Page 41 of Surrender
He fanned the alarm with a towel as she opened windows. “How about I cook? What do you want—a full Irish?”
“Somehow you made that sound dirty.”
“Well, we have worked up an appetite.”
She blushed. “I’ll make coffee. I can probably manage that without burning it.”
But as smoke traveled down the hall, more alarms went off.
“Jesus, Keefe! Are you trying to burn the house down?” Sophie’s voice rang out as the front door banged open. She stopped dead in the kitchen at the sight of a half-naked woman. “Shit!”
“Oh! Hiya,” Gwen said, smiling, only mildly embarrassed.
“Who the fuck are you?” Sophie demanded.
“I’m G—Ruby. We met the other day.” Gwen held out her hand to shake in greeting. Sophie hesitated but eventually shook it.
Keefe entered the kitchen, shirtless, hair rumpled. “Hey, sis. Remember Ruby?”
Sophie stared. “Right… Yes… Of course. Ruby. Nice to see you again,” said Sophie trying not to look at the practically naked woman in the kitchen or at her brother’s shit-eating grin. No, this wasn’t the least bit awkward—not. “Would you excuse us a minute? I just need to borrow my brother. Be right back.” She dragged Keefe into the hall. “Shit, Keefe. A little warning would’ve been nice.”
“What do you want me to do, hang a sock on the door? You don’t live here anymore. What are you doing here anyway?”
She rolled her eyes. He did have a point. “I was just missing my brother so Liam and I were going to surprise you with breakfast.”
“That was nice. You should stay. We can have breakfast together and you can get to know Ruby. She probably has pants on by now.” He’d said it partly as fact and partly to bust his sister’s chops. “Where is Liam anyway?”
“He’s in the car. Had to take a quick call.” Something was different. Keefe looked… happy. Between the goofy ear-to-ear grin and the twinkle in his eye. Make that really happy. Sophie took it down a notch. “I didn’t handle that very well, did I?”
“I’ll say you didn’t. But you’re forgiven.”
“She seems nice.”
“She is. Really is. We?—”
Sophie held up her hand begging him not to finish his sentence, whatever it was. “Please! Don’t give me any details. I beg you.”
Keefe stopped talking but couldn’t stop grinning.
Now, back in the kitchen, Gwen—now clothed—was pouring a cup of coffee. “How about a coffee, Sophie? It’s fresh.”
“No, I should go. But thank you. And sorry about earlier. I was just surprised.”
“Understandable. I’d have done the same.”
Sophie nodded and just couldn’t bring herself to make eye contact with Ruby for more than a second. This was just too awkward. She said goodbye again and apologized for a second time—never mind that she was looking at the floor while she said it—then quickly left.
Out at the car, Liam hung up the phone and raised a brow. “Are we not having breakfast? Jesus, you look like you’ve seen a ghost. What happened in there?”
Sophie stared at the dashboard, trying to wrap her head around what she’d just witnessed. “Not a ghost. Just a naked woman. He’s in love.”
“Keefe? With who?”
“Ruby. That redhead I told you about? The one who came into the pub? She’s in there prancing around like she owns the place in nothing but a—well, never mind that. He’s in love.”
She said it like a curse. Like something she needed to scrape off her shoe.
Liam laughed. “After what, seventy-two hours? That was fast. Although, now that I think about it, that’s kind of the O’Brian way. Not one of you knows the word slow.”
