Chapter 13

Chapter

Thirteen

Cooking breakfast has been like Hercules’final labour.

Of course I wasn’t going to know where anything is in Kieran’s kitchen… but I’m not sure he does, either. It was one of the most bizarre experiences of my life to open the cupboard doors under the sink and find a single, perfect loaf of bread sitting there.

Thankfully, the bacon was in the fridge—where it really belongs—and I won the scavenger hunt for bread, butter, and eggs.

After frying up the bacon, I just had to pop the bread in the pan, cut holes out of each slice with a drinking glass, and crack an egg in.

“Voila: egg-in-the-middle.” I slide the flipper underneath the second piece and transfer it to the plate.

I heard Kieran rustling about in the bedroom a few minutes ago, so I think I’ve got the timing just right.

“Gooood morning!” Kieran announces himself as he swans out of the bedroom in a tiny black crop top and blue denim Daisy Dukes. “Did you sleep all right?”

Suddenly, I don’t know where to look—or what to say.

Obviously I like the view… I can barely keep my eyes on his face. But something is unsettling me, and I can’t work out what it is.

“Morning, sunshine,” I greet him. I frown, turning back to the plates to arrange the bacon on them. “Good, thanks. You?”

“Great.” Kieran giggles as he sashays up to me like he’s wearing six-inch heels on a catwalk. And I can’t say I’m not into it. It really shows off his legs, for one thing. “Not a morning person?” he teases, leaning on the counter next to me.

I swallow hard as I glance up from those miles-long smooth thighs, trying to fix my eyes on his face again. “Uh… no, I am. This is just my natural face.”

“Mmm.” Kieran winks at me. “Sure it is. I’ll get a smile out of you before breakfast is over,” he promises, pointing at me with one finger as he dances around me to grab the pot of coffee.

My eyebrows twitch up. “Consider me warned,” I tell him, a little bit thoughtfully.

That’s it, though. That’s why I’ve got that little feeling in my stomach, like a warning: Kieran has his customer service face on. Not even the slightest hint of what I saw when I woke up in bed with him barely half an hour ago.

Sunshine is one thing. It’s what Kieran is made of. He’s a flirt and a charmer. But right now, it feels like he’s about to find me a table and bring the menu.

I bet that usually works on men. If I just wanted to get laid, I’d go along with it… but I don’t know how to explain to him that it won’t work on me. In fact, it has the opposite effect.

Kieran leans over. “Oh, toast tits!”

My eyebrows shoot all the way into my hairline.

“Uh…” I can’t help looking down at them, and then I sigh. Goddamn. I’m never going to look at them the same, am I?

Kieran just grins unrepentantly. “Ketchup? Maple syrup? Something else?” he asks as he opens the fridge, then slides open the drawer most people use for their veggies. “All the sauces are in here,” he tells me. “Except the ones I forget to put away.”

I crinkle my nose at him. “I’ll take the ketchup. But yeah, I found the weird sauce drawer when I was looking for the eggs. Which are… in the fridge door?”

I open the drawers until I find the rattling drawer of pure chaos where he stores his cutlery. It hurts my soul, but I manage to pick out two knives and forks before shutting it again.

“It’s weird to keep them in the fridge,” Kieran groans. “But I’m told I might die if I don’t.”

I blink at him. “Yeah. Yeah, you might. Please keep them in the fridge. I mean, the door.” I squint at the eggs, all nestled into the little fridge door tray. “In that thing.”

“Wait. Is it not an egg tray?”

“I mean, I think it’s supposed to be,” I admit, shrugging. “But I don’t know anybody who uses it.”

Kieran groans dramatically and sags against the counter. “Once again, nobody told the foreigner. I swear, expat life is the weirdest sometimes.”

“At least they told you about the eggs,” I mutter, silently thanking Berty for not letting Kieran work in the restaurant kitchen. “So do you keep your bread there in Ireland?”

I’m just glad he doesn’t have cleaning products in there, too. But I’m not even sure that’s intentional. He does have drinking mugs and cans of soup all shoved in together, like a maniac.

“Oh yeah, no.” Kieran grins. “But it’s cool down there, so it stays good for longer.”

I stare at him. “I’m… not sure it works like that.”

Kieran beams at me. “It definitely does.”

I shake my head, but I have to admit… the place is too quiet when Kieran is asleep. As I pour myself a coffee, he grabs another piece of bacon from the pan and crunches at it.

“Thank you for making breakfast, by the way! That’s really sweet of you.”

