McNamara’s was busy, the same as every other Saturday night. The crowd was more or less the same group, faces she recognized as she weaved through the clumps of people crowded around tables to get to her friends at the far end of the bar. It was hot, the air inside the large room sticky and already smelling of beer and body odor, despite the somewhat early hour. Her friends hollered when they saw her and she entered their presence with waves and smiles to everyone she recognized, all the usual faces.

It was the same every week - the group had been meeting at the pub for months, blowing off the stress from the work week with a few drinks, some flirting, some dancing (on the nights that there was a band) and general merriment. There were always an abundance of jokes and low-priced drinks, and some nights, when she was lucky, a hot body to take her home and remind her what her body was capable of.

“Christina! About damn time you showed up!” Scott called from the corner, where he was sandwiched into the end of the bar, hand wrapped around a beer bottle and cheeks a little pink.
She huffed, shaking her head and holding her hands up. “I got here as soon as I could, it’s been a crazy week!”

What an understatement that was. Work was always a struggle, always stressful, but they’d all made a pact not to talk about work or school at McNamara’s, to not even think about it. She pushed the thoughts of screaming babies out of her head and ordered a beer, ready to get started. The bartender gave her a knowing smile and slid her favorite beer to her with a wink.
Next to her, Kelly leaned back against the bar and sighed. This had become a sort of ritual over the past few weeks. Christina would show up, usually when everyone was a few beers in, and Kelly would huff at her. They’d survey the pub, determine that not a single man in the large room was worth their time, and drown their sorrows in live music and good alcohol. If the week was particularly bad, there would be shots.

This week would apparently be no different as Kelly dramatically turned her head towards her best friend. “You’re late. Again. And you’re in a terrible mood. Again.”
“Work sucked and I don’t want to talk about it,” Christina sighed. She took a deep sip from her glass and leaned back against the bar next to Kelly. “Let’s forget it. How’s the spread tonight?”
Kelly’s eyes narrowed, her nose scrunched, but she shrugged and turned back to the room. “Deplorable, same as every week.”

Christina let her eyes sweep the room. She recognized a lot of the faces, many of them came to McNamara’s every Saturday night with their friends. She didn’t let her gaze linger on them, uninterested in seeing the same people from week after week. No, she and Kelly were out for new blood. There was a group in the far corner of the room, loud and boisterous and easy to hear over the band set up along the back wall. Kelly’s chin jutted in their direction and Christina’s eye raised in response as if to say ‘You think so?’ and Kelly leaned closer to put in her two cents.

“That blonde with his hands up? He’s been here for a few weeks and he likes to stare at your ass,” she confided and Christina almost choked on her beer. She glanced over again, but he wasn’t facing her and she didn’t recognize him through the crowd. She shrugged and turned back to Kelly.

“He can stare all he wants, I have a fantastic ass,” she declared with a brilliant smirk and chugged down the rest of her beer, slamming the glass down on the bar to signal to the bartender that she wanted another. He was already sliding it across the foot of space between them, another winking grin on his face.

Kelly’s barking laugh pulled the giggles from her throat and she couldn’t keep the smile off her face as she marvelled at how much better she was feeling already. Work was always difficult, both mentally and physically, and Saturday nights at McNamara’s were the saving grace to a job she really didn’t like. She was blessed to have something to look forward to every week, a night out with all her friends and if she was lucky, a body to warm her bed at night. That was happening far less often recently, but finding some guy to sleep with wasn’t high on her list of priorities tonight - she just wanted to forget about squealing, shrieking children and remember how it feels to laugh and have fun.

She almost spilled her beer when a body shoved into her, sending her sprawling into Kelly. Kelly’s look was dark when she shot her eyes over Christina’s shoulder, but the guy was full of apologetic smiles and kind words for the girls. Kelly could be a bit of a spitfire when she felt she’d been wronged and though it made Christina laugh most days, she wasn’t prepared for the fallout from a fistfight.

