Authors: Kerrigan Byrne
Tags: #Suspense, #Contemporary, #Romance, #Mystery
“Let’s not get carried away here,” she laughed nervously. “This is
me
we’re talking about.”
“Babies,” he murmured.
Her eyes went round, and her smile died as she began to cry in earnest.
“When you offered me everything I wanted. Everything I didn’t want
to
want. I freaked out. I needed you to be as scared as I was.”
“I was scared when you said it at the river,” she admitted. “I thought maybe… because I had a gun to my head…” She trailed off and shrugged, her lashes sweeping down.
“It’s harder to have something taken from you than it is to give it away,” he conceded. “But I realized, life without you was much more frightening than any danger I’ve faced.”
She leaned forward and pressed as soft kiss to his mouth. “Say it again,” she whispered.
“I love you.”
“No, the part about me being right.”
That brought a laugh, which sent a sharp pain through his entire torso, stealing his breath. Doctor Karakis showed up with the blessed syringe and pumped it into his IV.
His muscles relaxed and limbs became heavy but in the most wonderful way possible. Talk about a Christmas miracle.
“Before you check out, your family wants to see you,” Karakis said, gesturing to the door.
Puzzled, Luca shook his head. “I don’t have a family.”
“Thanks a lot, asshole,” Vince said from his wheelchair as Rown pushed him into the room making way for Hero’s parents, Andra, Knox, Demetri, and even Connor. “You’re already on my shit list because you’ll have a longer vacation and get the better drugs.”
“Is this allowed?” Hero asked.
“Not really, but it’s Christmas.” Karakis’s whole lab coat rippled with his shrug. “Also, I’m kind of afraid of your mom.”
“Join the club,” Vince snarked.
Luca tried to speak, but his tongue felt heavy and his throat tightened. He blamed the drugs. Yeah. It was the drugs. Probably the sheen of moisture over-clouding his vision was the same thing.
Luca felt the darkness threaten him again, pulling him under with a soupy allure. Offering him a refuge from the swell of gratitude and hope.
“I heard what you did,” Karakis said. “Chased down that gunman, stopped John the Baptist, and then fished this lady out of the river before she drowned all with internal injuries. You’re a hero, Agent Ramirez.” The doctor’s eyes flicked toward the lady-in-question, and he chuckled as though he’d made a joke.
“My hero,” she sighed dramatically and clutched his hand in both of hers, lifting it to her lips.
My Hero,
Luca thought, refusing to release his grip on her hand even when a gentle sleep claimed him. They’d be there when he woke up, ready to start the rest of his life.
He couldn’t wait.
(A sneak peak at the next Shakespearean Suspense)
Epilogue
Several months later
“Next time you move, I’m going to be sick that day,” Vince huffed as he dumped the last box marked
bedroom
on the floor. “I’m starting to think this isn’t worth pizza and beer.”
Luca allowed himself a secret smile as he thought about how pissed his partner would be when he saw what kind of pizza Hero ordered. Though he was pretty sure her brothers ordered something with double meat behind her back. A guy could only have so many green things on his pizza before he had to give up his man card.
The kaleidoscopic chaos that was the floor of Hero’s closet stopped him dead for a long minute. “Houston, we have a problem,” he muttered.
“What the hell is in these boxes anyway?” Vince continued bitching. “They’re all lumpy and lopsided.”
“Look if you want,” Luca muttered. He ignored the sound of a box being ripped open as he tried to figure a closet strategy. How does one
take
room away from a woman in her own closet? Was that even possible? If he figured this out, he’d be right up there with the great problem solvers of humanity. Newton. Fleming. Einstein…
Ramirez
.
He liked the sound of that.
“Jesus, Ramirez, are all these yours?” Vince’s question dripped with disbelief.
“That and three more boxes.”
“Okay.” Vince stomped over to him. “Hand it over.”
“Hand what over?” Luca asked, still contemplating the closet.
“Your man card. No one man should own that many shoes. You know, unless he’s Stef.”
“I heard that!” Stef called from the other room.
Luca laughed. “Funny you say that,” he began. “I was just thinking about my man card.”
“You mean the one you don’t have any more?”
A commotion of male exclamations distracted them both, and they wandered toward the living room to investigate.
Knox and Rown gingerly set his new flat screen on the entertainment stand, and stood back to admire it along with Connor, Demetri, Stef, and Vince.
“She’s so beautiful,” Demetri said reverently.
“Sixty inches of pure sexy,” Knox agreed.
“You can have your man card back,” Vince murmured as he wandered toward it like a moth to a flame.
