Grabbing her fingers, I held her hand to my chest. “Better me than you, Kiera.” I couldn’t picture mourning her. I couldn’t picture her being gone. I didn’t even want to. We locked eyes again; hers were a deep, thoughtful green with specks of brown around the edges. I could easily get lost in them. “Thank you…for watching out for me.” I wished I could kiss her. That seemed the only way to truly thank her. But she didn’t want that, and I’d respect her wishes.
Her breath caught, then she averted her eyes and her cheeks flushed with color. “You can put your shirt back on now,” she muttered.
She stared at the ruined remains of my T-shirt after I put it on. Her eyes started to tear up, and I could tell she was thinking about losing me again. Needing her close, I pulled her in for a hug. She squeezed me back, hard, and I inhaled as a sharp pain wrenched my side. Realizing she was hurting me, Kiera eased up. “Sorry. You really should get that looked at.”
Knowing I wouldn’t go see a doctor unless I was bleeding out, I nodded and held her close again. She sighed and relaxed into my arms…and that was when the door opened. “Oops,” Jenny said. “Just checking to see how your patient was doing.”
Kiera quickly moved away from me. The loss of her touch hurt worse than my side. “We were just…he’s fine,” she stammered.
Amused by her flustered response, and also not wanting Jenny to think anything of us holding each other, I laughed and walked into the hallway. Turning back, I said, “Thank you, Kiera,” then I nodded at Jenny. “I should probably get that knife from Griffin now.”
Jenny’s pale eyes looked confused for a moment. “Griffin has it?” I raised an eyebrow in answer. Jenny knew Griffin just as well as I did. If anyone in the bar had nabbed it, it had been him. And Griffin was the type of person who should never be armed. It was safer for all mankind that way. Jenny rolled her eyes, understanding. “Griffin…yeah, you should go get it.”
I looked back at Kiera, masked my longing with a casual laugh, then walked down the hall. I heard Jenny ask Kiera if she was coming, and heard Kiera tell her that she needed a minute. Was that because of me? How upset was she over the thought of forever losing me? Maybe this would change things for her. Or maybe not. Regardless of Kiera’s “think you’ll win” attitude, I couldn’t count on things working out my way. Hope was too painful.
Chapter 17
Sleeping with a Beautiful Woman
A week went by, and Kiera and I got even closer, while Kiera and Denny drifted farther apart. I felt bad about that, I really did, but being with Kiera felt too good to try to stop it. I wanted more of her, not less. And as close as we were, it wasn’t enough.
The passion between us simmered under the surface, slowly boiling away. We dipped into it on occasion, when a touch drifted into an off-limits area or a gaze turned smoldering. We were playing with fire. I was fully aware of that. Our “innocent” flirting was complete and utter bullshit. Nothing we were doing was innocent. Maybe it wasn’t quite so bad as a full-on affair, but it was damn close. We were both emotionally cheating on Denny. Of that, I was certain.
Looking him in the eye was getting harder and harder to do. Sometimes I caught myself staring at him before he left for work, willing him to decide he hated it here and he was moving back home. It tore me that I wanted him to leave. He was a significant part of my childhood, the closest thing I’d ever had to a brother, and all I wanted was for him to leave me and his girlfriend alone together so we could stop sneaking around behind his back. I was one twisted son of a bitch.
“You all right, mate?” he asked me one evening.
Tired, I’d come home from Pete’s early. Kiera was still there working, and Denny was home alone. Usually, if Kiera was at the bar, I tended to stay until her shift was over. But I was the only D-Bag left at the bar, and the multiple yawns coming from me had Jenny asking why I was hanging around. I couldn’t tell her I was staying to watch Kiera work. No, I’d had to leave so Jenny wouldn’t catch on to the fact that Kiera was my entire world.
Throwing on a smile, I walked into the living room and sat in my comfortable chair. “Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”
My heart started beating a bit harder as Denny tilted his head and gave me a penetrating stare. “Well, for starters, it’s only ten o’clock. You’re usually gone a lot later than that.”
I laughed at his statement. “Yeah, I suppose so. I was beat though, so I decided to call it a night.” Unfortunately. I wondered what Kiera was doing right at this moment…