“That’s crazy,” Ronan added. He returned to shoveling up his breakfast as Astrid slid Liam’s in front of him. He soon matched Ronan in his demolition of breakfast.
Parker knew he needed to work harder at teaching them some manners. Their dad would have already slapped all of them on the back of the head. Astrid, though, didn’t seem to mind that they were acting like jackals.
“It is,” she continued. “I can eat lamb as well. I once even had rabbit. Give me a good lamb chop and stand back.” The twins laughed. Bending over the kitchen bar in front of Parker, she rested her elbows on the counter.
“So has Mr. Grumpy made a decision?” Parker rolled his eyes at her and slid his empty coffee cup across the bar. Reaching behind her without taking her eyes off him, she snagged the coffee pot off the stove. She refilled his mug to the brim.
“Thank you,” he growled, narrowing his eyes at her. Did she not understand she could have gotten burned that way? Was she trying to give him a heart attack? Okay, maybe he was a little grumpier in the morning. “What are you eating?”
“I happened to find a nice assortment of bagels hiding in your cabinet. One of those, toasted with an inch of cream cheese covering it, suits me perfectly. Usually, I don’t eat much for breakfast. Sometimes, if I was good, I got up early enough to join Karlie. Being an athlete, she always ate breakfast.” Parker listened to Astrid ramble as she walked to the cabinet he kept the bread in.
“Did you want a bagel?” she asked, turning around to look at him. He quickly brought his eyes back up to her eyes from where they had been focused on her ass. He needed to stop doing that.
“Yeah, a bagel is fine,” he said, waiting for that second cup of coffee to kick in.
Hearing stifled laughter from his brothers he knew he had been caught staring at one of her better assets. He cocked his head at them with a scowl. He found them paused between bites grinning at him.
“Don’t you have somewhere to be?” he asked
“Unfortunately, yes, or I could sit here all day watching this,” Liam answered, waving his hand between Parker and Astrid. “I have practice in half an hour at the park. It’s not official but a couple of us don’t want to lose our conditioning over the summer. We figured a couple of days a week around the outer trail should help. I’ll probably hit open gym hours at the school to lift the other days.” Parker managed to drag his eyes away from Astrid to nod at his brother.
“Ronan, what do you have today?” he asked, watching her fish their bagels out of the old toaster with a knife. Now she was trying to add electrocution to her list of ways to freak him out.
“I thought I would join a gang. You know a really big nasty one with lots of bitches to choose from,” Ronan answered, grinning at Liam. “Get a couple ‘bros before hos’ tats.”
“Yeah, okay,” Parker answered until the words soaked in through his sex-addled mind. “Wait, what did you say?”
Everyone except Parker started laughing. But really, whatdidhe say? Something about bitches was all he got out of it. Fuck, he was sunk. He had to put an end to this delectable distraction and fast.
“I’m going to the library to meet with the rest of the art club. We’re planning the camp we’re putting on starting next week for elementary kids,” Ronan said, ducking away when Parker swatted at his head. “You’re not paying attention to anything else this morning, are you?”
“I got it. Art club, cross-country,” he said, pointing at them. “What else?” Laughing, they got up from the table and took their plates to the sink. Liam patted him on the chest. Ronan followed, shaking his head as they headed for their room.
“Guys, if you’ll give me a second to clean up, I can drop you off on my way back to my apartment,” Astrid called after them.
“Just leave it. I’ll clean it up. You’re leaving?” he asked, hoping for… what? Hoping that she would just move in with him, spread her shit all over the apartment, and sleep in his bed every night? That wasn’t how he got rid of the distraction.
Besides, she belonged in a large house in the suburbs. There was no way she would ever be interested in roughing it in a tiny apartment over a bar. He would keep reminding himself of this every moment if it would keep him from doing something irrevocably stupid. He wasn’t interested in anything that could destroy them both.
“I have class this afternoon. We have a paper due soon that I need to work on.” Parker nodded his head slowly. “What are you doing today? When do you open tonight?”
“It’s our night to be closed. Six days a week is plenty.” He took a swallow of his third cup of coffee.
“Hmm, I’ll probably go see my dad for a while. With luck, I can squeeze in a nap this afternoon. When do you get out of class? You can always work on your homework up here if you need somewhere quiet.” What the fuck was he saying? They needed more space apart–not less.
“Ronan said your dad suffered a stroke,” she said quietly. “I’m sorry to hear that. Where is he now?” He noticed she ignored the offer to study in the apartment, so he shrugged it off.
“He’s been at a rehab place here in town since he got out of the hospital. They think he can come home soon.”
“That’s good.” She stood for a moment, watching him before she smiled. “Well, you have my number. Call me if you need some extra help again. Bye, Parker.”
Slipping into his room, she emerged having changed back into her clothes. With a small wave, she followed his brothers out the door.
Parker sat still for a moment listening to the silence that settled over the apartment. He used to love to escape up here where it was quiet. Now he liked the banter from this morning. He might have to work on the grumpy thing for next time, however.
“Oh fuck, this is so bad,” he said to no one. He was already expecting there to be a next time. Hoping there would be. At this rate, he was going to be faced with a long, agonizing summer.
Quickly cleaning up the kitchen, he walked back into his bedroom and flopped down on the bed. He would start with a nap before going to see his dad. He closed his eyes and settled against the pillows that still smelled of Astrid.
