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

by Poppy J. Anderson

  He paused for a moment but then focused on the screw he was tightening. “Your date seems to be nice enough,” he said dully.

  “Oh, he is,” she agreed cheerfully. “But he has a major flaw.”

  Aidan snorted. “An inflated ego maybe?”

  “That, too.” She laughed hoarsely. “But there are a few other things that irritate me even more.”

  He felt like a masochist, but he couldn’t help himself. “Like what?”

  “Well … actually, there’s only one thing that’s been bothering me the whole evening. It’s really standing in the way of me enjoying the party and feeling at all comfortable. He isn’t you, Aidan.”

  The screwdriver slipped from his hand and fell to the floor with a clatter. Now she’d managed to rob him of his last bit of focus.

  Confused and suspicious, he turned his head again and looked down at Kayleigh, who appeared calm and earnest, standing at the foot of the ladder in her dazzling dress.

  “Kayleigh …”

  “Could you please come down from there?” she asked, reaching out a hand. “I’ve been craning my neck far too much this evening looking for you, and I don’t want to have to wear a neck brace tomorrow.”

  Aidan stared at her uncomprehendingly, as if she’d just spoken Chinese. “What?”

  Her smile dazzled him even more than her outfit. “Could you please come down from there?”

  Aidan took a deep breath and shook his head. “Only after you’ve explained why your neck hurts.”

  Not the least bit intimidated, she stepped even closer to the ladder and tipped her head back to look at him. Her outstretched hand slipped into his as he slowly descended, and her smiled widened. “Because I couldn’t help myself. I wanted to have you near me and look at you the whole day.”

  He needed a moment to process that, staring into her green eyes. “Where’s your date?” he finally grumbled.

  She didn’t flinch or step back. She merely rolled her eyes and stroked his hand with her thumb. “Are you jealous, Aidan O’Shea?”

  “Of that arrogant guy in a suit?” He made a disdainful sound. “Not in this life!”

  “Okay, good,” she replied with a smile, sitting down on a middle rung of the ladder. “Because I’m getting jealous right now. All you seem to want to talk about is Alec, while I’m standing here trying to tell you that I don’t want you to move out.”

  His heart began beating in an erratic, euphoric rhythm. At the same time, his brain ordered him to curb the hot bliss that was starting to course through his veins.

  “Kayleigh.” His voice was like sandpaper. “You don’t understand. We can’t continue to live here together. I can’t be your roommate anymore.”

  “But could you stay if you were my … special friend?”

  Aidan narrowed his eyes, searching her face for hints of irony or joking, but the only thing he found there was a spark of longing in her eyes.

  That elicited a painful tug somewhere inside his cautious heart. “Your special friend?”

  “My boyfriend,” she clarified softly and pressed his hand. “I want to live here with my boyfriend, the guy I’ve fallen in love with over the last couple of weeks, the guy I won’t ever send packing or throw out of my bathroom again,” she vowed earnestly.

  His throat had run absolutely dry. “But—”

  “Aidan,” she added shakily, lifting her other hand to his chest. “I am sorry I was so insensitive and pigheaded, but I didn’t know how to deal with being in love.”

  “Kayleigh.” He took a deep, shaky breath and put one of his hands on her cheek. The next words were painful, but he forced them out anyway. “You know who I am. The two of us … it wouldn’t add up.”

  Now her hand slipped from his chest to his cheek. Never before had her voice been this tender. “I know who you are, Aidan O’Shea. Do you know it, too?”

  “You’re a doctor,” he retorted, “and I’m a guy who served time.”

  She remained earnest. “So what?”

  “You deserve someone better—”

  “Stop,” she interrupted him with a laugh. “Believe me, buster, I’ve committed a lot of crimes myself.”

  Aidan didn’t know why he was doing this to himself, but he asked with a sigh, “Oh yeah? What crimes exactly?”

  “Oh, where do I start?” She rose and stood on tiptoe on the bottom rung of the ladder, which made him wrap an arm around her waist, so she wouldn’t fall. “In kindergarten, I shoved Jody O’Connor off the swing because I couldn’t wait to be next. That’s assault and battery, right?”

