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an officer and a gentleman."
          "No I'm not. I'm just your big brother and I haven't got a clue why I put up with you. Please, Piper. Go easy on him. He's my friend."
          "Gray, hi!" I'd seen his eyes widen as I approached and hoped it was admiration. I hadn't dressed up for him especially. I always made an effort when I went out at the weekend but knowing one of my brother's many gorgeous friends would be here tonight made it easier to justify taking so long to straighten my hair and do my makeup. I wore a tight black vest, my most helpful push-up bra and a couple of strings of beads to draw attention to my cleavage. The height of my heels brought me to exactly the right level for Gray to grab himself an eyeful without too much neckcraning.
          "Piper!" He touched my arm as he leaned forward to kiss my cheek. "What are you having?"
          Looking him in the eye, I paused. "There's a loaded question. I'll stick to vodka and Red Bull. For now."
          He cleared his throat and his gaze flitted from me to Matthias and back again. Obviously concerned about my brother cock-blocking him.
          "Uh, Matthias mentioned the, uh, Andrew situation." Gray looked tentative, searching my face for any signs of upset.
          "Andrew who?" I laughed. "Don't worry. I'm not upset, I'm relieved. So yes, it's out in the open, we've split, big deal, it was a long time coming, overdue, blah, blah, blah. I'm just glad it's done."
          "So you're okay with it?" His fingers tapped the bar, perhaps nervously and the rhythm of his fingers held my attention for slightly longer than was polite.
          "You don't have to tiptoe around me. I think we were both halfway out of the relationship before it blew up. Prepared. I tried talking to him, he didn't listen. What can you do? Hadn't you better try to get the barman's attention?"
          There was a beat before he turned back to the bar and did as I'd suggested. Matthias stood at my shoulder with a knowing smirk. I frowned in query, but all he did was wink.
          At least I had my brother's blessing whatever happened.
          "Go easy on him, sis," Matthias 'whispered' in my ear. 'Whispered' in the context of the background noise; outside his voice would be a shout. "You'll scare him."
          "Math, it's not me he's scared of. It's you. He's scared of your reaction."
          "Like it's anything to do with me."
          "He probably thinks you'll leap in and try to defend my honor."
          I couldn't hear the sound above the background music but his expression told me Matthias snorted in derision. He leaned in close and shout-whispered, "As if you have any honor left to defend."
    ~ * ~
          Teetering on the brink of artificial confidence brought about by one too many drinks, I figured it was time to stop or at least slow down.
          "Are you two going on to a club?"
          Gray's question cleared my head in an instant. I wasn't sure if it was his proximity, or my anticipation of my brother's reply which was the chief cause of my skin prickling.
          I looked across the table at Matthias, who sat beside Gray, to gauge his reaction. We now sat in a booth of Gallagher's, an out-of-the-way Irish-themed pub. Irishthemed in that it had bare floorboards and pushed the Guinness when patrons went to the bar although they'd bowed to local pressure and started stocking beer and vodka too.
          The music was quieter in here. Clichéd though it was, three guys sat at one end of the room playing a bodhran, a violin and an acoustic guitar; background music, not aural assault, making conversation not only possible but easy.
          I'd held back from Gray all evening, sensing a nervousness arcing back and forth, neither of us confessing to being its source but both sharing the job of maintaining it.
          "I'm happy to go along with whatever you two guys decide." I glared