Page 19 of Promising Her Forever

“Orders?” I laugh. “You make him sound like a mob boss.”

Again, Fionn’s staring at me. What the fuck is going on? And why is he talking about his uncle like he’s some kind of boss of the family?

“I need to go and talk to my zio. Please listen to Oliver and don’t take any chances. I promise I’ll be back soon,” he says as he comes to me and holds me. “I couldn’t live if something happened to you. I need you like I need air.”

I wrap my arms around him and nod. “Okay,” I say softly.

“Thank you, mo fhíorghra. I mean it when I say I can’t live without you. And I’m sorry If it scares you because of how fast this is. But I know how I feel.”

“I was thinking that this morning. That I don’t know how, but you…we just feel right and I can’t explain it either.”

Fionn leans down and kisses me. His kiss always makes me feel safe. And if me having a bodyguard makes him feel better? I’ll do it. Because if I’m being honest, I’ve been worried aboutPlayboy too. If that fire hadn’t started and distracted him, what would’ve happened?

Fionn

I take Riley’s hand and we head back out to the front of the store. I lean down and kiss her.

“Oliver will call me if anything happens. It won’t take me long to get here if you need me and all the mamas are at the bakery. Since it’s your grand opening, I know the family will be in and out today. Please be safe.”

“I will, and you better be safe too. You say you can’t lose me, but I can’t lose you either.”

I kiss her again and then walk over to Oliver.

“You know what to do if you see Playboy, right?’

“I do. Don’t worry, I’ve got this.”

I nod. “I’ll be back as fast as I can. But I have to stop at the station too.”

Oliver positions himself behind the counter so he can see the front and back doors. For now, we’ve blocked off the back door since we’ve had issues before with back doors. There’s something about Oliver that Riley doesn’t know. He’s a Taipan snake shifter and I’m not sure how she’s going to react when she finds out. But I can’t wait to see her reaction.

I head back to the property to talk to my zio. I need to ask permission to tell Riley about our family. Then I need to talk to Enea Mancini, Zeus Athanasiou and Panagiotis Nikolaidis. Enea’s the head of the Chicago Mafia and Zeus and Panagiotis are the heads of their shifter families. Before I can tell Riley anything about any of the family, I need to get permission.

I get to the clubhouse and knock on Zio Giacomo’s office door.

“Yeah?”

I hear him say from inside, I open the door and stick my head in.

“Hey, Zio, do you have a minute to talk?”

“Of course. What’s up?”

“I’d like to ask if I can tell Riley about the family. I’m headed to talk to Enea, Zeus and Panagiotis after I talk to you. I know it’s fast, but she’s the one for me and I want her to know who our family is,” I blurt out in one breath.

Zio Giacomo laughs. “Take a breath. Are you sure Riley’s the one? And you know that if you tell her, she has to understand that if in case she decides to leave you, she’s still bound to the family not to talk about us.”

“I will make sure she understands that.”

“Then yes, you have my permission. But I can’t speak for the others. Let me call them and get them here. You can talk to everyone at the same time.”

“Thank you, Zio.”

“While we wait, tell me how you met Riley. I feel like you knew her before you got to Lake Renegade.”

I chuckle. “I met Riley and Daphne in Ireland. It was their last couple of nights there and we met at a pub. And we spent the night together. But when I woke up, she was gone. I knew I would try to find her once I got here to Lake Renegade.”

“Wait. You didn’t know she was the owner of Espresso Joy? Did you know anything about her?” He laughs.