“Are you sleeping with him?”
“Who I sleep with is none of your business, but since it's only been a month since I had a baby, no.” So she was hedging the truth a little. She wasn't embarrassed about wanting Kai, but it irritated her that Tommy would ask.
“But you want to.”
Not a question. She briefly wondered what kind of vibe she exuded that gave her away. “Does it matter?”
“He's kind of old for you, don't you think?”
She lifted a shoulder. “I never think about his age. I like him.”
Tommy sat on one of the kitchen chairs. “I hoped you'd be off guys for a while.”
Norah laughed. She couldn't help it. “I was off guys for nine months. Have you ever gone that long without a girl?”
“Well, when you put it that way . . .”
“I thought so.”
“I don't think he's good for you, Norah.”
“He's a good guy.”
“Questionable.”
“He's a nice distraction from my life. We're having fun. Neither of us is waltzing down the aisle.”
Tommy chuckled. “I'd be willing to pay to see Kai waltz anywhere.”
The image was pretty funny.
“You know I'm gonna tell Jimmy.”
“Why would you do that?”
“Besides the fact he might kill me if I didn't?”
“I'm an adult. Does he check up on who you're dating?”
“Now you're dating? I thought he was a distraction.”
Her arms flailed and she lost her grip on her apple, which went flying and bounced across the table. “I don't know what we are.”
Tommy stood and handed her the apple. “You can do better than Kai. That's all I'm saying.” He turned and went back down to the basement.
Her stomach churned at the thought of having the same conversation with Jimmy. Sometimes having a crew of older brothers sucked. Kai had never done anything mean to her. He was rough around the edges and he wasn't much of a talker, but he took care of his mom. How bad could he be?
She stopped in the living room to make sure her dad took his medication.
“What are you and Tommy fighting about?”
“Nothing.”
“It's never nothing when it's the two of you. Sean and Tommy, they'll scrap over nothing.”
“Like the rest of the O'Malley men, he feels the need to question my life choices.”
“He's protective. It's his job. All their jobs.”
“I can take care of myself.”
He raised his finger without argument for her to prick. “Doesn't matter how old you are or how independent you think you are. They'll always look out for you.”
“And most of the time, I like it. But sometimes, it's too much. Plus, I'm out of practice.” The last thought hit her hard. A flood of childhood memories raced through her mind. All of them had her brothers damn near hovering over her. In her gut, she'd known her brothers all had a protective streak, Jimmy most of all, but until she said it, she'd forgotten how close they'd been.
She checked her dad's blood, which was miraculously fine, and gave him his other medication. “You should go for a walk. The weather is still nice and it'll keep you healthy.”
He pointed a finger at her. “Look, I let you poke at me and shove pills down my throat, but I draw the line at nagging over going for a walk.”
She smiled because she looked forward to their daily tête-à -tête. As crazy as her family made her, she loved being home with them.
When she got to Kai's house, she let herself in and called out like she did every day. “Lani?”
“I'm coming.” Lani turned the corner from where her bedroom was. She was dressed and ready to go. Since her physical therapy appointments were scattered to wherever Jaleesa could schedule them, they juggled who took her. “I'm ready to go.”
“Is Kai still here?”
“In the kitchen.”
“I'll be right back.”
“Getting your morning sugar?”
Norah halted. “What?”
“I'm old, not stupid. I know the two of you are canoodling out here at night.”
Norah's face flamed. Lani heard them? “I need to talk to Kai about something.”
“Mmm-hmm. Take your time. I don't mind being late.”
Norah laughed. “Nice try. We'll be on time for your appointment.”
She knew Lani hated the physical therapy because it was hard and painful, but she didn't put up a fight about going. Kind of like her dad no longer fought about testing his blood. Maybe she was the old people whisperer. She could get geriatrics to do what she wanted.
In the kitchen, Kai stood leaning against the counter, drinking his coffee. Shirtless. His hair was down and damp, which meant he'd just come from the shower. He'd probably worked out this morning. Norah damn near sighed. The man looked mouth-wateringly good.
He shifted and she realized she was staring. “Good morning.”
When her gaze made its way to his face, she saw his self-satisfied grin. “I think you do this intentionally.”
“What?”
“Pose there, waiting for me.”
He set his cup on the counter and came to her. She liked that over the past couple of weeks, he'd started doing that. Coming to her.
“Maybe I like the way you look at me.”
She leaned in, almost desperate for a kiss, but then she remembered why she came to the room. Placing a hand on his chestâhis hard, muscly, sexy chestâshe gathered her thoughts. “Stop. For a minute anyway.”
“What's wrong?” His hands were immediately on her shoulders and his eyes locked on hers.
“Tommy stopped me as I was leaving. He wanted to know what's going on between us.” She filled her lungs and let the air out slowly. “I didn't know what to say. I wasn't going to lie but at the same time, it's none of his business. None of
their
business because now Tommy will be blabbing to all my brothers.”
“Okay.”
She could tell he had no idea what to say. “I wanted to give you a heads-up in case Tommy says something to you.”
“What do you want me to say to him?”
“Mind his own damn business?”
“I could do that.”
She shook her head slightly. “It won't work. I don't want to cause problems for you and him at work.”
“If he gets too annoying, I'll fire him.”
“What? No.” She sure as hell didn't want Tommy to lose his job over their temporary thing.
“I'm kidding. It'll be fine.” He glanced over her shoulder. “You need to get going or my mom will be late.”
“I know.” She stepped back to leave, but he yanked her waistband.
“I think you can spare thirty seconds.”
It was probably more like two minutes before his mouth released her, but Norah wasn't complaining.
“Have a good day at work,” she said as she left the kitchen.
“You too.”
