I shut my front door and chewed my bottom lip, trying to figure out how my life here in peaceful Galway had gotten so dramatic. I didn’t have time to think much on it. My brother was staring me down when I turned around.
“Keeva,” my brother was growing impatient. “What in the hell is going on around here? What are you hiding?”
“I’m not hiding anything, Bren. Let’s just go to dinner and get a drink, ‘kay?”
“Why don’t you come back home for a bit, then we can eat and you can catch up with Samantha and Chloe and the kids?”
I threw up my hands. “Brennan! Stop trying to get me back home. It’s a three and a half hour drive. You know I can’t just up and leave work.”
“We miss you.”
“Oh, stop. You just saw me last weekend!”
“You know what I mean. We don’t see you enough. You’re always in a hurry to leave whenever you come home. And now, I stop by unexpectedly and it appears that you’ve been keeping secrets, little sister. Who was that man?”
“Robert?” I asked hopefully.”
He raised a single eyebrow and stared me down. He knew damn well it wasn’t Robert. “Fine. You win. Take me to dinner and I’ll fill you in, but not before that.” I went to grab my jacket from the hall closet and tried to formulate a strategy. My brother was notorious for jumping to the wrong conclusions and sniffing out a lie. I needed a plan, and I needed one fast. The problem was, my head wasn’t in the game. My head was somewhere hovering over a tiny bit of scruff, a sharp, regal nose and full, completely kissable lips. My head was hormonal and asking it to work hard tonight wasn’t going to end well for anyone.
I turned back to Bren, going with my seriously old standby, the lie. Maybe this time I could get just the right amount of reality mixed with a ton of passion to convince him things up here in Galway were a okay.
I linked my arm through his. “Ready to hear how boring my life is compared to what you all think I get up to here? Let’s go eat. Oh, but first, I’ve just got to call my pimp. Rent’s freaking high here, and sometimes a girl’s gotta do—"
He grabbed my head under his arm and gave me a refreshing noogie and we took off in search of something other than fish and chips.
Chapter 13
Nixon
“We need to finish this now.” I walked back into the office I had just left an hour earlier without bothering with pleasantries.
“Hi to you to, Nixon. Hawk, are you still here? Why yes, yes I am friend. It’s nice of you to be so concerned. Well, I worry about you, son. You’re always working and never out enjoying the pleasures that Ireland has to offer. Well, Nix, you know me. I’m just that great of a guy.”
I sat down at my desk, refusing to acknowledge his childish behavior and turned the monitor back on.
“Who put that bug back up your ass?”
“Hawk,” I took off my glasses and tried not to gouge out my tired eyes. “Please.”
“Fine. What’s going on that you had to race back here? I thought you had a hot date with our little Irish fairy?”
“We’re not dating and she’s not your fairy.”
“Right.”
“Stop.” He was right. Her brother showing up put a lot of things into perspective on my drive back here. Keeva Murphy had a family and a life outside of whatever it was we were doing. I had no business messing with that, putting her in danger, leading her down a road that probably had no happy ending. She had no clue that once this assignment was complete, I needed to get lost, without a trace. And that meant she couldn’t find me.
I kicked the desk and let out a choice pile of curse words. “What am I doing, Hawk? This isn’t going to end well. Why in the hell haven’t you stopped me?”
He just smirked and moved into my space to see what was on the monitor.
“Bring up the trace.”
He keyed in a few commands and suddenly we could follow along with Robert’s progress. “Shit, he’s erasing stuff.”
“What happened over there? Did he try to make contact with her? Was he actually back in the office? He seems to be panicking. I thought we had wrapped this up?”
“I don’t know. I walked in. Her brother was leaning over her. She looked terrified. I threatened him. She pulled me out the door, told me to take a hike and so, I left.”
“You left?”
“Yeah, Hawk. I left. What was I supposed to do? Follow them? Hang around like the lurker I already am?”
I was agitated and if I was being honest with myself, I knew why, but right now, I felt like making Hawk pay for it. “Why did you have to push me to pursue her?”
He looked up at me after examining the string of code that had just flashed by. “I’m going to pretend you’re not going there. Whatever you’ve got going on inside you right now, you need to table it. This nearly complete mission, appears to be incomplete. This guy’s up to something and we’ve got to get it sorted out before he logs off. Your girl should probably not be around him anymore. Have you told her that? He seems kind of manic.”
“How in the hell am I supposed to tell her when I’m not supposed to tell her who I really am? Besides, she’s gone out with her brother tonight.”
Hawk absently nodded his understanding, but didn’t say much else to me for the next hour or two. He was right. First and foremost, we were here to do a job. That job needed to get done.
From what we could piece together, we had Robert nearly tied up with a bow, he had been contacted by other operatives, and we all thought his agreement to cooperate would lead us right to the top dogs we were looking for. He was supposed to be working from home so as to not jeopardize Keeva and her business, but we never knew for sure what he would do. All we could do was watch him and wait him out.
“You’re going to have to get his computer.”
“Yeah, I know. I just don’t know how in the hell either of us is going to be able to do that without giving our covers away.
