Page 15 of Bearly Hanging On

“But you guys…” Her finger traced the line of my chin, slowly pulling away, and I wanted to put it right back where it was. “You’re so sweet.”

I closed my eyes. Sweet was the word women used to describe a guy they had absolutely no interest in. Gods, had we screwed shit up already? Should we have been more standoffish and distant like Mack was? Women seemed to see his icy exterior as an obstacle to overcome.

“Have you got really amazing mothers or something?”

“My mum is pretty incredible,” Kieran said, turning around. “So’s Tor’s.”

“She’s actually really, really intense,” I confessed. “Tiger mum in more than one way.”

“OK, so is this all part of the service?” she asked, kicking her heels in the air. “Do I pay extra for dish duty?”

“We won’t be accepting money for this job,” I told her, willing Harper to understand.

“Especially as it’s never going to get done,” Mack said.

“What?” Her brow creased, and I saw the slight shine in her eyes from the one and a half beers she’d drunk. Her hair was a loose black halo, a shadow I wanted to lose myself in. “How the hell do you run a business if you don’t get paid for your jobs?”

“Other people do.” Kieran flicked the water from his hands as he came closer. “Just not you, Harper.”

“So what…?” She looked around from one of us to the next, her back stiffening. “OK, so what were you expecting to?—?”

“Nothing.”

Mack said that way too quickly, but I couldn’t be that noble, not when she was this close. It felt like every damn day of my life had built up to this moment, and I couldn’t let it slip between my fingers.

“Just a kiss,” I replied, grinning to soften my words, then tilting my cheek her way and tapping it. “For that, we’ll do the dishes and?—”

My offer was satisfactory, apparently. Her hands cupped my jaw, and she tilted my head her way. For a moment, she hung there, her lips hovering over mine.

“Tell me you don’t have a girlfriend, or worse, a wife at home.”

“Gods no, Harper. I can’t?—”

“No little tigers? No sister sleeping on your couch?”

“What? No, she’s?—”

I lost all track of whatever the fuck I was saying, because her mouth slammed down on mine.

That was the moment when I did exactly as I’d fantasised. Her legs parted to admit me, my hands dragging her closer so her body was wedged against mine. Her scent turned to the sweet, dense perfume of good quality incense, stealing the oxygen from my lungs as my mouth did its best to devour hers.

Only for her to pull away.

That small smile, it grew by the second, only for her to look over my shoulder, eyes heavily lidded.

“So am I just supposed to kiss one of you, or…?”

“You want to kiss Baloo over there?” I grinned. “You’ll make his week. No, month.”

“It’d be the highlight of my life, Harper.”

Despite his silent warning, Kieran was losing his cool rapidly. His eyes glowed bright gold and fur prickled over his arms as she slipped down off the counter and sauntered closer. I was right on her heels, the tiger tracking her far more closely than he had any chicken.

“So same question,” she said, lifting her arms to tug his head down. His hands went to her waist in an instant. “No?—?”

“Girlfriend, fiance, wife, or significant other of any kind,” he told her, unable to stop himself from staring. “Just a couple of annoying brothers.”

“Well, that’s OK then.”

---