Alec smiled and let his eyes roam over my face until they landed on my eyes. "Fine, pyjama pants in bed."

Small victory won!

I smiled happily. "And as for the kissin' and touchin'; we will have to build up to that happenin' freely. I don't know you, and I refuse to get intimate on any level, even if it is fake, with a stranger."

Alec scratched his chin then took my arm and lead me back to the kitchen table where we retook our seats.

"Okay, that sounds fair."

I was bouncing a little on my seat as I asked, "So you will be me pretend boyfriend, and escort me to Micah's and Jason's weddin'?

Alec laughed at my happiness. "Yeah, kitten. You've got yourself a fake man."

I clapped my hands together. "I can't wait to see Jason's face, this is gonna be so feckin' good!"

Alec's lip was curved as he watched and listened to me. I gradually stopped moving, and speaking, and busied myself with drinking some of my now lukewarm tea. It tasted so good that I groaned out loud.

"Oh my God. You make a perfect cuppa tea."

Alec shook his head. "All that sugar will rot your teeth."

Dentists could perform miracles nowadays so I didn't care.

I shrugged. "I need this, this is how I stay sane."

Alec laughed then looked at his nails and picked out some dirt from under them. I inwardly snorted at how feminine he suddenly looked then heard a bit of a thud coming from outside the kitchen door. I furrowed my eyebrows as I stood up and walked towards the door and pulled it open.

I jumped back and screeched when Nico's large body fell forward and crashed onto the ground. Alec burst out laughing from his seat while I stared wide-eyed at Nico on the floor with my hand held over my chest.

"I told you she had super hearin'!" Aideen's voice shouted from another room in the house, I guessed she was in the sitting room.

Nico grunted and groaned as he pushed himself to his feet, I gripped his arm to steady him in case he dropped again.

"Are you okay?" I asked, worried.

"He is fine, don't be fussing over him. It serves him right for eavesdropping."

Nico growled and snapped his head in Alec's direction. "I was not eavesdropping. I was coming in to get some water-"

"Explain why you were pressed up against the door and fell when it was open then?" Alec cut Nico off with a wicked grin.

Nico narrowed his eyes then opened his mouth to speak but closed it and huffed which made Alec snicker.

"Get your water and leave, little brother. I have things to discuss with my girlfriend."

Nico eyebrows got lost in his hairline that was how far up his eyebrows shot.

"Girlfriend?"

I flushed every shade of red and glared at Alec. "He means fake girlfriend."

Alec shrugged and grinned at me. "I'm getting into character, baby."

I curled my lip in disgust; I hated that pet name.

"Don't call me that."

Alec snapped his teeth at me. "Fine, just kitten then."

I folded my arms across my chest. "How about callin' me Keela, since that's me name."

Nico snorted from my left, so I looked to him as he said, "Just call her Keela, I never hear the end of it if I don't call Bronagh by her name."

I smiled at him. "What do you call her if not her name?"

Nico looked down to me and gently clocked my chin with his knuckles. "I call her my pretty girl."

I melted and audibly sighed.

"That is the cutest thing I have ever heard in me entire life."

"Besides my pretty girl and her sister, you're the cutest woman I have ever seen in my entire life."

Oh my goodness.

Nico smiled at me and as I focused on his dimples as I involuntary leaned closer to him only to be blocked by a large back that was suddenly pressed against my face.

"Five second warning to back off or I'm putting you on your ass, little brother."

I frowned at Alec's back and contemplated pinching it, did he not see that Nico was only playing with me?

"Bro, what the hell has gotten into you, since when do you threaten me? Since when do you threaten anybody?" Nico asked Alec, his tone laced with shock.

I looked around Alec to Nico who glanced at me, a tentative smile on his face.

"Stop flirting with her. I don't like it," Alec hissed, his tone filled with anger.

Holy shite!

"Jesus Alec, calm down. He was only messin' with me, you bleedin' weirdo."

Nico blissfully laughed then and looked to Alec and said, "I like her."

"I like her more and more each time she insults him," Kane's voice suddenly spoke.

"Fucking hell... deja vu," Nico muttered and rubbed his temples.

I glanced to my left when Kane entered the kitchen and I smiled at him as he headed straight for the fridge. He was wearing a vest top that was coated in sweat. With his arms bare I could see that he has some thick purple scars as well as some light pink ones covering sections of his skin. Nico was topless and in a pair of shorts just like Alec was. I found myself looking from brother to brother, but focusing my gaze on Alec's back. It was rippled with muscle and perfectly tanned with a few light freckles splashed across his shoulder blades.

Before putting any thought into it, I reached out and ran my index finger up his spine and stopped between his shoulder blades. Alec's body completely tensed and it caused me to freeze. I quickly pulled my hand anyway as he spun around to face me then he grabbed my hand and growled down at me.

He lowered his head to my ear and whispered, "If you touch my back again be prepared for a hard fucking, kitten."

