life, I would have swooned a little.

“I want ya to say we have a chance to see if what we started before is what I think it can be.”

“Darek, we were both undercover Both being someone we weren’t . . . aren’t.”

“Don’t try t’ downplay it, Aish. Ya know as well as I do that the legend doesn’t change who ya are at your core. Ya can play a part, pretend ya like this music or those books on the surface, but ya can’t fake the real stuff. Ya can’t fake the connection ya have . . . like when you’re standing on Ha'penny Bridge at night watching the lights on the water an’ your hands connect for the first time.”

The way he looked at me was both familiar and foreign. There was something more behind his gaze. Something deeper than I remembered seeing before. “It doesn’t matter,” I retorted. “There’s no way to know for sure what was truly us and what was just playin’ the part.”

“Who someone really is can always be found when ya look them in the eyes. I saw what I needed t’ see, Aish. I know ya did too. Besides, I know ya can’t fake this,” he said, closing the space between us and placing a hand on each side of my face. Before I had a moment to dispute, his lips were pressed to mine, and the familiarity took over. Every memory I had suppressed rushed to the surface.

When Darek pulled back, his hands still lingered in place. The sincerity in his gaze reminded me of why I began to fall for him so many months before. “I know ya have a lot on your plate right now. I’m not tryin’ t’ add t’ that. Seein’ ya again wasn’t somethin’ I ever thought would happen. But now that it has . . . I just wanted t’ know how ya feel an’ I wanted you t’ know where I stand.” His hands slipped from my face back to his pockets. “I’ll let ya get t’ what ya have t’ do, but we’ll talk later.”

He turned and started down the steps without even a hesitation, leaving me standing there dumbfounded.

“I . . . I didn’t tell ya how I feel,” I sputtered quietly after him.

Darek stopped, glanced back over his shoulder. “I learned what I needed to know.” He winked and trotted across the yard and then the road. I watched until he disappeared around the corner near Pyreshore Park, and then I just stood there for a while, my head spinning.

After Darek left, I called Kara. That conversation lasted nearly half an hour and went about as I had expected—with her telling me I needed to figure out how I felt and be upfront with both Cian and Darek. At that point, a long hot shower was necessary to help clear my mind before I started back on the translation . . . and before I faced Cian.

I hadn’t even cracked open the first book when Cian arrived. In fact, I had just finished slipping into a pair of jeans and a long-sleeved t-shirt and was towel drying my hair and twisting my platinum locks into a side braid when he knocked on the front door.

I helped him get a few things started in the kitchen