“Claire!” I looked up to see Vanessa waving madly at us. “And you’ve brought Killian with you without murdering him! Max will be so proud. Come in – Marie’s opening the champagne!”
She strode away towards her future sister-in-law, leaving me reeling over her words.
***
Claire
Fourteen years ago
“Max?” I yelled through the closed door, banging noisily. My brother slept like the dead and I felt bad for potentially waking other students up at what was practically the crack of dawn, but it was my first full day at university and I wanted my brother to show me round. I was excited and nervous, not sure when one feeling ended and the other began. “Max! Open the fucking door, will you?” I banged again, my fist slipping as the door open and I saw my brother’s best friend and roommate, Killian, standing in front of me, pyjama bottoms hanging low on his hips and his torso bare and tanned.
I’d known Killian since Max had met him in their first week at university and he’d been a regular visitor to our homes in London and Oxfordshire. He was the boy my friends stared at when then saw him, well, him and my brothers. Tall, blonde and muscles like a Viking. I’d lusted after him since I’d first met him when I was sixteen and then kept away from him, not really knowing what to say and for the first time in my life, feeling shy.
“Max isn’t here,” Killian said, looking knowingly at me. “He didn’t sleep here last night.”
“Oh,” I said, realising what Killian meant. “You won’t know when he’ll be back either.”
Killian shrugged, muscles flexing. “Was he meant to meet you?”
“For breakfast. Then he was going to show me round,” I said, blinking to stem the tears that had accrued. I didn’t cry. I wasn’t a girly girl, I didn’t get emotional and I didn’t need my big brother to direct me round the university. But it was my first proper time away from home and the enormity had hit me about four o’clock in the morning when I couldn’t sleep because the halls of residence were filled with the sounds of drunken freshers stumbling back intoxicated.
Killian opened the door wider. “Come in while I get dressed and I’ll take you for breakfast.”
I entered the suite anxiously. I’d visited Max at university before but he and Killian had managed to get a two bedroomed suite with a largish living area and kitchen this year. Killian disappeared, returning five minutes later in jeans and a t-shirt. September was mild and there was no need for a jacket or jumper.
“Come on, Max’s sister,” he said. “I’ll give you the tour.”
And he did. We spent the day in the cafes and bookshops of Oxford, walking by the river and ending up in a pub for dinner, both with pints of bitter, both laughing, Max forgotten.
“Thanks for today,” I said. “I’m sure you had other things planned than babysitting Max’s kid sister.”
He grinned, impossibly blue eyes sparkling. “I was meant to beast your brother in the gym this afternoon, but he’s obviously too busy getting rid of his energy elsewhere. This has been nice anyway. Maybe we should do it again.”
My cheeks flushed and I felt heat gather between my legs. The more time I had spent with him the more attractive I’d found him. He was gorgeous in a gruff and manly way rather than being model pretty like my youngest brother, Seph, was going to be. And he could talk; he was clever and interesting and he laughed, teasing me, stealing my food. “Yes,” I said, reminding myself that he was just a friend of my brother’s. “That’d be good. Especially if Max is going to spend most of the semester balls deep in whoever.”
Killian laughed, throwing some notes down to cover the bill. “It’s Max. He has about three or four girls on the go at any one time. None serious.”
“I hope he’s extended his repertoire beyond the missionary position,” I said, causing Killian to laugh loudly.
“What?” he said. “Where have you got that from?”
“Max’s first was the sister of one of my friends from back home. We had a blow by blow description of the event when I was fourteen. She didn’t care that she was describing aspects of my brother that I never wanted to hear about,” I said. “Jackson’s never let him forget it.”
Killian used a large hand on the small of my back to guide me past a large group of tourists, his touch causing shocks all the way through my body, right down to my toes. “I promise not to tell you any tales about your brothers,” he said, once we’d escape the noise. “If you go out with me tomorrow afternoon.”
I stood still, surprised. “Has Max asked you to look after me?”
He shook his head and looked half shy. “I’d just like to see you again before term gets busy. You don’t enrol until Tuesday, is that right?”
I nodded, dumbstruck. Then, not having a clue what possessed me, I stood on my tiptoes and kissed his lips, my shoulders shaking, my whole body shaking. I’d been kissed before, I’d done plenty before, but never had I been nervous. His lips caught mine, remaining there for a few moments longer than anything that could’ve been considered just friendly.
He slipped his hand into mine as we walked back to my dorms, more people entering with suitcases and bags. My hand was tiny in his, just the simple grip filling me with warmth. “I don’t mean this in a pervy sense, but do you want to see where I’m living?”
He followed me to my room, which wasn’t as small as I’d expected it to be, and stood in the doorway, looking in. “How are you decorating it?”
I grinned broadly. “Wallpaper. That’s tomorrow’s job.”
“You can wallpaper?”
