“Shit!” he cursed loudly. Emmy appeared, but he shot her a look that said he was not paying the penalty when she walked in, tequila bottle raised.
She giggled at the sight of his fake beard, dripping with beer, and left again.
“Fucking wig and beard,” he grumbled, taking them off and tossing them onto the kitchen counter.
“Oh my God. You and Paddy are twins again!” Sunnie whispered, reaching up to touch his clean-shaven cheek.
“Not for long. I’m growing the beard back again tomorrow. Couldn’t get the Hagrid one to stick to my face with my own beard in the way.” He’d shaved it off just before the party when he got sick of fucking around with the glue. Oliver had laughed his ass off when he saw what he’d done, proclaiming Colm was going too far just to win a costume contest. Colm had shaken his head and joked that Oliver must have been switched at birth because no true Collins would question his dedication to winning, no matter the cost.
Sunnie obviously was a Collins through and through because she merely gave him a look that said she wouldn’t have expected anything less from him. “It really was an amazing costume. You would have won if not for…”
“Baby shark.”
“Yeah. That was awesome.”
Colm tucked away Sunnie’s compliment about his costume, ready to bring it out to razz Kelli with at a later date.
He’d kicked off the platform boots a couple hours earlier, changing into a pair of comfortable tennis shoes. Shrugging off the padded trench coat, he sighed, glad to be out of the heavy thing and able to move again.
He tackled the tap again and managed to fix it. Leaving his costume in the kitchen, he headed upstairs with two things on his mind.
Sex, then sleep.
He’d just walked into his bedroom when he remembered his phone was in the pocket of the trench coat. He tried to see Brooke through the darkness, but the room was pitch-black. He couldn’t even see his hand in front of his face. For a moment, he considered going down to grab his phone, just for the light.
“It’s me,” he whispered, but he got no response.
Fuck it. He didn’t need light for sex. He knew where all the important parts were.
A slight rustle in the bed told him Brooke was already lying down and ready to go. They’d gone out a dozen or so times in the past few months, but neither of them was interested in jumping from casual dating to a full-blown relationship. Brooke had admitted over dinner earlier in the evening that she wasn’t looking for anything serious at the moment. According to her, all she wanted was “a good time with no strings.”
Colm could definitely handle the good time. And no strings was his preferred state of being.
Or at least, it used to be. Before Kelli started talking about babies, and he’d starting to think maybe his “good times” weren’t that much fun anymore.
Nope. Not going there, he decided as he carefully made his way to the bed. He rummaged through his nightstand drawer quietly, pulling out a couple of condoms so they’d be easily accessible when they got to that point.
Tugging off his T-shirt and jeans, he crawled into the bed in only his boxers, sliding next to Brooke, who remained still.
As he wrapped his arms around her bare waist, he realized she’d fallen sound asleep.
He hadn’t left her alone that long.
He was just tired enough that he considered rolling over and going to sleep himself.
“Are we doing this?” he barely whispered, when he thought he felt her stir.
She came awake slowly, and he wondered if she’d heard his question.
Then, he heard her breathless gasp, and it sounded for a second like she’d forgotten where she was.
Colm leaned closer. He could take care of that. Could remind her exactly where she was.
Get ready for a good time, he thought.
He pressed his lips to hers.
At first, hers were still as he kissed her, and he briefly wondered about her hesitance. Brooke was the one who’d initially invited him back to her place, and there’d been no question what she’d intended for them to do there.