When she stepped into her family’s favorite haunt, she quickly pushed aside any thought of that night, feeling suddenly scared of her own courage. If this went wrong, she would never be able to face Alec again, plus it would garner her the relentless mockery of her brothers for the next forty years.
She had never been a coward, however, so she squared her shoulders and waved at Mike, the barman, who wore a grim expression thanks to the defeat his beloved Red Sox had just sustained. Then she walked straight toward Alec, who was sitting on one of the bar stools with a grin on his face and a pint in his hand. He leaned against the bar and yelled something at Mike.
Kayleigh surmised that they’d placed bets on today’s game, which Alec, an ardent supporter of the Mariners, would have won. Naturally, Kayleigh’s Bostonian heart beat for the Red Sox, but she’d intentionally missed the game and come to the pub this late intending to talk to Alec now that the excitement was over. When men were watching sports, their attention spans were less than a nanosecond—she knew from lifelong experience.
“Congratulations.” She bumped Alec’s shoulder with hers and slipped onto the empty stool next to him, while signaling Mike for a beer.
The tall man next to her swiveled his head and offered her a dazzling grin as he recognized the intruder. “Kayleigh! So you heard we beat the Red Sox?”
“Your victory whoops must have been heard all the way to Seattle,” she replied with an indulgent smile as she unbuttoned her denim jacket. The air in the pub was ridiculously hot and stuffy. She registered with mild irritation that Alec’s brown eyes never left her face to check out her boobs, but she told herself it was merely a sign of decent character. After all, she wanted him to like her for herself, not her cleavage, right?
“Well,” he said with a self-congratulatory expression. “This means your brother will be the designated driver for all of next week, and he’ll have to do my paperwork on top of his own. Life can be such a beach!”
“So you two bet on the outcome again?”
“Yep.” Alec laughed. “And Shane was wrong once again.”
“My brother really does suck at betting on sports,” Kayleigh admitted. “You ought to know that by now.”
“Oh, I do.” He took a large gulp of his beer and winked at her over the rim of his glass. “It’s so easy to play your brother for a sucker—and I love doing it.”
She nodded gleefully. “If you’re having such great luck, you probably won’t mind doing me a favor, will you?”
He cocked his head curiously and then set his glass down on the bar. “I’d never refuse a request from my favorite doctor.”
Kayleigh rolled her eyes and chuckled. “Wait until you hear what I’m asking before agreeing so blindly.”
“Oh, as long as you’re not asking me to perform any humiliating sexual favors, I’m in.”
“Humiliating sexual favors?” Kayleigh took the freshly filled glass from Mike’s hand and sipped it, before she went on. “For some reason that reminds me of a patient we had about six months ago. He came in after he got spanked with poison ivy by his dominatrix of choice. I don’t want to go into details, but the poor guy didn’t know he was strongly allergic to it …”
“Oh God!” Alec’s handsome face twisted into a sadistic laugh. “I think I would have been horrified if I’d been you, and then of course I’d have choked on my own laughter!”
“Yeah, the patient’s wife was horrified all right, but, strangely enough, she didn’t then laugh as she watched her husband lying in the hospital in leather and latex, hooked to an IV.”
“Jesus!” Alec slapped his palm to his face and broke into his sonorous laughter again. “Sometimes I’d like to switch jobs with you. But only sometimes.”
Despite the tension she felt building inside her, Kayleigh leaned back and played it cool. “The job definitely teaches you a lot, that’s for sure. Until that day, I hadn’t known that BDSM could involve more than just whips and lengths of rope. Think about how much cheaper it is if you have everything you might need growing in your backyard.”
“At least now you know if you ever get bored being a doctor, you can switch careers and spank men with poison ivy for a living.” Before Kayleigh could answer, he asked her with an expression of friendly curiosity, “So what was the favor you were going to ask then?”
She suddenly didn’t think her idea was that brilliant anymore and would have loved to vanish into thin air. “It’s not a big deal,” she said lightly, waving a nonchalant hand in front of her face. “I have my own wager going with the boys, you know, and I was hoping you might help me out. I still need a date for Shane’s wedding.”
