More Than A Feeling (The Boston Five Series #3)

by Poppy J. Anderson

  “What about you, Aidan? Is there anything you like in particular?”

  Thorne seemed to want to make everyone happy on her wedding day. She gave him an encouraging look and pointed at his plate.

  Aidan would have preferred if he didn’t have to attend this wedding at all, and as soon as this thought had formed in his brain, he flinched inwardly. This was Thorne’s big day, and he had been happy for her, but because of Kayleigh his mood had soured considerably, and he wanted to be somewhere else. Anywhere else, really. Maybe Kayleigh had been right, after all, when she’d said sex hadn’t been such a good idea in the face of their siblings’ wedding.

  He looked up, looking for confirmation by trying to catch Kayleigh’s eye, only to see her in animated conversation with her younger brother Kyle. Unlike Aidan, she seemed to be enjoying herself and not wasting a thought on the tense mood between them.

  Since Thorne was still waiting for an answer, he looked at his sister and grumbled, “The tuna salad is really good.”

  “That’s what I’m saying,” Shane cried triumphantly and nodded at Aidan, who returned the nod with a stoic expression.

  Thorne rolled her eyes. “I heard you the first time, too, Shane. You and your tuna salad.”

  “Honey,” Thorne’s future mother-in-law chimed in, pointing toward an empty chair. “Please take a seat and eat something now. What’s the use of obsessing about this wedding and getting ill in the end? You need to take a break.”

  “But there’s still so much to do!”

  “Nonsense, Thorne. Everything is already organized perfectly well, and we’ll get the rest done easily without you going crazy like this.” Ellen Fitzpatrick gave her second oldest son a prompting look. “Say something, Shane!”

  But Shane merely shook his head in resignation. “What do you want me to say, Mom? She doesn’t listen to me anyway.”

  “Ellen, all I want is for everything to be perfect,” Thorne sighed.

  “But it will be,” the older woman promised. When Ellen Fitzpatrick had welcomed Aidan into her house, he’d taken an instant liking to her. “Now sit down, honey, and forget the to-do list for a few minutes. You should be able to enjoy the actual wedding, you know.”

  Hayden laughed at that. “Oh, Ellen, what bride could ever truly enjoy her wedding day? The stress, and the fear that something could go wrong, drives every bride crazy.”

  “My intention was to get Thorne to relax a little, Hayden,” her mother-in-law sighed.

  “I don’t understand why anyone would choose to commit to all this stress anyway.” Ryan shrugged and grabbed another dumpling. “Why not fly to Las Vegas and do it there?”

  Aidan saw Kayleigh interrupt her conversation with one twin and direct her attention to the other. “Las Vegas, Ryan?” She groaned. “You’re really romance incarnate, aren’t you?”

  Her younger brother gave her an insolent grin. “Those words from your mouth, dear sister? What the hell do you know about romance?”

  Maybe he imagined it, but Aidan had the feeling that she looked at him for a fraction of a second, before blushing fiercely. “I bet I know a lot more than you, dear brother.”

  Ellen Fitzpatrick leaned over and poured Aidan another glass of her homemade lemonade. “Do you really need to start bickering again? We have a guest who isn’t used to your abominable behavior yet.”

  “It’s fine, Mrs. Fitzpatrick,” Aidan said soothingly. He felt strangely satisfied to have noticed Kayleigh’s embarrassed glance.

  The older woman clucked her tongue. “I don’t want to hear you call me Mrs. Fitzpatrick again, honey. You know my name is Ellen.”

  “Aye, Ellen,” he saluted with a grin. He knew now where Kayleigh got her pragmatic and down-to-earth nature.

  When Ellen Fitzpatrick gave him a conspiratorial wink, he had to refrain from laughing out loud. He was glad to feel that at least one person at this table was happy with his presence.

  “You have to excuse this gang of little rascals, Aidan,” she said and put a hand on his shoulder. “Even though my children are all grown-up, they sometimes fall back into puberty.”

  Aidan nodded and grinned. “I don’t mind.”

  “There you go, Mom. Aidan doesn’t mind,” Ryan said with a chuckle.

  “But I do,” his mother said severely. “I don’t want to hear another mean word from you or your sister.”

