BIRDIE | NH |

NINETEEN

Niall

"Niall— Are you listening?"

Rory nudges my arm as the man in front of us goes on and on about why we should carry products from the line he represents.

With my arms crossed over my chest, I nod even though it's a total bold faced lie.

I'm not paying attention.

At least not to him.

I did my part and paid attention when we were out on the course and the product he wanted us to carry didn't meet my expectations. Now that we are back in the clubhouse, my attention is elsewhere.

There's a brown eyed brunette standing across the room, one who looks more and more stunning every single day that I see her, and then there's the man standing in front of her who I can see just over the shoulder of the man in front of us.

I'm not sure who he is or where he came from, but I know that look on his face better than anyone else.

He must make a bad joke because Wren laughs and even from here I can tell that it's fake. Her eyes don't light up and her nose doesn't scrunch in the same way that it does when she's with me and her fingers pull at the diamond pendant like she does when she's nervous.

The diamond pendant I bought for her that I haven't seen her without since the day she opened the box.

It feels like I can't take my eyes off of the two of them.

Especially when I see him push closer and brush the hair back from her shoulder, leaning in to whisper something in her ear that makes her chocolate eyes widen before her head moves from side to side.

I've never been the type of man to get jealous before, truly, but I've also never been the type of man to feel for someone as fiercely as I feel for Wren.

What we have isn't common knowledge and if I'm being honest there might only be a handful of people that know there's something going on between us and they definitely don't know that it started as a fake arrangement and has moved into something... More.

As I keep my eyes on them, fire rages through my bones when he touches her arm, his finger tracing down until it falls from her wrist and he leans even closer as she leans further away, her lips closing around the short syllable of a word.

"Excuse me." Not even sorry to interrupt the speech that I wasn't listening to in the first place, I place my hand on his shoulder to step past him. "Wren—"

Looking up from the person next to her, I can see the distress in her eyes for just a second before a fake smile tugs in the corners of her lips.

"Mr. Horan—"

"Oh, there you are." The man who's name I've long since forgotten squeezes past me to stand next to the guy who is about to lose every single one of his fingers, clapping him on the back. "I'd like you to meet my son, Carson. He's trying to learn the ropes so he came along with me."

Moving to stand between him and the woman of my dreams, I look down at him. "Find it a habit to make women uncomfortable?"

"I—" He stammers before swallowing down his words, looking over at Wren. "She—"

Shaking my head and cross my arms, shifting my body to shield hers. "Don't even think about saying anything about her, got it?" Carson nods before looking over at his dad, eyes wide. "As for the partnership, I'm sorry. It looks like we are going to go in a different direction."

Without waiting for any kind of response, I turn in my heels and look at her, assessing for damage before placing my hand at the small of her back and ushering her out of the room.