I rarely came to his martial arts studio where he trained and worked with younger fighters. Adam’s goal was to keep them off the streets and out of the reach of arseholes, like the one who had once tried to own Adam’s soul.
I helped Anna design this place as a surprise for Adam, but my distaste for pounding flesh remained.
But right now, there was nothing more I wanted to do than curl my hand into a fist and knock it into one of those big black bag things, whatever they were called. To pretend it was Brian Callaghan’s face in front of me so I could knock the bloke out.
Adam removed his gloves—the puffy ones, which meant he was boxing not doing that MMA stuff he normally did—and he tossed them on a chair near the cage. “Hey, what’s up?”
“Why are you even here a few days before your wedding?” I asked as he crossed his arms over his shirtless and sweaty chest. “You don’t want to mess up your face.”
He laughed a little. “I need to relieve some tension.”
I didn’t want to ask why, because well . . . brother.
“What has you so out of sorts?” He cocked his head.
“Da just met with Brian Callaghan. He’s from Cork. Owns Callaghan Media Group.”
Adam’s eyes narrowed as if he were trying to locate some spark to help jog his memory.
“Callaghan’s trying to make a play for MAC. It doesn’t even make sense why Da would entertain meeting him, especially with such a lowball offer. But Callaghan won’t quit. He’s been coming at us pretty hard this last week. We were keeping you out of this nonsense because of the wedding, but I’m worried—”
“Wait. What?” He closed the gap between us and placed his hand on my shoulder, looking down at me with his brotherly blues. “You shouldn’t have kept this from me. I’ll call Da. I’ll get this straightened out.”
“No.” The word came out more like an exhausted sigh at the realization of my mistake. “Damnit. I shouldn’t have come here. I wasn’t thinking straight. I’m sorry. You don’t need this stress with the wedding.”
“I’m going out of my mind waiting until the weekend.” He opened his palms and glanced around the gym. “I could use something else to focus on.”
“Are you sure? Selling our media division is an awful idea, but Da hasn’t made the best choices since his heart attack, and so I’m worried he’ll cave to Callaghan.”
“We just took the company public a few months ago. I can’t imagine he’d make a move like this.” He gently squeezed my bicep. “Let me handle it. Try and relax.” His eyes journeyed over my shoulder, and I pivoted to see who had captured his attention.
“Hey,” Anna said on approach. “What are you doing here?” She wrapped her arms around me for a quick embrace before shifting her focus to Adam. She kissed him despite the slight bit of sweat on his face.
“Business stuff.” I forced a smile. “Nothing to worry about.”
Adam held Anna against his side and continued to study me, a flicker of worry in his blue eyes. My family was going to be so pissed at me for involving him.
“You ready for the weekend?” At the feel of a vibration from a text, I searched my purse for my mobile.
“You know I’d be happy with something quick and easy, but this guy wants to give me the world, apparently.” She looked up at Adam. “When are you going to realize you are my world?”
My stomach flipped a little at her words. I wasn’t the most touchy-feely person. The only thing sugary I could digest were donuts once a month.
I barely heard Adam’s response, too focused on the text that had just come through on my mobile.
Callaghan: Your father didn’t sign. Not yet, at least. Relax.
Why did so many men keep telling me to relax?
Holly: Get out of Dublin. Not a request.
Callaghan: Not going to happen.
“You okay?” Adam asked as I shoved the mobile back into my purse. “You have that constipated look going on right now.”
“Funny.” I rolled my eyes. “Just a message from the devil.”
Two devils in one night: Callaghan and Renaud.
“See you at the dress rehearsal Friday night.” I kissed Anna on the cheek goodbye, because I knew where I needed to go now, and it’s where I should’ve gone in the first place. “And, Adam?”
“Yeah?”
“Let me handle the Callaghan situation.”
Chapter Six
Holly
“Do you live in this hotel, or do you own the place, too?”
“We keep running into each other. My club last weekend. The restaurant. Now here.” Sebastian Renaud stood, adjusting his cuff links in the process. He turned his back to the bar in the lobby area of the hotel and fully faced me.
“That’s not an answer.” I crossed my arms, not sure why I was bothering to talk to this man for the second time in one night. I needed to find out which room Callaghan was staying in, but the women at the front desk couldn’t be bribed.
Maybe seeing Renaud was fate. I didn’t believe in that sort of thing, but . . . hell, I’d do what I had to do to make sure Callaghan stayed out of my life and out of the family business.
“Both.” He tucked his hands into his trouser pockets. “I live here, and I own the hotel.”
“Of course, you do.” I resisted an eye roll since I was about to ask a favor. “Well, in that case, I need your help.”
“With what?” His gaze wandered south of my face and to my blouse.
And why in the world did everything seem to come alive inside of me, like little neurons of energy firing up, whenever his eyes were on me?
I pressed a hand to my stomach, trying to gather my thoughts. To regain my focus. “I need to talk to one of your guests. Brian Callaghan. Can you tell me what room he’s in?”
He lifted his hands from his pockets and pressed one palm to the bar counter at his side. His hands were rough. Masculine. Not the hands of a businessman who’d spent his days behind a computer.
