Page 8 of Niall

She rolled her eyes, making me snicker again. I liked seeing her impish side. “Medium is fine. I don’t like things tight. And I’m not that tiny.”

“I dunno. A friend of mine’s daughter likes to play with these little dolls. She calls them Polly Pockets. You remind me of those.”

She blinked up at me. Frowned and shook her head. Then she did the most extraordinary thing.

She laughed.

The sound was light and effervescent. Feminine and sweet. Like champagne bubbles bursting in your nose as you sipped it.

I mentally shook my head. Champagne bubbles? Feck, I was losing it. Obviously, I was even more sleep-deprived than I thought.

Still, I liked hearing her laugh.

And even more, I liked that I was the one who made her laugh. It made me feel ten feet tall.

I wanted to hear it more often.

I just had to figure out how.

CHAPTER THREE

NIALL

Finn looked at me over his coffee cup, one eyebrow raised the way he liked to do.

“Rough night?”

“Jesus,” I replied, keeping my voice low. “I have no idea what I’m doing. Her terror is fucking killing me. I can’t take the screams…or the tears.”

“Time,” he replied. “They have to heal.”

“How do you stand it?” I asked, indicating Una sitting across the room with Anna. “I know how much you love her. I don’t have the connection to Anna you have, and her pain is ripping me apart.”

“Are you so certain about that, Niall? No connection?”

I scoffed, taking a sip of coffee. “I feel badly for her. I want to help her. She obviously means a lot to Una.”

He said nothing, his skeptical expression saying it all. I ignored him.

“You saw the news this morning?” he asked, changing the subject.

“Yes. The reporting is exactly what we needed. An explosion led to the discovery of a hidden drug lab. Assumed set off by an accident in the highly flammable facility. All casualties were thought to be employees but are unidentifiable.” I sat back. “Those who knew where the Russians were will assume they were caught in the inferno.”

He nodded in agreement. “The racetrack is closed permanently. I think the feeling is the syndicate will purchase it and reopen so they can keep track of it. Any news on Juan?”

“No sightings. We’ll keep searching.”

“Good.”

I discreetly glanced over. Anna looked calm, happy to be close to Una. “Any decision on Brian?”

“Yes. Una said he is to be cremated, and she’ll bury him with her mum and dad. She wants a private funeral. Our crew has been informed he died a hero helping us. I am doing that for her. And I already informed the morgue. It will happen quickly before questions are asked.”

“All right.” It made sense. Brian was an asshole, but he did save Una’s life. Finn wanted to help her erase his past deeds and be remembered as being decent.

“My focus is back on the territory and the hotel. My priority, though, is Una and helping her through this.”

“Of course.”