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He shook his head, as if disappointed. “Just fine? Wow. What a terrible description. You ever been tied up in bed, Kell? Spanked? Had your hair pulled?”
Kelli rolled her eyes, her usual response to pretty much everything he said to her, but this time, it felt more like a dodge than a reaction.
“So you haven’t,” he pressed.
“I’m not discussing my sex life with you, perv.”
“That’s all the answer I need. Pity. I think you’d get off on a little bondage.”
She leaned toward him, lowering her voice, the sound surprising husky…sexy. “I think I would.”
Colm’s eyes widened, and he shifted closer as well, always ready to go tit for tat with her. “Oh yeah? Should you and I test that theory?” It wasn’t a serious offer, and Kelli knew it.
And her answer was exactly what he’d expected. “As long as I’m the one tying the knots.”
He chuckled. “Yet another reason why you and I will never hook up.”
“Jesus, Colm. Believe me, that has never been in the cards. Ever. Like never. Ever.”
“Agreed. Want a cup of coffee to sober up?” he offered, though he made no effort to stand.
She shook her head. “No. That will just keep me up all night, and I’m perfectly capable of not sleeping on my own.”
He saw her wince slightly before schooling her features, and it set his lawyer instincts on full alert. Kelli had clearly revealed something she hadn’t meant to.
And since it was his God-given duty as an attorney to question her, he did. “Something keeping you up nights? More than just cat puke, spilled coffee, and shitty pants?”
She shrugged casually.
Colm figured she’d brush his question off—but then she twisted on the couch and faced him more fully.
“I’ve been…thinking about something…and I…”
She paused, and he recognized the second she realized who she was talking to. “You and Paddy really do look alike with the beard. Keep forgetting he shaved his off.”
Colm chuckled. “Almost spilled your guts to me, didn’t you?”
Kelli didn’t share the laugh. Instead, she shocked him by asking, “Would you give me shit until the end of time if I did?”
Colm wasn’t sure how to respond. He and Kelli had a pretty solid frenemies schtick, something that had worked for them since they were kids. But there was something in her tone that…worried him.
“I won’t give you shit.”
She studied his face, but his tone must have convinced her he was sincere. “I considered talking to Paddy about this, but…this doesn’t feel like something I can…”
She kept stopping in the middle of her sentences, as if she was still debating with herself over opening up to him.
“There’s something you can’t tell Paddy?” Colm was fairly certain there’d never been anything in their entire lives that had been off-limits between Kelli and Padraig.
“You know how hard the holidays are on him.”
Colm nodded. Of course he knew that. Just like he knew there were several other times during the year that knocked his brother down as well, times that had been meaningful, special to him and Mia. March, the month they’d met, was particularly brutal for Padraig.
Padraig and Mia had only gotten to spend one Christmas together. One lousy holiday, but Padraig had done everything in his power to make it the greatest holiday season ever—from Halloween, to Thanksgiving, to Christmas, and New Year’s, he’d made every single day the perfect celebration, the perfect memory.
And he’d paid for it the last two years. The holidays never failed to kick his brother in the ass. Hard.
“So it’s just the holidays holding you back from talking to him?”