  Ryan didn’t look fazed by the admonition. “But Mom, I’m just concerned about my sister’s love life.”

  “Ryan,” Kayleigh hissed angrily. “Stop.”

  Aidan could guess that Kayleigh didn’t think it a good moment to discuss her love life.

  “Why are you getting so upset?” Ryan teased. “It’s all in the family.”

  “Then why don’t we talk about your stupid love life!” Kayleigh shot back, but she couldn’t control her violent blushing.

  “My love life is just fine, thank you. I have a date for the wedding, after all.”

  His twin brother groaned loudly. “Don’t start this again!”

  “That, at least, is a better topic than Kayleigh’s usual horror stories from work,” her oldest brother chimed in from his seat next to Aidan, who registered that Kayleigh balled her hands into fists and scowled at Heath.

  “Could we please change the subject now?” she pleaded with an imploring look at her mom.

  “I agree,” Ellen said brusquely.

  “Why so sensitive suddenly, dear sister? Are you embarrassed that you couldn’t find a date?”

  She blinked slowly at Aidan, before murmuring in her brother’s direction, “Don’t you think you’re acting like a bothersome toddler right now? And just for your information: I’m not coming alone.”

  “Say what? So who’s the unlucky fool?”

  Aidan had to admit that he wanted to know that, too. He hardly noticed his sister trying to force him to sample more of those bland spinach squares.

  Kayleigh’s face was beet-red by now. “Don’t try to blow this out of proportion, Ryan. Alec agreed to be my date for the occasion, just so you wouldn’t have the opportunity to mock me the entire day.”

  “Alec is your date?” The young man’s eyes widened in disbelief.

  “It’s not a real date,” Kayleigh protested. “We’re just friends.”

  Aidan fought a sudden burst of burning jealousy and thought that, ironically, she’d have said the same about him.

  Even Shane seemed surprised. “You’re going to the wedding with my partner?”

  “Didn’t you hear what I just said?” Kayleigh threw up her hands in frustration. “Alec’s just a pal. Nothing’s going on between us …”

  “Duh! Nobody thought there was,” Ryan snorted and gave her a disdainful glance. “You’re not really his type.”

  “Ryan.” Ellen Fitzpatrick stopped him with a severe look on her face. “You go take out the trash right now!”

  The young man frowned at her in puzzlement. “But trash collection isn’t for four days, Mom.”

  “I said now!” his mother barked at him.

  The ensuing silence was broken soon after by Hayden, who began talking about the wedding again, barraging Thorne with questions about the details of the actual ceremony. Aidan, however, had heard more than enough about weddings. He stared across the table at Kayleigh, who picked at her food and avoided his gaze whenever she happened to look up.

  Now he knew much more clearly where he stood with her. He felt himself turning morose. Kayleigh really wasn’t the type who went out with, or wanted to be with, a man who’d once been in handcuffs. Worse yet, she preferred men who tended to sit on the other side of the interrogation table.

  “How’s the apartment hunting going, Aidan?”

  That took his mind off the bitter thoughts. He looked at Kyle, who’d asked the friendly question, and took a deep breath before answering. “It’s going well. I have several showings to go to in the next few days, and I’m sure I’ll find something decent among those.”

  “Yo
u didn’t tell me about that,” Kayleigh suddenly piped up.

  Aidan shrugged, doing his best to ignore her offended look. “There was no opportunity to tell you yet.”

  “Oh … Okay.”

  Before Thorne could coerce them into sampling dessert, Aidan rose and disappeared into the bathroom, which was on the upper floor. On his way up the stairs, he saw countless family photos, which he didn’t want to look at now. His goal was to get Kayleigh out of his thoughts, not think about her more.

  Unfortunately, she was waiting for him at the foot of the narrow stairs when he returned. She looked up at him with an expression he’d normally describe as hopeful.

  “Thorne said you were about to leave.”

  He nodded, fully aware of the fact that he was being rather rude.

  She hesitated. “Then I’d like to tag along,” she said. “We can walk home together.”

  Aidan swallowed. “I was thinking of dropping by the pub first.”

  “I could use a pint, too,” she said, giving him a weak smile. “Sounds like a good idea.”

