Total pages in book: 29
Estimated words: 27448 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 137(@200wpm)___ 110(@250wpm)___ 91(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 27448 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 137(@200wpm)___ 110(@250wpm)___ 91(@300wpm)
“Where are we going?” I ask when we drive toward the other side of Ashford. The destination soon becomes clear. “Ash…” I say when we pull up in front of the Mexican restaurant.
I’d mentioned it to her once, how it’s been in Ashford since my father came here for college; that he used to tell me how it was his favorite place to eat in town; that he would sit in a booth and do homework while eating chips and queso.
One time. I told her that once, but she remembered.
While Ash and her family have secrets, she’s good at things like this.
“I thought we could come here together and make some memories of our own,” she tells me.
Reaching over, I cup her cheek, pulling her close, and kiss her soft lips. “I like that idea. I want all the memories with you.”
“Good. Because I want all of them with you, too.”
I’ve come here one other time since moving to Ashford, but it feels like a whole new level being here with Ash.
As soon as they take our drink orders, she asks for chips and queso, which couldn’t be more perfect.
The food is good, but the company is better. And the only thing I can think the whole time we’re laughing and eating together is how much I like her, how much I want to be with her, how lucky I am to have found her.
Ash gets tacos while I get enchiladas, but really, we just end up sharing our food—some of mine on her plate and some of hers on mine.
We talk about school and life.
When dinner is done, Ash insists on paying, and I let her know that I’m getting it next time. She agrees before taking me to our next stop, which is an ice cream parlor—despite the fact that it’s winter and cold as hell in Ashford.
“Are you going to give me all my favorite things tonight?” I ask. She knows that ice cream is my favorite dessert.
“I’ll always give you your favorite things, baby,” she says, before offering a dramatic wink, then the two of us dissolve into laughter.
“That was so bad,” I tease.
“I think you secretly liked it.”
She’s right. I secretly like everything about her.
And I hope like hell I never have to lose her.
I could easily fall in love with Aislin O’Shea…if I’m not already there.
CHAPTER ONE
Aislin
Ollie can’t stop pacing the living room.
I understand what he’s feeling, why he’s so stressed. It’s not easy being in love with someone from the mafia—hugging them goodbye and knowing they’re going to do something that could get them sent to prison for the rest of their lives…or even worse, could get them killed.
While I can empathize with that, it’s all I’ve ever known. Not that I’m in love with someone in the mafia, but I was raised in it. My dad used to be the leader of the O’Shea family, and now that he’s dead, my uncle Rian and my brother, Tiernan, are. But Ollie is just getting used to this, just adjusting to watching his boyfriend, my cousin, Cillian, leave and knowing the danger he’s in.
“They’ll be okay,” I tell him.
“You don’t know that. There’s never a guarantee.”
“Exactly. Never. Any of us could walk out that door and get into a car wreck or, hell, get struck by lightning and not come home.” I stand up and walk over to him. “The most important thing is to always have hope and to tell ourselves they’ll be okay. Cillian loves you more than anything in this world. Nothing will stop him from coming home to you.”
I believe that. Nothing will keep him from Ollie…but I do hate that my friend has to deal with this. That, because of whom he fell in love with, he’ll be in more danger than the average person—as will his partner—and he’ll have even more worries that the person he loves one day won’t return.
“Thanks, Ash,” Ollie says into my neck, squeezing me with everything he has in him.
It’s been a wild day…two days? I can’t even keep up. When Rory and Shai, two other members of our family, came home letting us know that Shai’s mom had been kidnapped, I knew shit was about to get serious real quick.
Rory isn’t the type to handle a situation like this well. He’d want to fix this for Shai, thinking that’s the best way to prove his love, even if he went in guns blazing, without a plan, and risked getting himself killed even more than he would otherwise.
But Shai hadn’t let him do that, which I think is something we all needed to see him do. He’d brought Rory home, and we’d come up with a plan. Cillian had even called Rian in to help. I’m not sure if Shai knows what that means, if he understands that Cillian calling his dad was him showing his love for Shai, his acceptance of Shai into Rory’s life, yes, but also his own.