  “If not worse,” he snorted.

  “When I was eight, I stole and ate the twins’ dessert. They were annoying little brats, and I loved Mom’s pudding so much. So we have aggravated theft.”

  “Right …”

  “Oh, and in high school, I told a friend that Shane slept on superman bed sheets and still sucked his thumb.”

  He made a choked sound of incredulity. “What?”

  “Of course that wasn’t true, but he was such a pain in the butt when I had my first period, so I figured it was a good way to get back at him.”

  “Which brings us to slander, or defamation,” Aidan listed, amusement crawling into his voice. “You should be behind bars for life.”

  “I know.” She grinned up at him. “We’d be the ultimate gangster couple. Screw Bonnie and Clyde.”

  “Screw them.”

  “Aidan—”

  He interrupted her with a shake of his head. “Kayleigh, don’t.”

  “Yes!” she cried insistently. “I don’t care that you were in jail. I don’t give a flying fuck.”

  “But your family and friends will.”

  Her voice sounded as if she was having trouble remaining patient with him. “Aidan, are we done here? Because according to my cunning plan, we should be having makeup sex right now.”

  He choked on his laughter, then became serious again. “That doesn’t change the fact that I served time,” he croaked.

  “Don’t ask me to go behind bars just so we’re even, okay?” she said scornfully. Then, she added tenderly, “You’re nice and funny and sweet and helpful, and you’re damn hot, Aidan. I’m in love with you, and I’ll even let you have fantasies of strippers covering each other in frosting if you only promise we never bring up the prison issue again.”

  He stared at her silently for a long time.

  Only when her eyes started to flit nervously did he force himself to speak again. “Kayleigh—”

  “Except if you don’t feel the same for me, Aidan …” He could see her swallow. “Do you want to be with me at all?”

  He uttered an agonized groan and pulled her closer. He lowered his head and pressed a hard kiss on her lips. “You make me crazy.”

  “How crazy?” she wanted to know, her voice breathless now.

  “Absolutely crazy,” he vowed and kissed her again.

  She slowly pulled away. “Could we please go to bed now?” she asked hopefully. “I want to sleep with my boyfriend.”

  He looked into her eyes and gave her a soft smile. “Do I get coffee in the morning?”

  She nodded cheerfully and ran a hand through his hair. “A shower, coffee, some breakfast … whatever you want.”

  “Anything?”

  “Anything,” she confirmed.

  Aidan bit his lower lip thoughtfully before grinning broadly. “In that case, for breakfast I’d like something with … frosting.”

  Her laughter was still ringing in his ears when they were in her bedroom having amazing makeup sex.

  Epilogue

  With the appreciative expression of a connoisseur, Ryan Fitzpatrick let his eyes roam his sister’s freshly renovated living room, before brazenly addressing the man who was responsible for the classy wooden floor and the tasteful choice in wall colors. “Since you’re almost my true brother-in-law now, you’ll do my apartment free of cost, won’t you?”

  Aidan sat down in the beautiful wingback chair,
which, as Kayleigh kept pointing out proudly, he’d upholstered with a cute patchwork fabric himself. “If it was my decision to make, you wouldn’t need to ask,” he replied lazily, “but since your sister likes to meddle in my business and is taking care of the accounting, we’re going to have to check back with her.”

  Ryan snorted scornfully, stretched out his long legs, and looked at the ceiling, which had recently been decorated with ancient-looking stucco. “God, you’re such a whipped husband already!”

  “You think so?” Aidan leaned back and smiled contentedly.

  Ryan nodded insistently. “What sort of society do we live in that a man needs to ask before he can help out his favorite almost-relative with some minor renovations? If you ask me, this entire progressive movement is crap. Be a man, Aidan!”

  “Oh?” The tall man in the wingback chair chuckled. “And how do you suggest I do that, Mr. Expert?”

  “Stomp your foot, give Kayleigh a good spanking if you must, and then come over to my place and help me with all that stuff.”

