her capacity as an experienced crowd-watcher she glanced around to see if she could find any good-looking men to compare him with. Purely for scientific purposes, of course. She found a fair-haired American who had flirted with her in the shop earlier and then looked at them both.
The American was quite tall—probably six feet—but slim, as was usually typical of taller men. Ryan, on the other hand, was broad across his shoulders and chest. Not fat. Quite definitely not fat. But broad.
The American’s hair was fair, while Ryan’s hair was a rich dark brown—so dark that when the light hit it it shone. Biting into her sandwich, Molly supposed that was fairly attractive.
The American had an open smiling face, with pale eyes that had teased when he’d flirted with Molly. Ryan’s face could be lots of different things, depending on his mood at the time. But most of all, regardless of his straight, even features and strong chin, he had an honest face. Molly had always liked the fact that she could read just about every emotion from Ryan’s face.
A soft smile touched her mouth as she watched him run across the harbour to give a small girl the stuffed bear she had just dropped. The little girl smiled, then giggled as he spoke to her, and Molly didn’t have to see his face to know what it would be like. He’d always had that gentle look in his eyes when he’d teased her the first year they met. Without trying he had a way of drawing a smile out of a person, no matter how old they were.
That was the one thing she would never deny about Ryan. He was a genuinely nice guy. Molly smiled all the more when she thought about how much he would hate being told so, but he was.
Green eyes followed him until he walked out of her sight, his body moving in long strides that spoke of a silent confidence in his own strength. Then, her gaze falling onto the water, Molly finished her lunch.
Kate was right. She had never really thought about it, but Kate was right. Ryan was a gorgeous man. More than that, he was a nice, caring, gorgeous man. Shame, really. He just wasn’t Molly’s usual type. She’d never even been attracted to someone like him in her entire life. Just as well, she surmised, otherwise she might have got hurt in this latest game of theirs.
Molly’s eighteenth birthday
It wasn’t Ryan who kissed Molly on her eighteenth birthday. By then their worlds had changed and so, in many ways, had they. By her eighteenth birthday the two friends had become three, and then two of the three had become a pair. ‘I can’t believe you kept him secret from me for so long,’ Molly challenged him with one elegantly raised eyebrow. ‘Did you do it to torture me, or were you waiting ’til I had straight teeth?’
‘As if I’d want to inflict you on any of my other friends.’
She surprised him then, by leaning forward and planting a warm kiss on his cheek. ‘I love you, you know.’
Ryan wiggled his eyebrows ridiculously. ‘Yeah, yeah—you and half the female population. I know.’
One elegant fingernail tapped on the end of his nose. ‘Well, I was first, and don’t you forget it.’
He reached out to steady her arms as she swayed towards him, smiling indulgently. ‘And you, my red-haired friend, are a little the worse for birthday juice, aren’t you?’
‘Me? Why, Callaghan, I’m shocked you could even think such a thing.’ She wrapped her arms around his waist, smiling up at him from his shoulder. ‘But I am having a really great birthday. How ’bout you?’
Dark eyes shone down into green. ‘It’s not my birthday.’
‘I know that. But are you having a great time?’
‘With you? Always.’ Molly frowned at him with an all too familiar pout on her full lips. ‘You’re teasing me.’
‘Would I?’
‘Yes. But you know what?’
‘Go on, O’Brien, amaze me.’ He smiled again. ‘What?’
‘I forgive you.’
Placing one strong arm around her slender waist, he half carried her towards an empty table. ‘Well, I’m relieved about that. Now, why don’t you just have a wee rest at this little table for a while and I’ll find you some nice birthday coffee?’
Slumping down into the offered chair, Molly looked up at him. She frowned for a moment, looked around, and then patted the chair beside her. ‘Sit down. I want to talk to you.’
‘I’ll just get some of that nice birthday coffee first.’
‘No!’ She grabbed hold of his shirtsleeve. ‘No, now.’
Ryan watched as the wheels slowly turned in her head. Then she smiled at him. Looking at him from beneath long darkened eyelashes, she was positively flirtatious, and for some reason he couldn’t stop himself from noticing it. Damn but she’d grown up. And it wasn’t just the removal of her braces that had got her noticed by Kieran, his university roommate. She just seemed to have blossomed overnight.
Almost in slow motion, he sat down beside her. ‘What’s up?’
‘Do you think I’m pretty?’
The question caught him off guard. Especially considering he’d already begun to notice how she looked. For a split second he looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights of a car.
Molly giggled musically. ‘Why, Callaghan, I do believe for the first time ever I’ve managed to make you speechless. Happy Birthday me.’
He tried to stand up. ‘I’ll just get that coffee. I’d really like a cup, wouldn’t you?’
She placed her hand on his thigh and pushed him back into the chair. Another dangerous smile. ‘Don’t avoid the subject at hand.’
Ryan was too busy trying to ignore ‘the subject at hand’. The burning sensation on his thigh where her hand rested. Hadn’t anyone told her what happened to twenty-one-year old males whenever good-looking females touched them that close to…?
He carefully removed the hand, placing it into the safety of her own lap. ‘Why would I avoid it? Of course you’re pretty, Moll. That brace thing being off really helps.’
‘Is it just the brace?’ She leaned in close to him, her voice low. ‘Is it just the brace, or have I changed at all—you know, anywhere else?’
If that rabbit didn’t move soon it was going to get squooshed. A blink, then another, and then Ryan’s brain started to work. ‘Uh, what exactly are you fishing for?’
‘Have you noticed anything different about me?’ Her face was dangerously close to his. ‘I mean, since you last saw me?’
Ryan swallowed hard to moisten his dry throat. Wow, but she smelled good—all soapy and slightly perfumey. Like flowers. Hello, Ryan! Get a grip here. Hormone alert.
‘In what way, exactly?’
‘You tell me.’
Molly stood up in front of him and turned full circle before holding her arms out at her sides. ‘How do I look to you?’