“You knew this was where we were headed, man. She’s going to eventually find out that you’re not who you say you are, so you might as well get the information we need before that happens so we aren’t left high and dry.”
“I know, it’s just, well, I want more time with her.”
“So, get over there. He’s logged off again, probably for the night. So, get over there and spend your time with her.”
“Her brother might still be there.”
“Since when were you afraid of a small detail like that? If you like her so much, spend whatever time with her you can, brother staring you down or not.”
“You haven’t met this brother. I believe Paul Bunyan would be an apt description.”
He laughed and I moped. “Nix, have you looked in a mirror lately? Dude, you’re not exactly Steve Erkell.”
He was right. What in the hell was I afraid of? I’d faced down criminals, mind you. They were all cyber criminals, but still. Deep down, I knew what I was afraid of. She was five foot nothing, had short black hair, the personality of an Irish fairy and the soul of a gypsy. Falling in love with her was definitely the scariest thing I’d ever faced, and I didn’t need the complication.
But, I couldn’t get enough of her. I thought about her all damn day and now I found myself worrying about her just as often. I knew why her brother had driven three hours to check on her. I guess she was that girl for him too. The one who flew away from you on a gossamer string, but who always came back for a check in. Except when she didn’t, you knew something had changed within her. She was my Irish fairy and until I had to let her go, I was doing everything I could to keep her near.
I swiped my keys, muttering about my subpar intelling for the second time today. Fifteen minutes later, I pulled into her building’s parking spot and went around the back to her apartment entrance. It wasn’t that late, but late enough that it was pretty dark around back. The door was locked, so I gave it a swift bang while fishing out my cell to try to call her. The door stayed locked and my call went to voice mai
l. She was either still out with her brother or completely avoiding me, or, she was hurt and unable to call for help.
I needed to get a hold of myself. She was fine. I went back to my car to grab my laptop and get some work done while I waited for her, or stalked her return. I was straddling the fence on this one.
I made some calls, conferred with Hawk and logged some paperwork and she still hadn’t shown up. Where in the hell was she? Deciding to forgo the potential to firmly cross over into lurker territory, I called it a day and drove home, wondering where Keeva had wandered off to.
Chapter 14
Keeva
“Brennan, come on! This is so not funny or entertaining. Give me my phone back. It’s bad enough you’ve kidnapped me. I need my phone back.”
“You’ll get it when I say you can have it. Now, beer or whiskey?”
I pounded my fists on the bar only to want to cry due to the pain radiating up and down my arms from the shock. “This is so unfair!”
“What’s unfair, my love? Come ‘ere.”
“Ryan!” I shot off the barstool and into the arms of my cousin, Ryan. He was more like another brother to me, one that I actually liked. He treated me like a normal adult and not like a kid. I needed him around to mediate the bossiness of Aiden and Brennan.
“What are you doing here, KeeKee?”
“Brennan kidnapped me.”
“Did he now? Well done, Bren.”
I threw my head dramatically down on the bar. “Men.” Without looking up, I waved a finger towards myself, signaling my brother to send me a drink and proceeded to try to forget how much my family irritated me. The bar was beyond slow, so my brother had more than enough time to assault me with all the questions he didn’t ask me on the three hour drive down here, due to the fact he had demanded I drive myself because he didn’t have time to be galivanting all over hell’s half acre to return me to Galway, or something like that.
You see, he’s sneaky. He gave me a sense of comfort, stole my damn phone, plied me with alcohol and then went in for the kill. Our momma hadn’t raised an idiot. It must have been the only way he snagged my sister-in-law, Samantha. Stealth style.
Sam was a world famous actress and somehow had ended up falling in love and subsequently marrying, my brother Brennan. They lived in a fantastic old stone house that overlooked magical Brendan Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. Together they owned the family pub, Murphy’s. Ryan, our cousin, was also their business partner and he temporarily now lived above the pub with his wife, Chloe and their new baby, Eleanor. However, they were in the process of moving out as quickly as they moved in. Nothing good ever came from living above your office. I knew a thing or two about that.
I knew that whatever this brand of Murphy intervention was, it would include my nieces and nephews, sisters-in-law and hell, probably the whole town by lunch tomorrow. Brennan had convinced me to pack an overnight bag and come back with him. I was resistant, but after mulling it over and looking at my life being completely off balance and knowing that whatever was going on with Mark wasn’t good for me, I gave in. That and he promised me some serious snuggle time with Max. I had a pretty deep baby thing going on. I had always loved babies. Loved their smell, their warmth and their unconditional love. I love kids of all ages really, but a chance to hold and snuggle my nephew all night long was something I had a hard time passing up. I could work from anywhere, so to pull a classic Keeva, I took off and drove away from my problems instead of confronting them head on.
So, with every shot of whiskey, I unveiled more and more of my and Mark’s story and with every new piece of information, I could see my cousin and brother getting more and more concerned. And with that, if I was seeing straight, I would have been able to see my freedom disappearing into the abyss with each hour that passed.
Around midnight, I was struggling to hold my head up and alternating between laughing so hard I was in grave danger of peeing my pants and feeling so sorry for myself that I started sobbing uncontrollably and scaring Brennan and Ryan.