  Aidan’s laughter implied he didn’t take Ryan’s suggestions seriously, nor did it sound as if he was bad off with Ryan’s sister. Quite the contrary—the dark-haired man with the very blue eyes was sitting in his living room looking thoroughly satisfied with himself and his world, and when Ryan’s sister entered the room and stretched with a groan, Aidan immediately raised his head and looked in her direction.

  “Kayleigh, you wouldn’t believe what you brother suggested a minute ago!”

  “If it has anything to do with me heading for the kitchen to cook dinner, he can screw that,” she said with a yawn and plopped down on her boyfriend’s lap without asking. “I’ve just wrapped up an exhausting shift, so all I can manage is to dial up a pizza delivery. That’s all you’ll get from me.”

  “Pizza sounds good,” Aidan ventured as he put an arm around her and pulled her close.

  Ryan leaned back with an annoyed sigh and took in the couple, who’d been living together in this house for two years now without seeing the need to step up to an altar and have a priest formally wed them, much to his mother’s chagrin. Ryan was sure they didn’t need a marriage license to lead a happy life, but his mother kept running to church, lighting candles, and praying to all the saints that the busy workman make an honest woman out of her only daughter. Only two days ago, at their weekly Sunday dinner, Ellen Fitzpatrick had stressed how she wished for many more than her so far four grandchildren, and had given Kayleigh and Aidan a meaningful look.

  As could be expected, Kayleigh had reacted with a few hearty anecdotes of her patients and their sex practices, which in turn had probably induced her mother to light at least a hundred candles for her daughter’s immortal soul.

  Aidan, the damn traitor, was still chuckling and told Kayleigh now, “Your brother suggested I give you a spanking.”

  Outraged, Kayleigh lifted an eyebrow and threw Ryan a murderous look. “Did he now? And why would he say a thing like that?”

  Ryan mimicked his sister and lifted his own eyebrow in a critical arch. “You have the poor man by the balls, Kayleigh,” he complained. “He doesn’t even dare to sneak out to help me with my apartment because he’s scared you’ll come after him in a fury! Amazonian attack, or something.”

  “Oh,” Aidan chimed in with a broad grin, “your sister attacks me on a regular basis, but that doesn’t scare me at all. Quite the contrary.”

  Kayleigh gave a dignified nod. “And I also enjoy a little spanking from Aidan now and then, if you must know.”

  “Arrr!” Ryan shook himself exaggeratedly. “No, I did not need to know that! Too much information!”

  His sister snorted. “You’re one to talk. You’re the one who keeps bragging about his exploits, dear brother. In great detail, I might add.”

  “That’s different,” he choked out. “You’re my sister! I don’t want to know what you do in bed!”

  “Very grown-up,” Kayleigh said and stuck out her tongue at him, just to prove that she was at least as grown-up herself.

  “Speaking of growing up.” Ryan’s grin became wolfish, because he knew his sister was highly allergic to the topic of marriage and children. “When will my favorite almost-relative finally make you a married woman?”

  “As soon as you come out of puberty,” she shot back.

  “Oh no, that’s gonna take forever,” Ryan sighed, making fun of himself for a change. Then he became a little serious again. “Seriously, though,” he said soberly. “Aidan’s company is turning the entire neighborhood into a model community of beautiful homes, and your own house is the glorious centerpiece of all that, but you don’t feel even the slightest need to found your own dynasty?”

  “Ryan,” Aidan sighed, rolling his eyes. “Your sister just got home from a long shift. Don’t wake a sleeping lioness.”

  “Ha!” Ryan pointed at Kayleigh in triumph. “So it’s your fault! You don’t want to get married.”

  “I don’t want my little brother to interfere in my business,” she hissed belligerently. “Why are you this obsessed with us getting married? Aren’t you the type specimen of the eternal bachelor?”

  “Eternal?” He wrinkled his nose. “I’m not even thirty! Do I look crazy enough to get myself a wife and start changing diapers?”

  His sister pointed at Aidan and herself with a grimace. “But you suggest we do exactly that?”

  He nodded gloatingly. “You should be glad you found someone like Aidan, who’s insane enough to put up with you, so if I were you, I’d chain him to my side and make lots and lots of babies, just so he can’t find the time to pause and think about leaving you.”