“Let me buy your next round, please,” he plead, and the way his eyes twinkled made it hard to resist. Kelly nodded before she could say anything and his resulting smile was kind of adorable. “I’m Nick,” he introduced as he beckoned the bartender over. Christina smiled, introduced herself and Kelly, and made quick work of the almost-full glass in her hand. She was not one to turn down free alcohol.

Nick hung around for a long time. Kelly didn’t seem all that impressed, but Christina couldn’t look away when he smiled and she found herself wondering in the back of her mind whether or not she’d let him take her home. His hand brushed her arm at one point, smirk planted on his face, and she couldn’t deny that she’d missed the feeling of a man’s hands on her. Maybe it wasn’t electric, but he was cute and interested and it had been weeks.

Someone further down the bar called her name and her head whipped around just in time to see Gillian doing shots with the band. She couldn’t help but laugh and shake her head and wonder who was going to get the wonderful job of carrying the girl home. Gillian couldn’t hold her alcohol and had no idea where her line was, despite being 25 years old and drinking with them every weekend.

She turned back to Nick with an apologetic smile, but his head was turned around as well and he didn’t seem to have been paying attention. With a shrug (who cares, she’s probably going to go home with him anyway), she picks up her fourth, no fifth beer with every intention of finishing it. Nick glances back, offers a quick ‘I’ll be right back, babe’ and slides off his stool, disappearing into the crowd.

Before she could blink, a body replaced his. She let her eyes linger over him, and maybe she wasn’t as subtle as she would have been an hour ago, but damn is he hot. About 5’8”, slim and lean but muscular, she thought. Blonde hair, brilliantly blue eyes, a slight flush to his cheeks. The white t-shirt was loose with a low neck, a dusting of hair poking out of it. He’d thrown a plaid button up over it and she liked the way it clung to his biceps, especially liked the way he’d rolled up his sleeves. She was buzzing from all the beer and she’ll blame it later for the way she was panting over how the veins in his forearms stood out against his skin. Also over the way his jeans were clinging to every inch of his legs.

It wasn’t until her eyes returned to his face that she realized he was looking back at her and the blood rushed to her cheeks before she can even try to stop it. The smile that covered his face was dazzling when he saw the pinkening of her cheeks and it only served to deepen her blush. She could feel her chest flush and it only made his smile widen. Her eyes darted away, over his shoulder, then down to the floor as she tried to will herself to calm down. He hasn’t said a single word to her and she’s already all hot and bothered.

In an effort to recollect herself, she raised her glass to her lips , but a hand on her arm startled her enough to have her pulling her head back and meeting his eyes.

“Ya shouldn’t drink t’at,” he said in a deep Irish accent that had her breath catching in her throat. Well, well, that was an interesting turn of events. The lilt of his voice distracted her enough that it took a moment before his words hit her. She raised an eyebrow questioningly.

“And why is that?” she asked, more interested in hearing him speak more than actually getting an answer to her question. His answer, though, had her rethinking that almost immediately.

“That guy you were chattin’ up? He put somethin’ in it,” he confided, flashing his eyes and looking concerned. “Saw it from all t’ way over there,” and he gestured to where his group of friends were sitting in the far corner of the room. She looked down into the glass, but the beer looked the same as it had before. When she looked back up at him, he was watching her intently, presumably to see if she’d listen to him.

He seemed so worried that it never occurred to her not to believe him. Something in his demeanor had her feeling like she could trust him and that was crazy because she didn’t even know his name. But he’d been watching from the other side of the room, had seen something that unsettled him and sought her out to make sure that nothing terrible happened to her. He didn’t even know her, but he was watching out for her just the same and that meant she could trust him, right?

She set the glass down on the bar and he looked immensely satisfied.

“He really put something in my drink?” she asked, and suddenly she felt slightly afraid. She had fully accepted that Nick was going to invite her back to his and she was going to say yes. What would have happened if this guy hadn’t been watching? No one else had noticed, or had been willing to say anything. And just where were her friends? Why hadn’t Kelly been keeping an eye out like she was supposed to?

The blonde in front of her only nodded solemnly. “‘m glad you listened. I’d have felt like a proper wanker if I hadn’t said anything.”

