Tell Them Lies (Three Little Words Book 3) (13 page)

T
he room was small
. Just like it had been the last time he’d been there. Only last time, he’d been in there by himself. Not this year. Truthfully, he'd had no damn idea whether his Aunt Carol would give them own rooms or put them both in Kieran's normal one.

Normal one it was. God bless his not very conservative aunt. Because for the next three nights, he and Liz got to share the queen size bed where the mattress dipped into the center. He'd almost laughed at the adorably overwhelmed look on her face when they'd been swarmed by the six women anxiously awaiting their arrival.

There'd been hugs, kisses planted on both their cheeks, cooing over Liz and her beautiful hair and her gorgeous long legs (yeah, tell him about it), and a few tsking sounds of disapproval over the fact that he had a new tattoo on his arm since the last time they’d seen him.

Whirlwind
was a sedate term for what had happened during their first ten minutes through the door. Which meant that the quiet of his guest room felt pretty great.

To him at least. Liz looked a more than a little panicked as she set her suitcase down on the foot of the bed. She was busying herself with emptying some things out of her purse, placing two books on the nightstand and making sure the corners lined up at a perfect ninety degree angle.

Setting his own duffel bag on the floor of the closet, he clapped his hands and then smothered a laugh when she jumped about a foot.

"So. You freaking out over the sleeping situation?"

Her blue eyes flew wide open, taking up half her face. "No! Well, no. It'll be fine. I knew that this might happen. And it'll be fine. I'm not worried. I mean, you shouldn't be worried."

Kieran bust out laughing, and Liz slumped a little. "Angel, I'm not going to molest you in your sleep."

"I know, and oh, I said that all wrong. I just meant that the last time we were together, I was the one taking advantage. Not you. I trust you."

Well. He tipped his chin up, regarding her. That was not at all what he'd expected. He'd expected a blushing virgin act, though he believed her when she said she wasn't one.

"So let me get this straight. You're worried that
I'll
be the molested?" She sank down so her face hid behind her hands, and Kieran braced his hands on his knees and just laughed. And kept on laughing. Swiping a hand under his eye to make sure he hadn't sprung any tears, Kieran finally caught his breath. "Oh, angel. You are somethin' else. Because I tell you what, there's no way you could ever take advantage of me. I’m not looking to put a ring on anyone’s finger tonight, but I'll always be right there with you when it comes to that, okay?"

Slowly, Liz dropped her hands and peered up at him. There was more in her eyes than he’d expected at his flippantly said answer. Like an answer had clicked through her brain. Just as he was about to open his mouth to say something else, not sure what, she nodded. Kieran sat down next to her on the floral patterned bedspread.

"Good," he said, giving her a consoling pat on the knee. Then he nodded over at the nightstand. "What did you bring?"

She smiled at him, leaning over to pick up the top book and handed it to him. Pride & Prejudice. He turned the hardcover book over in his hands, smiling a little at how uncomfortable the young woman looked on the front. Stiff and smiling and sitting in a really horrible dress. Hair all pinned up in ugly little curls.

"You like this stuff, huh?"

She hummed a little, taking it back from his and flipping to one of the interior pages. Drawing her finger down the page, she stopped at the beginning of a paragraph. She cleared her throat and started reading.

"I declare after all. There is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of any thing than a book! When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library."

He nodded slowly, stroking his chin. "Ahh yes. It all makes sense now. Just write about books and Liz will love it."

She shifted and pushed him at a bit with her shoulder. "No. Of course, that's not the only reason. Jane Austen remains one of the most beloved writers in literary fiction, more than two hundred years after her death. In fact, she never even lived long enough to see even a tiny portion of her success.” Liz stroked the cover of the book like it was a lover, and Kieran felt this weird, inappropriate surge of jealousy. Because of a book. “She was incredible. From all accounts, she'd never experienced love herself, but she's given the world some of the most enduring love stories today. She wrote of what she knew, small country towns and the social structure that she was accustomed to. Within that simple frame, she created complex relationships, and incredibly witty commentary on how she viewed the social constructs of that time."

