Page 3 of Taking a King

“I couldn’t wait.”

I smile as Garrett leans back just enough to see me. His arms are still around me and I’m still pressed against the length of his body. I know Quinn and the others are probably staring, wondering who this man is and what I’m doing with him. But I don’t care. I’m just so happy to see him. Garrett looks down at me and smiles.

“I couldn’t wait,” he says again. “For this.”

I should have seen it coming. I should have guessed it. I don’t know why I’m so surprised when he kisses me. Surprised, but thrilled. His lips are soft and gentle, despite the strength I feel in his embrace. I give in to the kiss immediately, my lips yielding to his. His tongue brushes against mine once. Twice. My hands trail down the front of his shirt, tracing the hard planes of muscle. My every nerve ending is on fire with sensation. All I can think of is how to get him alone. I’ve waited so long for this moment. Garrett’s mouth leaves mine abruptly as he’s yanked forcefully away from me. Then I hear the absolute last voice I’d hoped to hear tonight.

“What the hell are you doing with my sister, Garrett?”

Shit.

Ronan.

I stand there motionless and watch as my big brother shoves his best friend away from me. I’m shocked, still stunned by that brief kiss, but most of all, I’m pissed. As soon as I can think straight, I go after Ronan, grabbing his arm to pull him away from Garrett.

“Ronan, what the hell?”

Ronan’s voice is dismissive, as though he doesn’t have time to acknowledge me. “Claire, stay out of this.”

Excuse me?Does he know me at all? I’m not the type to stay out of anything.

Garrett holds up his hands in surrender. His eyes are wide, but his mouth still looks freshly kissed. “Shit. Ronan, nothing happened, I swear. I’m sorry.” He breaks off at the look of rage in Ronan’s eyes.

“Sorry for what, Young? Trying to nail her?” His voice is harder than I’ve ever heard it before. “I thought nothing happened.” He shoves Garrett back another step. For his part, Garrett isn’t even trying to defend himself. He just stands there with his hands raised and open, as if in surrender.

Quinn is suddenly there, tugging at Ronan’s arm, pleading with him to calm down. Her words have no effect on him. It’s as if he can only see Garrett. The entire dining room is full of people staring at what’s fast becoming a spectacle. Even Hannah and Hope have left our table to join in the mix. They’re quietly trying to diffuse the situation before it becomes something major.

I’m far less calm, cursing at my brother for interfering with my life, yet again. I’m not even sure what I’m saying at this point, but it doesn’t really matter. Ronan isn’t listening to a word I say. Or, if he does hear me, he’s ignoring me. It’s not long before Wyatt shows up, followed by Van. The scene dissolves into a shouting match between Ronan and me, with Van and Wyatt trying to calm us down and Quinn, Hannah and Hope standing there watching helplessly. The entire bar is focused on us, which would embarrass me any other time. But right now, I’m too angry to focus on the crowd.

“Leave him alone and talk to me!”

“I want to hear what he has to say for himself.”

“Will you two stop causing a scene in my restaurant?”

“Seriously, take it outside.”

“I want to know why he had his tongue down Claire’s throat.”

“Oh, please! We barely kissed before you barged in like a giant cock-blocking robot.” In retrospect, that probably wasn’t my finest argument. And I probably shouldn’t have mentioned cocks, because now I’m thinking about Garrett’s and it’s all I can do not to look over at him.

The useless argument goes on in the same vein for several minutes before I feel a shock of icy water on my head. The whole room falls silent, and we all turn as one to see Quinn standing behind the bar, pointing the soda gun at us.

“Quinn, what the hell?” Ronan sputters, wiping his face.

Quinn just shrugs. “Fighting solves nothing. You need to stop bickering like a bunch of children and handle things like adults.”

Ronan opens his mouth to say something else, but Quinn releases a quick spray of water directly into his face. His eyes narrow and he glares at her. Despite the seriousness of the situation, I have to slap a hand over my mouth to hold in a laugh. Quinn doesn’t quite succeed at holding in her own snort of laughter.

Ronan’s expression tightens further, and he looks from Quinn to me, then back to Garrett who has been reasonably calm throughout the whole scene. He’s also dripping water from his hair onto his shoulders. The dark shirt he’s wearing is damp and clinging to his chest in ways that are incredibly distracting. I have to keep reminding myself not to stare at him.

Priorities, Claire. Get your brothers out of here and then ogle Garrett.Right. Okay.

I turn to Ronan, who seems to be the least reasonable of the three men. “Ro, let me explain.”

He turns his glare toward me. It’s a little hard to take him seriously when he looks like a drowned rat, but I manage not to show any sign of humor.

“Explain how you’ve been sneaking around behind my back with my best friend? How my best friend has been taking advantage of my little sister?” He glares at Garrett whose expression is unreadable. I wish I knew what he’s thinking, but I’ll have to deal with that later.

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