I shook my head and leaned over for a kiss. Vail tasted like coffee—sweet and sugary. I couldn’t get enough. I didn’t want to burn the duck, though, so I took the breasts out of the skillet and placed one on each of our plates, where I’d already spread around the blood oranges and frisée. I took the time to slice up the breasts so they were in reasonable chunks. We should have waited fifteen minutes for the meat to rest, but I was hungry.
He stared with wide eyes, licking his bright lips. “Oh.” His gaze jumped to me and a grin swept across his delicious mouth. He bounced on his toes. “I forgot to tell you, I found some leftover research for my book in my office. I didn’t remember it was there.”
I froze, fear slicing through me as I turned my attention on him. His excitement was adorable, but Sloan’s words echoed through my mind. I couldn’t let anything happen to Vail. “Are ye sure that’s wise?”
His happiness dimmed and he fell flat onto his feet again, the smile sliding off his face. “Why wouldn’t it be? It’s my job. Writing a book isn’t easy, you know? Lor was upset, too, when I told him I’d found a few things. Why isn’t anyone happy for me? Losing that research could have destroyed the entire project.”
That was what I’d been hoping for, even if I hated that someone had gone into his home and violated his safe space. I sighed as I switched off the stovetop and sidled up to him, curling my arms around his waist. He came when I dragged him closer, and I inhaled the lingering scent of his cologne—sweet like him.
“It’s dangerous, Vail. Ye’re exposing men whokill.”
He laughed and leaned into my chest, wrapping his arms around my neck. His cheeks flushed and went rosy as he swiped his mesmerizing pink tongue over his lips. “It’s fine. They won’t care about me.”
For a man who knew a lot about the mob, he was oblivious. Or maybe he lived in his head too much. Concern spiked through me as I imagined what Sloan would do to him if he exposed the Killough Company. I needed to sit down with Cillian and make a plan to stop this once and for all.
“Come on, let’s go eat.” I planted another kiss on his supple mouth before I pulled away and grabbed our plates from the counter, and he was good enough to bring our water glasses. Leading him through the kitchen and into the formal dining room, which I realized he had yet to see, I sent him a smile over my shoulder. “So, now ye know my secret. I like to cook.”
“I never would have imagined,” he said, stopping in the middle of the room and studying it.
The theme was soft blues, pinks, and whites, with an oval wooden table. The seats of the sky-blue chairs were covered with soft fabric, and the top half of the walls was textured pink paint, with the bottom half white panels. To the side of the room was a cabinet the same color as the table—a pale whitewashed stain on wood—and a pendant-bar light hung from the ceiling with white frosted glass surrounding the three bulbs. When we’d moved in it had a classic look, which I’d taken charge in changing. I’d hired an interior decorator to help.
“This is beautiful,” he whispered in awe. “Your home is beautiful.”
“Thank ye.” Pride swelled inside me. I might’ve been a typical Irish boy, who preferred a small family home, but I still loved this place. Setting the plates on the table near the silverware I’d brought in earlier, I nudged my head in their direction. “Come eat, angel.”
He set down the glasses at our places, then sat in the seat at the end of the table, and I took the one to his right. Staring at the food in front of him, he licked his lips and finally returned those soulful brown eyes back to me. “We’ve only known each other for a few days.”
“We have,” I agreed, waiting.
He wrung his hands together and huffed, staring around the room as though trying to gather his thoughts. Or maybe he was trying to calm his racing mind. I didn’t know the particulars of ADHD. “I don’t know much about you. Tell me something.” He finally settled his attention back on me and placed his hands in his lap.
“What do ye want to know?” I winked at him and picked up my fork, stabbing a piece of duck and shoving it into my mouth. The spices I’d put on the meat were perfect, and the duck fell apart on my tongue.
“You and Cillian. You grew up together. In Ireland.” He frowned. “How did you end up in New York City?”
I laughed as I stabbed another piece of duck and cut some blood orange to add it to the end of the fork. Holding the bite out to Vail, I raised my brows. He blinked and leaned over to take the food into his mouth, moaning as he slid it off the fork with his lips and chewed.
“That’s a long story, angel. Cillian’s not me real brother.”
Vail swallowed, mouth popping open in surprise. “He’s not? Oh wait. You told me that before, didn’t you?”
“Aye, we did, I believe. I’m adopted.” I sighed. “Me real ma died in a car accident when I was two. Me da couldn’t handle a kid on his own, so he dropped me off at a church, told the priest the story, and left me there. The priest, Father Colm, didn’t know what to do with a wee child, but he knew Cillian’s ma was a good woman. Told her the situation and she didn’t hesitate. She and Cillian’s da took me in.”
“Oh. Wow. I didn’t know that part.” He stared over my shoulder for a moment, his expression going distant before looking back to my face. “Is that why you and Cillian argue all the time?”
I laughed. “Nah. That’s me and Cillian. He’s the same with his brother, Eamon. Cillian’s one of a kind, if ye know what I mean. Can’t say he’s always been like that.” My amusement died. “When we were teens, Cillian told me he wanted to leave our small town. Wanted to go to Dublin. He asked me and Eamon to go with him. We agreed. Left and went to the Big Smoke. Got some work there.”
Vail nodded thoughtfully, taking a mouthful of food and moaning, eyes closing for a brief moment. I stared at him, unable to glance away from the ecstasy that passed over his perfectly sculpted face. He could’ve been someone out of Sloan’s expensive paintings. He was definitely beautiful enough.
“Our current boss met us in Dublin. We got along fine. When he took over his father’s company, he came back over and offered us a job.” I stared at the way his mouth moved as he chewed, lips gleaming every time he swiped his tongue over them. “We took it and came to New York City with him. That’s that.”
“What do you do?” he asked, snapping out of whatever fantasy he’d been caught in from a mere bite of food.
“I didn’t realize ye liked breasts so much. I would let ye eat mine if I’d known,” I said. Jokes were an easy distraction, and I didn’t think it would be hard with Vail. We’d need to come up with a cover story sooner rather than later if we wanted to continue dancing around the truth.
Vail’s cheeks burned red and he chuckled, ducking his head. “I’d like that.”
“Really?” Surprise knocked me into sitting back in my chair and staring at him. Desire simmered in the pit of my stomach and warmth spread through me, settling low in my balls.
