“Don’t ye tell yer grandfather to go back to bed, ye brat. I’ll tell ye, I might be old, but you’ll never send me away like a damn child. Ye hear?”
“I’m sorry, Pops.” Brennan sighed and his warm breath tickled Errin’s neck, making her shudder. He tightened his grip on her. “She just scared the ever living shit out of me.”
“Ahh, if that ain’t me dear lass,” Pops said, eyes gleaming. “Will ye look at that? Now, ain’t youse two a sight for sore eyes?”
Errin squeaked when Brennan almost let her slip out of his hands.
“Okay, Pops. Let it go.”
“Aye, boyo. I’ll let youse alone. Give youse some private time, eh?” Pops’ smiling face was infectious, making Errin grin.
“Pops—”But Pops held up his big calloused hand and shut the door behind him. Pops put on some old Frank Sinatra song and when the first frolic tunes of ‘I’ve Got You Under My Skin’ started, Brennan snorted.
“Shit. The older he gets, the more—”
“I love Pops. He’s the best. He’s the only one who can handle me and my big mouth,” Errin folded her arms over her chest and jutted her chin at him.
Brennan guffawed, his inky hair falling over his eyes as he glanced down at her in his arms. “Oh, I can handle you just fine.”
She rolled her eyes before she narrowed them at him. “Will you just set me down already?”
He walked them over to his worn but comfy looking brown couch. He sat her down, the spot on the couch underneath her bum still warm where he’d just been sleeping. “So. What do we have here?” he said before he took a seat on the edge of the low coffee table in front of her.
He wasn’t wearing a shirt, just a pair of worn gray sweatpants.His strong pecs distracted her enough to not wince from her pain as he trailed a finger over her hurt ankle.
Hair covered his chest, making him somehow even manlier. If she leaned in just a teeny bit, she could suck on his pointy nipple. Was he aroused or just cold? He knelt before her just in time before she did something stupid.
“Let me have a closer look.”
He picked up her left leg and a sharp pain stung in her ankle. “Ouch! That hurts, ass—”
“Well, at least that big mouth of yours still works.” He smirked.
“It takes a lot more than some bastard stairs to shut me up.”
He chuckled and shook his head. She narrowed her eyes. “You’re so full of yourself. I mean, it ain’t even funny.”
“You know, Bunny… I have my ways to shut you up. It worked just fine last night, so if you don’t stop running your mouth, I’m—”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake. Don’t tell me you kissed me because you wanted me to shut up. How old are you? Like twelve? Can’t even admit that—”
And then he kissed her.
Again.
But oh, this time it was an even angrier kiss than before. He grabbed the back of her head to hold her in place as he set the pace, growling into her open mouth. She loved the way he took control of the kiss. And even her.
His other hand traveled up from her calf to her thigh and halted at her hip. She placed her hand on his chest, familiarizing her fingers with his chest hair.
He grabbed her toned waist and scooted her to the edge of the couch. She slid her leg around his waist and her ankle smarted, sending a jolt of pain through her foot.
“Aaah. Fuck. That hurts,” she cried.
“I don’t want to interrupt ye party, but I also don’t want to listen to an entire CD of Frank at five in the mornin’. Can yous two tone down ye Irish fire?” Pops bellowed.
Errin’s eyes grew wide at Brennan’s tanned but now flushed skin. She laughed a full on belly laugh, glancing at Brennan—a scolded schoolboy, bobbing his Adam’s apple and searching for a place behind her to fixate his eyes on. Her foot slipped from behind Brennan’s back to the ground, and she cried out again.
His green eyes were kind as he placed her foot on his strong muscular thigh to examine it. His thumb stroked her swollen ankle. “I’m taking you to the hospital, Lips.”