Like the typical man that he was, he didn’t get it. He made a clueless face. “You want me to help you find a date? Don’t you think Hayden would be the better person to ask? I can’t think of anyone off the bat.”
Kayleigh ground her teeth and took a deep breath. Then she assumed a relaxed posture and a casual tone. “Thorne told me yesterday that you were coming alone, so I was thinking of you.”
She had never taken Alec to be an idiot, but she was ready to revise her verdict now. He merely blinked at her in confusion. “You mean, you and I go to your brother’s wedding together? As a date?”
“If you haven’t made any other plans, yes,” Kayleigh said quickly.
“Oh.”
She pouted in mock amusement, while underneath she was struggling with the urge to kick him in the shin. Hard. “The horror in your voice makes me glad I refrained from asking you for your sperm for my artificial insemination, as I’d originally planned.”
Now the horror was in his face, too—until he realized she was joking. He hastily shook his head. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it like that.”
“Ah.” Kayleigh licked her dry lips and fought against her hurt and disappointment. Silently, she berated herself for being such an idiot. “No problem. It was just an idea.”
He slid back and forth on his stool, behaving rather strangely, she thought. “Well, you’re Shane’s little sister, after all.”
She threw him a meaningful look and tried to maintain a modicum of her dignity. “Shane’s little sister is thirty years old, Alec. And it wouldn’t be a real date. I wanted to fool my brothers and thought you would enjoy a prank like that as well.”
“Then of course I’ll attend Shane’s wedding with you.” He shoved her playfully and then put an arm around her shoulder, as you would with your weird old pal. It certainly wasn’t more than a brotherly gesture, but Kayleigh felt a sudden wave of heat roll through her, and her stomach started fluttering. Alec smelled so damn good. “It’s actually a hilariously great idea!”
“It is?” she asked suspiciously, turning her head a little to the left so she could look at his grinning face from very, very close up.
“Of course!” His light brown eyes twinkled with mischief. “Shane will go absolutely ballistic when I flirt with his little sister and smooch her in front of everyone.”
Kayleigh knew he was joking and didn’t consider it a real date since that’s what she had just told him, and yet she couldn’t help it: Her pulse was racing, and her heart was beating a wild tattoo. All despite the fact that Alec had only agreed because he liked to mess with her brothers. She wanted to smile at him, but instead she frowned and snorted scornfully. “Nobody said anything about smooching, Alec.”
“Too late.” He patted her on the head before raising his glass to his lips again. “I always kiss on a first date. And I want to witness Shane’s heart attack when he sees it.”
***
Joey’s squeals were music to Kayleigh’s ears. She was lying on her back on the rug in Shane’s living room, lifting her niece into the air above her and making plane noises, which made Joey break into high-pitched giggles over and over again.
“Now it’s my turn, Aunt Kayleigh,” Brady demanded. He was on his knees next to her, enjoying the silly fun his aunt produced for him and his little cousin, as she always did.
&
nbsp; She laughed and shook her head, putting Joey down on her stomach and tickling her. “I’m afraid you’re getting too heavy for that, Brady. But why don’t you ask your Uncle Ryan—he’s much stronger than me.” She pointed at her younger brother, who was enthroned in Shane’s TV chair, watching a basketball game. He was already miffed that he’d had to mute the announcer at Thorne’s insistence, but since he was no chef and had therefore shown up at their dinner table for some delicious food, he didn’t dare rebel against her orders.
Kayleigh, on the other hand, was a decent enough cook, but she was also staying for dinner in return for babysitting Brady and Joey for the last few hours. She took them to get ice cream and then to the playground. She loved being the devoted aunt, and she also loved being seen as the devoted, self-sacrificing aunt, she admitted to herself, while continuing to tickle her niece and smiling conspiratorially at her nephew.
“Uncle Ryan,” Brady begged. “Play with me, please.”
