Despite being a city girl with a penchant for frothy coffees, Lily looked right at home among the vibrant green foliage surrounding their trail. If she wasn’t a selkie, she might just be some woodland fae. Kieran chuckled. If only his grandfather had known how those childhood stories would haunt him.
As if she’d known he was thinking about her, Lily tossed him a grin—a real one. The sunlight streamed through the leaves, freckling her face. She was so beautiful, he wasn’t convinced she wasn’t from Tír na nÓg—the land of the young. Surely only a faerie could mesmerize him as she did.
“I’ve never been to this part of the park.”
Kieran turned his baseball cap so the bill covered the back of his neck and shrugged. “I figured you’d get better footage for your videos down this way.” Doubtful anyone would be looking at the canyon with Lily in the video.
He retrieved his phone out of his back pocket and aimed the camera at Lily. He wanted to remember this moment. Lily’s wide-eyed wonder. The eagerness with which she peered over each overlook as they descended into the canyon. Away from the city, Lily came alive.
Danny shot him a glare. “What was it you were saying about getting off my phone and enjoying nature?”
“Lily’s an adult who can balance enjoying time in nature and recording it for her job.” Kieran shoved his phone back into his pocket and dropped his gaze to his feet to avoid any missteps on the narrow staircase, but he didn’t stop tracking Lily’s and Danny’s unique footfalls. As long as he could hear both, they were safe. “And if you keep whining about not having your phone, I’ll extend your punishment for another week.”
That shut his brother up, though it wasn’t exactly an improvement. If Danny was in a bad mood, everyone suffered.
Once they got to the bottom of the stairs, Lily stopped and grabbed her water bottle from her bag. As she drank, a bead of water escaped her lips and trickled down her neck. It welled in the hollow of her throat just above her collarbone, and Kieran imagined gathering it on his tongue.
“Hey, Danny. Want to film a Hit It video with me?”
Lily’s question helped Kieran tear his gaze away. Fuck, he needed to get laid again.
Danny tried not to look interested as he shoved his handsinto his basketball shorts pockets. “I don’t know. What were you thinking of doing?”
Lily removed her phone from her back pocket and thumbed her screen until a video popped up. “Maybe something like this? I thought if we stood behind the waterfall, our silhouettes would make a pretty cool contrast.”
Kieran waited for some smart-ass reply but none came.
Danny led the way into the canyon until they arrived at a small waterfall. He set his stuff down near the bowl-like curve of the canyon wall and ran his fingers through his hair. “You gonna tag me in the video?”
“With your consent, of course.” Lily hesitated as she set her own bag down. “And with your brother’s consent. He’s your legal guardian.”
Danny scoffed. “I’m not a kid. I don’t need his permission to be on Hit It.”
He definitely was a kid, and he most definitely did need Kieran’s permission considering Danny was a minor. Kieran grabbed a protein bar from his back pocket and settled on the canyon floor. “How about I let you do the video, and we’ll pretend you didn’t just act like a spoiled brat.”
Lily shook her head and worked on setting up her ring light stand. In seconds, her phone was mounted, and the ring light remained off. After they shot a few takes and tried a couple different trends, Lily and Danny settled in with him for a snack break. He’d packed enough for all of them and had a cold thermos for extra water.
For the first time during the hike, a comfortable silence surrounded them, broken only by birdsong and the quiet roar of the waterfall. The last time he’d taken Danny hiking was back when Shauna was still living at home, but since Danny had gotten into school sports, their limited amount of free timeoutside of the MMA training had disappeared. Now it was all Kieran could do to get a hello out of his brother.
Lily didn’t seem to have any trouble. She sat with Danny, animated and attentive. Wow, the kid was capable of smiling. Lily glanced toward Kieran, and something in her smile coaxed one out of him. If things were different, he would’ve sat beside her and kissed her. Told her he liked the way her baby hairs haloed around her face and the ease with which she interacted with even the surliest of kids.
But things weren’t different. He was a stand-in dad for his siblings. Lily was his coworker and was single-handedly revitalizing the gym. He couldn’t risk jeopardizing her. Neal deserved better than that. Their arrangement called for no strings and no one knowing too much of what happened behind the scenes.
Kieran wasn’t a gambling man, and Lily was a risk he couldn’t afford.
They ventured next to the Sandstone Point Overlook where they were treated to an open view of the Illinois River lined by green-leafed oaks and maples. The white and pink petals of dogwoods peeked from the understory in small bursts of color. Kieran hung back, content to enjoy the view from a safe distance, but Lily approached the edge of the bluff. Danny followed.
His stomach twisted. Why didn’t this overlook have some kind of railed observation deck like the rest? Dammit, now he was obligated to join them. He shuffled closer. Lily stepped back and lifted her phone to take a picture of Danny. His brother tilted his head back with hooded eyes and shoved his hands in his pockets. Must be the new cool guy pose. It looked ridiculous on his kid brother.
“Come on, relax,” she called, a laugh in her voice. “Act like you’re fifteen instead of going on twenty.”
Danny scratched the back of his neck, suddenly self-conscious. “You’ll laugh.”
“Of course, I will.” Lily lifted her phone again as Kieran appeared at her side. “And you will, too.” She snuck a glance at Kieran, her lips tilted up in a mischievous grin. “I swear, you Sullivans need to learn to have fun.”
Her words were meant for Danny, but they sank into his skin like well-intentioned shrapnel. She didn’t know having fun had never been easy. Sometimes when he woke, he had to remind himself he wasn’t still stuck in that mold-infested mobile home.
Through the screen, he watched Danny drop into some ridiculous superhero pose, one leg to the side, one hand down, and one hand up.