Kieran held his hands up, falling back onto the bed. "I give, I give. You win, smarty pants."

A flush covered her cheeks, and the embarrassment in her little outburst was obvious. And adorable. He smoothed a hand up her back, not missing how she stiffened slightly, then relaxed towards him. He sat up, leaving his hand there against her pink cotton shirt.

"So it's one of those stories, huh? My mom made me watch a few movies like that over the years. Where there's always a big dance scene in the middle, and everybody's all stuffy and shit. Those put me to sleep every time. So boring."

Turning slightly so she faced him, Liz narrowed her eyes a little so that all he could see was a tiny slit of that bright blue.

"Stand up."

"Uhhh, why?"

"It'll help when I explain it to you."

"Okaaaaaay," he said as he stood up next to the bed. Backing up towards the door, Liz motioned for him to step closer to her, then held up her hand when he was a few steps away from the edge of the bed. Through the closed door of their room, he could hear muffled laughter from downstairs, but it was silent between the two of them. And for some reason, it made him nervous. Tilting her head to the side and with a little smile on her face, Liz watched him stand there, uncomfortable as hell and ready to burst out of his skin.

"Imagine if, under no circumstances, were you be allowed to touch me."

"Well that would suck."

Her smile grew, but she stayed where she was. "It's hard to fathom, isn't it? We can hug and touch and kiss each other in public and no one bats an eye. But back then? Men and women weren't even allowed to be together without a chaperone. Because it was so improper, even if they were engaged. It was so rare to have occasion to stand closely to each other, except for the dances, the balls that were held at these great, fine houses." She took a step closer to him, and he pulled in a breath at how serious her face was. "So imagine that in all this time we've spent together, you'd never even touched me. All you can do is look at me, watch my facial expressions, see me play the piano, watch me eat across a table, overhear me talk with the other women, offer to get me a glass of punch. But you can't touch me."

"Impossible," he whispered, without conscious thought that he'd said it out loud.

"It's not impossible, if that was all you knew. All you were ever allowed." He went to step closer, and she held up a hand again, shaking her head. "You can't. What would people think?"

"Who
gives
a shit?" he said, fully caught up in whatever this little exercise was. Her eyes, holy hell, he felt like such a girl for noticing, but they sparkled or some shit. That reaction of his, yeah, she loved it. And she took another step, only the length of his arm separated them now, but he held perfectly still.

"But if you asked me to dance, and I had a place open on my dance card, we could stand this close, and closer." She lifted both of her hands, palms facing him, and nodded for him to do the same. The air prickled against his skin when he made his hands mirror hers. Taking yet another step, Liz moved so that her hands were only inches from his. "Those dances, they were
it
for people back then. It was enough for them to fall completely in love just by sharing a few dances, twirling around in circles, weaving through dozens of other people, just for the chance to touch hands for a few fleeting seconds. And maybe, if they were lucky, the man would be able to wrap his around her waist and spin her to another spot. He could feel the shape of her
body
. For them? Can you even imagine what that must have felt like?"

Kieran could barely breathe over the way his heart pounded in his chest. In fact, yup, he might die if she didn't close the gap and touch him. But she held there, her hands hovering so closely to his, and her eyes boring into his, the blue of her irises almost hard to look at because they were so bright.

Then she laid her palms to his, pushing her fingers in between his own, and it felt like a bolt of lightning shot down his arm. He noticed everything, the slimness of her fingers, the cool temperature of her skin, how rough his skin felt against hers.

"Is that boring to you?" she whispered, her eyes never leaving his.

What were they doing? What was this to her? This was weird, really effing weird and he didn't think he was capable of snapping them out of it. Her mouth dropped open just a touch while she waited for him to answer.

"No," he groaned and stamped his mouth over hers, wrapping their entwined hands around her back so that she was pressed fully into him. Everything felt sharper, hotter, during this kiss. Not like his brain could focus on anything other than how soft her lips were, and how flawlessly she kissed him back, using her lips and her tongue and her teeth. Yanking her hands from his, she gripped the sides of his face, angling her head so that they could meet mouths again and again and again and again.

