Chapter 6 Arran #2
While I choked on a piece of steak pie, Eredine admonished gently, “Lewis Adair, we do not use that kind of language.”
“Sorry,” he murmured.
“Apology accepted. Now, back to the game.”
It had been unseasonably hot all day, and the evening was no different. And while Thane had designed a home that stayed cooler than most in the summer, it was still muggy inside, and the kids were growing crabbit.
“Let’s play a wee game of football,” I suggested. “We’ll probably get a breeze coming up off the water.”
The kids jumped to it, scattering from the table to grab their trainers.
Ery slowly stood and pulled her thick hair into a ponytail. It was a wonder she had a hair tie that could hold it. “You’re staring,” she murmured.
“Am I?” I sounded hoarse even to my ears.
Her eyes widened a little, and then she pushed back from the table. “I’ll get my sneakers.”
I was not ashamed to admit that my eyes followed her perfect arse out of the room. Groaning, I scrubbed my hands down my face and tried to get it together. I was better than some horny wee teenager who couldn’t control his attraction to a beautiful woman.
I hoped.
Getting up, I strode across the room and slid the already-open bifolds back against the wall. I was right. The sea’s cool breeze felt bloody marvelous.
T-shirt sticking to me, I whipped it off and tucked it into the back of my jeans. Finding the football already outside, I created goals with the large rocks we kept in the back garden for such occasions. A fence wrapped around the yard to protect the kids from the cliff’s edge.
The sea was calm beneath perfect skies, weather more suited to summer than spring, and I could hear soft waves lapping against the coast unimpeded.
“I’m taking my shirt off too!” Lewis yelled as he hurried down the deck toward me, already flying out of his T-shirt. “Feels good.” He stood arms wide, letting the breeze flow over him. “Good plan, Uncle Arr.”
I stifled a laugh and even more so when Eredine appeared with Eilidh, and then stuttered to a stop at the sight of me.
Her eyes dragged over my body, and I saw her hands clench at her sides. I also noted the way her breathing moved a little quicker than usual.
Fuck.
She was attracted to me too. No doubt about it.
For a second, I wished the kids weren’t here so I could cross the distance between us and kiss the absolute hell out of her.
“Why do you have your shirts off?” Eilidh crossed her arms over her chest. “That’s not fair.”
“Do either of you have sun lotion on?” Ery yanked her attention from me to frown at Lewis as she walked down the deck steps. “You can’t play like that without lotion on.”
“The sun is low,” I replied. “We’ve barely got an hour of it left. Can’t do that much damage.”
“Thane and Regan like the kids to have lotion on when it’s sunny,” she countered.
“Och, I’ll put my shirt back on.” Lewis sighed wearily, as if everyone was trying his patience this evening. He pulled his shirt over his head.
Ery glowered at me. “You too.”
I smirked but nodded. Sauntering toward her, I pulled my shirt out of my jeans but stopped at her side to murmur in her ear, “Excuses, excuses.”
“What?” She turned to glare harder, our noses almost touching.
My eyes dropped to her mouth, and I said, “All you had to say, gorgeous, was that my naked body is too much of a distraction. You didn’t have to make up crap about lotion.”
She huffed in a breath and pulled away from me. “Not an excuse. Skin cancer isn’t a joke.”
“True.” I pulled on my shirt. “But don’t think I’m buying it.”
We stared each other down until Eilidh asked, “Why are you looking at each other like that?”
Ery broke our gazes first, turning to my niece with a bright smile. “We’re sizing up the competition. Staring each other down. Because it’s boys against girls, right?”
“Yes!” Lewis shot a fist into the air. “I’m so gonna win with Uncle Arr on my team.”
I winked at him, but my amusement died when Eilidh yelled unhappily, “No! Uncle Arran is mine!”
I felt that tug in my chest again.
“That’s not fair! You always want Uncle Arr on your team. You just had him on your team for the board game!” Lewis’s wee face darkened with frustration.
“Hey, hey.” Ery knelt beside Eilidh, who looked near tears. “Don’t you want to be on my team, Eilidh-boo? I miss being on yours.”
That seemed to surprise Eilidh, as if she hadn’t considered it might upset Ery that I’d become her favorite since my arrival. “Really?” she asked quietly.
“Really.” She tugged on one of Eilidh’s curls. “You know what’s so great about having lots of family and friends?”
“What?”
“There’s always someone to be on your team.
Just because Uncle Arran is on Lewis’s team sometimes doesn’t mean you don’t have someone on yours.
And the other great thing about family is that it teaches us to share our love.
Sometimes Lewis will need Arran, and you have to be okay with that and vice versa, right? ”
“Okay.” Eilidh nodded like a little adult. “That makes sense. I’m happy to be on your team, Ery.”
For that, Ery hugged my niece hard while I stood in awe that Ery could talk to the kids like that.
Eilidh’s smile turned to a scowl as she pulled out of their embrace. “But we better win, Ery.”
Ery’s laughter made me grin as she promised to “whup our butts.”
In the end, Lewis and I won, but while the boy crowed our victory on the short walk back inside, I did not feel triumphant. I felt impatient and possessive over Eredine Willows, and neither emotion was something I was proud of.