“Well I’m glad you did,” she confided, offering him a sincere smile before offering her hand. “I’m Christina.”

His own engulfed hers, large and calloused and exceptionally warm. She felt a tingling run up her arm, turning into a shiver that ran down the length of her spine. Despite the terrifying thought that she had almost been drugged, she couldn’t stop her mind from wondering what that hand would feel like elsewhere on her and the blush was returning to her cheeks.

He repeated her name back at her slowly and the way he said it, the sound of it falling from his lips, combined with the playful smirk had her core tightening in an embarrassing way. Maybe six weeks really was too long, because he shouldn’t be having this kind of effect on her.

“Watch out, yea? Wouldn’t want nothin’ to happen to ya, sunshine,” he stated, mouth quirking, and then he was walking away and Christina’s mouth fell open in confusion.

“Wait!” she called and he turned back to her with a raised eyebrow. “You didn’t even tell me your name.”

“‘m Niall” and then he disappeared into the crowd.

“What the hell was that?” Kelly asked from over her shoulder, making her jump nearly a foot in the air. She turned to her friend with a hand to her chest and a stern look. “You seem a bit jumpy. Who was he?”

“His name’s Niall. You won’t believe this, he came over to tell me that Nick slipped something in my drink!” she exclaimed, trying not to shout too loudly over the music. Kelly turned to look straight at her, a severe look on her face. “What?”

“Nick didn’t put shit in your drink. I was watching, he didn’t do anything,” she revealed, a thoughtful look on her face. They stood there for a moment staring at each other, then Kelly’s face morphed into a sly little grin. “I think it was an excuse.”

When Christina didn’t respond, Kelly rolled her eyes.

“He wanted to talk to you, so he made it up. It’s cute, really, if not a bit cringe-worthy.”

Nick came back then and Christina couldn’t make herself talk to him. It wasn’t because she thought he’d drugged her drink, didn’t have anything to do with that anymore. No, it was that she couldn’t justify talking to him anymore when she knew she wouldn’t be offering him anything. Not when Niall was on the other side of the room, chest hair poking out of his collar and eyes twinkling when she caught them.

Maybe that’s why she’s so disappointed when he left without anything more than a smirk and a wink thrown in her direction, and she didn’t know it at the time, but it’d be another two weeks before she’ll see him again.

---

By the time he walked into McNamara’s, she had convinced herself that she’d made it all up. Not that he’d talked to her, but that he’d used Nick as an excuse to come over. She figured that he’d thought he’d seen something that he hadn’t and just want to do the right thing. It was disappointing, sure, but she didn’t want to be the girl that made something out of nothing, and this was certainly nothing.

Kelly had agreed, thought she was right that he’d just misinterpreted the situation, and had diverted her attention quickly to Scott’s latest conquest before she could change her mind. Again.

It hadn’t helped that she’d realized quickly who he was. He’d look familiar, and his name should have triggered it for her, but it hadn’t, and it wasn’t until the middle of the next day that she remembered who Niall Horan was. It had been difficult to breathe for a few minutes after.

So when he walked in, a smirk and a wink shot her way within minutes of arriving, she was more than a little confused. She didn’t know what to think or do or say, so she didn’t do anything. She stayed with her friends, ordered her drinks, and acted like she would any other Saturday.

And the night was unremarkable for two whole hours.

There were no guys in the pub that night worth Kelly’s time, which usually meant that she shouldn’t be looking either, and she’d done an exceptional job at ignoring Niall’s clique. She’d kept to herself, drank her beer, and enjoyed her weekly work-detox. At 11:30, the same time as every other Saturday night (because she was nothing if not consistent), she made her trip to the bathroom. It was usually followed by another two beers and a glass of water before she left for the night.

McNamara’s had a long, dark hallway that ran along the back wall. There was a door for the kitchen, then the men’s room, and finally the women’s room. On the bad nights, when she’d drink too much, and especially the nights when she drank too much AND wore heels, the walk was torture. Tonight was nothing special and the walk was just a means to an end. It wasn’t the walk to the bathroom that was anything remarkable.

