‘I tried that once,’ Liam said, shaking his head, all sad puppy eyes and hard-done-by pout. ‘But Issy turfed me out.’
‘I did not turf you out!’ she protested. ‘You went to the pub with Rick and had pie and chips! And several pints, I seem to recall.’
‘Drowning my sorrows, that’s all it was.’
‘Oh, poor baby.’ Issy reached out and cupped Liam’s face between her palms. ‘Was it really so hard to go a few hours without seeing me?’
‘You know it was.’ Liam edged closer and Kat blushed and looked away, having already borne witness to too manyPDAs from those two. The last thing she needed was an excuse for her brain to start thinking about kissing…
Harry had no qualms about putting a stop to it. ‘Pack it in, you two, this kitchen is a snog-free zone!’ He grabbed the basket of croissants and thrust it at his brother. ‘If you need to do something with your mouth, have another one of these.’
Liam sat back in his seat with a grin as he reached for a croissant. ‘Don’t be jealous, little brother. Some woman will come along one day and take pity on you.’
Kat lowered her gaze and chased a few stray crumbs around her plate with her finger to avoid any possibility of making eye contact with Harry.
Again he seemed unfazed as he snorted a laugh. ‘The way Issy did with you, you mean?’
Before the two of them could really start bickering there was a loud thump-thump on the front door and a familiar voice called out. ‘Open up, Harry! Come on, mate, I’m hanging out my arse here and we’ve got no milk so I can’t even make a coffee.’
Harry scowled towards the noise. ‘How the bloody hell did he get up here?’
13
As soon as he’d said the words, Harry wished them back when he caught sight of Kat’s guilty expression. He also hadn’t missed her embarrassment earlier when Issy and Liam had been smooching at the table. He’d done what she’d said and pretended nothing had happened but he wondered if he should talk to her about it. It would have to keep though. ‘I must’ve left the back gate open,’ Kat admitted.
Before Harry could assure her that a simple bolt wasn’t enough to keep his hungover twin at bay, Ed banged on the door again. ‘Harry, pleeeeeease, bro, I’m dying here. You don’t want my rotting corpse on your steps now, do you? Imagine what the health inspector would say!’
Damn, but it was impossible to remain annoyed with his twin for very long. Shaking his head, Harry hurried into the hall and opened the door. Ed was clinging to the doorframe with one hand, his other one clutching a cafetiere and a large bag of coffee to his chest. His skin was the sort of shade you never wanted to see on another person – a dirty greyish-beige that you only found in a high-traffic institutional area like a school or hospitalcorridor. ‘You look like shit.’ Harry didn’t even try and keep the note of smugness out of his voice.
Matt peered around Ed’s shoulder, his expression one of abject apology. ‘Sorry about this, Harry. Someone decided they needed cornflakes when we got home last night, or should I say this morning, and dropped a whole carton of milk on the floor.’
‘It was an accident!’ Ed cried and Harry had a feeling this argument had been going back and forth for a while. Ed turned puppy-dog eyes on Harry. ‘One cup of coffee and I swear I’ll get out of your hair.’
Harry stepped back and ushered the pair in. ‘Come on, I’ll sort you out.’ As they kicked off their shoes and set them next to all the others on the mat, Harry added. ‘Best behaviour, okay? This is Kat’s home too now, remember.’
‘I’ll be good as gold,’ Ed promised as he threw an arm around Harry’s neck and pressed a kiss to his cheek. ‘You are the best brother in the world.’
‘I must be to put up with you. Come on, there’s fresh croissants on the table and I’m just about to make eggs royale.’
‘Food!’ Ed almost knocked Harry over in his rush to get into the kitchen.
Harry looked at Matt, who shrugged another apology before holding up the packet of bacon he’d brought with him. ‘I knew you’d insist on feeding us so consider this a small contribution.’
Harry laughed as he clapped his cousin on the back. ‘I can always rely on you, Matt.’
By the time they entered the kitchen, Ed was already at the table wolfing down croissants like his life depended on it. Kat was over near the kettle with Ed’s cafetiere and Liam was at the sink washing up the plates they’d already used, Issy standing hip to hip with him, drying each plate as he handed it to her. ‘You’d better get in there before he eats them all,’ Harry said to Matt, relieving him of the bacon.
‘I don’t expect you to wait on me,’ Matt protested.
‘There are already too many people trying to help,’ Harry assured him with a laugh. ‘Please, sit; eat!’ He turned to survey the others. ‘Okay, I need everyone out of my workspace, please.’
Issy draped the tea towel over her shoulder and frowned at him. ‘You can’t do everything, Harry.’
‘Okay, you can stay.’ At least Issy knew what she was doing. He pointed at Liam. ‘You, sit.’ His brother laughed and edged his way past Issy to reclaim one of the chairs at the table.
He turned towards Kat, took one look at the stubborn expression on her face and grinned. ‘You can do what you like, seeing as you live here.’
Her scowl lifted into a bright grin. ‘I’ll sort out drinks and do my best to keep out of the way.’