I hated that his words both infuriated me and turned me on at that same time.

"You dirty bastard! If you say anythin' like that to me again I'll... I'll..."

"You'll what, kitten?" Alec asked his voice teasing.

I clenched my jaw shut and settled on glaring at him because I couldn't think of anything to say.

"She will kick your ass from the looks of things," Kane snickered then left the room with the food he gathered from the fridge.

Alec smiled, but didn't look away from me. He instead reached out and brushed a loose curl out of my face and tucked it behind my ear. My breath caught and my lower region tingled.

"You're a real man, you know that?" I murmured.

"I'm all man, baby."

I rolled my eyes. "No, I mean you're a man, man. Like a caveman."

Alec frowned. "Is that a bad thing or something?"

"Yes and no," I replied.

He continued to frown at me then lifted his hand and rubbed his hands together. "I don't understand what you're saying. Is it bad or is it good? Be straight with me."

He wanted me to be straight with him?

Did he have all day?

Nico looked at Alec with raised eyebrows then shook his head and said, "Wrong thing to ask a woman. I'm giving you a crash course in what I like to call the Man Bible, it contains all the secret meanings to what women actually mean when they speak. So listen to me very clearly. It is almost impossible for males to understand it, but a lucky handful of us know the true meanings of words women use as weapons and I am about to impart this wisdom on you, bro."

I folded my arms across my chest and waited for Nico to speak, I was just as eager as Alec to hear what he had to say.

"The first word is 'Fine'. When a woman says this during an argument, she knows she is right and that you are very wrong. She is not fine - you're not fine, nothing is fine."

I snorted because that was true.

Alec frowned. "But what about if she is wrong-"

"Alec, stop. Do not talk back when she says something is fine, wait until she is calm to mention she might be wrong. I usually wait a week for Bronagh to calm down before I mention things about past fights."

Smart lad.

"Okay, fine doesn't really mean fine, got it. What else, love doctor?" Alec sarcastically asked, but Nico ignored him and powered on.

"Second word is 'Nothing'. By the might of God Alec, when a woman says nothing is wrong, something is definitely fucking wrong."

Alec nodded his head and flicked his eyes to mine. "I'm starting to believe that one."

I gave him a look that caused him to grin as he looked back to Nico.

Nico then held up three fingers. "The third word is 'Whatever'. This is another way for ladies to say fuck you."

I snickered making Nico grin as he popped up an extra finger. "The fourth is a sentence. When a woman says 'It's okay, don't worry about it,' you do worry about it. You worry a lot because she is thinking of a way to make you pay for whatever you did wrong."

Alec raised his eyebrows and looked very confused. "Wait. They don't mean it's okay, and that I don't have to worry about it? Why would they say that if they don't mean it?"

Nico shrugged. "I think it's some sort of mind trick. They use that sentence as an illusion that things between you are okay, but when you least expect it, they will strike like a cobra and wound your soul."

Alec sat back and huffed. "Why can't they just say what they mean instead of giving words a double meaning?"

Nico shrugged. "I know the real meaning to certain things women say but I don't understand why women give them a double meaning, that it beyond my area of expertise, bro."

Alec grunted. "I don't like this."

I bit down on my lip so I wouldn't laugh out loud. I was enjoying this so much that I made sure not to make a sound so they would continue on with the conversation.

"Okay, listen very carefully to this two worded sentence. I'm serious Alec, if you're going to remember any of what I just said remember this - it might just save your life," Nico said this so dramatically that I sat forward when Alec did.

"When a woman tells you to 'Go ahead,' you do not, under any circumstances go ahead. You retreat to a safe distance and observe the situation very carefully. She is daring you to do something, not giving you permission."

I did laugh then and Nico smiled as he watched me.

Alec chuckled a little and shook his head. "I guess you laughing means all of that was bullshit?"

I wiped under my eyes and said, "No, the opposite, it was spot on correct and that's why it's so funny."

Alec got a deer in the headlights look and stared at me for a moment before looking back at Dominic. "We need to have a serious conversation, bro."

"Dominic!"

I jumped with fright as a loud female voice bellowed out Nico's name. Aideen was in the bathroom, Alec was getting something out of his room, the rest of the brothers were out in the back, and I was sat in the kitchen waiting by myself. That was until Bronagh Murphy stormed into the kitchen like a woman on a mission.

"Oh, hey Keela," Bronagh said when she found me at the kitchen table.

I waved. "Hey, Bronagh-" I cut myself off when I saw her face. She had a black eye and her cheek was very swollen. "What happened to your face?"

Bronagh shrugged. "There was a bit of an altercation last night in the club. I sort of got tricked into a cage fight."

Um, what?

I stared at Bronagh. "You got tricked into a cage fight?"

Was that even possible?

Bronagh nodded her head. "Yeah, it's a long and very weird story."