“My pleasure. But I might go to the store later. I’ll need some things if I’m gonna cook here. And I’ll need them to be where I put them,” I warn Kieran, holding up a finger. “Or a cupboard just for me. Or a lesson on your organizing system.”

Kieran laughs. “I just don’t really bother putting things in specific places.”

That entirely stresses me out. I mean, I don’t really cook, but I can cook. Kieran really wasn’t kidding when he said he doesn’t.

That makes last night’s dinner all the more impressive—and sweet.

“Come on. Let’s eat,” Kieran gestures with the remaining sliver of bacon and then pops it in his mouth. “Before my tits get cold.”

“Please—” I groan, but he just looks delighted that he’s figured out how to get to me. I sigh. “Give me strength.”

“Breakfast will do that,” he says cheerily and takes his plate, strutting for the table.

Oh, Kieran.

By nature, he’s perkier than a pinched nipple, but there’s no way that’s the whole story. He slathers on even more sunshine and sass, because we both know damn well that nobody will look twice—or even once—at the sun.

Some people build walls to hide their shadows. Others turn up the sunshine instead.

I have to be careful with this one.

Kieran could wrap me right around his finger—and then saunter off with my heart. Until he gives me a glimpse of what’s underneath, I want to try my hardest to resist all the shiny temptation he offers up.

And boy, is there a lot of it.

“Mmm,” Kieran moans, draping himself elegantly across the rickety kitchen chair. He’s trying to maximize the skin he’s showing off. And when I can’t help a glance at all those legs, he winks at me and bats his lashes.

It takes all I have to tear my gaze off Kieran and roll my eyes so I can dig into my breakfast.

As we start eating, neither of us says a word.

Even without looking at each other beyond fleeting glances, the chemistry between us is thickening until it fills the whole room. A shivering hot electric charge is racing between us like a live wire.

“Mm,” Kieran moans. “I’m getting breakfast, and you washed the dishes, and last night didn’t leave me unable to walk straight?” He props his chin on his fist. “Is that what romance is like? I wouldn’t know. Ask me where my expertise is.”

Oh, that’s clever.

There are all kinds of ways I could take that. All of them help him test the waters—and, I bet, keep people at arm’s length. But if he’s going to keep me on my toes, I’ll give him a taste of his own medicine.

“Really?” I ask him, tilting my head quite seriously. “You’ve never had a boyfriend before?”

Just as I’d hoped, it catches Kieran off-guard.

His smile falters, and then he nods. “Yeah. Partly not meeting the right people, and partly… I guess just not letting myself stick around.” Then he quickly looks up at me, like he’s said a little more than he expected. “You?”

Relief floods my chest.

This is what I wanted to see—so much more than well-used pickup lines. Real answers.

“I’ve tried dating seriously, but it didn’t last long.” I shrug ruefully, setting down my knife and fork. “I guess I was trying to find a country boy in the big city. I should have been looking here. In your natural habitat.”

Boom. There it is.

Kieran just did it again. I thought he’d like that line. But whatever I said wrong, Kieran suddenly remembered some shadow he doesn’t want me to see, and now he’s cranked the sunshine back up to eleven.

He giggles. “That’s a pity.”

“I don’t mind. I’m ready to try new things,” I tell him, almost holding my breath.

But I don’t know if he is.

Kieran bats his lashes. “My romantic virginity is still on offer. All I need is a more experienced man.

I’m speechless again.

“Aha! A smile!” Kieran triumphantly thumps his coffee mug on the table.

Even knowing what Kieran’s up to doesn’t make me immune to his charms. I rub my hand over my face, rubbing at my scruff. “No,” I grunt at him.

“Was so.”

“Eat your breakfast,” I grumble.

I’m a little relieved—and more than a little turned on—that he immediately obeys me. Honestly, now I’m thinking of all the other things I want to order him to do. And I bet that’s part of his plan.

God almighty, I’d better fix that roof up fast.

My head is trying to be sensible and grounded about this. But my heart is already an untethered hot air balloon, and my cock wants to follow suit.

Up, up, and away.

Kieran’s phone buzzes. He checks it, then giggles and looks up at me.

“What?” I ask suspiciously, but he just smiles innocently.

“Nothing. You’ll see. Don’t worry.”

My suspicious frown deepens, but he’s not giving away anything, however hard I squint at him. Finally, I give in and sigh. “With you in my life, I don’t think I have a choice but to worry.”

“Oh, relax,” Kieran winks. “And breathe. Trust me: everything goes in easier that way.”

I stand up to gather the plates, not quite managing to hide my smile before I head for the kitchen.

What am I going to do with him?