“I can’t give up information on my guests. My apologies, Miss McGregor.”
I stepped closer to him. Dangerously close, maybe. Tempted to clutch the silk of his tie and tug.
His beard, probably a few days past due from being shaved, had me itching to touch it.
What’s wrong with me? “I, uh, really need to talk to him. Give me his room number and—”
“And what, Holly?”
The way he said my name had my nipples straining against the fabric of my thin bra, and when his eyes dipped south again, I knew my blouse now showcased my arousal.
“Tell me, who made you quit?”
“What?”
His lips curved slightly at the edges when his eyes caught mine again. “Adam or Sean?”
Oh. The smoking. “Is this some form of manipulation tactic? What’s your deal? If I answer will you give me the room number?”
Now his lips parted into a full-on smile. “Which question would you like me to answer first?”
I suppressed yet another eye roll, and tipped my chin so our eyes once again locked. I felt trapped and possessed by his brown eyes. “I should go.” I tried to turn, but his hand wrapped around my wrist, and I stilled at the warmth of his touch. Scorching hot, more like it. “Sean,” I sputtered, feeling the need to confess. “Adam never knew.”
He kept hold of my arm, and I could feel the eyes of onlookers from the hotel as they observed us, or more likely him. A magnet who could probably draw everyone in. He was having that effect on me right now.
“You want to let go of me?”
“Not really,” he replied. “But I’ll help you.”
“Yeah, and for what price?” I shirked free of the loose circle of his grasp.
“Let’s just say you’ll owe me a favor someday.”
I moved back a step, nearly stumbling in my heels. “I don’t like the sound of that.”
“Relax.” He tilted his head.
“I really am sick of that word.” I shook my head. “But I’ll take
the room number, please.”
“How about I escort you? That man isn’t exactly someone you should be alone with.”
I scoffed. “You’re kidding, right? Have you looked in the mirror lately?”
A lazy grin met his lips as if amused by my comment. “I walk you or no deal.”
“Fine,” I grumbled, and he waved his hand in the air, motioning me toward the lift. “Do you need to look it up?” I asked as we made our way through the lobby.
“There are two presidential suites. I stay in one, and when I’m in town, I always know who’s staying in the other.” His voice was firm, and when I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye, I could see the hard strain of his jaw. “I assume this is a business visit, or you’d already know his room number.”
“More like I’m trying to avoid business with the bast—” I cut myself off, realizing the man I was about to be alone with on my ascent was probably also a prick. I cleared my throat in a not-too-subtle way and stepped inside the lift once the guests cleared out.
My tongue traced a line over my bottom lip when our eyes connected in the mirrored doors on our way to the top level.
He fingered the collar of his crisp black dress shirt as if suffocating, but he kept hold of my eyes until the moment the doors parted.
“Which one is yours?” My gaze slid to the right to glimpse him.
He tipped his chin to the left. “Would you rather come to my place instead?”
I shrugged off the inconvenience of my yet-again misplaced desire and started for the right. “Not at all.” But heading to Callaghan’s room wasn’t my idea of a good time, either.
Once at Callaghan’s door, I rapped at it a few times.
Another three for good measure when there still wasn’t an answer.
“Looks like he’s not in,” he said with a dash of arrogance, like he knew this was going to happen.
“Why’d you waste my time?”
“Have a drink with me. Tell me what you want from Callaghan, and I’ll make it happen.”
“Who are you?” I asked, unable to hide my curiosity. “For real.”
He didn’t answer. And he didn’t need to. Because for some bloody reason I found myself trailing behind him toward his room.
I braced a hand on the frame of the open door a moment later, willing myself to walk away.
Don’t go in there. How could I enter the fortress of the devil?
“This isn’t a good idea.” My voice was way too breathy, like I’d run a half marathon. Of course, I wasn’t a runner, so what would I know? I was more of a yoga girl.
“What isn’t a good idea?” He stood in front of his bar, holding a bottle of wine, and he pivoted to face me.
I strode over the line separating his room from the hall. No turning back now.
“Me being here.” I huffed and closed the door behind me.
“Then why are you?”
I gulped back my discomfort and moved with unsteady legs farther into his room. “I need something stronger,” I found myself murmuring, and a dangerously sexy grin touched his face.
This wasn’t like me.
I wasn’t weak or timid.
I didn’t let a man control my thoughts or actions.
Worry over the Callaghan deal must’ve knocked me off my game, I surmised, hoping I was right. Please be right.
He crossed the short space between us and extended a drink. Bourbon. Well, that was stronger. Not my go-to, but I’d drink about anything at the moment.
The liquid burned my throat going down and warmed my chest.
He lifted a dark eyebrow and brought the rim of his drink to his mouth. “You better now?” he asked before swallowing the amber liquid.
I lowered my glass. “I will be when you tell me how you can help me.”
He gestured with his glass toward the living area.
“I have a similar view,” I said for some stupid reason when I settled onto a chair, my eyes on the windows. The dark sky like a warm blanket over the city.
“I figured, given who you are.”
I considered his words when he sat across from me and leaned back in the chair. He rested his glass atop his thigh with his hand covering it. His dark eyes studied me. As if absorbing every fiber of my being.