  Kayleigh hissed at him and made a fist in the air, but Aidan merely laughed good-naturedly. “Just an FYI, dearest almost-relative. First of all, I would never leave your sister. Because I’ve put more time and work into this house than any other project—”

  “Thank you very much,” Kayleigh growled and poked him in the ribs.

  He squealed a little and then added happily, “And second, Kayleigh and I are busy trying to provide your mom with another grandchild. Once that has worked, you will be the first to hear the good news.”

  “Aidan,” Kayleigh sighed, blushing. “Do you have to tell our little secrets to this loudmouth?”

  Ryan hadn’t expected that kind of news. He gave them a surprised look. “There’s baby planning going on?”

  “If you tell anyone even a word about it …” Kayleigh dragged a finger across her throat in warning. “You know if Mom gets wind of this, she’ll go bonkers. So if you let it spill, I’ll have a medical student perform a castration without any drugs … Are we clear?”

  Judging by his sister’s belligerence, Ryan assumed Aidan’s attempt to add to the size of the family had already been successful. He’d experienced the pregnancies of two sisters-in-law, and now felt like an expert on hormonal imbalance. Still, he couldn’t stop himself from teasing his sister. “If you didn’t force Aidan to spank you in bed all the time, and instead let him do what he wants for a change, we probably wouldn’t need to have this awfully embarrassing conversation, Kayleigh.”

  “I’ll tell you where you can put your con—”

  From his safe spot a few yards away from them, Ryan watched with glee how Aidan put a hand over Kayleigh’s mouth, but then pulled it back quickly when she bit him. Then they launched into an argument about who would give the future baby his or her name. Kayleigh threatened fire and brimstone and other delightful scenarios should Aidan try to choose a “stupid” name, which made Ryan decide that while he loved his crazy sister, he would never fall for a similarly prickly and exhausting woman, let alone make her his girlfriend.

  No, if he should ever feel the need to commit to a woman, she should be more like Hayden—less irascible and a great cook. And she wouldn’t tell those horrific stories about patients. Neither would he have a woman who tried to dictate what he could and couldn’t do.

  Men like Aidan might get alon
g with pigheaded women like Kayleigh, fine. But he was Ryan Fitzpatrick, and he wouldn’t let any woman lay down the law for him.

  Also by Poppy J. Anderson

  The heat is on (Boston 5 Book 1)

  When Hayden's fiancé breaks off their engagement, her whole world falls apart. After all, she has loved Heath Fitzpatrick since they were children. Though she can hardly believe he really wants the breakup, she picks up the pieces of her life and tries to accept the new situation.

  But her efforts are thwarted time and again by the rest of the Fitzpatrick clan, who have always been part of her life—and who are notorious for being outspoken, persistent, and downright meddlesome. None of Heath's siblings are above adding their own two cents. Or twenty.

  Even Heath himself, a daring firefighter, seems to be having trouble adjusting to his new single life. So how in the world is Hayden supposed to move on, forget the plans they made for the future, and get Heath off her mind? And even more difficult—she'll need to banish him from her heart, forever.

  Blast from the past (Boston 5 Book 2)

  Shane Fitzpatrick is irresistible and he knows it. Tall, dark, and handsome, the detective with the Boston police has women swoon over him left and right. So far, the stubborn Irish Romeo hasn't complained about it, but recently he feels increasingly ready to skip the many dates, and look for the one woman to settle down with. Too bad that the only woman he's ever had real feelings for doesn't even know his real name. To make matters worse, she also has every reason to wish he were roasting in the deepest recess of hell.

  All tied up (Boston 5 Book 4)

  Ryan Fitzpatrick may come from a family in which he’d feel his mother’s wooden spoon if he declared that a woman’s place is in the kitchen, or that she should defer to her man, but he still goes for the type of girl that wouldn’t think of curbing his freedom, telling him what to do, or making demands. If he were to commit to any woman, she wouldn’t be complicated, let alone pigheaded or irascible—he doesn’t want to end up with a woman like his sister, whose loudmouthed temper is enough to drive a man crazy.