Kate Hoffmann - The Mighty Quinns - Brian

“It was great sex,” Lily murmured, fingering the tie. “And that’s all it was.” But though she said the words, they just didn’t seem to ring true.

“AREN’T YOU DOING the news tonight?”

Brian slid onto a bar stool next to his twin brother Sean and waved to his father at the far end of the bar. For a Sunday evening, Quinn’s Pub in South Boston was relatively empty. A few of the regulars were playing pool in the back and a couple sat in one of the booths near the bar. A soft Irish ballad played from the jukebox.

Seamus, a canvas apron around his waist, strolled up and tossed a paper coaster in front of Brian. “Aren’t you doing the news tonight? We’re tuned in,” he said, pointing to the television in the corner.

Brian nodded. “Yeah. The eleven o’clock news. I’ve got to be at the station at seven. I thought I’d get something to eat.”

“We’ve got corned beef and cabbage,” Seamus said. “I’ll get you a plate.”

“No cabbage,” Brian said. “It’ll make me burp.”

Seamus raised a bushy white eyebrow. “So?”

“Da, I have to read the news. I can’t be burping every few seconds. Give me a club soda over ice. And a cheeseburger, no onions.”

Seamus fetched the drink, then wrote the order down on a pad and walked it back to Henry, the short-order cook in the kitchen.

Brian and Sean sat silently, both of them contemplating their drinks. They didn’t need to talk. Since the moment they’d been born, they’d shared a silent kind of communication, an ability to read each other’s moods, to know what the other was thinking. While Sean rarely confided in his other brothers—or anyone for that matter—when he was alone with Brian, he was able to open up.

Brian knew everyone thought Sean was shy and aloof. But he also knew his twin brother used an indifferent facade to hide a deeply sensitive nature. He wrapped himself in a protective armor, allowing very few people to see the man underneath.

Of all of the Quinn brothers, Sean had been the one who’d come away with the most childhood scars. He’d been the one to rebel against his circumstances. He’d never really learned to trust and had turned into a brooding loner. He’d washed out of the police academy and drifted into private investigative work. It had been a good choice for Sean, but it hadn’t made him any more outgoing.

“How’s business?” Brian asked.

“Not bad. Not good, either.”

“I thought you made a bundle on that case with Liam and Eleanor and that Pettibone guy.”

A few months back, Sean had taken on an embezzlement case for a Manhattan bank and enlisted the aid of their youngest brother, Liam. Charged with surveillance on the female suspect, Liam had fallen in love with the woman. After they had cleared her name, he and Eleanor Thorpe had continued seeing each other and announced their engagement the day after Brendan and Amy’s wedding in early May.

“I did,” Sean said. “But I burned it all on expenses on another big case. My rich client didn’t like what I found. Turns out his wife wasn’t cheating. He’s decided not to pay the bill. Now, I’ve got to spend more money to get him to pay. I’ve got to hire a lawyer and file a lawsuit.”

“Sorry,” Brian murmured. “I wish I had something I could throw your way.”

Sean held up his hand. “I’m going to be fine. Liam’s making money now. He’s paying the rent at our place—for once. He and Ellie are moving out at the end of the summer. I’ll be all right until then.”

“How is that, living with them both?”

Sean shrugged. “She likes to clean. She’s got a thing about the toilet seat. And I really wish she wouldn’t hang her…underthings all over the bathroom.”

“Yeah, I suppose that is a little distracting,” he murmured, his mind flashing an image of Lily Gallagher’s lingerie, that strapless number made of black lace and the matching panties. He drew a sharp breath and pushed the image out of his head. He’d spent the entire day thinking about Lily and it was time he quit! Yes, she was beautiful and intriguing and the night they’d spent together had been unforgettable, but he knew better than to make it into something more than it was.

“She likes to cook,” Sean continued. “There are always leftovers in the fridge.” He shrugged and took another sip of his Guinness. “Between eating at the pub and eating at home, I’ve been saving a lot of money on food.”

Brian nodded. He stared down the length of the bar and caught the glances sent their way by a pair of curvaceous blondes. One of them gave him a little wave. Under any other circumstances, Brian might have waved back. But after his experience with Lily, he’d decided to take a little break from the opposite sex.

Meeting Lily Gallagher had thrown his brain completely out of whack. He’d never once lost control the way he had with her. Sure, he’d seduced a fair number of women, even had a few one-night stands, but this had been different. Instead of feeling sated the next morning, he felt strangely uneasy, as if he’d done something…wrong.

But what was it? She’d wanted it as much as he had, maybe even more. And he certainly hadn’t forced the issue. He’d given her every opportunity to call a stop to their headlong rush into intimacy.

God, she was beautiful. And that body, it seemed to be made for his touch. He glanced at the girls at the end of the bar. Funny how a few nights ago he might have found them attractive. Now they were just too…much. Their lipstick was too dark and their hair too bleached, their clothes too tight and their breasts too big to be real.

Lily had been a beauty who hadn’t required any improvements. Her hair, her skin, her slender form. Each element had been nearly perfect in his eyes. An image of her flashed in his head, her dress billowing around them both, her eyes closed at the moment of her release. Brian groaned softly, then rubbed his forehead. “Lily,” he murmured.

“What?” Sean asked.

Brian gave his brother a sideways glance. “What?”

“You said ‘Lily,”’ Sean replied. “Lily what?”

“It’s not a Lily what. It’s a Lily who. She’s a woman I met last night. At this fund-raiser at the Copley.”

“Hmm,” Sean said.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing.”

“Then just shut up!”

“Don’t get pissed at me,” Sean said. “I was just making conversation.”

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