It was the journey back.

He was leaning against the wall about halfway between the bathrooms. His hands were shoved deep in the pockets of his tight jeans and his head was bowed. All she could see was another plaid, unbuttoned shirt and his now-flat hair. She wasn’t even sure he was waiting for her, so she didn’t say anything to him. In fact, she wasn’t sure she even wanted to talk to him.
She didn’t make it a single step past him before his hand was on her wrist, his eyes locked with hers, and he was breathing out her name in a way that she’d pretend later didn’t have her quivering.

She couldn’t stop the shiver from wracking her body and he gave her a positively devilish smirk before tugging on her wrist. She stumbled forward before she could catch herself and he used the momentum to his advantage, turning them so that her back hit the wall and the breath flew out of her at the impact. Her mouth fell open as she tried to suck in a new breath, but his mouth had already connected to hers and she gasped out whatever she’d managed to suck in.

His lips pressed hard to hers, sliding along deliciously as one hand planted to the wall, the other dropping her wrist to grasp at her hip. He rolled his body as his tongue ran along her bottom lip, and she was pressed between him and the wall. His hand dragged up her side, catching her shirt and pulling it up slightly so that his calloused fingertips just barely grazed her skin.

He pulled back slightly, his eyes wide and pupils dilated as their gazes locked. She barely had time to suck in a ragged breath before his tongue was invading her mouth in the absolutely best way, sliding against hers and making her knees weak. He tasted of beer with a hint of minty toothpaste and a taste that was solely him, something she’d never experienced before and would probably never taste again on anyone but Niall Horan.

His other hand dropped, falling heavily to her waist, and she felt both hands squeeze into her as he tongue explored her mouth. Everything about his kiss had her igniting, electricity shooting down her spine and her body heating up in the most perfect way. She felt something tighten within her and she was just pushing at his tongue with her own when there was a loud shout at the end of the hallway.

“Christina!!!” It was Kelly and she sounded frustrated.

She pulled back, eyes wide as Niall gave her a look of pure, unadulterated want. Good Lord.

“Christ, you’re beautiful,” he muttered through kiss-swollen lips and she could barely breathe when Kelly rounded the corner, her stare immediately falling on Christina as she stalked towards them. She seemed oblivious to the way they were staring at each other as she grabbed Christina’s wrist and dragged her away from Niall.

“We’re leaving,” Kelly declared, and she barely had time to glance back at Niall, watching him as he watched her be dragged away, before they were out of the hallway.

They were out of the club not two minutes later. Niall hadn’t left the hallway.

---

She sighed as the swung the door of McNamara's open the following Saturday night. The heat from the large room hit her, feeling like a smack in the face. She slipped and slid through the groups of bodies, cringing each time she brushed up against a stranger or felt a hand skim her thigh.

It seemed like everything had gone wrong in her life when Kelly had dragged her out of the pub last week. Kelly's sour mood had stretched throughout the week and they'd barely spoken - Christina wasn't even sure if her friend was going to show up tonight. The babies had screamed more than was usual and she'd broken down in tears on Thursday night from her frustration and lack of a friend to talk to about it. To top it all off, she had no idea whether or not she'd ever see Niall again.

It would turn out she wouldn’t have to wonder any longer, however, for he was sitting on her usual stool, a beer in hand and a nervous look on his face. She may have had the week from hell, but good Lord was she happy to see him sitting there.

Sliding into Kelly’s usual stool, she glanced at his out of the corner of her eyes. He was wearing another plaid shirt (how many of those did he own?) and his hair was brushing his forehead. All she wanted to do was reach out and push it back, but she didn’t. She turned her eyes straight ahead, held her smile, and nodded at the bartender when he slid her a tall glass full of amber liquid.

“Was wond’rin’ when ya’d show,” he mused aloud, taking a sip from his beer and glancing at her. She remained facing forward, rolling her lips between her teeth so that she wouldn’t smile.
“What made you so sure I’d be here tonight?” she asked, just loud enough to be heard over the music.