“That’s it, Keev. Let’s go. Sam’s got the spare room all ready for you.”
I didn’t resist. Curling up in my brother’s spare room felt like coming home. I’d been travelling and searching for something for so long that I was starting to feel tired. Not physically tired, but emotionally tired. My brothers were finding love and creating lives and family roots, but my sister and I remained stuck in relationship limbo. Just enough interactions to keep things interesting, but nothing of any real substance. That was dangerously close to letting someone in and that was never a good idea.
I let them drag me into the car and tried to find the happy drunk Keeva so that sad and lonely Keeva could take a break, but it wasn’t working.
“So, this guy. Keeva Marie, what are you going to do about him?”
“Ugh, you just pulled a Mom. She was the only one to ever use both of my given names. Bren, please do not do that ever again.”
“Answer the question. What are you going to do about him?”
“What’s there to do? He’s cagey, secretive and hot as hell. And he’s smart and protective and makes me laugh.” I sunk deeper into sad and lonely Keeva. “And he’s given me no indication this is even a thing. Damn.” The tears made their grand reentry. “I really know how to pick ‘em, don’t I?”
“Well, have you ever asked him about his feelings?”
I gave him some serious side eye. “What is wrong with you? Are you talking to me about my feelings? Brennan, we’ve only known each other for a little over a week. It’s just something, but it’s not about feelings, that’s for damn sure.”
“Little sister, it’s always about feelings. The fact that you don’t know that tells me a lot about you.”
“You didn’t already know a lot about me?”
“You know what I mean. Why you’re always searching for perfection, but according to you, come up short every time. You’re looking for the holy grail, when sometimes what you need to find is you.”
“Too deep, Bren. Way too deep for me tonight.”
“I’m saying date guys who stand a chance, challenge you, make you feel things you’re trying not to feel. Maybe one day start a family, take up knitting. I’m saying make some friends, friends who aren’t related to you, date instead of one-night stand it, hire employees who can be long-term, not disposable. Oh, I don’t know, find a boyfriend you can bring around to family functions. That kind of settle down.”
“I’ve had boyfriends. I’ve got friends. Jeez Bren, you really know how to make me feel good about myself.”
He pulled into their ridiculously long, gated drive and as we climbed the winding hill to his spectacular ancient stone house, I felt nausea start to creep up. “Bren, I don’t feel that good.”
He barked out a laugh. “No shit. You nearly drank me out of Jameson. Do I need to pull over?”
I felt the pukes coming on fast and furious. “Yup.”
I relieved myself of the contents of my stomach and flopped back into the car. “Don’t think you’re off the hook just because you ralphed in my flowers. Sam’s gonna want a turn to interrogate you tomorrow.”
I groaned and wished I had grown up “in a one child, parents too busy to care for their child so ignored her” family. This large, nosy Irish family of mine were a royal pain the butt.
He finally reached the top of the hill, hauled me out of the car and proceeded to shuffle me in the door to their castle on the hill. It wasn’t really a castle, he just acted like he was the king of my world most days.
“If you wake the babies, you’ll be on duty with Max at the crack of dawn, hungover or not.”
“Yeah, you talk a big game, Bren, but I know your wife. She won’t let me near any of your children with the possibility of me falling asleep or dropping one. You’re going to have to come up with something better than that to punish me with.”
“Baby.” I looked up at him to see if he’d lost his damn mind calling me baby, only to find we had
already made it inside and he was actually talking to his wife. “She’s wasted. Do not let her near the kids.”
“Stop, Brennan.” She gently grabbed my arm and steered me along the stone floored hallway. “Keeva, what did he do to you?”
While I rested my tired head on her shoulder I could hear my brother growling behind me. “He’s a bad, bad man, Sam. You never shoulda married him.”
She patted my shoulders as she squared me to the bed that had miraculously appeared behind me. I flopped down and she helped me out of my shoes, which may have contained some puke, but being a mom, I was sure she’d seen worse.
“Brennan, out.” She waited a second for him to leave, then lifted my shirt up and over my head, and gently lowered me down into heaven. She didn’t skimp on the finer things in life, that’s for sure. This was always my favorite place to stay when I visited. The bed alone was to die for.
She peeled off my pants, slid my legs under the fluffy duvet and opened the windows as wide as they could go, knowing both that I loved open windows and that the smell from my skin would soon permeate the air and waft down to their room. I turned and snuggled in and drifted off to sleep, dreaming of blissful nothingness.
I heard the soft ping of my phone what felt like only minutes after I had fallen asleep, but evidently the sun shining through the window told me otherwise. I cracked open one eye to find my phone had been returned to me, safe and sound and was indeed chiming an incoming text alert.
I reached over to see who had texted me and found I had fifteen missed texts and five missed calls. All from Mark. Damn you Brennan. Now I would have to form some coherent thoughts in and around the raging headache I was sporting.
I scrolled through the texts, trying to get a feel for what it was he wanted and my heart did an involuntary flip. It appeared that mister “I don’t need to give you any piece of me” was actually worried about me. And it looked like the worry had escalated over the evening and even into this morning.
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