Ryan pointed to the TV, which he was still glued to. “Come here, pal, and watch the game with me.”
“But that’s boring,” the boy grumbled, lying down on his back next to Kayleigh and uttering a sigh befitting the tragic, dying hero of an old play. “Why can’t we go outside and play basketball?” he asked. “Dad put up a basket in the driveway just last week.”
“Speaking of that,” Shane chimed in, stepping into the living room with a glass of iced tea in his hand and leaning against the door frame. “Do you have to work any shifts this weekend, Ryan? I want to finally finish up the bathroom renovations, and I could really use your help.”
“That’s fine. I have some free time.” The young detective continued to stare at the TV screen like a hypnotized goldfish, but now he wrinkled his nose. “It would have been nice, though, if you and Kayleigh could have coordinated buying your houses at different times so I wouldn’t have had to spend every single weekend of the last six months helping renovate, but yes, I’d love to, Shane.” His voice dripped with sarcasm.
It was true, Kayleigh had bought a rather dilapidated home six months ago, and then Shane had bought a home for his growing family right around the corner from hers, and both were still in need of some work before they were satisfactory. Kayleigh liked that the entire family lived close to each other, and that everyone helped with everybody’s renovations, relocations, and repairs, but she just couldn’t stop herself from teasing her younger brother.
“Once you’re done with Shane’s bathroom, you can come by my place again, Ryan. I need to put in a new floor in the den, and I could use two strong arms to help me.”
“You’re going to break the camel’s back eventually,” Ryan warned apocalyptically. He scowled at her from his throne in front of the TV. Or was it the score on the screen that made him look so down? “Can’t you go and find yourself a boyfriend to do that kind of work for you?”
She laughed and kissed Joey on a rosy cheek. “Do I look stupid enough to abuse the men I sleep with like that? If I first made them help me with exhausting renovations, they would fall asleep at the wrong moment. No, no, renovations are definitely your job, Ryan.”
Thorne, who had stepped up next to her grinning fiancé, took the glass of iced tea from his hand and shook her head with a resigned expression before taking a sip. “You’re aware that Brady and Joey are listening closely when you talk about you-know-what, Kayleigh, aren’t you?”
“Honey.” Shane put an arm around Thorne and buried his smiling mouth in her hair. “As long as my dear sister stays on that level of frankness, we’re fine. I’ve heard her say far worse things in my day, believe me. You don’t want to witness to any of those!”
From her vantage point on the floor, Kayleigh smiled up at them with a fake sugary expression. “I love you, too, dear brother,” she said just as Ryan blurted, “Goddammit! A damn shame!”
Joey had been playing with Kayleigh’s necklace, but now she raised her little head, looked at her uncle with an expression of awe, and repeated, “Goddammit?” in her squeaky baby voice.
A collective murmur went up. “Well done,” Thorne muttered.
“Heath and Hayden are going to strangle you,” Shane predicted gleefully.
“I wouldn’t worry too much about them, Ryan,” Kayleigh said good-naturedly. “The more interesting question is what Mom is going to do when she finds out how you’re helping expand the vocabulary of her sweet granddaughter …”
“Hey!” Even though Ryan’s face had blushed bright red, he tried to deflect the blame. “Don’t act like I’m the only one in the family who uses swear words in front of the kids!”
It seemed that his nephew wanted to help him out, because Brady nodded. “When Dad hit his thumb with a hammer, he said ‘fuck.’”
“Thank you very much, you little traitor!” Shane made a face. “I gave you a dollar for not telling your mom.”
“One measly dollar?” Kayleigh rolled her eyes. “Jesus, you’re stingy!”
“I agree,” Thorne chimed in with a pat on her fiancé’s butt. “I give him five bucks when I want him to keep silent about something.”
“What?”
The stunned look on Shane’s face was priceless. Kayleigh pried Joey’s tiny fingers from her necklace. “I’d be curious to know what it is you want to keep from Shane,” she told Thorne with a mischievous grin.
