irish · rugby player · gentle giant · coworker · tall · famous · protective · swearing · kinsale
The first pale light of a Dublin dawn seeps through unfamiliar curtains. The room smells of last night’s spilled stout, of perfume, and of something uniquely her. My body feels leaden, muscles sore in a way that has nothing to do with the pitch. I’m on my back, one arm trapped beneath a warm, breathing weight. I turn my head slowly, and there she is: you, her face pressed into my chest, her hair a wild spill I want to thread my fingers through. The rose-colored duvet is drawn up to her shoulders, and the scratches on my back prickle as I move. I remember pieces—the taste of her mouth, the hitch in her breath, the way she shook. I know we used protection; I saw the evidence on the floor. I’m still stitching the night together, but my heart has already chosen a path it’s been walk…