Chapter Four #2
Kieran had found a few more of her videos.
Maybe more than a few. In them, she got dressed up and partied with her best friend.
She threw herself off rocky outcroppings and into lakes.
She put herself out there. What stopped her from having the same familiarity with her coworkers beyond polite conversation?
As if sensing his scrutiny, Lily shifted in her chair and pinned him with a look. Caught you staring, it said.
He answered with one of his own: I’m glad I have your attention. Then his gaze dropped without his permission and caught on the pale side of her thigh where her dress had ridden up. The muscle there was toned enough to leave a shadow, one he very much wouldn’t mind sinking his teeth into.
“Something you want to say, Kieran?” she asked.
He lifted his gaze. Her eyebrows raised over a cool expression despite her fire-warmed cheeks. He leaned back in his chair and let his knees spread wider. Her attention flickered. Good girl. “When were you going to tell me I’m That Gym Guy?”
Her gaze snapped back to his face from the cozy home it had made between his thighs.
Well, at least she was interested, even if she didn’t admit it.
But some gear shifted into place in her brilliant mind.
In a calculating sweep, she looked him up and down.
“I thought you didn’t care about my silly videos.
Now you want me to admit you have fans?”
He’d be lying if he said her slow perusal didn’t do something for him.
All the same, now they were talking business.
His business. “I don’t care about your silly videos.
But I do care about the clientele we’re bringing into the gym.
I can’t have my self-defense classes filled with thirsty fans crowding out my regulars.
You know, the people who actually want to learn self-defense?
” He’d started the class for people like his mother.
People like Maeve. People who needed an extra second to escape before any more lasting damage could be done.
He didn’t have the time or the energy to open his schedule for more classes. He had a family to take care of.
“Well, then,” Lily said with an innocent shrug, “stop doing hot guy shit.”
His thoughts ground to a halt like the cogs of an old clock. Hot guy shit? Kieran tilted his head, amusement and pleasure mixing like a deadly cocktail in his chest. “So, you think I’m hot?”
She played it off like she hadn’t just admitted she found him attractive by softening her brow and staring with bored eyes.
“You’re objectively attractive to people who are into the whole domineering thing.
” She flicked her styled waves over her shoulder with an air of superiority.
“I like nice guys.” The words might as well have been delivered in a scented envelope sealed with a poison kiss.
Kieran couldn’t resist a little venom tucked in a pretty smile.
“Nice guys, huh?” He leaned over the arm of his chair toward her, close enough the heat of her body warred with the heat from the fire. “That’s not what your pulse said when I had my hand wrapped around your throat.”
He could almost feel her swallow in his palm.
She tilted her chin up as she crossed her legs. Her sundress rode even higher. “I think I was more concerned about you choking me.”
“Is that what you’re concerned about now?
” He lolled his head to the side and gazed at the spot on her neck where her pulse throbbed against the thinness of her skin.
Like a fighter throwing wild jabs, desperate to get out of a hold.
Despite what he’d told Sebastián earlier, he couldn’t resist another chance at parting those beautiful, full lips.
“I promise, Princess. I’ll always ask for consent before I touch you. ”
The sparks from the fire slowed, lifting into the sky like fae ascending for a dance with the stars.
Their reflections arced in Lily’s eyes like shooting stars over Lake Michigan’s winter waters.
He wanted to dive in. Drink deep from those fathomless pools and curl his tongue over the sensitive skin under her chin where her pulse beckoned.
His hands flexed on the arms of the chair, and Lily’s gaze followed the muscular sinews of his arms down to his grip. Her breathing shallowed.
Better yet, he could lift her dress a little higher and explore what lay beneath her serene surface.
What sounds would she make if he tasted her there?
Would she be quiet and polite? Or would the fire molding the glass in her eyes make her tongue sharp, too?
Would she challenge him? Beg him for more while goading him?
He could blame it on the alcohol. And besides, Danny was oblivious upstairs in his room. No one would have to know—
The clearing of her throat broke his reverie. “I think I’m going to grab another drink.”
The music slammed into his ears. Maeve’s laughter. Rachel singing her goodbyes with a promise to take the L.
Lily leaped to her feet, her empty cider strangled in her hand.
“?Lily, baila conmigo!”
Sebastián’s tan hand shot through the firelight and closed around Lily’s bare bicep. And just as fast, Lily spun, her hair arcing around her in tandem with her skirt.
Time slowed again. Kieran’s gaze tracked her every move—a trained fighter studying his opponent.
She curled into Sebastián’s hold, easing the strain on her arm, and with the force of her momentum, she lashed out.
The meat of her palm struck Sebastián’s solar plexus, and the man dropped to his knees like he’d been kicked in the balls.
His hold released, and Lily leaped back, both fists raised in defense.
Wheezing, Sebastián spread his hand over his chest and squinted up at her. “You win, you win!” He raised one hand in surrender and might as well have tucked his tail.
“Oh my God, Seb. I’m sorry!” Lily’s hands flew to her mouth, covering honest horror at the sight of Sebastián’s pain.
Kieran stood slowly. That wasn’t a normal reflex. Normal would be jerking away or batting at his hand.
That was the reaction of someone who’d taken self-defense classes.
“I’m sorry,” Lily promised on repeat while she helped Sebastián to his feet.
“It’s okay.” Sebastián laughed it off and rubbed at his belly. “A simple ‘no’ will work next time.”
“I’m gonna go.” She crossed her arms over her chest, but it was more than a chill or indifference. She clung to herself, as if her grip was the glue holding her together. “I’m an awful drunk.”
Kieran frowned and glanced at the bottle, which had fallen to the grass in the scuffle. She’d barely drank, and she wasn’t drunk.
Maeve’s gaze caught his over the fire. What did you do? she mouthed.
Kieran shrugged and didn’t stop Lily when she made her hasty exit.
He hadn’t done anything to warrant that reaction.
But something had definitely happened to Lily, and damned if he wasn’t going to find out what.