“I’ll tell you some other time,” Thorne replied with a wink. Then she turned to Ryan before anyone could follow up on that line of conversation. “Could you turn off the TV so we can finally eat?”
“Five more minutes,” Ryan begged. “I put money on the Celtics winning …”
“Wow, you really are dumber than you look,” Shane said.
“Thank you,” his brother shot back sarcastically. “The sympathy in this family is really amazing!”
“Hey!” Kayleigh gave Shane a meaningful nod. “Those who live in glass houses …”
Outraged, her older brother crossed his arms. “Excuse me, dear sister,” he reprimanded coolly, “but I’m not stupid enough to bet money on our basketball team.”
“But you are stupid enough to bet on baseball, it seems … And now you have to do the driving and extra paperwork, don’t you, dear brother?”
Taken aback, Shane shook his head. “How do you know about that?”
She grinned and winked at him, miming locking her lips with a key. “That shall remain my secret.”
Thorne cleared her throat and tapped his shoulder. “If I catch you betting money on any team—”
The doorbell interrupted her threat, so she merely shot him a pointed look before reminding Ryan to turn off the TV and then going to answer the door.
From her spot on the floor Kayleigh watched Shane make a face at Ryan and then point at the TV. “You already lost your money, so you can switch it off now. Thorne can get really pissed off when she has to repeat herself.”
“Can I tell Mom you called her pissed off, Dad?”
Kayleigh almost choked on her laughter, while her brother stuck out his tongue at his son.
She was still lying on the floor, chuckling and rocking Joey on her lap, when Thorne returned to the living room beaming, arm hooked with a man whose appearance made Kayleigh sit up with a jerk.
Chapter 4
“Would you like some more chicken, Aidan? Or maybe some casserole? I also have some steaks in the freezer. If you’d rather have them, I could—”
“I’m full, Thorne.” Aidan O’Shea gave his sister a smile that he hoped would indicate how much he appreciated being mothered like this. “Thank you,” he added gently. “Everything was delicious.”
If it hadn’t been for the thoroughly happy face of his sister, and for his little nephew, who’d been staring at him like curiosity incarnate for more than an hour and kept asking questions, he would not have sat down at this table for anything in the world. But here he was, together with his future brother-in-law, a cop; Shane’s brother, another cop; and Shane’s sister, a woman Aidan remember
ed all too well, even though none of the other people at the table knew they were already acquainted. Though Aidan was not even remotely what you might call a devout Catholic, he was starting to believe that God was having a field day pushing him into situations that were outright ridiculous.
There was no other explanation for what had happened to him in recent years.
After spending the last seven months on a lonely oil rig off the eastern coast of Canada, he’d been looking forward to a harmonious reunion with his sister. Thorne was the most important person in his life—the only one who had always been on his side, no matter what he’d done. Anyone who had such a sister could count themselves lucky, Aidan knew, and he was thankful that Thorne was still on his side, even after all the trouble she’d been through because of him. That was the reason he’d come back to Boston for the wedding. It bothered him, however, that she was getting married to none other than Shane Fitzpatrick, the dark-haired cop with whom Aidan still had a hatchet to bury … and who was telling Aidan’s nephew a joke at this very moment.
Seven years ago, Shane had been responsible for sending Aidan to jail. Working as an undercover cop under an assumed name, Shane had exposed the criminal deeds of the gang Aidan had been part of. Though Aidan hadn’t known the scope of the illegal dealings his pals had been involved in, they had bought him almost seven years in prison. Today, he could only ask himself how he could ever have been stupid and naïve enough to take part in the shenanigans the shady cousin of a good friend had planned. Not only had he transported stolen electrical goods to various dealers and concealers, but the revenue from their sales had enabled the illegal traffic of guns on a massive scale. He’d only been small potatoes in this game, never once laying eyes on any weapons—mainly keeping watch when his pals committed burglaries or driving trucks back and forth between harbor warehouses and empty factories and dilapidated garages—but he’d been the one they’d put on trial, convicted, and sentenced.
More Than A Feeling (The Boston Five Series #3) Page 4