The only thing pushing her to the auditions was her promise to herself. She was going on a plane tomorrow to go see for one last time if she could make it as a dancer. It had been her hope and dream she’d be a part of a big production. Dancing had always been her life. A few days filled with hot sex shouldn’t deter her from her goals. Right?
“I’m going to see if I can help Emmy,” she said.
Brennan held her close against him and kissed her again. With one hand at the back of her head, he deepened their kiss. His big calloused hand roamed her butt and their body heat made her pantomiming fanning herself as she broke the kiss.If this was for show, for his cousins to warn them off of her, she didn’t know nor cared.
“Mmm. I hope the freezer still works. Goin’ to sit my ass down there for a while to cool off. If you need me, you’ll know where to find me.”
Brennan gave her a lopsided grin and tapped her butt twice. The Mills cousins had their eyes on her as she walked past them, but she gave them no further attention.
To ogle them from a safe distance was one thing, but flirting with these guys was something that wouldn’t go over so well with Brennan. And she understood where he was coming from. She always figured she didn’t have an insecure bone in her body, but somehow being with this attractive older man made her seeing green.
It was a good thing Lucky was closed for a few weeks so she didn’t have to work alongside her co-worker Tori for a while. Tori’s heated stares at Brennan rubbed her the wrong way now he was off the market. Okay, kind of off the market.
A female co-worker who didn’t annoy her was busy instructing her uncle Niall about the layout of the new kitchen. Emmy and Niall hunched over a rolled out planover the stainless steel worktable.
“The sink is now placed next to the griddle grills, but I think the first thing we need to do is place a commercial grill on that side…” Emmy waved to her far left. “And the new stainless steel counters there.” Emmy nodded to her right. “And the dishwasher over there.”
Niall Mills was busy penning everything down and hummed along. He glanced over at Errin as she joined them. “You’re Brennan’s girl, right?” He stuck out his hand and his gray eyes smiled as they shook hands.
“Well, that’s a long story. But I think I’m the one and only—for now.” She tried to joke.
Niall snorted and said, “Nah. My nephew ain’t like that, lass. He ain’t nothing like my brother.”
Emmy cleared her throat, the conversation making her uncomfortable. Niall side-eyed his niece from under his thick, dark eyebrows—the only facial hair left that hadn’t turned gray and grinned.
“You know I’m not lying. Sean Jr.—” he started, but the man himself interrupted himby walking into the kitchen.
“Can’t believe how ya’ll are tearin’ this place down. My life’s work…” Sean Jr. waved his hands around and continued. “Our dad’s life’s work….”
“Ah, stop it. You’ve had your time and now you’ve got to let the youngsters take over. Simple as that. Let your boy do what’s necessary and don’t give him any headaches ‘bout it.”
“You’ve never liked Lucky,” Sean Jr. said. “Showed no interest in our family’s pub. I can’t believe he’s letting you wreck this place. It must give you some sick rush to knock everything down.”
Niall laid his pencil down and puffed out his chest. Emmy placed her hand on top of her uncle’s but Niall didn’t acknowledge her touch.
“It wasn’t Lucky that I was tryin’ to avoid, brother. It was you. But I guess you’d been too busy stickin’ yer head between random women’s legs to realize what really was going on.”
Errin watched the two brothers ping-ponged their retorts with the stainless work counter as theping-pong table between them. Apparently, Brennan wasn’t the only one who had a problem with Sean Jr.
Sometimes, Errin wondered if her jokes were a nervous tic, but she bit her lip to not throw in another joke to stop these brothers from bickering. She was this close to blurt something, but she also wanted to understand the beef between them.
“Always been the jealous little brother.” Sean Jr. snorted.
“Nah, I’m sorry that’s not it.” Niall scoffed and leaned over the worktable. “But truthfully? I looked up to you when Edith was still alive. Seein’ what you had with her and the boys was—”
Sean Jr. leaned in from his side of the table and bristled. “Don’t. You. Mention. Her. Name.”
Niall shrugged. “You had it all. And after Edith died, you fucked it all up.”
Sean Jr. slammed both fists on top of the worktable, denting the stainless steel and roared, “Try me. Ye say her name one more time and I swear I’ll kick yer arse.”
“What do you call a singing kitchen utensil?” Errin spat from her side of the kitchen.
All three heads whipped in her direction, almost if they had forgotten all about her standing there.
“Nobody? Emmy?” she said.
Emmy furrowed her brows and threw a look her way as if she needed to have her head examined.