Page 88 of Craving Sin

“You’ve never been one not to acknowledge the truth, Rian,” Torin continues. “I have your back tonight and always, but it’s much easier for us to do our jobs if we’re honest about the situation.”

“You’re right,” Rian finally replies. “I…lost my head.”

“Yeah, guys like us tend to do that when we find someone worth losing it for.” The guy chuckles like none of this is a big deal, while I’m still trying to wrap my mind around any of it happening.

“I apologize. You can—”

“No,” Torin cuts him off. “I don’t need it. We’re good,” he says.

Tired of his macho display, I cut in. “Don’t do that again, Rian. Not to someone you care about and not for something as small as what just happened. I can take care of myself when I need to. I’m not someone you have to protect from everything, and Torin is right. People are going to notice—maybe not tonight, but eventually. And they’re going to look into you. My father’s people are going to look into you.”

It feels like it’s one thing after another, and as soon as I have a moment when everything feels like it’s going to be okay, another obstacle throws itself in our way.

“People look into us every day, all of the time, Abbott. That’s going to happen with or without you. We’ll deal with it like we always do.” He holds out his hand. “Now, come on. Let’s go.”

I look down at his hand but don’t take it. Not yet. It’s one thing when Rian and I have been in his house together, or the cabin together, but it’s different out there…where we’re not safe.

“They’re here to protect us tonight,” I say softly, the reality just sinking in. I was too excited to go on a date with him that I didn’t consider the repercussions. “Because someone wants to kill me…which means they could hurt you…or them. And if they don’t, then all it takes is the wrong people noticing us together before they start talking about what Governor Abbott’s son is doing with the leader of the Irish fucking Mafia.”

“Not the whole Mafia…just our family,” Finan cuts in.

“Not now, Fin,” Rian tells him, his attention still firmly on me. “Yes,” he adds. “Yes, you’re in danger. Yes, we all are…but we always are. You know that, pretty thing. Every time I leave this house, I’m in danger…and you will be too, even when we deal with this threat, because you’re mine. There will always be something to handle—often more than one thing at a time—business, enemies, danger, law enforcement. That’s my life. It’s our life unless you walk away. I’ve known that. I’m here. I’m in it. Are you?”

I look down at the hand he’s holding out—in this room, with the men who work under him, who need to see him as this strong, formidable figure all the time—and he’s holding his hand out, waiting for me. Did the way he reacted with Torin just now bother me? Yes, but not because I’m afraid of him. Because I don’t want him to fight the people he loves for me. Because I don’t want to be helpless to him. But Rian is in it. He has been from the start. He let me live when he shouldn’t have. He’s crossed his best friend for me.

Finan and Torin are risking their lives for me tonight.

They’re risking more eyes on them because they love Rian, and Rian loves me.

And there’s nothing I wouldn’t risk for him as well.

We have a lot to figure out, and some boundaries to set, but… “I’m in.” I take his hand and see the relief wash over his face.

“Fuck yes. That’s what we want to hear,” Finan says.

“You’re a dumbass.” Torin wraps an arm around his shoulder and says, “Think I might have to file a workers’ comp case for that shit.”

Rian threads his fingers through mine. “Denied, you bastard.”

They all laugh as the four of us walk out of the house…Rian and his family, a family I’m now a part of too.

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Rian

Torin drives us to the restaurant—Abbott and me in the back, while Finan is in another car behind us. It’s probably overkill. Abbott had been on his own at his house, going about his business every day, and no one had gone after him since the first time at the hospital, but I wasn’t taking any chances.

Honestly, the fact that no one has gone after him again makes me more nervous. Whoever is pulling the strings isn’t stupid. They’d sent a group of idiots after him the first time, but I don’t think they would make the same mistake again. If they come for him, they will be more calculated…more organized, and that’s what scares me.

Why?

“You’re being quiet,” Abbott says, sitting across from me at the table. We’re at one of the most high-end restaurants in Boston—one where I should have needed a reservation to get in, but it’s amazing the things they can make happen for an O’Shea.

There are men here tonight who are connected, businessmen that I’ve worked with before, people who know my name, notice me with a man, and the statement I’m making.

He’s mine.

I don’t care what you think.