As relaxed as the kiss had made her, the thought of Tommy confronting Kai still ate at her. Even if this blew over, what would happen when they stopped whatever they were doing? She'd only thought in terms of her not seeing Kai anymore, but Tommy would have to. She shook the thought away. Her relationship with Kai wouldn't have any lasting impact on Tommy.
Lani stood at the couch, waiting with a huge grin on her face. “Morning sugar is the best, isn't it?”
Norah rolled her eyes, but didn't argue.
* * *
Kai got to work, made a pot of coffee, and braced himself for whatever bullshit Tommy was going to throw. His first client of the day came in and Kai put Tommy out of his thoughts. He enjoyed being the only artist sometimes. With just the music from the radio, he could focus on the art in front of him. No annoying chatter, other than from the client, which only required a grunt here or there to show he was listening.
Unfortunately, his peace was short-lived. Karla strode in, changed the radio station, and started singing. Puck came in a few minutes later, looking hungover, and collapsed on the couch. Karla, of course, took this as an invitation to fuck with him. Sometimes Kai felt like he was in a day care.
Kai was finishing the lettering when Tommy walked in. He felt Tommy's glare, so he paused and looked up. He waited a moment, but Tommy said nothing. At least the kid was smart enough not to start shit in front of a client. Kai went back to tattooing the slogan on his client's arm. He worked in silence, but Tommy kept shooting daggers. It was going to be a long day.
After finishing and explaining aftercare, Kai said good-bye to the client and cleaned up his station. He waited, but Tommy didn't approach. “Hey, Karla, I'll be in back if you need me.”
“Okay.”
“Leave Puck alone. If he fucks up a tattoo later, he'll blame you.”
“How the hell is it my fault he's hungover?”
“Shut up,” Puck moaned from his spot on the couch.
“If you're that bad, why'd you come in? Go home and sleep it off,” Kai told him.
“My mom wouldn't let me sleep either.”
Kai shook his head. Puck was young, but he was no kid. “When are you going to grow up and find your own place to live?”
“It's free to live there. More money for beer.”
Kai went to his office and realized that Puck wasn't the anomaly. Sean, Tommy, and Norah all lived at home. He wasn't sure about Karla. He'd never asked. He didn't understand. He couldn't wait to be on his own. And his mom hadn't done too much nagging. It was the idea of being his own person.
He barely got settled behind his desk when his office door opened and Tommy walked in. Kai looked at him. “Problem with knocking?”
“We need to talk.”
“About?” As if Kai didn't already know.
“Norah.”
“Don't bring personal shit into my place of business.”
“Don't fucking dismiss me.”
Kai pushed away from his desk and walked past Tommy. Over his shoulder, he said, “You coming, or what?”
Tommy followed him out the back door to the alley. Kai leaned against the brick, crossed his arms, and waited.
“What are you doing with my sister?”
“What business is it of yours?”
“Fuck you. She's my sister.”
“You covered that already.”
Tommy ran both hands over the top of his head. “I like you, man, but she's trying to get her life together after taking a huge hit.”
“I'm not doing anything to disrupt that.”
“She's not like us.”
That's what Kai had been waiting for. He knew what Tommy was getting at and it was nothing he didn't already know. He wasn't good enough for Norah. He couldn't even believe that Tommy put himself in the same category with Kai. Tommy was better than Kai. He just didn't know how bad Kai was. “Think I don't know that? I tried steering clear of her. She's relentless.”
Tommy smiled. “Yeah, she is. So tell her no.”
“Easier said than done. I've let her lead on this. She wants to hang out and have some fun. She's sowing some wild oats, working things out of her system before she goes back to school and gets a new job.”
“So that's all she is? A piece of ass?” Tommy had gotten close, too close.
Kai straightened, bumping Tommy with his chest. “I didn't say that. I like Norah, but it is what it is. I don't expect anything more than she's willing to give.”
“If you hurt herâ”
“Shut the fuck up. What are you gonna do?” Kai saw Tommy's fist clench and he knew he needed to diffuse the situation. He raised his hands. He didn't want to fight Tommy. “Look. Your sister is an adult capable of making her own decisions. If she wants to hang out with me, it's her choice. I'm not going to chase her off because you say so.”
“She deserves better. Have you even taken her out on a date? Or are you just using her?”
Kai lowered his voice. “I know she's better than me. We haven't gone out. She didn't say she wanted to. As far as using her, I'm not using her any more than she's using me.” He stared at Tommy to make sure he heard. “That's the last I'm going to say about it. My personal life is none of your business and if you can't keep it out of here, go home.”
He left Tommy standing in the alley. Although he didn't want to lose a good artist, he wasn't going to have his personal life brought out for everyone to see. And like he'd told Norah, his fighting days were over, especially over a girl.
Tommy eventually returned to the studio.
Karla paused before piercing a guy's eyebrow. She looked at Tommy, then at Kai. “Did a cold front just blow through? It's mighty chilly.”
“It's nothing,” Kai said.
She looked at Tommy for confirmation. He glanced at Kai and then nodded. Good enough.
The rest of the day and evening flew by. They had about six walk-ins, so there was no time for chat. By closing time, he was exhausted. He didn't like the ongoing tension between him and Tommy. They had never been friends, but they got along. Karla and Puck had both taken off. He'd expected Tommy to leave with them, but he hung back.
“You want something?”
“Yeah. Sorry about before. Norah frustrates the shit out of me and we worry about her. It has nothing to do with you personally.”
Kai didn't believe that for a second.
“I guess this explains why you were all over Craig after the game last week. Why let me think you were pretending she was with you? Why not just say so?”
Kai looked at him. “Are you serious? You were ready to hit me in the alley.”