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“You wanted to. And you’re one to talk.” She waved a hand between me and Forde. “You two are worse than anyone at this table. Do I sense a proposal in the not-so-distant future?”

I narrowed my eyes because this was clearly payback for every deliberately provoking thing I’d ever said over the last four years. Her lips twitched with obvious delight.

“Give us a chance.” I shrugged, pretending my cheeks weren’t on fire and my heart wasn’t racing at the idea of Forde proposing to me. “We’ve only been dating for a few months.”

Murray guffawed. “Is it only a few months, though?”

“You’re spending too much time with your wife.” I pointed an accusing finger at the couple.

“I don’t know.” Mischief glinted in Tierney’s eyes. “I’d say technically it’s eighteen years. That’s right, right?”

I was going to kill her.

My brother frowned. “Why so specific?”

“No reason.” I bit out.

Forde groaned beside me. “Did you tell her?”

“Tell her what?” Quinn of the Bat Ears sat forward.

Oh, what the hell. “Forde and I had sex after his twenty-first birthday party.”

Taran choked on her sip of water, sending it spluttering down the front of her dress.

“If you wanted to marry me, you just killed that chance.” Forde scooted back from the table warily. “Because you just killed me.”

“I was a consenting adult.” I waved a dismissive hand at my brother’s thunderous expression. “I seduced him, for goodness’ sake.”

Murray grimaced. “Oh god, she’s making it worse.”

“I have a gun,” Ramsay offered Quinn casually.

The sound of beeping cut through the sounds of that busy bar and Forde jumped out of his seat, clutching his vibrating pager like a lifeline. “LSLS. Gotta go.” He bent to press a quick kiss to my mouth before he hurried toward the exit. I was surprised there wasn’t a Forde-shaped hole in the wall.

“We’ll talk later!” Quinn yelled across the bar, even though his best friend was already gone.

I rolled my eyes, disappointed he’d been called away and I’d have to go home by myself. “Did you have to play the outraged big brother card?”

“Play? There’s no playing. Did you have to tell me? I could have gone my whole life not knowing that.”

“Well, you did ask.” I shrugged, unrepentant. “Anyway, since we’ve gotten together, we’ve had sex many, many, many, many, many, many⁠—”

“Aye, I get it, you can stop.” He flicked me a disgruntled look before turning to an extremely amused Taran. “Ready to go home?”

“Aye.” She let him help her to her feet and as she passed, she squeezed my shoulder. “I want details later.”

Laughing at Quinn’s grimace, I nodded.

Their departure after Forde’s was the beginning of the end of the night. Tierney and Ramsay were eager to get back to Maura and since she was at Murray’s house with Fiona and Kelly, all four of my friends decided to leave.

“Are you sure we can’t walk you home first?” Tierney asked as we made to split at the end of Main Street.

“I’ll be fine,” I promised, kissing her cheek good night.

The days were slowly growing shorter, and it was dark now as I headed up off the harbor and toward home.

The weather seemed calm for a mid-September evening, so I hoped Forde’s call-out would mean a simple rescue and he’d be home with me before I knew it. The Victorian-style lampposts lit up my street as I strode down the narrow pavement toward my house. As I passed my neighbors’ homes, I could hear their TVs and their chatter, and it filled me with a familiar sense of peace.