Chapter One #3
Sammie nodded, slow-burning flames in her blue eyes that Kieran swore he could feel the heat of. “All the time. A woman in this industry? You’d think I have a second head, the way they look at me when they realize.”
Nothing Kieran could think to say would make any real difference. His species was doomed if the majority didn’t see the muscles cording Sammie’s arms and think that maybe, just maybe, she did the heavy lifting around here.
“I can see you trying to solve the problem of the rampant misogyny that is overwhelming our society, and I hate to break it to you, but I don’t think it can be brainstormed out of existence before your practice.”
Kieran flushed, scratching at his beard.
“You’re probably right. Still, feels like somebody needs to acknowledge the fact that this place would be nothing without you.
” And before his brain could register the movement, he was kicking a foot out, gently tapping his tennis shoe against Sammie’s work boot.
“Thanks.” Her warm gaze fell to her hands as she picked at a nail.
The skin around the nail bed looked raw, ragged.
Kieran fought the urge to reach out and grab her hand, to wrap her fingers in his own so she couldn’t hurt herself.
She had done it as long as he’d known her, always picking at her nails, a nervous habit learned in childhood.
“I should probably go,” Kieran finally said, once the silence between them grew bigger than he knew what to do with.
“Thanks for bringing the grain.” Sammie rose to follow him outside.
She squinted against the sunlight, her face scrunching up as she brushed a stray strand of dark hair away from her eyes, just in time for Kieran to avoid making a fool of himself by doing it for her.
His caveman brain, the one that knew an attractive woman when he saw one, definitely needed to chill.
The Sammie in front of him now was a far different person from the Sammie of ten years ago. A stranger compared to the girl that had told him she loved him then, in the way only someone young and inexperienced and naive could at sixteen.
At the time, Kieran had felt nothing but a blazing secondhand embarrassment.
He had been about to graduate, scheduled to fly off to Seattle a week later to begin his career as a professional volleyball player.
He hadn’t had time for things like young love and girlfriends.
Atticus was one of his best friends, and he’d only ever seen Sammie as his friend’s sister.
And it had been right around that time that Kieran had started to realize he didn’t feel the things that all of his friends seemed to.
The crushes, the confessions, the tentative, blooming romance that had all the other guys grinning and boasting to one another in the locker room after every practice.
When Sammie had come to him with a confession of her own, Kieran had said no. No, he couldn’t love her back, for so many reasons, his own lack of romantic feelings the most glaring of all.
However, the Sammie of now… well, she was gorgeous. And while Kieran might have given up on that sort of love, his body couldn’t help but be drawn to her.
And suddenly, despite the fact that she was his childhood best friend’s sister, Kieran found himself wanting to touch her.
Not in a creepy weirdo kind of way. Little things.
Brushing her hair back out of her face. Arms close enough to bump as they walked through the brewery.
A hand wrapped around her own, holding it safe.
“Anytime,” Kieran said, swinging open the door of his truck.
“I can’t keep having you drive all the way back home to bring me my favorite malt,” she laughed.
“Well.” He grinned back at her. “You can’t get it anywhere else. It would break my dad’s heart, and he’s got enough trouble as it is. Besides, I go down there all the time. Heading back after practice tonight to be there for one of his doctor appointments in the morning.”
Her gaze lightened into something caring, her smile going soft and a little crooked. “Tell him I said hi. Meredith too. And I hope the appointment goes well. I’ll stop by to see them next time I’m down at the old house.”
Greta’s house, the one she’d left to the twins.
The one Sammie was shouldering the responsibility for.
His father had confided in Kieran that he thought she should sell the place before it turned into a money pit.
Had told Kieran to try and nudge her in that direction, as though Kieran had any sway over what Sammie did.
He didn’t think anyone could convince her to do something she didn’t want to do, let alone him.
“I’ll let them know.” Kieran hopped up into his truck. “Good seeing you.”
“Yeah,” Sammie said. “You too.” She shut his door, giving it a pat before stepping away.
Kieran watched her in his rearview mirror as he pulled out of the parking lot. One hand against her brow, shading her eyes, the other resting firmly on her hip. Hair that had come loose from her braids flying in the breeze.
He couldn’t get those stormy eyes and that pretty, sly grin out of his mind.