Duncan chuckled. “Yeah, they’ll come over soon.”
“Did you guys play some pool yet?” Duncan looked over at Calum, who was staring at Caitlin while sitting next to her. She gave Calum an elbow in the ribs to get him to stop staring.
“Ouch.”
They all laughed at Calum’s expense, and from the look of it, Calum wasn’t used to it.
“Come on, Duncan, let’s play,” Calum said gruffly and stood from his chair as he walked toward the pool tables at the back.
“Yeah, you line ’em up. I’m coming,” Duncan replied.
“Cait, keep doin’ what yer doin’, and the boy will poke himself in the eye with one of them damn poles from the pool tables. Don’t play too hard to get, ye hear? I’m feelin’ sorry for Kayla’s brother. He’s a nice Irish boy, yah?”
Caitlin wasn’t having this discussion with Pops. She pursed her lips, and if it was any other person butting in, she surely would have bitten their head off.
But it was Pops, and they all loved his ass, so she forced a small smile and said, “Pops, nothing is to come of it. He lives on the other side of the country.” She stood from her chair, patted Pops on the back, and gave him a sweet kiss on his cheek before she went to the bar.
“Sean Senior, you should let these kids figure things out for themselves,” Maureen tried.
But Pops didn’t listen to Maureen. “Now, where are Kayla’s sisters? Let me see if they are anythin’ like Kayla. Maybe one’s a good woman for our Declan, so he can stop pinin’ over Bree.”
Declan looked over at Pops, and he might as well have had steam coming from his ears. “You know what? I... I....” He sighed, took a long gulp from his beer, and lowered his head.
”Aye, that’s what I thought, boy. Ye know, I see Bree. She’s lookin’ over her shoulder every five minutes, doin’ her best to get yer attention while that boy next to her is busy butterin’ her up. What are ye doin’ here for, sittin’ with Maureen and me?”
Declan stood immediately, but instead of walking over to Bree, he walked out of Lucky, never once looking over at Bree. She watched Declan’s back as he passed her by. Bree’s shoulders slumped, but then the guy from her team gave her a beer and she sat up straighter. She smiled softly at him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Fuck, this was not good at all.
Declan was majorly fucking this up, and Duncan knew he couldn’t help his brother. He had told him often enough that he should go for Bree, but Declan said that he didn’t want to jeopardize their friendship. He had seen what a breakup did to Fianna and Ronan, and he said he never wanted to miss Bree from his life.
Donovan came into the pub and strolled directly toward Pops’s table. He took Declan’s seat and treated Pops and Duncan to a nod after he’d kissed Maureen’s cheek. His eyes scanned the room, suddenly looking unnerved. Duncan followed his line of sight and noticed Kayla coming over to them with her sisters in tow. He glanced over at Donovan, who sat straight with his eyes pinned on one person only. His eyes never broke contact with Kate as he shook hands with Errin, who tried to joke, but he didn’t even acknowledge her.
The moment Kate looked up into Donovan’s eyes, she swallowed and her big blue eyes grew wide. They shook hands, and Donovan didn’t even have something clever to say. They stood there, holding hands, gazing into each other’s eyes. Pops had to butt in, of course, and Kate reluctantly took her eyes off Donovan.
She softly smiled at Pops as he said that she looked like a fine thing. “Ah, don’t ye blush, ye hear? Yer makin’ me blush with ye.”
Giggling softly, she let go of Donovan’s hand and introduced herself to Maureen as Donovan grabbed her a chair from the table next to them. She looked up at him with a smile that brought out her dimples. Donovan cleared his throat, still at a loss for words, and took his seat next to Kate.
All the while, Errin stood there with both hands on her hips. “Fine, leave me standing. No problem.”
Donovan jerked his head toward Errin, as if he’d just noticed her.
“I’m sorry, Errin. Forgive me.” He went to stand up from his seat, but he was stopped when Errin put out her hand.
“No, don’t bother. I just wanted to yank your chain a little. You did well helping Kate there. I’m going to shoot some pool.” Errin turned and walked toward Calum, who hugged her tight the moment she arrived at his pool table.
“Ah, some hellion she is. Aye, nothin’ like some Irish fire, I tell ye.” Pops clearly wasn’t upset that Errin would rather play pool than sit at his table. He seemed to appreciate the unabashed way she carried herself. Perhaps because he wasn’t shy about doing and saying things himself, so he could relate to Errin.
“Dunc, I introduced my sister to Bree, and she told Kate that they have an opening coming up, as one of her colleagues is going on maternity leave two months from now. I didn’t know Bree worked as a kindergarten teacher. This is perfect.”
Duncan nodded at Kayla and looked over at Kate, who seemed to be blushing even more.
“Kayla, you know I can’t quit my job. I.... Those kids need me.” She barely whispered the words, and Duncan feared it would take a lot of effort to get Kate out of her shell.
“Well, we need you here even more. It’s not safe at home, you know. Donovan, can you please help me out here?”
Donovan simply narrowed his eyes at Kayla in response, but she didn’t seem one bit unnerved by him. Duncan chuckled at the thought of these two together at the office, staring each other down.
Kayla continued, “I mean it, Donovan. You know Tom’s crazy. Please help me persuade Kate to come live with me.”