Kieran chuckled. “Told you, taking a break from hookups.”
Then hewinked.
And thankfully, walked away before he could see me flushing hot all over, mouth hanging open at how impossibly sexy that one little gesture was. It had no right to be, it was just a wink, it should have made me laugh.
But all it did was make my heart beat a little faster and warmth pool low in my stomach.
“Later, Felix,” Kieran called back.
“Later,” I promised, trying really, really hard not to stare at his butt as he went.
… and failing spectacularly.
4
Kieran
Five minutesbefore lunch on Sunday, I was pacing up and down Mom’s hallway like I was waiting for a loved one to come out of surgery.
I’d told her Felix was back in town and I’d invited him over, and she’d told Aiden and Devin, who in turn had told Morgan and Carter.
And now I was waiting for him to show up, hoping like hell I wasn’t about to get left at the proverbial altar now that my entire extended family knew I was expecting a guest.
I didn’t bring people to family lunches. Not since Carter moved away, and nowAidenbrought him.
This was like bringing a girl home for the first time.
Not that I really knew what that was like. My adult life so far hadn’t really involved any relationships of the serious kind. I didn’tdoserious.
“You’re gonna wear a hole in that rug,” Aiden said, leaning against the doorway into the kitchen, watching me pace.
“Needs replacing anyway,” I said, trying not to give away just how nervous I was.
Whywas I so nervous? Either Felix would turn up because he wanted to hang out with me, or he wouldn’t, and it was a really gentle way to tell me that.
Our lives were so different now. He was this… famous author guy and I fixed sinks for a living. I was happy with my life exactly the way it was, but Felix had always been so ambitious.
I just wasn’t. I had enough money to live on and enough free time to do the things I cared about, and that was the perfect life, to me.
To Felix, I probably seemed pathetic.
He wasn’t going to show up.
“He’ll show up,” Aiden said like he’d read my mind. “He loved you so much.”
Yeah. Past tense.
Things had gone well yesterday, I thought, but there’d been plenty of time for Felix to think between then and now.
Besides, he had work to do.
Family lunches probably weren’t as important as that.
“Is Kieran still out there having kittens?” Devin asked, peering over Aiden’s shoulder on tip-toes.
Aiden snorted, moving to give Devin room to spectate, too, which finally dragged Morgan and Carter away from helping Mom set the table.
They were better sons than any of her threeactualsons right now.
