“Nora! Where are you going?”
Damn it, Nora groaned internally as she heard the one voice she really had been hoping to avoid on her trip here. That was exactly why she’d tried to get Clare to meet her anywhere else, but it was a little hard to convince her when Nora had zero desire to explain why she didn’t want to come to the Kavanagh house. Clare’s anxieties about wedding planning were leading to more and more sudden trips and errands, and Nora wasn’t sure it would ever calm down until the big day was over.
“Kane,” she replied politely as she turned around. That was officially the last coherent thought in her head, because when she faced him, she found him descending the stairs completely shirtless. She had no control over her eyes as they grazed his body slowly, savoring each hardened muscle and rippling ab.
When her eyes met his, the grin on his face told her he’d definitely noticed her checking him out. Heat flooded her face. She hadn’t meant to give him the ego boost, and he certainly didn’t need it. It was no secret that she had always found Kane attractive, but in the past, she had easily been able to write him off because he often made the mistake of opening his mouth and talking.
However, now that she knew the other things his mouth could do…
“Got your own tongue there, kitty? You’re standing there like you’ve never seen me without my shirt before.” He was still grinning, closer to her by now, as he unfolded the gray T-shirt in his hands, lifted it over his head, sliding his arms into the sleeves, and pulled it down over his torso.
Now that he was fully dressed and had directed a snarky comment toward her, she could at least think. She shrugged and put on her best I-don’t-give-a-fuck tone. “Seen one, seem them all.”
One of his eyebrows lifted. “Oh, really?”
Nora crossed her arms over her chest and stood taller. “Yes, really, Kane. You’re not God’s gift to the world, you know.”
One side of his mouth lifted in a cocky smile as he grabbed the hem of the shirt and lifted it just enough to show off his eight-pack abs and the sexy cuts below his waist that seemed to point directly to what was hidden in his pants. “You sure?”
Now she remembered how easy it was to hate him. And how stupid she was to have fallen into bed with him. And to have fantasized about him every day since. Or to have actually thought there could be anything deeper between them than sex.
Mind-blowing, toe-curling sex, but still…just sex.
“Is Clare here?” Nora sighed. “I don’t have time to look at your abs.”
He dropped the shirt. “Oh, come on, kitty. I’m just teasing. Don’t leave; we should talk.” His voice took on a more serious tone that made her stomach flutter.
“There’s nothing to talk about,” she assured him as she attempted to circle around him and walk toward the dining room.
Kane caught her forearm and slowed her for a minute. “How about we start with your little disappearing act the other morning?”
Now, that intrigued her. She hadn’t thought leaving before he awoke would have bothered him at all, but as she looked at the expression on his face, she saw…hurt? “I wasn’t disappearing. I had a meeting with the dean at my school. I was almost late.”
He dropped her hand and shoved his hands in his pockets, keeping his gaze on the floor. “Oh, okay.”
“I didn’t think you’d mind, honestly.” She felt guilty for a moment, then reminded herself whom she was talking to. “I thought you’d be happy not to have to do the whole morning-after thing. Just physical, remember?”
“Yeah, I know I said that before,” he agreed slowly, his blue eyes now piercing hers. “That’s not really how the night went down, though, is it?”
It was a question, but the way he spoke, it was as if he already knew the answer.
Nora stared at the gorgeous, hulking man before him, seemingly baring a vulnerable side of himself to her, and she couldn’t find the words. She had no idea what to say—she was too afraid of the truth. He was both affirming what she’d thought that night had meant and yet being entirely too vague about it at the same time.
“Kane,” she started, unsure of how to finish. “I—”
“Kane! Come on down! It’s time to eat!” Dee rounded the corner into the hallway, shouting loud enough to be heard upstairs. They sprang apart as she came into view. Dee offered a sweet smile, but the look in her eyes said she wasn’t fooled. “Nora! Lovely to see you, dear. Tar ithe le linn! Come eat with us! There’s plenty of food.”
“Oh, I can’t. I’m just here to pick up something from Clare.”
“Well, Clare is about to eat, so you can eat, too, and get it from her after,” Dee said, leaving no room for backing out as she ushered them through to the dining room. “Everybody, look who’s joining us for dinner! Quinn, pull up a chair across from Kane’s seat over there, and add another place setting.”
A roomful of cheerful Kavanaghs welcomed her as she waved to the crowd. It had taken her a while, but she had finally learned all the brothers’ names and faces, and of course she was close friends with Fiona, and now with Clare and Casey.
“Hey, Nora! Sit next to me. I could use a fucking buffer between me and the fucking lovebirds over here.” Quinn pointed at Kieran, who was currently whispering something into the ear of a grinning Fiona.
“Fuck you,” Kieran shot back, reaching over and smacking Quinn in the arm. “You’re fucking jealous.”
“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph! Enough with the ‘fucks’!” Dee scolded her sons.
“Ma!” Kane exclaimed, but the table dissolved into cacophonous laughter. Nora couldn’t help but join in, glancing over to see that, thankfully, Shea was wearing earmuffs connected to her electronic tablet and was paying no attention to the foul language at the table.
“What?” Dee shrugged. “I get tired of all these boys with their crass language.”
