O Come, All Ye Kellys (Love & Luck #7) - Isla Olsen Page 0,1
made himself at home in Brendan’s place. “They’re not here yet,” he grumbles, motioning toward a chair in the entrance where everyone seems to have dumped their coats, before leading me through the hallway to the kitchen at the back of the house and offering me a beer from the fridge.
I take the beer and snap off the cap, then scan my gaze around the living room slash dining area. As if my eyes are being drawn to her like magnets, I see Ellie—one of the few people here that I’m not related to—across the other side of the room; she’s sitting on the arm of the sofa and chatting with two of my younger brothers, Aidan and Declan.
I draw in a deep, steadying breath as my eyes scan over her. She’s wearing a wine red sweater dress that cuts off around mid-thigh, and knee-high black leather boots that I’m positive were made to be propped against my shoulders. Her lips are the same color as her dress, and her rich golden hair is done in long, soft waves that fall all down her back. Fuuucckkk…I’m so dead.
As if sensing my gaze on her, she turns from her conversation, her sea green eyes flashing as she catches me watching her. Her mouth quirking in amusement, she says something to Aidan and then rises from her perch, stalking across the room toward me.
“Finnegan,” she purrs in that husky voice that sends blood straight to my cock. I should point out for the record that, in my case, ‘Finn’ is in no way short for Finnegan.
I return her smile. “Ellie Cat.”
Her gaze slowly travels up and down my body and then she draws in a deep breath, letting it out slowly. Narrowing her eyes at me, she says, “If you thought coming here smelling like a rainforest and wearing a sweater so thin it hides literally none of your abs would break me…you were mistaken.”
I manage to give a nonchalant shrug, despite the fact that her attitude has me so turned on I’m practically vibrating. “And you should know those boots do absolutely nothing for me,” I lie. “And that dress…” I shake my head sadly. “It’s hideous. You should just take it off.”
Her face splits into a teasing grin. “Nice try, sweetie. But if you want to see me naked again, you know what you have to do.”
“You let me see you naked when Cass is there,” I point out, unable to stop my face from forming a pout.
“That’s different,” Ellie says simply. “Cass is there.”
Cass is the third point of our little triangle, and honestly probably the only reason I haven’t actually exploded since Ellie and I made what seemed like a fun wager at the time.
I’m about to respond when there’s a commotion behind me and I turn around to see Brendan and Wade have finally arrived home with their new baby girl, Arya. Of course, this leads to a whole lot of fussing over the baby and handing her around from person to person.
I can admit she’s pretty cute, but I’m happy to stand back and admire her from a distance. Kids I can handle okay, but babies—and especially babies this small—scare me a little. I just worry I might drop them or break them or something.
“Okay, seriously, what’s the deal with you and Ellie?” Shay asks me once the baby fuss has died down a little.
As if those words are like a radio signal, my other brothers, as well as Declan’s husband, Heath, all join the conversation too.
“Are you secretly together but pretending not to be?” Brendan asks. “Because if that’s the case you seriously suck at pretending.”
“Yeah, Jamie and I were way better liars,” Shay says.
“No way.” Heath gives a sharp shake of his head. “Dec and I are the best liars here—none of you knew we were fake.”
“I knew!” Connor pipes in.
Shay rolls his eyes. “Technicality. I still claim it doesn’t count because they weren’t really faking. They only thought they were faking because they didn’t realize it was real yet.”
“No, we’re not together,” I say firmly, returning the conversation to Ellie. “I mean, we were. Sort of…I guess…I don’t know. But now, we’re—”
“They’re playing chicken,” Aidan finishes for me. Of course he’d know what the whole deal is, being Ellie’s best friend and everything. “They’re denying each other sex and whoever cracks first and begs for it is the loser.”
A whole bunch of wide, incredulous eyes fix themselves on me.
“Dude, are you insane?” Brendan