“Did you just climb the fucking fire escape to sneak into Bree’s apartment?”
Finn shrugged. “Easier than waiting downstairs. Plus I got to watch you two through the window for a few minutes. Pretty entertaining stuff.”
Heat crawled up my neck. “You were watching?”
“Don’t sweat it man. Not like I didn’t watch you fuck her senseless a week ago.” His grin widened. “What I saw looked promising. Anyone ever wants a little stalker role-playing, I’m game.”
Bree snorted a laugh. “Yeah, I think I’ll pass on that.”
My grip tightened on her waist, pressed into me in that perfect way, right where I needed her.
Finn stopped a few feet away. “So. Are we doing this?”
16
BREE
Still laughing at Finn’s entrance, I pulled myself out of Ronan’s arms, smoothing my hands down my shirt and trying to fix my hair. My desire screamed for me to stay and finish what we’d started, but my need to keep things lowkey with the townspeople pushed me toward the door. My body hummed from Ronan’s hands on me, from the taste of him on my lips. Later. They were not going anywhere. The way both men watched me proved that. “I should go back down and help Declan close. Why don’t you make yourselves at home? I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
Finn claimed my couch like he owned the place, kicking off his boots and crossing one ankle over the opposite knee. “Take your time. We’re fine here. Aren’t we, Ronan?”
Ronan remained so still I almost hugged him. Like my touch would bring him back to life or something.
I checked my reflection in the hallway mirror before unlocking the door. Maybe no one would notice my swollen lips. I’d managed to pat my hair back into place, but my cheeks remainedflushed. Anyone with eyes would know exactly what I’d been doing up here, and with who.
This was such a bad idea. Someone would notice. Someone always noticed in towns like this where gossip spread faster than wildfire and everyone made it their business to know everyone else’s business. Mom warned me about this exact thing, but I couldn’t make myself care enough to stop.
Not when Ronan and Finn were waiting for me upstairs. I could’ve sent Ronan down in my place. Or told Finn to go back out the way he came and secretly let Declan know what was going on.
I probably should’ve taken that route, but the part of me that had always struggled to make myself fit into the mold society required stiffened my spine and sent me down to take care of things myself.
So I slipped downstairs, hoping the dim light would hide the evidence. The main room had emptied out. Tom hunched over his Guinness–probably at his fifth by now.
A couple I didn’t know occupied the corner booth, their heads bent together in whispered conversation. Tammy Whittaker perched at the bar, surveying the place with the keen eye of a cat on the prowl. She swung around as soon as I stepped behind the bar.
Of course she was still here. Nana’s old bosom buddy had a nose for drama.
I grabbed a towel from beneath the bar and wiped away a ring of beer, picking up mugs and discarding them in the sink as I worked. No sound came from upstairs, and it took a minute toremember that everyone had seen Ronan go up there, so noise wouldn’t surprise them.
Declan wiped down the bar at the other end, then moved on to cleaning the taps. He glanced up when I approached, his lips pressing into a thin, flat line before he returned his attention to the gleaming brass fixtures.
“Need any help?” I kept my body turned slightly away, fully aware that if I faced him, even looked at him for too long, I might as well carry around a gleaming neon sign telling everyone I’d fucked him already and hoped to do so again. Tonight.
“Almost done.” The emotionless tone twisted my stomach.
He moved in short, almost angry bursts of motion. Rigid shoulders and a clenched jaw solidified the emotion, along with the way he shifted away from me when I took a step closer.
Had someone told him about Finn kissing me in the hallway? Had he seen Ronan follow me upstairs and knew my excuse was a ruse? Did he think I’d chosen them and left him behind?
Oh shit. He might. But I couldn’t ask him while everyone watched our every move. Tammy had her ear tipped toward us, and she might be pushing eighty but she’d overheard a conversation from across the room last week, so I knew her hearing hadn’t gone yet.
“Bree, dear.” Tammy waved one wrinkled hand. “Can I close out my tab?”
I turned to her with what I hoped passed as a normal smile. “Of course.”
She slid her card across the bar, and I processed the payment while willing my hands to steady. The receipt printer jammed twice before I managed to rip the paper and hand it to her.
Tammy signed with a flourish, then looked over at me through her thick glasses. “You and Finn seem to be getting along quite well.”