“Let’s give your ma some peace and say grace,” Seamus intervened, commanding silence.
No one needed to be told twice, and they all quickly took their seats and bowed their heads. Seamus began his prayer from the head of the table, but Nora couldn’t resist lifting her head ever so slightly to peek at Kane. His head was bowed—his right hand in Clare’s and his left in Fiona’s—and that bothersome flutter in her stomach stirred again.
The flutter that told her she definitely didn’t hate this man anymore. And that she was definitely going to eat as fast as possible and get the hell out of there.
Chapter 7
“Quinn, I thought you were my social media guru,” Kane said into the phone as he stared up at the menu board of the coffee shop.
“I am, but I can’t fill out your own interviews for you.” Quinn’s voice rang through the speaker. “I’m sending the questions to your phone now. Get it back to me by tonight.”
“Fine.” Kane groaned, hanging up the phone and stepping up to the counter. He ordered himself a simple black coffee over ice and took it over to a table by the window. His phone beeped moments later, and Kane opened Quinn’s e-mail.
The interview questions were for a national magazine spotlighting his career, something that was happening a lot more now that the big fight was approaching. Quinn took care of most of his social media, but Kane still had to be on there to promote himself. He didn’t really mind, but he wasn’t the most expressive person, particularly in a public forum. He just didn’t enjoy it, and, while it was necessary, he found the work tedious.
“You’re staring pretty hard at that thing,” a familiar voice teased him.
Kane looked up to see Nora standing in front of him in a short, white dress with a coffee cup in one hand and a textbook in the other. His face immediately broke into a grin as he placed his phone down on the table. “Well, until now I had nothing prettier to stare at.”
The corner of Nora’s lips twitched. “Still with the pickup lines?”
“Oh, come on, that one was good.” He motioned to the chair across from him at the table. “Sit with me? I could use the comp
any.”
Her hazel eyes flitted to the empty seat then back to him, her expression hesitant. “I don’t know…” She looked around the rest of the café, but there were no more empty spots open. “All right, but just for a little bit. I need to study before my clinicals tonight.”
“Perfect.” Kane shrugged. “I have to work on this interview, so I don’t have time for you, either,” he teased, but he knew he’d much rather talk with her than work on his phone. The way her hair fell over her shoulder as she sat, her neck curving down to meet her chest, was beautiful. Nora’s movements were so graceful, as if she’d been a ballerina in a past life, but every once in a while were accentuated with the oddest bits of awkwardness, making her unique.
Nora snorted, placing her book on the table as she turned her gaze back to him. “Well, thanks for the seat. I’m—”
“Shhh, Nora. I’m trying to focus.” His smile told her he was teasing once again.
Laughing, she shook her head. “What kind of interview are you working on?”
Kane turned his phone to face her, showing an issue of Fight! magazine with him on the cover. He was pretty proud of the picture because he’d had to spend half a day doing a photo shoot for it. His muscles were flexed and pronounced, and he looked to be in the best shape of his life.
He could tell from the way Nora’s breath hitched and her brows lifted that she thought so, too.
“Wow, a magazine cover? That’s huge, Kane.”
He turned the phone back to view it, scrolling down to the questions he needed to answer. “I’m honored they chose me.”
She nodded, dropping her chin into her hand as she stared across the table. “What kind of questions do they ask?”
“They’re completely random, just for fun.” He frowned as he looked over the questions again. Some of them were great, but he sensed the magazine had “dumbed it down” for him, as if he were a stupid jock.
“You don’t look happy about it,” Nora said, her tone making it a question.
“I’m fine. I’ve just had to do a lot of these lately, and the questions are usually really elementary. But it’s how we get sponsors and get paid, so…” He shrugged.
“Here, give it to me,” Nora said, motioning for his phone. Kane assessed her for a minute, deciding whether he should let her help him when she should be studying. He handed it over and decided to trust her to make her own decisions.
“Okay, these are really random,” she admitted. “But I think they’re just trying to get a feel for your personality.”
Kane shrugged. “Or they think I’m a dumb jock who can’t talk about politics or current events.”
“Oh, please.” Nora rolled her eyes at him. “They’d be the stupid ones to make an assumption like that. These are just fun. All magazines do them—it’s like trivia. Here, I’ll interview you. ‘Favorite guilty-pleasure sitcom?’ ”
“The Goldbergs. I love the family on the show. Kind of reminds me of my own,” Kane told her. “Especially the smother mother.”
Nora laughed and typed something into his phone. “Good choice, but I have to say, not what I was expecting.”
Kane grinned at the way her eyes crinkled as she laughed. In a way, it almost reminded him of his mother—how loving and jovial she was—but he quickly wiped the thought from his mind because it was too weird a comparison. “What were you expecting me to say?”
She tapped her lips with an index finger, as if in thought. “I would have guessed South Park, or The Simpsons. Something animated and immature.”
Kane burst out laughing. “Wow! Thanks for the vote of confidence, kitty.”
“You’re welcome,” she said with a teasing smirk. “Next question: What’s your go-to healthy snack when you’re training?”
That was easy. “Nuts.”
