Page 54 of Rise Above

I handed her the sweats and shirt I got for her. She

looked over at me, peeking between her hair.

“Aife, I like it when you say it. Even Mom calls me

TJ. In hockey, I’m Walker. I don’t know.” I rubbed the back of my neck. “Get ready for bed, darling.”

She sat up and whipped her long-sleeved shirt off. It

was weird to me that she always wore long sleeves. Yet, I

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couldn’t pull my eyes away even if I wanted to. Her eyes narrowed as she reached behind her and unhooked her bra. Fuck. I kept my eyes locked on hers. There was no way I was moving them. If I looked anywhere else, I was sure that I would fuck her. Slowly, she pulled my long sleeve shirt over her head. A smirk graced her lips; she was a little tease. She knew what she was doing and didn’t seem to care. My cock strained against my pants.

“Was that necessary?” My voice was low, wanting. “You tell me, Talon,” she said before burrowing

into my sheets. She hadn’t even bothered to put on the sweats. “Change and come talk to me.” As always, she was so demanding. She was supposed to be in my guest room, but I’d allowed her into my sanctuary, and I had no idea why.

Laughing, I followed orders. Aife did things to me.

Once I had my sweats on, I climbed into bed. I could feel her eyes wandering my shirtless chest. They seemed to hone in on my tattoos.

“Which one is your favorite?” Her voice was almost

a whisper.

I turned, showcasing the massive Celtic tree of life

taking up my entire back. It had Thor’s hammer and various other Norse mythology woven into the branches and trunk. Her little fingers traced parts of it. She kept her pace slow, clearly examining the intricate artwork.

“I told you Mom was into Celtic stuff. She’s always

been interested in Norse mythology, and Celtic/Gaelic stuff. She taught me and my brothers. There was this piece of art she always showed us, and I fell in love with it. Dad 123

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bought a copy of it… it just really connects me back to my family.”

“It’s beautiful.”

Turning back around, I smiled at her. “Do you have

any? I remember the Avenged one.”

She pushed the sleeves up to show off two full

sleeves. My eyes widened in surprise but even more so when she quickly pushed the sleeves back down before I could catch any of the images. Well, this certainly explained why she was always in long sleeves. Seeing all her ink, even briefly, made my mouth water. Somehow the more I learned about her, the more I liked her.

“Jeez, Aife. Sleeves?”

“Yeah.” Her cheeks flushed. “I started at eighteen,

and I guess I never stopped.”

“Sexy,” I muttered under my breath. “Which was