  “Kayleigh,” he sighed heavily. “I meant I want to go to the pub alone.”

  Once she’d processed his answer, she shrank back, wrinkling her nose. “Why are you doing this, Aidan? You said things hadn’t changed after the other night.”

  Aidan lowered his head and licked his lips. “You were right, though,” he whispered. “Sex wasn’t a good idea, Kayleigh. Let’s just forget what happened, okay? You’ll be rid of me very soon anyway.” He was attempting to joke, thinking it would lighten the mood.

  But Kayleigh seemed to take it harder than he’d intended. She glared at him with blazing green eyes. “That sounds wonderful indeed! Have a great time at O’Reary’s!”

  Chapter 12

  “Thorne is going to skewer me if she gets wind of this,” Shane warned his entourage as they pulled him into the strip club, laughing boisterously. “And she’s going to waterboard each and every one of you!”

  Even though Aidan was positive his sister was far too busy to plan torture and murder, he could imagine that Thorne wouldn’t be too happy to hear that her bridegroom was being treated to a lap dance by his brothers and pals the night before the wedding. The O’Sheas were jealous people.

  And Aidan was no exception, he realized once again as he followed the slightly intoxicated men into the hazy club, where, predictably, the song that blared from the speakers was Def Leppard’s “Pour Some Sugar on Me.” The fact that Shane’s partner—the guy who’d be Kayleigh’s date for tomorrow’s wedding—was part of the merry crowd caused Aidan’s guts to churn with red-hot anger and made him wish he could get into a fight with someone just to let off some steam. He knew the cop hadn’t done anything, and he actually seemed to be a quite funny guy, but he looked somewhat arrogant in his fine suit, and the thought of his manicured hands on Kayleigh’s skin made Aidan see red.

  He’d been struggling to control his feelings for more than two hours now, reluctantly tagging along on his future brother-in-law’s bachelor party. Shots, booze-fueled laughter, and half-naked ladies rubbing themselves against shiny silver poles weren’t really his favorite evening pastimes.

  “Thorne must know we wouldn’t let you get married without a real bachelor party,” Ryan cried out, before putting a silly-looking party hat on his brother’s head and pushing him onto a red leatherette couch positioned right in front of the brightly lit stage.

  While most of the guests were wasted and could hardly walk straight, Shane had so far taken it admirably slow. He didn’t seem to be drunk at all, as Aidan had to admit against his will. He didn’t want to like and respect Shane Fitzpatrick, no matter if he was marrying Aidan’s sister the following day, but he couldn’t fight his growing appreciation for the detective. Aidan wasn’t someone who held grudges, so it no longer bothered him that Shane was the cop who’d busted him all those years ago. Who knew where Aidan would have ended up if he’d continued to do the gang’s dirty work, enmeshed in stuff he didn’t know the half of? Selling off stolen electronics was a different game than illegal arms traffic. If Shane hadn’t busted him, Aidan’s criminal career might have had much worse, maybe even fatal, consequences.

  Yes, Aidan had spent seven years in jail and was now forced to start over at thirty-two years old, but since he was living in a different city now, didn’t see anyone from his former circle, and hadn’t needed to snitch on anyone, he felt he’d gotten off comparatively easy.

  Apart from the cheering, leering crowd of men he’d come with, Aidan noticed, the bar was rather empty. He obediently took one of the Jell-O shots from the tray borne by a waitress in a short nurse’s outfit.

  “Hey, darling,” Ryan yelled cockily, grabbing two of the jiggling shots before winking at the waitress in the ultra-short latex pants. “Do you want to take my temperature later?” She wore a mildly indifferent expression.

  As Aidan looked dubiously at the green goo in his shot glass, he thought it was to her credit that the waitress didn’t even acknowledge the pickup line.

  Ryan’s twin seemed to have similar thoughts. “That was lame and cheap. Can’t you at least be clever if you have to be inappropriate?”

  “You know what they say about nurses, right?” his brother said. “There’s a reason for all the pornos about them.”

  Kyle snorted. “You are aware that those are actresses, not real nurses, aren’t you?”

