The immediate bloom of red on Regan’s face revealed that was exactly what they were planning on doing. I howled with laughter.
Lucky buggers.
Thane cut me a mock glare over his shoulder before they walked out of sight. I heard the front door open and shut a few seconds later and turned to Ery and the kids.
Eredine gave me a small smile. “You staying? Regan said you were out for the night.”
“Regan was mistaken,” I answered, quite chuffed with how the evening was panning out, and even more so that Ery was making eye contact. After her bizarre behavior this morning, I’d worried all day that maybe I’d fucked up unknowingly. “Let me heat this up and then I’ll come over to play.”
“You’ll be on my team, Uncle Arran,” Eilidh decided.
“You got it, cutie.”
My niece beamed, and fuck, my heart … Seriously, the kid could ask for the last penny in my bank account, and I’d hand it over with no qualms. She had me wrapped around her tiny pinkie finger.
Not long later, I approached the dining table, plate of reheated steak pie and mash in hand, and slid into the seat beside Ery. Her hair was loose tonight, tumbling in long, shining waves down her back. I’d never paid much attention to a woman’s hair beyond if it was nice, but Ery’s played a pivotal role in my fantasies about her. Mostly just seeing it sprawled across my bedsheets, but also wrapped around my fist as we fucked.
I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. “Changed your hair?”
Ery glanced at me in surprise. “Yeah.”
“I like it!” Eilidh announced. “Why don’t you wear it like that more?”
“One: because I feel lucky to have curls like mine and I like my hair curly. Two: it takes forever,” Ery replied with a wry twist to her lips. “First, I have to straighten my hair and then put this wave in it.”
“That doesn’t seem like much work.” Eilidh frowned. “Maybe we could do that to my hair!”
My niece was also blessed with natural dark curls, but I had a feeling her father might not be amused by anyone taking a straightener to them.
Eredine agreed apparently. “Um, maybe when you’re older.”
“Can we get back to the game?” Lewis frowned at us, especially me, as if I’d somehow betrayed the brotherhood by mentioning hair in the first place. “Bloody Nora.”
While I choked on a piece of steak pie, Eredine admonished gently, “Lewis Adair, we do not use that kind of language.”
“Sorry,” he murmured.
“Apology accepted. Now, back to the game.”
* * *
It had been unseasonably hot all day, and the evening was no different. And while Thane had designed a home that stayed cooler than most in the summer, it was still muggy inside, and the kids were growing crabbit.
“Let’s play a wee game of football,” I suggested. “We’ll probably get a breeze coming up off the water.”
The kids jumped to it, scattering from the table to grab their trainers.
Ery slowly stood and pulled her thick hair into a ponytail. It was a wonder she had a hair tie that could hold it. “You’re staring,” she murmured.
“Am I?” I sounded hoarse even to my ears.
Her eyes widened a little, and then she pushed back from the table. “I’ll get my sneakers.”
I was not ashamed to admit that my eyes followed her perfect arse out of the room. Groaning, I scrubbed my hands down my face and tried to get it together. I was better than some horny wee teenager who couldn’t control his attraction to a beautiful woman.
I hoped.
Getting up, I strode across the room and slid the already-open bifolds back against the wall. I was right. The sea’s cool breeze felt bloody marvelous.
T-shirt sticking to me, I whipped it off and tucked it into the back of my jeans. Finding the football already outside, I created goals with the large rocks we kept in the back garden for such occasions. A fence wrapped around the yard to protect the kids from the cliff’s edge.
The sea was calm beneath perfect skies, weather more suited to summer than spring, and I could hear soft waves lapping against the coast unimpeded.
“I’m taking my shirt off too!” Lewis yelled as he hurried down the deck toward me, already flying out of his T-shirt. “Feels good.” He stood arms wide, letting the breeze flow over him. “Good plan, Uncle Arr.”
I stifled a laugh and even more so when Eredine appeared with Eilidh, and then stuttered to a stop at the sight of me.
Her eyes dragged over my body, and I saw her hands clench at her sides. I also noted the way her breathing moved a little quicker than usual.
Fuck.
She was attracted to me too. No doubt about it.
For a second, I wished the kids weren’t here so I could cross the distance between us and kiss the absolute hell out of her.