He chuckled, a deep sound rumbling from his throat, something musical and masculine and such a delightful sound. He shook his head slightly and grinned into his glass, but didn’t answer her question.

“What happened last week? To your friend?”

Christina sighed and glanced around. Scott was in his usual position at the end of the bar, his girlfriend jumping joyously in front of him in time with the music. Gillian had two glasses grasped in her hands, eyes wide and bright as she watched the band play. Hiding between them, though, was Kelly, watching her and scowling. She nodded when Christina’s eyes slid over her, her way of saying hi and acknowledging that she wasn’t about to come over and interrupt. Christina couldn’t help but send her a smile, one that was barely returned. She turned to Niall, fully this time, catching his side-eye.

“Kelly’s ex showed up with his flavor of the week. She refuses to be in the same place as him,” she explained, trying not to roll her eyes. Kelly had been overexagerrating about the break-up since about a week after it had happened - and that was about a month ago. She was getting tired of it. “She also thought that I might get into trouble if she left me here.”

The smirk Niall shot at her this time gave her butterflies. “Kelly thinks I’m trouble, does she?”

---

Christina didn’t talk to any of her friends that night. Niall stayed at the bar for two hours and they talked about everything and nothing at all. She didn’t learn anything important about him, except how easy it was to talk to him, how he listened with his entire body, how his eyes twinkled when he found something interesting (and they were twinkling the entire time, weren’t they?), and most importantly, that his smile made her feel like she was standing outside on a gorgeous summer day with the sun beating down upon her.

But then a friend - a GIRL - had come over and told him it was time to go. Everyone else was leaving and he just stood up, shot a smile in her direction, and left. Just like that.

It was her turn to grab Kelly and drag her out of the pub, grumbling the entire way.

---

The texts started the next morning. She didn’t recognize the number, but it hadn’t been hard to figure out that it was Niall.

Morning, sunshine.

Who is this?

Who do you think ;)

Niall?

I prefer Sexy Beast, please

I could put you in my phone as Gigantic Idiot

:P

How did you get my number?

Texted myself from your phone when you were in the bathroom.

Didn’t think I’d let you get away again without getting your number, did you?

She’d run her battery straight into the ground, texting him all day Sunday. And Monday, and Tuesday. It was hard to be upset when he was always sending her cute little winky faces and asking how her day was going.

When he asked what time he should pick her up on Friday night, though, she was still surprised. He’d not asked her out, hadn’t given her any sort of inkling that he’d been interested, so she coyly asked him just when he was planning on actually asking her out.

His response had been to tell her that he’d assumed, once he’d put his tongue in her mouth, that she’d agree to a date. The cheeky bastard. That hadn’t stopped her from agreeing to meet him at a restaurant she’d never heard of on Friday at 6:30pm for dinner.

Dinner had been a frustrating affair. It had been fun and cute and he’d been a perfect gentleman, but he’d also looked at her like he wanted to devour her and it wasn’t fair that she had to sit there, in public, and behave herself when all she wanted to do was leap across the table and rub herself up on him. The rogue winks and lip quirks hadn’t helped and after awhile, she thought he might have been teasing her. She was sure of it when he’d started calling her sunshine, the nickname falling from his lips like honey from a bee - sticky sweet, but thick and dripping from his mouth.

By the time they’d made it back to hers, she was jumping out of his Range and practically stomping up to her building, keys already out. She glanced back at him to find him just rounding the front of the car with an eyebrow raised at her behavior. She flashed him a dark, frustrated look and the grin on his face fell, replaced with something far more exciting, a look that had her core tightening and her heart racing.

She was through the door in a flash, Niall hot on her heels. He threw the door closed and easily scooped her up in his arms, pressing her tightly to him as he leaned down and brushed his lips along hers. She captured them, sucking at his bottom lip lightly as she tried to maneuver them backwards towards her couch. He stumbled slightly as his right foot knocked into the coffee table leg and his arms tightened around her, forcing her to bend her back as he leaned forward slightly. His mouth opened and she loved the way his taste just invaded her mouth, his scent surrounding her until all of her senses were entirely full of him.