Nora’s eyes flickered up from his phone to him. “You want me to write in your fancy sports magazine interview that you like to eat nuts?”
“Oh, shit. No.” Kane exhaled sharply. “Damn, good catch. See, this is why I needed your help. Um, put down ‘protein-packed trail mix’ instead.”
She grinned and typed it into his phone before asking him another question. The way she nibbled the corner of her lip as she concentrated made him hot, and he was enjoying every minute of their back-and-forth. She asked, he answered, and they both drank their coffees.
It was simple and silly, and he loved every moment of being around her.
“I think that’s the last one.” Nora looked over the list of interview questions before handing him back his phone. “They’re going to love it. They’re going to love you. You’re doing so well in your career; it’s really inspiring.”
He looked at her quietly for a minute, taking in the sincerity in her hazel eyes. “Thanks, Nora. That means a lot to me.”
Downing the last few gulps of her coffee, Nora pulled her unopened book off the table. “I’d better get going. I’m not going to get much studying done here.”
“Oh, sorry. I guess I did kinda hijack our coffee date,” he teased.
“This was not a date,” she clarified, shaking her head. “I just need to study. I’m taking a heavy load over the summer semester to try to catch up.”
“Catch up from what?”
“Life,” she replied, a wistful expression on her face that made him want to both dig further and give her space. “So, anyway, it was nice seeing you.”
“It was nice seeing you?” Kane cocked one brow higher than the other. “A little impersonal, don’t you think? After we—”
“Kane! Shh.” Nora interrupted him in a hushed tone before glancing around to see if anyone had been listening to their conversation. “People can hear you.”
“I’m pretty sure my neighbors could hear you the other night,” he teased, unable to resist teasing her further. Her skin flushed red, traveling from her cheeks down her neck, and he couldn’t keep his mind off wondering how much farther south it went.
“I’m going to go.” She stood with a huff, grabbing her textbook and holding it to her chest. “Thanks for the laughs.” Sarcasm dripped heavy on her last few words, and he couldn’t help but chuckle.
“I’m just teasing, kitty.” He stood and grabbed her forearm, pulling her just ever so slightly toward him. “But if you want any help studying, let me know.”
Her eyes flickered down to his lips, then back up to meet his gaze. She straightened her shoulders and exhaled. “Let me guess, you’ll quiz me, and for each wrong answer I give, I’ll have to take off something I’m wearing?”
Kane’s mouth parted and his eyes widened as he considered the image she’d just painted for him. “Hell, kitty, I was genuinely offering to help, but your idea is so much better. Let’s go with that.”
She snorted, a sly grin teasing her lips. “You wish.”
Kane gripped her forearm slightly harder, pulling her against him so his lips were by her ear. To anyone around them, it looked like a private conversation, but the way he secretly rubbed his thumb over her arm between them, he hoped she felt just as electrified by him as he did by her. “Call me sometime, Nora. We’re not done.”
“With what?” she breathed back heavily, her eyes hooded as she searched his.
“Us.”
She gulped and stepped back, smoothing her dress down her sides and clearing her throat. “I have to go study. It was nice seeing you.” She stepped around him and headed for the door.
He turned and watched her go, her white dress swaying behind her, his body heating in response. When she finally disappeared, he grabbed his coffee and downed it. After taking a final look at the interview responses on his phone, Kane sent them back in an e-mail to Quinn. Then he headed to the gym for another training session with Rory.
Chapter 8
“Marco?” Nora called out, walking down the aisle of the small library housed inside the youth center where she worked.
“Polo!” A little voice responded from the back.
As she rounded the last s
helf, she smiled at the sight of the six-year-old boy surrounded by stacks of books on the floor. He’d practically made himself a nest and was joyfully reading. Crouching down in front of him, she tussled his hair. “What are you doing in here, buddy? Your mom is going to be here any minute.”
He shrugged, looking down at his books. “Nothing.”
Nora frowned, sensing there was something he wasn’t telling her. Dropping down onto her rear, she leaned her back against a bookcase and picked up one of his books, then flipped through it slowly. The two sat in companionable silence for a few minutes.
Something was going on with Marco that he wasn’t telling her, and it was one of the reasons why she wanted to complete her degree. She wanted to teach children who had traumatic pasts or difficult lives how to handle their emotions, how to use healthy coping skills when things got rough. Working at Woodlawn Youth Center over the last year had shown her just how much of a need there was for that. All the children here were considered to be “at risk,” whether because they were in the foster care program or because of tumultuous upbringings. None of their families had much in the way of resources, so the youth center did its best to make up the difference.
As a program coordinator, she worked behind the scenes. She made sure there were prepared meals for all the children at the center—some of them wouldn’t eat again until they returned—and she coordinated tutors and volunteers to come study with the kids, either one on one or in small groups. She also planned fun classes for them, like the kickboxing class Kieran taught and the gardening class Fiona had started.
Every kid who came to the youth center was like her kid, and she loved them all the same. She wanted to develop the skill set that would allow her to help them in more ways than just providing a fun few hours after school. She wanted them to leave here and take the world by storm, armed with the resources they’d need to tackle whatever life threw at them.
Because the truth was, she understood.