Page 87 of Of Grief And Gratitude

Her words distracted me from my violent ideations, and I watched her move seamlessly. Her kitchen. It fit. She fit. In my kitchen. In my life. And she was kicking Sean out, not me.

“I’ll help you,” I offered, pulling out a cast iron pan and setting it on the burner to get hot.

“Thanks.” Riona washed her hands, and I followed, then we seasoned the steaks. When she caught Sean leaning over the counter watching, she shooed him away. “Stop drooling on the marble. Go explore or something. There’s a game room with a pool table.”

He perked up at that. “Pool I like. Call when it’s ready.”

Sean smacked Sam on the back of the head as he passed, motioning for him to accompany him. Soon, the muffled sounds of the brothers bantering and pool balls hitting each other trailed out of the game room.

“You okay?” Riona asked, always concerned about how I was feeling.

I nodded. “Yeah. They’re a pain in the ass, but I guess it’s better than somebody my father sent showing up. It’s been a week. I doubt we’ll be stuck with them for long.”

“I promise, they aren’t that bad.” She seasoned the steaks and stacked them on a plate before holding her hand over the pan. “Can you make a salad or something?”

“Sure. Any preferences?” I got a container of mixed greens and waited for Riona’s input.

She looked over, perusing the food items. “Add some broccoli and cheese, and use the blue cheese dressing.”

“Got it.” I found a large bowl and dumped enough salad in for the four of us, setting it aside while I washed and chopped up broccoli, then grated cheese over the greens. It was simple, but I got the impression the O’Connors didn’t do fancy dinners.

The steaks sizzled in the hot pan as Riona monitored their progress. “Everybody is going to have medium rare.”

“If they complain, I’ll throw them to the wolves,” I quipped, pouring dressing over the salad and carefully tossing it.

She looked at me, startled. “I thought you said there weren’t wolves in this forest.”

“There aren’t.” I laughed at her unfounded concern. “Lighten up a little. I said nothing would hurt you. I meant it. But if you get skunked, you’re on your own.”

That got a smile out of her. “I’ll try my best to avoid them.”

“Maybe we could put one in Sean’s car,” I thought aloud.

“That’s horrible!” Riona broke into a fit of giggles, holding her side as she took a deep breath and tried to recover before flipping the steaks in the pan. “But now I’m curious.”

“I’ll try if you want me to,” I offered, smirking. “He’s got it coming.”

“Probably, but I’d feel bad for Sam,” she admitted, wrinkling her nose. I tried hard to keep my eyes on her face, not her tits. “Grab some plates, will you?”

I pulled out plates and portioned out generous amounts of salad for everyone, passing them along for Riona to add a steak to each plate and top them with pats of butter and flaked sea salt. It smelled amazing, and I reluctantly went to the game room to get the guys while she put everything on the table.

Only the brothers weren’t in the game room. I looked out the back door to see if they’d wandered out, but there was no sign of activity by the fire pit. Riona met me when I came back in. I pointed up. “They must be exploring upstairs.”

Her eyes widened, and I realized I hadn’t put the camera away after our little cinematic masterpiece earlier. Shit. I broke into a jog, hurrying upstairs. I heard Riona run and wash her hands and hoped she wouldn’t follow, just in case.

When I heard muffled sounds coming from my room, I didn’t bother turning left to check the guest room. They’d made it to the master. I burst through the door to find Sean looking at the screen on the video camera. He was a dead man.

“Turn it off, man.” Sam tried to take the camera, but Sean held it out of reach. They didn’t see me at first.

“You can’t tell me you aren’t curious,” he teased. “She’s fucking smokin’. Damn.”

I felt Riona’s presence behind me, and the flooring creak confirmed it. My eyes closed slowly, and I wished this could all be another one of my temporary nightmares. She gasped, drawing the attention of the O’Connors.

“Shit, girl.” Sean grinned like nothing was wrong. “You’re hot as fuck; you know that? I’m not as into the dick part of it, but you’re good together.”

“This can’t be happening,” she whispered, biting the inside of her cheek.

I wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her in for a hug. “I’ll kill him for you. People disappear all the time in national forests.”

---