Page 112 of Redeeming 6

They looked fucking ridiculous together, with her barely reaching his chest bone in height. They were worlds apart and polar opposites, but the way they were looking at each other assured me that neither of them gave one iota of a shit for the small details.

Yeah, I could smell the sexual tension from here. It was almost as bad as the god-awful wet-dog smell coming from her. Apparently, she’d been knocked on her ass outside by his dogs.

Deciding to fuck with them a little further, I asked Lover Boy if he had a change of clothes she could borrow, and to watch a lad who pummeled grown men into the ground on a weekly basis turn bright red like that was fucking hilarious.

“Johnny, she can take a shower here, can’t she?” Gibsie, who was equally amused by what was unfolding before us, decided to ask.

“What?” Shannon squeaked, wide-eyed and red-faced.

“Uh, yeah, I guess,” Kav replied, clearing his throat several times before adding, “If she wants.”

“Good idea,” I joined in by adding. “Wash that wet dog smell off ya before we have to drive home in small confines.”

“I don’t smell.”

“You stink,” we replied in unison.

“Fuck off the pair of ye, and leave her alone,” Lover Boy came to the rescue and warned. “She doesn’t smell bad at all.”

“You don’t smell it because you’re immune,” Gibsie explained. “He lets the mutt sleep on his bed every night.”

Johnny narrowed his eyes, outraged. “Call my dog a mutt again and you’ll be wearing that frying pan.”

Gibsie held his hands up and laughed. “My sincerest apologies, lad. I never meant to insult your precious pooch.”

“I am so sorry about this,” Shannon choked out, looking up at Kav like he hung the moon. “I don’t have to shower in your house—”

“Ah, yeah you fucking do,” I interrupted, earning a snicker of encouragement from Gibsie. “I meant it when I said you’re not getting into Aoife’s car like that. I could run a drag off ya with the state you’re in.”

“For fuck’s sake,” Kav muttered, catching ahold of my sister’s hand before the pair of them disappeared down the hallway.

“Ah, that was brilliant.” Gibsie sighed in contentment. “He’s probably up there shitting pebbles because this wasn’t part of his concrete plan.”

A reluctant smile breached my lips and I shook my head, concentrating on clearing my plate. “So, what’s the story with you and your buddy’s sister?”

“Who?” he asked. “Claire?”

I nodded.

“She’s my intended,” he came right out and said, without a hint of embarrassment.

“The fuck?”

“It’s true,” he urged, eyes wide and full of sincerity. “We’re betrothed.”

“Since when?”

“Since she was four and I was six, and I promised her that I would marry her.”

“So, in other words, you signed your life away on a child’s promise?”

“What can I say?” He shrugged before adding, “I’m a man of my word.”

I gave him a curious look. “Explain.”

“Hugh and I were in first class over at St. Paul’s, an all-boys school, so Claire was sent to the mixed school across town.”

“Sacred Heart Primary School,” I filled in with a nod. “The same one myself and Shannon went to.”

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