“Whatcha gigglin’ like a pixie about?” Rowen whispered in my ear, and I only shrugged.
“Feels good.”
He ran a hand over my belly, and I tangled my fingers up with his.
“That was different,” Cillian said. When I opened my eyes, he was smirking at Rowen, who flipped him off.
“We’ll never speak of it.”
“Ha! I’m tellin’ everyone,” Cillian said, but I got the idea he was only saying that to wind up Rowen because he winked at me.
My head hurt a bit on the outside, but I was feeling mentally sharp for the first time since I got here as I stared between them. “You two know each other well, then? Like brothers?”
“Ye thought we didn’t?” Rowen asked, giving me wide eyes.
“Oh, I don’t know. Lots of people say they’re brothers and aren’t even friends. I knew this guy who was in a motorcycle club once, and everyone he introduced me to was his brother. Motorcycles are fun, and I want a Vespa, but you know, I just hate rain, so I probably shouldn’t.”
They both stared at me with identical expressions of confusion. I shrugged, not really caring because it had been amazing to be the center of attention when I wasn’t teaching a class. Sadness washed through me now that things seemed to be winding down.
“What’s on yer mind?” Rowen asked and tapped my temple.
I bit my lip, unsure of what I should say because while I wanted to tell him I would like to do this again, I knew the drill. Even if we made plans to meet up another time, somehow I’d fuck it up, or I’d do something between now and when I left to annoy one or both of them.
There would be no repeat.
The shrill ringing of a cell phone had Cillian glaring at his jeans on the floor and he stooped to pick it up. “Hello?” He listened for about half a minute, then sighed. “Yeah, I’ll get the boys.”
Rowen frowned. “The boss?”
“Yeah.” Cillian narrowed his eyes on me. “Look, either ye can stay here, if ye can keep out of trouble, or we’ll have Fallon take ye home.”
I stared between them and bit my lip. “Uh... I’ll stay?”
Cillian’s face hardened, and Rowen made a sound of shock as he stared at him, eyes wide, as if he’d seen a ghost. “Did ye truly ask him that? To stay?”
“Shut it and get dressed,” he snarled out, tossing a pair of pants from the floor at Rowen’s head. I was so tired and comfortable I just settled in. My stomach growled and I thought maybe I hadn’t eaten, but I couldn’t be bothered with it, not with the way my body was cooperating, and could lie still without a single problem.
“Thanks,” I murmured, eyes closed. I got one soft kiss, then a nibble on my bottom lip. I didn’t know if I would be able to rest, but it wasn’t often I reached this level of bliss, and even if it wore off an hour from now and I had to find a ride home because I couldn’t fall asleep, I was going to enjoy every second of it while I could.
“I have to teach a class tomorrow at eleven.”
There was a curse and a laugh. “We’ve got ye covered, firebug. Sleep.”
“Where are you going?” I asked. When I sat up and looked, the door was hanging open and I caught the flash of a suit bag disappearing out of sight. The only answer I got was silence because Rowen and Cillian were gone.
6
CILLIAN
Rowen wasa pain in my arse. He kept sending me a pout. Afuckingpout. As if I’d give a shite about his wee temper tantrum, which is exactly what this was. He’d been giving me that expression since he was a kid, barely two, when Da and Ma picked him up from the church. It got him exactly what he wanted from my parents, and while it’d once worked on me, it didn’t anymore.
I glared at him. “What the feck is yer problem?” I snapped as I directed the Expedition onto the long, winding cobblestone lane that belonged to the boss’s house. The driveway ended at a circle around a fountain that contained a statue of an elephant standing with its trunk raised, which I enjoyed, even if I’d never said it out loud. It was a nice touch of whimsy that was often sorely lacking from my day. Mansion was probably a better word for the boss’s place, and it was centered on grounds large enough it could perhaps be called an estate. The wide home was two stories tall and done up in white shingles with a peaked roof. The dark balconies that stuck out from the front on the bedrooms gave a sense of foreboding, and despite the weather, smoke curled from the decorative brownstone chimney. The lights from inside cast long shadows. The boss’s butler—a tall elderly bloke in a black suit who combed his gray hair straight back—stood at the steps near the door, his stare following the SUV until I parked it right beside him.
“Nothin’,” Rowen grumbled, shoving open the passenger door and jumping out.
I shook my head and cursed the bastard before I followed, getting out of the SUV and heading around to the other side. Aspen was already out of the Expedition on Rowen’s side, and we’d left Fallon at home. It wasn’t often he came to meetings with the boss, considering he was an apprentice of sorts. He wasn’t that fortunate to be in Sloan’s presence yet.
The butler stared at us with his beady eyes, and the knowing, predatory gaze was something that had freaked me the fuck out when I’d first met him, but I took it in stride now. He was good at his job according to Jamie Shannon, the man we reported to and the lieutenant of Illegal Operations in the Company. The butler had his ear to the ground. If anyone fucked up or tried to betray the boss in this house, they’d find a hole the size of a basketball in their chest from his shotgun.