“LCD? LED? Plasma?” Connor asked.
“Lasers,” Luca bragged. “This model’s the latest and greatest in badass entertainment technology.”
“Lasers,” they all agreed.
“Welp, fight night is at your house from now on,” Demetri informed him.
“Think again,” Hero said from the doorway, setting down a lamp. “I have way too many breakable objects in this house to let all you guys in here on fight night.” She smiled and warmth rippled beneath Luca’s skin.
“But… you were willed a
mansion
,” Demetri argued. “I think that comes with obligatory hosting clauses. Also—lasers.” He pointed at the television.
“Most of Angora’s house is going to be converted into an academy of art, pottery, and sculpture,” she reminded them as she slid into Luca’s arms with a soft kiss that curled his toes.
Luca’s lips lifted in a smile while still pressed against hers. They spontaneously did that sometimes, just on their own. Guess that’s what happiness did to a guy. Badly-timed smiles. He just couldn’t turn them off.
“I have a mansion,” Knox offered, having yet to tear his longing gaze away from the television. “And you can bet every one of your asses I’m getting me one of these.”
“Problem solved.” Hero pulled back, but didn’t leave the circle of Luca’s arms. “I can’t wait to officially make my bed
our
bed,” she whispered to him so her brothers couldn’t overhear.
Luca couldn’t wait either. The bed. The kitchen table. The bar. The desk. The carpet. Hell, even the couch. Not that they hadn’t had sex on all those places. But it wasn’t official sex, which was like a whole new reason to do it again. And again.
Okay. Time for Hero’s brothers to leave.
“Like we’re going to have fight night on Slayer Street.” Stef interrupted Luca’s train of thought. He fluffed his artfully arranged blue frosted tips with manicured nails before noticing everyone was looking at him as though he’d produced a girlfriend. “What? I lost my adult channel subscription a few months ago and stumbled onto Ultimate Fighting. Dominant, muscled guys in shorty-shorts straining, sweating, and wrestling each other for three rounds… What’s not to love?” He leveled Knox an appreciative look.
“Repeat the thing about
Slayer Street
,” Connor ordered, his severe eyes narrowing at Stef.
“It’s nothing, guys, forget it.” Knox turned from the television and wiped his hands on his ripped and dusty jeans. “Who ordered the pizza?”
“I did,” Hero chirped.
“Who ordered the pizza we’re actually going to eat?” He tried again.
“Spill it, Lennox.” Luca had to give Connor props. He was the only man any of the Katrova-Connor brothers actually listened to. Not just because he was older and authoritative, but he was bigger, meaner, and could probably kill them all with his pinky finger and a teacup. Also, he grew up loving and protecting them, and that meant something to them all.
Knox ran his own hand over his faux-hawk and looked supremely uncomfortable. “So… there have been a couple random deaths in my neighborhood.”
“Three,” Steff corrected smugly. “Some lady they interviewed on the news said that she felt like she was living on Slayer Street and the name is really catchy.”
“Yeah, but only one of the deaths is for sure a murder,” Knox waved it off. “It kind of happened this morning.” They’d been moving Luca into Hero’s loft all morning, but Stef hadn’t showed up until two hours ago, so he’d had time to catch the news.
“Knox!” Hero protested. “Why didn’t you say something?”
Everyone cringed, and Luca pulled Hero closer.
“Because I didn’t want to worry anyone,” Knox lifted his heavy shoulder to prove his ambivalence. “I’m sure it’s just some
Real Housewives
meets
Law and Order
kind of thing. Besides, it’s probably a coincidence. I live by rich old people, too. They die all the time, right?”
Luca’s eyes narrowed at Knox. There was something he wasn’t saying, but he didn’t want to further upset Hero. Not when things were just getting back to normal at home and at work. “Where is that pizza?” he piped in, hiding a meaningful look to the surrounding men from Hero.
“We’ll talk about this later,” Connor promised softly.
“There’s nothing to talk about,” Knox insisted. “It’s not like
I’m
in any danger.”
About the Author
Kerrigan Byrne's stories span the spectrum of romantic fiction from historical, to paranormal, to romantic suspense. She can always promise her reader one thing: memorable and sexy Celtic heroes who are guaranteed to heat your blood before they steal your heart.
Kerrigan lives at the base of the Rocky Mountains with her husband and his three lovely daughters. She's worked in Law Enforcement for the better part of a decade.
*Kerrigan donates a percentage of all book sales to
www.womenforwomen.org
to help the innocent survivors of global war and oppression.
To find other books by Kerrigan, visit her website at:
www.kerriganbyrne.com
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