20. Kael

20

KAEL

"You went to juvie?" She places her hands in her lap and leans forward to listen.

I chuckle. "I was fifteen. My dad wouldn't buy me a car because I wouldn't turn sixteen for a month. And he said I had to wait until Christmas. My birthday is in July."

"So, you stole a car?"

"Not just any car." I smirk. "Niall Murphy's GT Shelby."

Her beautiful green eyes widen. "You did not."

"I did." I grin. "It's a classic model, so I was able to hotwire it easily."

"What happened then?"

"I took it on a joyride. State patrol caught me doing a hundred and twenty-five on the interstate."

"Did you run from the cops?" She's leaning all the way forward.

I laugh, throwing my head back. "Nah. I pulled over and put my hands on my head like Da taught me."

She laughs, too, probably imagining a skinny, fifteen-year-old me with his hands on his head in Murphy's muscle car.

"They sent you to juvie?"

I shrug. "Only for a couple of weeks. Da got me out, but he wanted me to learn a lesson."

"Did you learn it?"

I chuckle, looking at her sparkling eyes. "Hell, no. Stole another car the instant I turned sixteen. Eventually, the old man bought me one just to keep me out of trouble."

"Seems like that totally worked." She rolls her eyes, and I snort.

"You're right about that."

"Trouble might as well be your middle name."

I look at her feigning innocence. "How do you know it's not?"

She laughs out loud. And as I laugh with her, I think about how much I've been laughing during this poker game.

Paige is really funny, when she's not being a spoiled brat.

"I have an idea." She grins at me, a weird glint in her gaze.

My smile fades. "I don't like that look in your eyes."

"Oh, come on." She waves me off. "I was just thinking, why don't we make this game a little more interesting?"

I narrow my eyes at her. She's up to something. "What do you mean, more interesting?"

She gives me a slow grin, and I get a little scared.

But she remains silent.

"Well? What's your idea, then?" I stare at Paige for a long moment. "You want to play for money?"

She shakes her head. "No, something else."

I frown. "How can you make this more interesting without involving money? "

"I was thinking more along the lines of…" Her cheeks get that amazing shade of pink again. "Strip poker."

I jerk. "Absolutely not."

She pouts. "Why not? You afraid you'll lose your shirt? You barely wear one anyway."

I laugh despite myself. I shouldn't be getting this close to her at all, not to mention considering playing strip poker, of all things.

"You might lose more than your shirt," I point out, looking her up and down.

That pretty pink brings out her freckles again. "I'm going to win, so I don't have to worry."

I raise an eyebrow. "You know you don't have much of a poker face, right? Just thought you should know."

She crosses her arms over her chest. "Well, that means you don't know me very well."

"I think I know you pretty well, princess. I've known you since you were a child."

"I was a lot different when I was younger than I am now." She huffs out a breath, dropping her arms. "Now are you going to play with me, or not?"

"Not strip poker, no."

She groans. "You're boring, you know that?"

I snicker. "Can't say that's something I've ever been accused of, no."

"Well, then prove that you're not. Play with me, Kael."

Her voice goes low and sultry when she says that, and my heart skips a beat.

Shit.

"All right. But you're the one who's going to lose your shirt."

"Bet you'd love that," she drawls, and I give her a hot look .

"Aye." I draw out the word, my slight Irish accent coming through. "I think I would."

She deals another hand, and folds after I bet ten chips.

She slowly takes off one of her socks, grinning.

"Hey! That's cheating," I protest, but she just laughs.

"It's legal."

I smile a little. "I was going to play nice, but not anymore. Let's get you out of the rest of those clothes, then."

"You wish."

She gets a flush on the next hand, and I end up folding.

I'm only wearing a T-shirt and a pair of basketball shorts, so I make a face and take off my shirt.

She appears to be staring, which isn't unusual, but she's specifically looking at the tattoos on my arm. "Why the flowers? The lion?"

"The flowers are for my sister," I murmur. "Her name was Lily."

"Was?"

"She passed when I was younger." I don't like to talk about it. It hurts.

"I'm so sorry." She reaches over and holds my hand. "I know what it's like losing a loved one."

She was too young to remember her mother, and I got to have my sister up until I was fourteen. I wonder if it hurts worse when you've had them most of your life, and they're taken away.

She intertwines her fingers with mine, and I don't move away for a long moment.

Finally, I pull away, clearing my throat. I deal us another hand.

She wins with two pair, grinning at me, and I groan, taking off my shorts. I'm down to my boxer briefs, and her eyes roving over me are almost like a caress .

"Do you have any tattoos?" I ask, and she grins.

"Wouldn't you like to know."