  With a boastful grin, Ryan ran a hand through his blond hair and plopped down next to Shane. “I happen to know firsthand that there are some truly nymphomaniac nurses, okay? And doctors are just as bad.”

  Aidan’s head jerked in his direction just in time to see Shane smack his brother upside the head.

  “Shut up, Ryan. Our sister happens to be a doctor, or did you forget that little fact?”

  Undaunted, Ryan merely shrugged. “Sisters don’t count when I’m talking about women.”

  “What is that I’m hearing about the woman I’m taking to the wedding tomorrow?” Alec’s inquisitive voice came from behind them. He’d returned from the bar and looked far too smug for his own good.

  His cocky bearing awakened in Aidan the urge to give the cop a good beating. He was surprised to see Shane give his partner a threatening glare, too.

  “Hands off my sister, Anderson.”

  “Hey,” Alec protested, unaware that he was playing with fire, “your sister’s old enough.”

  “Alec,” Heath said menacingly. “Shut up.”

  But Alec didn’t seem intimidated. He laughed gleefully. “Oh my, the Fitzpatricks are up in arms again.”

  “Concerning our sister, yes,” Kyle joined the grim chorus of his brothers.

  Only Ryan shrugged. “If you want to burn your fingers trying to get into her pants, I won’t stop you. But please don’t let us know about it!”

  Alec raised both hands defensively and leaned back in his chair. “Calm down, guys. If you think I’m not good enough for Kayleigh, I’ll keep my hands to myself and my pants zipped.”

  Aidan took a deep breath and growled low in his throat, but thanks to the headache-inducing bass in this place, nobody heard.

  Much to his surprise, it was Ryan who added, “Nobody’s good enough for Kayleigh.” Then he raised his two Jell-O shots and yelled, “Boys, did we come here to drink and get a show, or to discuss my sister?”

  Aidan was silent through the ensuing cheers, but he raised his shot glass like the rest of them to toast the happy groom and then swallowed the awful green vodka goo. Then he watched a red-haired stripper get rid of everything but her panties, drag Shane up on stage with her, and provide him with a lap dance that made his pals howl with laughter and excitement while Shane himself appeared rather uncomfortable. He struggled not to touch the dancer as she rubbed her almost-naked butt against his crotch in the rhythm of the song playing in the background.

  Aidan’s soon-to-be brother-in-law got bonus points for the desperate expression he wore during most of the obtrusiv
e dance. If Aidan has still needed proof that Shane was genuinely in love with Thorne, he would have known after this that the cop wasn’t lying. Only a man who was head over heels for a woman would wear an expression as if he’d just stepped in a pile of dog shit while another, almost naked woman was writhing on his lap and pushing her breasts into his face.

  Aidan wasn’t interested in the woman on stage, either, so he went to the bathroom. As he stood before the urinal, he heard the door open again and saw Shane, who was still wearing the ridiculous party hat, but didn’t seem to mind.

  “If I hear ‘Pour Some Sugar on Me’ one more time tonight, I’m going to trash this place,” Shane promised darkly.

  Mildly curious, Aidan glanced at the man he’d once thought of as a pal—seven years ago. “Didn’t you enjoy the show?”

  Shane snorted and started peeing. “This kind of embarrassing display isn’t for the groom. It’s for his pals. I’m just a prop in the show.”

  “Well, Thorne’ll be thrilled to hear how disgusted you looked when the naked stripper was sitting in your lap,” Aidan said casually, looking at the white tiles in front of him.

  “Thorne knows I don’t even look at any other women,” Shane said with the confidence of a man who was truly satisfied with what he had. “I love your sister, Aidan,” he added candidly, “and I’d rather gouge out my eyes than make her unhappy.”

  A muscle in Aidan’s cheek twitched as he clenched his teeth. “May I have that in writing?” he asked grimly.

  Shane shrugged. “If that’ll help.”

  “Help with what?”

  Shane sighed heavily. “I’ll give you whatever you want in writing if it’ll help you bury the hatchet and actually want to be my brother-in-law.”

  Aidan snorted, but didn’t reply.

  A moment later, Shane pushed the flush button. “I’m serious. I’d feel so much better if Thorne didn’t panic every time you and I are in the same room, because she thinks there might be casualties.”