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When he tucked her hair behind her ear to kiss her temple and then trailed his thumb over the little dimple in her chin before pressing a kiss to the tip of her nose, I audibly crooned. “Aww!”
I loved temple kisses. Forehead kisses, too. And nuzzling noses were the cream of the crop. Those intimate forms of affection were my favorite, and my bestie received an abundance of both on the daily from her lover.
“It’ll be grand, chickie,” I said, trying to appease when I saw a tear trickle down her cheek. “Hey, don’t cry.” Reaching across the table, I snatched her hand up in mine, feeling a huge swell of sympathy for my timid friend. “Mr. Twomey did Joey a favor if you think about it.” Joey clearly didn’t want to be at school to begin with. His girlfriend was still in the hospital, having just given birth to their son. “At least now he gets to spend some quality time with Aoife and baby AJ.”
“Exactly,” Johnny agreed, giving me a grateful look. “You know his mind wasn’t here anyway. He’ll have a couple of weeks off to spend with his family and then he’ll be back.”
“Cap, you might want to tell your old man to keep an eye on Twomey.” Arriving back to the table with a large wicker basket in hand, Gerard walked straight over to where I was sitting and dropped the basket down on the table in front of me. “I just saw your mam leaving the office with the Lynch brothers,” he said, flipping the lid of the basket open. “And let me tell you that cranky old bastard watched her ass the entire time.”
“Oooh…muffins!” I rubbed my hands together with glee when my eyes landed on the fantastic array of baked goodies, courtesy of Gibson’s Bakery. “Gimme, gimme.”
“Mammy K’s here?” Robbie Mac piped up from further up the table. “Was she wearing the white pants suit? Oh fuck, Gibs, tell me she was wearing the white pants suit.”
“The one that shows her thong print?” Pierce asked, reaching over the table to swipe a muffin out of the basket.
“That’s the one,” Robbie confirmed with a groan. “Jesus, that woman is immortal. Doesn’t look a day over thirty-five.”
“You’ll be wearing the imprint of my foot up your hole if you talk about my ma like that,” Johnny warned, bristling. “Pack it in.”
“Hey, don’t look at me,” Gerard huffed. “I wasn’t looking.”
“Bullshit,” one of the team fake-coughed, causing everyone else at the table to erupt in laughter.
“Bleeding perverts, the lot of ye.”
“Boys are dogs,” I groaned, momentarily standing for Gerard to sit down, and then unceremoniously sinking back down on his lap.
“It’s true,” Gerard agreed, reaching into his pocket to retrieve a set of car keys. “And before you even start on the lecture train, just stop,” he added, tossing the keys at Johnny before reaching around me and grabbing a muffin. “I’m an emotional eater.”
“Oh no, no, no, no,” Hugh said with a humorless laugh as he pointed a finger at me. “There’s a spare seat at the table now that Lynchy’s gone. No need to sit on anyone’s lap, baby sister.”
“I’m not sitting on anyone’s lap,” I countered with a grin. “I’m sitting on Gerard’s lap.”
“That’s me, by the way,” Gerard taunted, snaking an arm around my waist, while he waved his free hand around over his head. “Hi.”
“Ooh, ooh, please let me have a bite,” I begged, catching ahold of Gerard’s wrist when he raised the most beautiful-looking double chocolate chip muffin toward his mouth.
“Nuh-uh, bite with your mouth, babe, not with your hands,” he teased, snatching the muffin back when I tried to swipe it. “Open wide.”
“Claire.” Lizzie broke her silence with a hiss. “Don’t let him feed you.”
“Too…ate…” I mumbled between bites. “Sorry…ugh…”
“Gibs!” Hugh joined in on the judgment. “Stop feeding my sister!”
“What?” Gerard replied, holding his hand to catch the crumbs that didn’t make my mouth, while he fed me another bite of his muffin. “She wants it.”
“Oh, leave it alone.” Feely laughed. “What harm are they causing to anyone?”
“Pa, he just put his fingers in her mouth.”
“No, he didn’t. He put a piece of muffin in her mouth,” he replied calmly. “You’re overreacting.”
“I bet that’s not all he puts in your sister’s mouth, Hughie,” Danny called out, causing most of the team to laugh and snicker around us.
“A lot you’d know about putting anything in girls’ mouths.” Lizzie was quick to defend me. “Get back in your box, asshole.”
“Doesn’t look like she has a gag reflex,” Pierce goaded the boys by adding. “Lucky bastard.”
