by Meghan Quinn
He leaned over and kissed her. “I love you, Fiona. More than you will ever know.”
“I love you too, Booker James Hall.”
Booker was finally at peace. He finally found what he had been looking for all along and there was nothing standing in their way. Fiona fell in love with him for who he was as a person and not for what he did as a profession and now that she had fully accepted him and his life, he didn’t think things could get any better.
As he leaned over his little Irish beauty, he stared into those gold colored eyes and thanked whoever was watching over him for this perfect woman he planned on spending the rest of his life with. He could finally live a happy and fulfilled life.
Epilogue
Sophie was cleaning up her bakery when the bell to her front door chimed. She turned her head over her shoulder and shouted, “I’m closed.”
“Gee, I sure hope not, lass. I was lookin’ forward to some freshly baked cookies.” A strong Irish accent filled her little shop. She quickly turned around and spotted Murphy. She was a little taken back because he never came into her bakery. He was always watching what he ate and he said if he was going to add extra calories to his diet they were going to be empty calories from his favorite intoxicating beverage; beer.
“Hello Murphy. What are you doing here?”
Murphy pulled up a chair by her bar and grinned at her. “Can’t a guy get some freshly baked cookies without being questioned?”
“Not when he has a wicked gleam in his eyes and doesn’t ever eat sweets so he can save room for beer.”
Murphy patted his stomach which thanks to the Halloween party, Sophie knew was a six pack. He leaned over and said, “I might have ulterior motives for being here but we can get to that in a second. What I would really like are some cookies for me belly.”
Sophie shook her head in amusement and plopped some cookies in front of him. “Milk?” She asked in a teasing tone not thinking the burly man sitting in front of her would want milk and cookies as if he was just getting out of elementary school for the day.
“That would be grand, lass. Thank ya.”
Surprised a little, she filled up a glass of milk for him and set the glass in front of him. She closely watched him while he took one of the cookies off the plate, broke it in half and dipped it in his milk letting the liquid soak in for a couple of seconds. What an interesting human, she thought.
“So what’s going on Murphy?” She asked while leaning over the counter. She saw his eyes swiftly glance to her cleavage she was not purposely displaying but right when she thought his eyes were going to linger, they shot just as quickly back to her eyes.
He cleared his throat. “I heard what happened with those O’Leary boys on ya front yard. That must have been difficult to watch.” Sophie just shrugged but he continued. “…and hear.” Sophie felt herself go stiff. How did he know what was said that night? How embarrassing, it was bad enough that the things Finn and Liam said were hurtful but for the whole town to know was utterly embarrassing.
“How do you know…”
Murphy waved a hand at her. “Never mind me knowin’ about the horrid details. I just want to see what yer goin’ to do about it.”
Sophie was so confused. Was Murphy a mind reader, how did he know she swore to herself she was going to get them back? All of a sudden she didn’t feel so good about talking to Murphy about what happened. She didn’t know him all too well and he was good friends with the O’Learys. What if he was being some kind of secret spy for them? Maybe Finn and Liam sent him over here to gauge her reaction.
Murphy started laughing which brought Sophie out of her thoughts. “I can see ya wee mind workin’ on overdrive over there. Don’t worry, I’m not talkin to the O’Learys lately. Especially since Fiona is buying a house with that California langer.”
Sophie heard through the grapevine that Fiona was looking around for property with Booker. She couldn’t imagine how Murphy must feel about Fiona moving on with another man. Well, she actually could relate because the two men she thought had feelings for her actually didn’t and left her for other women.
“Do you still love her, Murphy?”
Murphy nodded and said, “Of course I do and I would do anythin’ to show her what a tool that lad is and how he is no match up against a man like me.”
Sophie couldn’t agree more with Murphy’s statement. Booker, yes was gorgeous but Murphy was hot and brawny. Booker was cut and had great muscles, from what she could tell but Murphy was buff and ripped like no man she had ever seen, plus he was the perfect alpha male which was always attractive.
Bringing her thoughts back to the topic at hand, Fiona asked, “So what are you going to do about it?”
Murphy gave her a wicked grin and scooted the plate of cookies away from him while leaning in toward her. “I plan on breakin’ those two up but I’m goin’ to need yer help.”
Sophie pointed at her chest with a quizzical look. “My help? How could I help you and what’s in it for me?”
Murphy laughed. “I can go into the details later but if ya help me with Fiona, then I will help ya seek revenge on the O’Leary boys. I know how it feels to have an O’Leary rip ya heart out and I would be more than willin’ to help ya retaliate.”
Sophie thought about Murphy’s proposition for a second. Could she really do that to Fiona? She seemed so happy with Booker but then again, she was an O’Leary and right now if Fiona had to choose about saving face for her brothers or for Sophie, Fiona would choose her brothers every time. The mere thought of their family closeness made Sophie want to hurl. She used to think their family was so endearing and something she wanted for her life but boy was she wrong. She was burned by the family’s closeness and she wanted nothing more than to ruin them…all of them.
She stuck her hand out to Murphy and said, “I’m in. How do we do this?”
Murphy took her hand in his and squeezed it tight while grinning. “Aye, three words lass, grapevine, cousins and lies.”
Intrigued, Sophie leaned a little bit more forward and said, “Let’s get started. I’m ready to make those O’Leary’s suffer just like they made us suffer. It’s only polite to return the favor.”
They both laughed and started mapping out their attack plan to take down the O’Leary clan. When they were done planning, not only did they have ways to fuck over Finn and Liam but they have Fiona’s break up all planned out as well as a possible take down of The Sleeping Potato and a possible rumor about Bradon so no woman would ever touch him again. Things were finally starting to look up for Sophie. She couldn’t be happier.