She pushed him back until his calves hit the couch and his arms slid from her waist as he fell heavily to the cushions. She licked her lips, threw him a smirk, then slid gracefully down onto his lap. His hands slid up her thighs, past her hips and beneath her shirt to palm the soft, smooth skin of her waist and lower back, watching her all the while through hooded lids. Her hands, firm upon his shoulders for balance, wound their way around his neck and sank into the fluffy hair there, fisting the short curls and tugging sharply. His head fell back, a heavy breath blowing out of his mouth, his eyes closed, and then she dropped her head to his and dipped her tongue into his mouth with a quiet moan.

His fingers dug into her hip at the sensation of her warm, slick tongue gliding along his, hands pulling roughly at the skin. Her hips rolled forward at the pressure and his groan drowned out her whimper when she ground herself down against him. She release his hair and her fingertips scratched lightly at his scalp and her stomach rolling every time his calloused hands brushed against her.

She trailed her hands across his shoulders and down his chest, loving the way his stomach caved at her touch. His gasp at her questing fingers sent his head back to the couch and she took the opportunity to lean forward and lick a stripe up his neck from base to jaw. He gulped thickly and her mouth followed the bobbing of his Adam’s apple, lips wrapping around it and sucking lightly as she lightly rolled her hips again. His hands pushed down her back, cupping the top of her ass and guiding her against him. She pressed down hard, whimpering when the hard length of him rubbed right up against her. Her hips pressed down another two, three times and her mouth was attached to his jaw when he pulled back.

“Wait,” he gasped, hands gripping her hip as he pulled his head back. His cheeks were flushed, he was breathing hard, and the way he was looking at her was making her feel like she was on fire. She could feel him hard beneath her, could see the lust in his eyes, and for the life of her, couldn’t understand why he was stopping this.

“W...what’s wrong?” she asked, almost afraid to hear the answer. He took a deep breath, scrunched his eyelids closed, and then looked up at her with a remarkably earnest and aroused expression. She was intrigued.

“I had every intention of bringin’ ya back here and fuckin’ ya five ways to Sunday,” he revealed, and he offered her a wicked smirk, dimple showing through. “I figured we’d have a great time and t’at’d be it. But, God, Christina, t’e way ya look righ’ now, your lips all swollen and your chest flushed and t’at look in your eyes, you’re so fuckin’ gorgeous. I don’t want this to be jus’ for t’night.”

She watched as his thumb brushed along her bottom lip, sensitive and swollen. Her eyes fluttered closed as his other hand dug into her hip, but couldn’t suppress the giggle from bubbling out of her when he caught a ticklish spot in the soft skin of her waist. His eyes lit up at the sound.

“Bloody hell, that laugh. I want to hear t’at every single day o’ me life.” His hand swept up into her hair and he pulled her down to him, reconnecting their mouths. He kissed her deeply, but this was different. It wasn’t the hurried, frenzied kissing from earlier, but something lighter and sweeter and far more promising. When he pulled back, it was with a smile so dazzling that she felt her chest constrict.

He was gentle when he picked her up, depositing her on the couch next to him with a light caress to the skin showing at her waist. Her confusion must have shown on her face because he gave a squeeze to her upper arm when he commented, “If ‘m gonna do this, ‘m gonna do it right. I should leave before I find a way to muck it all up.”

She opened her mouth to argue that there wasn’t a single possible way he could ‘muck it up’, but he was already standing from the couch and running a hand through his hair. She watched dazedly as his hand came down to his jeans, shifting and tugging on the material, rearranging himself with no shame. Her eyes drifted back up to his slowly.

“‘ll call ya tomorrow, we’ll make plans for lunch,” he muttered, then bent at the waist to drop a kiss to her forehead. He was through the doorway of her living room before he turned back. “You’re somethin’ else, Luisne Gréine.”

Notes

I started this as a one-shot gift for Christina over at dibsonthat1d.tumblr.com and it snowballed quickly into a series, which has since sunken even further into an actual fic. There will be extras posted over at ohteefour.tumblr.com please go check them out!
I would love to hear what you think of it, please let me know!!!