Sweet Harmony (Harmony Falls #1) - Elizabeth Kelly Page 0,36
it would look weird if he didn’t go over to her. He’d barely taken two steps toward her when Daniel joined her. The firefighter put his arm around her shoulders and irrational jealousy flamed to life in Connor’s stomach when Kira gave him an adoring grin.
Ignoring the way his knee was throbbing, he quickened his pace. He reached out and took Kira’s arm and pulled her up against his body. Without stopping to think about it, he cupped the back of her skull and pressed his mouth against hers.
He swallowed her startled squeak and pushed his tongue past her slightly parted lips to slide against hers for a few seconds before lifting his head. “Hey.”
“Uh, hi there.” She stared at him, the confusion apparent in her gaze.
Keeping one arm anchored firmly around her slim waist, he held out his other hand to the auburn-haired woman. “Hi, I’m Connor MacMillan. We haven’t met yet.”
She shook his hand. “Addison Moore. It’s nice to meet you.”
“You as well.” Connor smiled at her before squeezing Kira’s waist. “Thanks for coming to watch me play, honey.”
“Right, of course,” Kira said. “I wouldn’t have missed it.”
She took a quick peek at Daniel and Connor tamped down his irritation. The firefighter was studying Kira with an amused look on his face, and Connor stiffened when Daniel reached out and tugged on Kira’s ponytail. “Addie isn’t going to the Beaver. You need a ride over, doll?”
“She’s riding with me,” Connor replied.
Daniel gave him a dismissive glance. “You never go for drinks after a game, doc.”
“Tonight I am.”
“I guess I’ll see you guys there then. Unless,” Daniel gave Kira a wink, “you want to ride with me?”
Kira hesitated and Connor squeezed her hip, probably harder than necessary.
“Thanks,” Kira said, “but I’ll ride with Connor.”
“Sounds good, doll.” Daniel gave Connor a final glance. “Good job tonight, doc. I’ll get you next time, yeah?”
Connor didn’t reply and Daniel ruffled Addison’s hair. “See you later, brat.”
“Bye, loser.” Addison smoothed her hair down as Daniel sauntered away. She glanced at her cell phone when it buzzed. “Finally.”
She smiled at Grace and Kira. “Harrison’s home, I’m gonna head over to his place for a bit. Gracie, are you going to the Beaver as well? I gave Kira a ride over, so I want to make sure she has a ride home.”
“I’ll give her a ride home.” Connor knew he sounded exasperated, but did they really think he’d leave Kira stranded at the pub?
“Oh yes, of course,” Addison gave him an apologetic look. “Okay, well, nice to meet you, Connor. Kira, I’ll see you tomorrow at spin class.”
“Yep. Bye, Addie.”
* * *
“Hey, Kira?” Grace leaned against the bathroom counter of the Thirsty Beaver.
“Yeah?” Kira tightened her ponytail and smoothed her t-shirt.
“I thought you said Connor wasn’t in to PDAs.”
Kira stared at her in the mirror. “Okay, so it’s not just me then… he’s being weirdly handsy with me, right? I mean, I know he’s not shoving his tongue down my throat or anything, but he specifically said that in public, we could hold hands and a quick kiss now and then and that was it. But he’s had his arm around me or his hand on my thigh the whole time we’ve been here.”
Grace grinned at her. “Maybe you’re just too hard for him to resist.”
Kira shook her head and glanced under the stalls before lowering her voice. “He doesn’t even want to, uh, practice kissing anymore.”
“Oh.” Grace studied her. “Does that upset you?”
“Of course not. Why would you ask that?”
“Because you look upset.”
“Well, I’m not,” Kira said. “I love Daniel.”
“But you liked kissing Connor.”
“It was all right,” Kira said. “But, honestly, now that we’re not doing it anymore, I don’t even miss it. I was just a little infatuated with him because he is an incredible kisser, that’s all. It’s Daniel I want.”
“All right,” Grace said. “Well, maybe because Daniel is here, Connor’s just really throwing himself into the role of loving boyfriend tonight.”
“Maybe,” Kira said. “Do you think it’s working? Does Daniel look jealous to you?”
“Maybe?” Grace said.
Kira frowned. “You don’t sound like you believe that.”
“I haven’t been paying that much attention, I’ve had to fend off Jesse all night.”
Jesse was Jesse Jones, a firefighter and, as far as Kira was concerned, a real cutie-pie. He had dark hair and dark eyes and his body rivaled Daniel’s in muscles. He was on the quiet side but sweet and polite and he’d been crushing on Grace for months now.