The gurgling sound from the running fridge reminded him he was standing in the middle of Lucky kissing Errin. He pulled his face away and took a step back. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
“Second door to your left.”
Loud snoring woke her up in the middle of the night. An earsplitting headache threatened to pulverize her brain.
She tried to guess which room she was in, but as it was pitch black, nothing stood out. She padded the mattress next to her and it came up cold and empty.
Her hand traveled the mattress in the other direction and her phone’s screen lit up at the touch. Now that she had a bit of light, she reached for the bedside lamp so she could absorb her surroundings. The first thing that caught her eye was the king-size bed stuffed in a room too small to house such enormous bed.
She figured this must be Brennan’s room. On the dresser sat a golden picture frame with a picture of a little Brennan hugged by a woman with ebony hair falling down over her shoulders.
The attractive woman wore plastic purple earrings that matched her dress. They both had the same light green eye color, olive skin and black hair. Errin was sure this woman was his deceased mother.
Why, oh why, had she drank so much last night? Halloween… Birthday cake… Her brothers who flew in to surprise her… Kissing Brennan….
Back up…Kissing Brennan?She shot up in bed but wished she hadn’t. She groaned at the piercing pain inside her brain. Nooo, she kissed him? Hmm, come to think of it.Hekissedher.Ha, that old fox, eh?
And he never once gave her the least bit of attention these past months.Huh. She never took the time to let her mind go there with him. Sure, he wasn’t hard to look at. Okay—breathtakingly beautiful in a dark and moody way was more descriptive of his looks.
But Errin had been around the block. She could spot an emotionally detached bachelor from a mile away. And Brennan had it written all over that handsome, worry lined face of his. Not to mention that as a Mills brother, he was sort of family now since both of her sisters had paired up with two of his four brothers.
She lifted the comforter and was happy to find her leotard and tutu still intact. Her ballet slippers were in a pool of white-laced ribbon next to the bed, but she didn’t have time to put on her shoes and tie the ribbon around her calves. She needed to get out of here. Now.
What happened last night, hmm just hours ago, had been a mistake. A glance at her phone told her it was five in the morning. She checked if her cards and key were in her phone case. She opened the flash light app on her phone and turned off the bedside lamp.
Her pedicured black painted toenails showed in the harsh and tunneled light. She tilted her phone and spotted a door. Next up was grabbing her shoes before tiptoeing around the room. When the snoring from the other room continued, she took a few pensive steps.
She pushed the door, and it creaked open. She cringed at the sound. The snoring grew louder, and she grinned. Brennan must have been used to it, as he often let Pops crash in his apartment.
She opened the door to the stairs leading down to the pub when a rough hand grabbed her shoulder.
“What the fuck?” roared a deep voice behind her.
She gasped and almost shit herself in angst. She stumbled backwards, and the room tilted upside down as she careened down the stairs. Her head hit the wall.
“Ouch. That hurts,”she said, rubbing her head.
“Errin! Fuck!” Brennan shouted. He reached down with rough hands and picked her up. He held her close to his warm body, the scent of sandalwood engulfing her.
“Come,” he whispered in her hair.
She leaned in and sniffed behind Brennan’s ear. He smelled so damn nice. He tensed and cleared his throat.
“Ye fuckin’ scared me half to death. What were ye even thinkin’ of doin’ out there?”
Brennan’s reprimanding and stern voice brought her out of her haze. The Mills brothers only threw out the Irish sounding ‘ye’s’ when pissed off.
Well, she’d show him pissed off.
“I wanted to bump and grind your stairway, asshole. What else did you think I wanted to do?”
He walked them back into the apartment that was flooded in light.
“What’s all that ruckus about? Boyo!”
Pops stood halfway in the spare bedroom’s doorway in red plaid pajamas with his hand still on the light switch in the living room. His gray hair pointed in all directions and he eyed them. Oh, how she loved that massive grumpy bear.
“It was nothing. Go back to bed, Pops.”