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Jacob’s face reddens. He looks about two seconds away from exploding. “Precisely who has been telling you about our business?”
Tawny laughs. “Oh, Da. I listen at the doors!”
There’s a tense second where I think Jacob is going to implode with rage. Instead, he laughs. It’s low and rusty, as if he’s unaccustomed to laughing.
I breathe a sigh of relief and pray for dinner to end.
Chapter 12
Caine
I pour a glass of whiskey for myself and Killian. I down mine and refill the glass, sighing in content. I have another long pull and relish the burn on the way down. “I needed that.”
Killian chuckles. “I imagine tonight’s been stressful.”
“You could say that.”
I trust Killian with my life. In spite of all the insanity in our family, we have each other’s backs. Much to our Da’s dismay. There are few things he enjoys more than pitting his sons against each other. We swore long ago he wouldn’t succeed.
“Refresh my memory. Is this the library girl that escaped in the night?”
“The one and only.”
Killian’s impossibly wide grin broadens. “Fucking amazing! Must be some pussy if you’re still obsessed a year later.” I look askance at him. “You care about the girl? For fuck’s sake, Caine. She’s just a piece of ass.”
Aurora’s not just a piece of ass to me, and that’s the whole problem. I can’t get the image of her in that little black dress out of my mind. The way the black makes her blue eyes appear bluer. Her long, shapely legs and the tight fabric that hugs her perfectly round ass. The swell of her full breasts peeking out of the dress. Her plump red lips beckoning me closer. It’s a temptation I’m trying to drown in alcohol. Anything to stop myself from thinking about how I have her and yet can’thaveher.
Fuck me, even the fact that she threatened me with a letter opener is a turn-on. Everything about Aurora is a constant temptation.
“She hates me. I doubt kidnapping her in the middle of the night is the foundation for any kind of relationship except the fucked up kind,” I say.
“Ah, but that’s the kind the O’Connors do best,” Killian says, chuckling.
I hope one day he falls for a girl who hates him. Just so he can understand the torture.
“Aye, she’s a pretty one,” Killian says, his brogue thickening with drink. He was almost ten when we left Ireland and his accent is as broad as our Da’s, unlike mine, which is a watered-down version, unless I’m in my cups. If I’d been older when we left Ireland, my accent would likely be more prominent, but as it is, I scarcely remember living there.
“That’s my fiancée you’re talking about.”
Killian shakes his head. “You, my brother have bigger problems than that pretty little fiancée of yours.”
“That’s nothing new.”
Killian leans forward, wearing his serious face. “If Da doesn’t believe your house is in order, he’ll burn it to the ground.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
I hate veiled threats. Things are so much simpler when everything is out in the open.
“If he thinks there’s even a chance Aurora isn’t loyal, he will kill her, and every member of her family.”
“I know.” I bite out the words. Killian isn’t telling me anything new. I haven’t done enough to make our act believable. If the bodyguards blab there is disharmony…well I simply won’t allow it to come to that.
Chapter 13
Aurora
I take my makeup off and flop onto the bed. The one bright side is this giant comfortable bed. Too bad I can’t think of anything half as nice to say about Caine.
