AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What’s up, Bren?”
His brother leaned across the bar, placed a beer in front of him, and stared Duncan down. “You’ve been at Lucky for almost half an hour now. Talking about fights, talking shit with Tori and me. Now take this beer and go to your woman.”
Duncan looked over his shoulder and spotted Kayla watching him, smiling softly and then looking away from him. He was such an idiot. He had felt as if all was how it should be. Lucky was his home; he was here with his family, and now he had Kayla and she’d fitted right in.
She was talking and laughing with Pops and Dad, but he was so stupid because he knew he didn’t have her completely yet. Brennan was right to be reminding him that he needed to go see his wildflower.
He grabbed his beer and nodded. “Thanks, Bren.” Brennan grumbled something unintelligible and walked over to another customer.
“Ah, there he is. Yer done wanderin’ ’bout, boy?”
Pops didn’t call him boyo; that wasn’t good, not good at all. Pops must agree with Brennan, feeling as if Duncan had neglected Kayla. Pops was normally a tad cranky, but Duncan realized, if you messed with Kayla, Pops turned it up a notch.
“I tell ye, boy, ye got such a fine thing and yet yer sittin’ at the bar talkin’ to no one special. What an idiot ye are.”
Duncan smirked and shook his head. “You are right, Pops. Nobody’s more special than Kayla.”
Kayla looked up from her half-empty wineglass and raised her left eyebrow as she drawled, “Oh, is that right?”
Duncan sat down in the chair next to her as she stared him down. She was such a feisty little Irishwoman, and from the corner of his eye, Duncan spotted the amused looks between his dad and Pops.
This was not the time to think lightly of her feelings, but sometimes it couldn’t be helped, and he decided to shut her up by giving her one hell of a kiss. At first she felt rigid in his embrace as he grabbed the back of her head with his calloused hand and brought her lips down to his. But that was only a fleeting moment, as she thawed swiftly and kissed him back.
“Uh-hmm.”
The clearing of a throat behind them made Kayla break the kiss too soon for Duncan’s liking. He narrowed his eyes over her shoulder as he saw his two younger twin brothers standing there smirking back at him.
“Kayla, I would like you to meet my two baby brothers, Declan and Ronan. Dec and Ro, meet my girlfriend, Kayla.”
Duncan grinned at the blush that crept over Kayla’s cheeks as he called her his girlfriend. But she hastily masked any sign of embarrassment as she gave both of his brothers a warm smile and a firm handshake.
Before either of them could start a conversation, Pops announced, “Dec, Ro, if ye boys don’t get yer heads out of yer asses and mess things up indefinitely with yer ladies, be safe to know that Kayla has two beautiful Irish sisters for ye.”
“I don’t know if that’s a good recommendation for my sisters, Pops.”
All the Mills men present at the table instantly cracked up at Kayla’s retort.
“Ye got me there, fine thing. Got me there.” Pops smiled and shook his head over his whiskey glass.
“It’s good to finally meet you, Kayla. I’ve heard so much about you from Dunc and Don,” Declan said as he took the last vacant chair at the table.
“Thanks, Declan. I was hoping to meet more of Duncan’s family tonight.”
“Yeah, I’m sure you couldn’t wait to finally meet the two best-looking brothers of the family,” Ronan joked and winked at Kayla.
“Sure... where are they?” Kayla mocked as she made a show of looking past Ronan, who stood next to Dec’s chair.
“I like you already, Kayla. Welcome to the Mills family.” Sean grinned as he stood from his chair and asked Pops to come with him, as they needed to discuss something with Brennan about Lucky.
Kayla thanked Sean by lifting her wineglass in the sign of a toast. Ronan took the vacant chair from his dad, and Donovan and Calum joined them too. Calum perched his tall frame in Pops’s vacant chair, and Donovan grabbed a chair from the table next to them to sit next to Calum.
Donovan immediately got down to business as he said, “Okay. So, Kayla, as we said this morning, I’ve informed my brothers about what we’re dealing with. Declan will inform Caitlin, with her being his partner on the force, and from my end, everything is set in motion. If the sucker is doing anything sketchy, I’ll know.”
Duncan picked up on Kayla losing a bit of her bantering spirit as she bent her head and studied the inside of her wineglass. He took her right hand in his and placed it on his knee while she looked up and gave him a sad smile.
He kissed her cheek and tried to reassure her. “It’s gonna be okay, wildflower.”
Kayla nodded. “I’m just sorry to drag you all into my mess.”
