Speakeasy (True North #5)(52)

“That one.” Kieran points up at the white clapboard colonial right in front of us. “Sorry about scooping you.”

“You should be. They are killing me at home.”

He smiles, and I see an echo of my aunt Sally in it. Kieran takes after her side of the family. “Have you looked for a place already?”

I shake my head. “Is it rough out there?”

“For you, probably not. But I have two part-time jobs and a car that needs replacing. I can’t pay as much as a lawyer like you.”

“You overestimate my vast fortune.”

He grins. “Zara offered me a deal. I have a roommate, but he might not stick around. If you can’t find anything, come and talk to me. Although…” He clears his throat.

“You want your privacy,” I say into the silence.

Kieran gives me a sheepish look. “I’ve never had any.”

“Tell me about it. God.”

We lapse into silence. And now that I think about it, I can’t possibly live with Kieran. My brothers and my cousin Kyle would be loitering in front of the football game every Sunday. The house would just become an annex of the Tuxbury farmhouse.

“I won’t invade your man cave,” I say with a sigh. “I get it.”

“Well, if you get really stuck,” he says, trying to be nice.

“Nah. There’s no reason for me to move other than not wanting to feel sixteen again.”

“That’s a pretty good reason,” he points out, rubbing cold hands together. “Let’s go inside?”

By now, I’m hugging myself against the cold. So I lead the way.

“You almost ready to head out?” Griffin asks me when I locate him. The crowd has thinned, and Audrey is yawning on Zara’s sofa.

“Sure. Let me say goodbye to a few people?”

“I’ll do the same.”

By a few people, I mean Alec. So when Griffin goes into the kitchen to thank Zara, I walk straight up the stairs to find him. The second floor is dark, except for the glow of lamplight coming from a room at the end of the hall. I hear only the low murmur of one hushed voice as I approach on quiet feet.

Alec sits in a rocking chair. “Goodnight, Moon,” he reads to the drowsy little person on his lap. No—she’s actually asleep. Her eyelids appear to rest atop her chubby cheeks, and she has a thumb jammed into her mouth.

Rocking gently in the chair, Alec lets his voice drone on for the last two pages, while I feel like the oddest kind of voyeur. The party boy who knows how to put a baby to bed. Now there’s something you don’t find every day.

They’re so cute it almost hurts me to look at the two of them together. The trusting way she’s relaxed against his arm brings tears to my eyes.

It’s really inconvenient to be an easy crier.

Alec’s eyes flicker toward the doorway as he closes the book. He knows I’m standing here, but doesn’t say anything for obvious reasons. He sets the book on a stack next to the chair and then slowly stands up. Holding the sleeping toddler with both arms now, he moves stealthily toward the crib.

Once again his gaze flickers toward me, and he gives me a little smile that says, wish me luck! Then he eases his niece down onto the mattress.

She stretches and rolls when she makes contact with the bed, and I see Alec’s muscles tense as he waits to see what will happen.

Nothing does, though. Nicole sleeps on. Alec reaches for the blanket and drapes it gently over her little body. Then he backs away like a soldier from a suspected IED.

I am all stirred up inside, and I don’t even know why.

Alec shuts off the lamp and tiptoes out of the room, where I’m waiting in the darkened hallway. “Hi…” I whisper. “You’re surprisingly good at th—”

The rest of the compliment doesn’t make it out of my mouth, because Alec leans me against the wall, runs his long fingers down the soft stitching of my sweater dress, and takes my mouth.

Whew. There’s hunger in his kiss, and I’ve already forgotten my irritation. I rest my palms on his broad shoulders and feel a little shiver of shock and arousal. Alec’s kisses never hesitate. They always blaze at a hundred percent intensity.

My favorite party boy never does anything halfway, I’ve discovered.

Two minutes later I’ve forgotten my own name. There’s only Alec’s kisses and the heat I feel pouring off him.

“May?” he says between kisses.

“Hrm?” I say against his mouth.

He moves his head back just a couple of inches to speak again. “I’m sorry I was a grump downstairs.”

It actually takes me a second to remember what happened that had annoyed me. Oh, right. The dude and the punch bowl. “You scared him off,” I pant. “Everyone was staring.”

Alec’s forehead creases. “See, that’s the thing. Why does that stranger get to stand close to you at a party, and I don’t?”

“You know why,” I whisper.

“No, I don’t think I do. We’re a couple who pretends like we’re not.”

“We aren’t a couple,” I say quickly. “It’s just sex.”

Alec gives me a weary look. Then he steps right between my legs and lowers his head until he can kiss the side of my neck.

When he sucks gently on the sensitive skin there, I shiver immediately.