In the bedroom? Absolutely. “I’ll prove it. We can go back to your place. If I can’t—” he paused, remembering her words “—work off the tension, then you’ll still have your date. If I can, consider me your punching bag.”
Her eyes narrowed. “What’s in it for you?”
Other than protecting Neal’s investments? Kieran raised his brows. No doubt, he was getting the better end of the arrangement. “Do we have a deal?”
Lily scrutinized him over a slow bite of a giant strawberry. Should he protect his crotch or hide it?
“You know,” she drawled, “technically this counts as dessert.”
ChapterSeven
Kieran Sullivan is going to see my apartment.
Somehow that singular thought was more terrifying than the idea of having sex with him. Or maybe it was easier to have an existential crisis about her home rather than staring down the reality of Kieran seeing her naked.
He wants to do more than see you.
Specifically, he wanted to fuck her. Which begged the question, how long had that been a thing? She might have been undressing him with her gaze the first time she met him, but he’d always been clear she was little more than an annoyance. Then again, you didn’t have to like someone to sleep with them.
It’s just sex, Vovik had said when he cheated.It doesn’t mean anything.
She glanced at Kieran, unable to read his one-handed grip on the steering wheel. He was as relaxed as could be. Maybe he’d done this sort of thing before.
Hell, maybe he did it a lot.
Heat burned in Lily’s cheeks, and she tucked her hands under her thighs against the worn passenger seat of his Jeep. Because of course he owned a soft-top Jeep. Hot guy. Hot car. It made sense.
What didn’t fit the image was the booster seat smooshed into the tiny back seat or the basketball shoes and ball falling out of a gym bag on the floor. “Do you play?”
Kieran glanced from the road to his rearview mirror, but his attention never wavered for long. He certainly had experience driving in the city. “No, I’ve always been a fighter. Wrestling, then MMA. Danny plays basketball on his high school’s team.”
And if his things were in Kieran’s car, Kieran drove Danny to practice and games. The car seat must have been Saoirse’s.
No wonder he wasn’t looking for anything serious. He was playing the role of dad for his brother and, in part, his niece.
“Where can I park?” he asked as they approached her home.
“There’s a garage around the corner.”
They walked to her apartment, and Lily’s mind was anything but quiet. What if he was judgy about the dishes she’d left in her sink? Maybe the whole studio setup of having a bed only feet away from the kitchen island would kill the mood. Hell, maybe she’d kill the mood. She’d worked so hard to gain precious fat and muscle. What if he got her naked and didn’t like what he saw?
Once in her hall, the drastic differences between their living arrangements dragged at Lily like a riptide. He had a nice, two-story corner home with a fenced backyard. Meanwhile, the third floor of her apartment building smelled like—actually, she didn’t want to think about what it smelled like.
She unlocked her door and ushered Kieran inside before she could change her mind. Closing the door shut out the world, finally silencing her mind, and Lily released a deep breath before hanging up her purse on a hook by the entry.
Kieran already had his boots off and lined up by the door, and he now explored her apartment. There wasn’t much to it.Upon entering, there was a closet-size bathroom with a standing shower to the left. Across from that was her kitchen, featuring a small stove, a two-door under-the-counter refrigerator and a sink. The island doubled as a counter and seating space.
Beyond that, really, was just her bed—with its lovely, thrifted wooden frame, courtesy of her first paycheck from the gym. There wasn’t much one could fit in a three hundred square foot apartment. Where others may have put a sofa, Lily had a vanity, shoe rack and clothing rack.
But Kieran didn’t linger around the small space inspecting for dust or dishes. He ambled toward the wall that housed her bed, taking his time appreciating each and every photo she’d framed.
“Was this your college team?” he asked, pointing at a photo of her and twenty other girls all in St. Francis Saints uniforms.
“Yep, from my junior year. We made it to nationals that spring.” Lily grabbed a matchbook from a kitchen drawer and lit a lilac-scented candle on the counter.
“And this girl—” he pointed to a five-photo collage, each featuring a picture of Lily with Natalia “—she’s in a lot of your videos.”
Lily grabbed two ciders from her fridge and joined Kieran, passing him one bottle. “Nat. She’s my best friend in the entire world, has been since we were five. I would die if anything ever happened to her.”