"Bet I'll get to find out this hand," I murmur in a low baritone, and she shivers slightly.

I deal again, and I've got only a pair, but I keep my face stony.

Paige frowns slightly. She doesn't have much of a poker face.

When I win with just one pair, she groans and pulls off her other sock.

I try not to look at the expanse of her calf.

"We're getting somewhere, now." I smirk, and she kicks me under the table, but I just laugh. There's no way this will go much further.

She manages to bluff for a long time before I lay down my next hand. A full house.

"Go on." My eyes flicker down to her body.

"You're enjoying this."

"Aye."

Paige groans and stands up, frowning.

I don't think she'll really do it, but as I watch, she pulls off her shirt, revealing smallish, perfect breasts and a pair of boy shorts her ass is hanging out of.

I take a sharp breath, and my eyes are on her breasts immediately, trailing down to her slight pouch of a belly, and then the hint of a tattoo on her left hip.

Curious, I move closer, scooting the chair toward her.

I reach out and put a hand on her hip, touching the edge of the sparrow tattoo, and she gasps.

I turn her around and trace the tattoo with my fingers, and she trembles before I pull away.

"Pretty," I mumble, and I don't know if I mean her or the tattoo .

"It's a best friends' tattoo."

I raise an eyebrow.

"Four sparrows. For me and my three best friends. They're like sisters to me."

She sits down, trying to hide her breasts, and I scoff.

"I've already seen what you've got, princess."

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Shoot."

"Have you ever been in love?"

I frown, panic rising in my throat. "Does this have anything to do with O'Malley?"

"None of your business."

I tighten my jaw, but I don't say anything. I don't want her thinking I'm jealous, even though I am. "No. I've never been in love. I don't even know if love exists."

She nods slowly. "I've never met anyone that I really...that I wanted to be with."

My eyes widen. "You've...you've never been with anyone? Does that mean?—"

"I'm a virgin." She hides her breasts with her hands as she lowers her head, and I gape at her.

"Jesus."

"I've just never found anyone I wanted to sleep with. At least not yet."

"Are you on the hunt, then, sweetheart?" I lean closer over the table.

"Maybe. I just want to have a connection with someone. Burkes don't really make it to seventy years old. Murphy's already after me, and...I don't know. I just want to make the most of whatever time I have left."

I sit back in my seat, sobering. "I get that. I've thought about life a lot, and about death a lot. We see it too much, in this life. Even you, as sheltered as you've been. It's a dangerous life to live, and you have to have the guts for it."

"You think I don't have guts?"

"Oh, sweetheart. You've got guts for days."

"I've just always been so sheltered. It feels like I'm still a baby in some ways."

"You're not a baby. You're a grown woman. You can make your own decisions, regardless of what Declan says."

She nods, and I continue. "You know, he wants you to go back home. Move back into the mansion. So that he can keep you safe."

"You keep me safe," she whispers, and looking at her, something washes over me. Something I can't quite put my finger on.

"Aye, as long as I'm standing; I'll take care of you, princess."

"Thank you," she breathes, and she gets closer to me, moving her chair so that we're sitting next to each other, her bare thigh against mine.

With our skin touching, my breath comes shorter, and I want to kiss her so badly I can barely stand it.

I can't. Especially with her being pure. Untouched.

I start to deal out another hand.

Eventually, she folds and groans loudly. "Now I'm going to be naked."

I grin. "No panties?"

"These are my panties. Boy shorts."

" Feck , that's sexy." I don't mean to say it, but it still comes out as a murmur.

She stands and starts to remove them, but then I reach out, stopping her with a hand on the dip of her waist.

"Turn around," I order .

She takes her time turning around and pulls off the boy shorts.

I let out a low groan as the fabric stretches across her ass.

When she kicks them off, I bite my lip at how her flesh jiggles.

She turns back around, and I'm just in my boxers, so I know she can see me hard and straining against the fabric.

"Kael." Her voice is trembling. "Do you want me?"

I don't speak for a long moment. I can't. I try with all my might to swallow the boulder stuck in my throat.

Finally, I just say, "Aye."

"Then why don't you take me?"

"Shouldn't," I grunt. "You're my best friend's sister."

"Does he need to know? Besides, doesn't that make it even hotter? Because I'm off limits?"

"God help me, it does."

She walks over to me, standing right in front of me, naked as the day she was born, and my eyes are everywhere, my hands in fists, trying not to touch her.

I'm so hot I can barely stand it.

She straddles me, putting her arms around my neck, and I let out a low moan.

"Paige," I breathe. "We can't?—"

Then she kisses me, and I can't say another word.

Playing strip poker with Paige was a monumentally bad idea, and now she's naked and kissing me, and I can't bring myself to hold back.