“I want to kiss you when I get home. Will you let me?”
“Ciar,” she sighed, a huskiness to her voice that hadn’t been there seconds ago. “Your house is about to be full of people.”
“I don’t care.”
“We’re going too fast. I need things to slow down. I’m here, in your house, taking care of your daughter. My life feels like it’s been ripped out from under me and someone else’s replaced it.”
He was silent for eight heart-pounding thuds of her heart. “I don’t want you to feel pressured. Christ,” he stopped, and she pictured him roughing a palm over his prickly scalp. “Today was unexpected but so welcome. Well, not Tina falling, but our son, the kiss we shared at the doctor’s, and you agreeing to move in.”
She ignored the mention of their kiss. “See, Ciar, that’s just it. I didn’t agree to move in. I agreed to stay for a week. Stop twisting my words.” She walked over to the gas fireplace to warm her chilled hands, frustrated that he was withholding the one thing she needed to be able to accept wholeheartedly everything they both wanted for the future.
“I’ve said I’ll give you what you need, and I will. After Japan. The minute I get home. I promise. As to moving in, I won’t lie, I’m going to do everything in my power to convince you to never leave.”
Some of the tension across Gray’s shoulders relaxed. “Day by day, then.”
“Day by day,” Ciar echoed. “I still want to kiss you when I get home.”
forty-three
CIAR
When Ciar openedhis front door, the first thing to hit him was the noise. The quiet he’d gotten used to and hated had vanished with the loud conversations and laughter of his closest friends.
He stood still for a moment, enjoying the change. Christ, but he’d missed everyone. He had Imogen, and being a father was better than anything he could have ever hoped for himself, but going from a close-knit group that texted, called, or hung out daily to limited contact had been hard.
His fault, but still tough.
When he rounded the corner to his kitchen, his eyes were immediately drawn to Gray, who was dancing around with a laughing Imogen clinging to her side. With that image alone in his mind, he could have died a happy man.
Bébhinn saw him first and clapped her hands. “Ciar, come say hello to Blair.” Dagr was holding up a tablet with the screen showing the image of his tiny, fiery-headed friend.
He signed, “I miss you. How is Wales treating you?”
Blair grinned and waved. “Hey, Ciar. I’ve made two people cry over their ineptness and discovered a new species of Snowdon Hawkweed. I’m killing it. No surprise. Take care of Gray and Baby Boy Murphy for me.”
He could only nod, afraid he’d give away how badly he wanted to do just that. While the rest of the group talked with Blair, he made his way to Gray’s side, her cheeks already blushing with his attention.
He took Imogen from her arms and kissed his daughter’s cheeks before handing her to a wide-eyed Daniel, leaving Gray with nothing to do with his hands but touch him.
“I missed you,” he said while backing her into one of the high kitchen counters until he felt her small bump press against him. He nuzzled her neck and lifted her hands, wrapping them around his neck.
“I’m going to kiss you now.” He punctuated his words with a kiss to the corner of her mouth. “Will you let me?”
The moment “Yes” slipped from between her lips, he was on her, sliding his tongue past her teeth to stroke her own tongue.
She gasped once before deliberately driving him crazy with her tongue. She grasped his neck to hold him close while his hands slipped from her waist to her ass.
He heard Mags tell someone, “Make sure the angle is right for Blair.” Gray stiffened where she was fused to his front. That wasn’t the only thing stiff. His dick clearly remembered the heaven that was Gray’s body and wanted a reunion. Badly.
“Ciar,” Gray whispered, pushing her hands against his chest. “We’re putting on a show.”
“I don’t care,” was his answer as he tried to retake her mouth.
“I do,” she whispered, pinching his side for good measure.
Forcing himself to let her ass go and step back, he glanced at their audience. Mags tilted the tablet screen downward that Bébhinn still held, and then, to his horror, Mags ducked into thecamera’s line of sight and signed, “Oh my God. He’s totally hard. What an animal.”
It was safe to say that Gray was no longer the only one blushing. Maybe he’d overvalued having friends. Daniel, Jonathan, and Dagr were laughing and giving him either a thumbs up or mimicking jacking off.