It was unsettling. Mostly because I liked it.
I liked how I felt beneath the stare of his heavy-lidded eyes. His lust-filled eyes.
“So.”
“So.” His face remained stoic. “What’s Callaghan done that’s got you so upset?”
I didn’t want to divulge business with a stranger, but for some reason I believed he could help me.
I’d owe him a favor, though.
I finished my drink and set it on the end table next to me. My hands slipped beneath my long hair and cradled my neck.
“Callaghan owes me a favor. I can call that favor in if you’d like. Just tell me what you need.”
My arms fell at his words, and I braced my thighs. “Why do you want to help me? Don’t give me this favor nonsense.”
His head tilted. A flash of concern crossed his face, but I wasn’t sure why.
I heaved out a deep breath and regained my focus. And my control. I straightened in my seat. “I need Callaghan gone. Off my back.”
“What for?”
Damn him and his questions. Couldn’t he help without details?
Adam and Anna were getting married Saturday. I didn’t want anyone, especially Callaghan and my misguided father, ruining their day.
“He’s coming after MAC,” I said. “McGregor Advanced Communications,” I clarified in case he didn’t know the acronym for our media division. “I think he’s using my father’s recent heart attack to his advantage. A way to try and convince my father to sell to reduce stress.”
He stood and approached the window. “And do you enjoy what you do?”
A crease in his shirt gathered at the center when his back muscles pinched together.
“Of course, I do.” I stood and approached the window.
His free palm went to the glass, and he finished his drink before lowering it to his side. “I don’t know if I believe you.” When he faced me, his eyes were so dark, his pupils had nearly eclipsed all the color. “But I’ll help you. I’ll make Callaghan go away.”
“I’m worried this favor I’ll owe you will be much more significant than telling me his room number.”
My BS meter wasn’t going off, but I couldn’t figure out a reason why a stranger—someone who knew more about me than I knew about him—wanted to help.
I took slow and deliberate breaths when he remained quietly observing me. “This was a mistake. I’ve changed my mind.” I turned, but at the feel of his hand on my shoulder I chanced a look back at him.
“You sure about that?”
I forced a nod. “Yeah,” I whispered. “Goodnight.” I pulled free of his grasp and left his suite before I had a chance to change my mind.
I attempted Callaghan’s suite one more time.
Impatience jetted through me as I waited for an answer.
My phone buzzed a moment later. A text.
My stomach lurched at the sight.
Sean: Sorry . . . I couldn’t stop him. Da just met up with Callaghan. They made a deal.
Chapter Seven
Adam
I’d done my best to hold myself together throughout the parade of speeches delivered during the dress rehearsal dinner. I wasn’t great at expressing myself publicly. Only when I was alone with Anna did I tend to find a level of comfort with such feelings.
“I can’t believe tomorrow we’ll be saying our vows beneath the sun on a hotel rooftop.” Anna hooked her arms around my neck and lifted her chin.
She’d chosen the location because it had a stunning view of Trinity College—and she’d said she’d never forget the night we’d wandered the library there, and I’d made her feel like Belle from Beauty and the Beast.
Plus, River Liffey was not too far from the hot
el—and I’d never forget the first time we’d laced hands and crossed the Ha’penny Bridge. I’d known at that moment, and probably even before, she was the one.
“Nothing bad happened,” she whispered.
My brows drew inward. “Of course, nothing bad happened.”
I couldn’t mention the fight I had with Da today about selling MAC. Nor could I tell her I’d been too afraid to truly lay into him at risk of causing a heart attack.
But how could Da agree to sell our media empire? And for such a shitty price?
McGregor Advanced Communications had been how I met Anna. She’d come from Kentucky for an internship, and neither of us had expected we’d end up marrying.
To hell with the company, though, I decided. Money didn’t matter.
I was marrying Anna tomorrow.
If it weren’t for how upset Holly was about the deal, I’d shirk the grip of guilt still clinging to me when I smiled at my soon-to-be -wife.
“Wait until you see the lingerie I have picked out for tomorrow night.” She wet her strawberry-flavored, glossy lips with her tongue.
And like that, my thoughts and worries vanished.
Invitations. Cake samples. Photography. Flowers. All of the wedding details were a blur in my mind.
All I could think about was the moment Anna would walk down the aisle.
“In less than twenty-four hours you’ll be my wife.” I pressed my lips to hers.
“You got a great woman.”
I begrudgingly pulled away from Anna to match a face to the voice. “Callaghan?”
The man adjusted the knot of his black tie and lifted a light-blond brow.
Anna turned to look at him. “Hi. You a friend of Adam’s?” She extended her palm, and the cocksucker pressed his lips to her hand.
I circled her, knocked his arm away, and stood between them like a barrier. “Back off, Callaghan.”
“What’s going on?” she asked from behind.
“It’s okay, sweetheart,” Callaghan said. “Old Man McGregor invited me. To the wedding tomorrow, too. Surely you can make some last-minute arrangements to fit me in.” His hands fell to his sides, and he stared at me with far too much confidence in the set of his light eyes.
Dublin Nights Series Box Set: On the Edge & On the Line Page 33