He dropped into a lunge. “I’m a professional athlete. Got to stay in shape.”

I shook my head and sat down, curling my right leg as I extended my left, and bending in half at my waist to touch my forehead to the ground. “I’m not buying it.”

When I straightened, I found him watching me with that perfect crooked grin.

I raised my brows at him.

He shrugged unabashedly.

“Hmph.” In that case, he was just asking to be teased. I split my legs open and touched my forehead straight down in front of me.

Mike groaned.

I grinned as blades of grass tickled my nose, twisting my hands around my ankles. I knew starting something with Mike was a bad idea, but I wanted him so much that I didn’t mind making him want me.

I unfolded and smiled at him. He shook his head. “Are you trying to drive me crazy?”

“I shouldn’t, should I? But it’s turning out to be a lot of fun.”

He grinned at the sky. It was such a gorgeous, relaxed expression that I could feel my heart tumbling all over itself, which wasn’t a good sign. “We went to see Maggie and Paul today.”

Ah. So that was what had put him in a mood. “How was it?”

“Mom and Maggie were weird, just like they were yesterday.”

“Do you know what their deal is?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t think they’ve even met before this week.”

“So why would they dislike each other? Do you think it’s the same thing that estranged the brothers?”

He tilted his head as he considered it. “Like maybe she’s pissed on Patrick’s behalf? I don’t know... It seems weirdly personal.”

“Aren’t you curious? Old family secrets to uncover...”

He shot me a pointed look. “Not all of us dig just for dirt.”

I raised a brow. “No, some of us dig for the reality buried beneath it.”

He studied me with those steady brown eyes. I wondered if the reason he smiled all the time was to distract people from how much he watched them.

Then the intensity felt too intimate, and I turned away. “So what else happened? Your sisters met Paul?”

He watched me a brief moment more, and then switched gears to an irritated scoff. “Yeah, and fucking Paul made a pass at Lauren.” He narrowed his eyes at me. “I told you he was bad news, didn’t I.”

I held in a laugh. “Some people don’t actually mind being flirted with.”

“Anna also said that he was hot.”

The laugh burst out. “Well, she had a point.”

Now I had Mike’s full attention. “You don’t think Paul’s hot.”

I shrugged mischievously. “Dark good looks... Has that Irish brogue.”

Mike snorted. “You’re all crazy.”

I couldn’t resist needling him a little further, even though I didn’t actually find his cousin’s angry angst that attractive. “Cam—my best friend—and I even came up with an Operation Irish Boyfriend, and I’d say Paul’s a pretty good candidate.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” He smirked at me. “Besides, if that’s all you’re looking for...”

Energy sizzled through me. I sucked in a deep breath and then tried to play it off casually. “You don’t have the accent.”

He faked one immediately. “Come on, love. Give a bloke a chance.”

My breath caught and my cheeks flushed, but not at the accent. No, it was Michael O’Connor calling me “love” that made my pulse race.

He scowled. “Unless you have something against redheads?”

I reached out and touched an auburn curl. “Not at all.”

He looked up at me and I realized how close we stood. I cleared my throat and stepped back. “So did you say anything when Anna mentioned Paul’s attractiveness?”

“I got in trouble because I said, ‘Don’t you have a boyfriend?’ and she got all pissed and ran off. Apparently they broke up because I made her come to Ireland.”

I smiled up at him. He looked kind of adorable when he was worked up over his sisters. “I take it you find fault with that version of the story?”

“Lauren’s the one who insisted we come. Called me up the second Patrick kicked the bucket and demanded I call it in as a family death to Coach and we take a vacation. Besides, it’s good for Anna to be away from him.”

I raised my brows. “You ever get tired of trying to control people?”

He sat up. “Not like it ever works.”

I rolled over. “You shouldn’t, you know. With your family.”

“Thank you,” he said dryly. “For that solicited and appreciated piece of advice. And I support them, I don’t control them.”

“Even your mom? Or do you have a tendency to forget she’s the parent?”

“I’m an adult. I should contribute.”

“And let me guess. You’ve been an adult since your dad died. You don’t have to try so hard to be perfect.”

He looked out at the sea. “That’s where you’re wrong. I just left. I wasn’t perfect at all.”

So he felt like he’d abandoned them after his father’s death and tried to sooth it over with money. God, families were the worst. I plucked up a flower and tugged off its petals. “My dad used to take me to Leopards’ games.”

“What?”

I scooted so I also faced the water. Above us, birds cried out, swooping and diving through the air. “He was always in such a good mood. Football was so unlike the rest of my life...where everything was quiet and tense, and if people were angry they wouldn’t talk about it. At games, guys would just beat the hell out of one another. It was very...cathartic.”

I shook my head. “I thought the game was wonderful. Dad would get so worked up. I’m sure you know. I remember—I must have been twelve, thirteen—he picked me up and whirled me around in the air. The whole stadium turned before me. That’s what I always associated football with. Magic.” Warmth.

“Do you still go with him?”

“Oh, no. It wasn’t really about us. It was really him and my brothers, and I tagged along.”

“The thing that you said wasn’t really a big deal.”

“Right.”

“I don’t believe you.”

Shocked, I turned to face him. He’d sat forward, propping his elbows on his knees, while his arms hung loosely between them. He had the same intensity as when we’d first met and he’d denied me Kilkarten, an intensity I never would’ve imagined just from seeing him on the screen. I slowly raised my gaze to his. “Why not?”

He shrugged. “You didn’t want to go home in New York. You don’t want to have a home. You’re bitter about your family.”

I stared at him, stunned. “And apparently I talk too much.”

He laughed. “So? You know all about my family. Now it’s your turn.”

What did I say to that? I took a deep breath, feeling wobbly and light. “I had a great childhood. Everything I ever needed. Everything anyone could want.”

“But...?”

I shrugged. “My brothers are great. Peter’s married and lives in DC, and Quinn travels almost as much as I do. Evan—he’s only three years older—lives in New York, though. But I always feel like I want to see them more than they want to see me.”

“But you’re clearly not happy.”

A small butterfly, with the coloring of a Monarch but different patterns, fluttered nearby, coming to rest on a purple thistle. Tiny blue dots fringed its wings. “Well. My brothers—half brothers—don’t get along with our dad. He left their mom. And he’s not easy to like—stiff and stuck up and homophobic, even though he pretends he’s not, but he and Evan barely talk anymore. But I didn’t know how non-functional we were when I was little. I just knew how happy I was at the games.”

He twisted to look at me, a thinking smile on his lips. “Do you think my family’s functional?”

I nodded. “And warm. Angry, sometimes, but at least they’re not cold. And they like you. Isn’t that what this is about? Lauren said she wanted to come here to bond. They probably just want to spend time with you, not spend your money.”

He frowned and picked a flower too. “I didn’t even know I should be worrying about Mom until Lauren pointed it out. Now I worry all the time. Is she lonely? Unhappy?”