Then it was his turn. His fingers a little less dexterous with the buzz of drink, he wiggled a tile out of the towering monstrosity. He turned the tile to see its rule. “Talk with an accent.”
All eyes turned on him.Shit.Between his grandfather and his father, Kieran had plenty of experience hearing and mimicking his family’s accent, but it’s not like he was in the habit of practicing it. Had he used it a few times on the MMA circuit to charm women? Sure, but that was ages ago.
Lily tilted her head back so she could grin up at him. “If you don’t do it, you lose.”
Kieran sighed. He didn’t have much of a choice. “Enjoy it while it lasts, a mhuirnín,” he answered, softening his vowels and letting the musicality of the accent fully seep in. He almost sounded like Daideo.
“Oh.” Her eyes widened and she fidgeted against him, as if trying to inch impossibly closer. “Say something else.”
He held her gaze, memorizing the soft blues and grays ofher eyes. “You’re more precious to me than a thousand sunny days, and your eyes are more beautiful than a misty sunrise over the lake.”
She all but melted against him. “See, you do know how to be romantic.”
The soft press of lips cooled the heat on his cheeks, and under the table, an equally soft touch cupped his cock through the thin material of his trunks. His knee jerked and hit the table, sending the Jenga tower tumbling down. The weight of her hand disappeared.
Natalia jumped out of her seat with a victory cry. “It wasn’t me this time!”
Lily stood as if in slow motion and teased him with a wicked gleam in her eye. “Drain your cup, Sullivan. I’ll get you a refill for the next game.”
Screw the game. He wanted some time with Lily before the fireworks started. Kieran excused himself and joined her at the kitchen counter. “How about some fresh air instead? Just you and me?”
Lily poured Captain Morgan into his cup, topped it with Coke then did the same with hers. “Yeah, it’s getting a little hot in there.” She tested her drink and winked over the brim of her cup. Taking his hand, she led him out of the small home and down the dock, walking to where they were furthest from the light of the home and closest to the ladder into the lake.
“How’s this for a view?” Lily asked, tugging him down onto the planks. The night sky engulfed the lake like a beautiful dark enchantment, but all he could see was her silky silhouette.
“Perfect.”
ChapterSeventeen
Lake Michigan distorted the light around them. What bit of dusk-hidden sun remained refracted off the lake’s surface and shrouded them in midnight-blue shadows. Lily glanced down, past her dangling feet, into the lapping waves. Darkness stared back. Soon, when all the light had faded, the fireworks would begin.
Beside her, Kieran released a contented sigh. She turned, finding the outline of his light skin in the falling night. He reclined on the dock with one arm tucked behind his head.
“Come here,” he whispered. Warm fingers brushed the back of her elbow and guided her into the curve of his arms.
His warm hand closed around hers, over her drink, and Lily allowed him to stow it away behind them. She abandoned her phone in the middle of the dock as well and set her head atop his chest.
Not every moment had to be for show.
“So,” she drawled and tucked her head under his chin. “What do you think of my friends?”
“They weren’t what I was expecting.”
“Yeah?”
“I sorta expected Alex to be some rich kid since he grew up in a beach house, but after seeing it I understand he’s just, ya know, not poor.”
Lily smiled against Kieran’s sun-warmed skin. The beach house was definitely dated and small, but that made it cozy. “Alex is a little high-maintenance, but he shops at Marshalls like the rest of us.”
Kieran shifted, wedging his hip further under her side. With his hands cupping her arms, he guided her until she straddled his lap. A flutter of nerves shifted in her chest, but she settled atop him and let her hands map the hard edges of his jaw up to the soft tufts of his hair.
“You keep surprising me,” he whispered.
Her fingertips circled over his ears and down the sides of his neck. “In what way?”
“You’re nothing like I assumed you’d be when we met.”
She found his eyes in the darkness. Two deep, shimmering shards of onyx against the pale surface of his face. “You’re not who I thought you were, either.”