His hands slid down to palm her incredibly perfect ass, and she moaned into his mouth, lifting up on her toes to get closer. Kieran started moving backwards towards the bed, and she followed, their mouths still fused together. He just wanted to see her, and feel her, and have her do the same with him. The thought of her hands against his stomach about made his skin ignite. When he dragged his tongue down the side of her throat, her hands tightened around the back of his head and he almost howled in triumph.

Then the door burst open. "Holy
crap
, Mom, Kieran is making
out
with his girlfriend!"

They snapped apart, Liz covering her mouth with one hand and Kieran propping his hands on his hips while he gave the death glare of all death glares to his cousin Bethany's son, Max. Max was all of about ten, and stared wide-eyed at them, not even remotely concerned that he'd interrupted the best five minutes of the last few months of Kieran's life.

Because that moment right there? It wasn't spurred by alcohol. It wasn't because anyone was watching. It wasn't an experiment. They'd just wanted to do it. And so yes, he might be feeling murderous thoughts towards his pint-sized second cousin, but the kid truly had no idea.

"Maxwell James, you get your ass out of that room," Bethany hollered from downstairs.

"We're ready to eat," Max said, smiling at both of them with a wide, toothy grin. Then he turned and sprinted down the stairs.

And Kieran and Liz stood those few feet apart and stared at each other. Like they hadn't just had their tongues in each other’s throats. And even as the breath sawed in and out of his chest, he wasn't exactly sure what had spurred that entire thing on.

"I..." Liz cleared her throat, placing the hand that had been over mouth onto her heaving chest. Not that he was watching her chest, except he was. "I'm sorry. That was absolutely my doing."

He nodded. "Yup." But the way her eyes snapped to his, and the way her mouth dropped open made him smile. "Okay, Fine. I was an active participant. In whatever that was."

One shaky hand slid over the top of her head. "I think I got a little carried away by Jane Austen. That seems plausible, right?"

"Uh huh. Whatever you say, hot lips."

"Kieran!"

He laughed, gesturing to the door once he felt like he might be under control of himself. "Well, that was hot. And it involved your lips. That's all I'm sayin'."

She kept laughing until they made it down the steps to where the other eight million people in his family were gathered. Okay, fine, it was more like ten. But it felt like well over that coming from the cramped intimacy of their bedroom.

Pizza and paper plates were dispersed. There were glasses filled to the brim with white wine and dark beer. Liz declined both as she sat by his side at the two tables connected in his aunt's kitchen and dining room. The younger cousins sat at the end that was closer to the kitchen. The adults gravitated towards the family room. His aunt's whole house was built around the ability to entertain.

She lived on three acres in northern Michigan, it was a doable drive to Traverse City when they wanted to go out, and with no neighbors around, they could blare music and drink until the wee hours if they wanted to. Even though Kieran and his mom stayed at the house, his cousins (Aunt Connie's four girls) all lived close enough that they came and hung out every day.

Thankfully, no one mentioned Max's verbal pronouncement earlier, but Kieran still made sure to give him the stink-eye one more time. The kid just grinned and grabbed another piece of pizza.

"So Kieran," his youngest cousin Anna said from the opposite end of the packed table. She was dipping the crust of her pizza into a disturbing amount of ranch. But the look on her face made Kieran shift in his seat. "Until today, I've only met one of your girlfriends, ohhhh what was her name again? Ruby. That's it. And man, she was
such
a raging bitch. Wanna tell us how you managed to rope this one in? Because she actually seems like a nice human being."

From where she was wedged in next to him, Liz tucked her chin down into her chest, like it would make her disappear from all the eyes suddenly on her. Oh, he was gonna kill Anna. Ruby
had
been a bitch, she'd carried a chip on her shoulder the size of Alaska. A very short-lived relationship that he'd made the mistake of bringing into his family life.

Finishing the bite of breadstick that he had in his mouth, Kieran gave Anna a level-look that should have made her burst into tears, instead she guffawed.