Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 64362 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 322(@200wpm)___ 257(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64362 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 322(@200wpm)___ 257(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
I leave in three days, and if you want to see me, just to talk before I leave, I’ll be around. Just call.
And if you wait until the last minute to decide you want to see me, my flight date and time and my new address when I get there is below.
There are things I want to tell you. Things you should know.
You hurt me deeply, but I love you. I will always love you. And when you love someone, you forgive them. You don’t hold their wrongs against them.
I’m here. Waiting.
Love always,
Salem
I closed the note slowly and lifted my gaze to see her sitting there with our son. Salem turned, and our eyes met. The soft smile that touched her lips was a balm to the old wounds the note had opened up.
Then she mouthed the words, I love you.
She was my home.
Brady
She’d had a baby. I hadn’t seen that coming, but then I hadn’t seen the feckin’ cowboy Mafia coming either.
My mistakes were piling up with age. My limp wasn’t as noticeable anymore, but that was thanks to endless physical therapy. Probably should count myself lucky that the cowboy king hadn’t put a bullet through my head and gone for my limbs instead. Bastard was known for his brutality.
Yet here I was.
Blaise Hughes had warned me that the next time he pointed a gun at me, it would be the last time. But I’d made a promise to my brother. And I liked her. Not the way Eamon had, but she was interesting. Even though she despised me, I’d enjoyed her company. There was a fight in her. Eamon hadn’t known her as well as he thought. He had protected her like a fragile flower.
Salem Murphy—eh, correction: it was now Salem Bower—wasn’t fragile. She was hesitant, but when pushed, she survived.
“She found him, brother,” I whispered. “And she’s finally a mom. I hope you’re happy.”
The bikers had surrounded this place with their death wheels. Celebrating the birth of her baby at a bar. It was almost Irish of them. Except this place wasn’t the kind of pub where we’d throw one back. Miami was a dirty city with too many people trying to fit into one place. I preferred my sprawling land and fresh air.
I had satisfied my curiosity, and there was a yacht at port, waiting for me to board. Straightening, I stretched my bad leg out, then bent it at the knee a few times before walking back in the direction of where I’d parked my rental car. It was next door to the bar where I’d tracked Salem.
This time, I’d had to use a little more effort since she no longer had the earrings that Eamon had given her. They’d been left behind in Ireland. I had found them sitting on the mantel below the wedding portrait of them that hung in the master bedroom suites.
Since I preferred to live, I hadn’t expected to see her, just get information on how she was doing. I felt I owed it to my brother. I’d promised to watch over her after all. And in the six months since I’d last seen her, there had been no bothersome agents showing up in Dublin, asking questions. Our operation had been left alone. It had become almost too easy. My fear that she’d talk and I’d have our security shaken had been misplaced.
Seemed she had moved on with her life and left the Murphy family to carry on in peace.
“I think I did my job, brother,” I said quietly. “She’s happy and safe.”
My first few steps were always the most difficult. No longer painful, really just a pain in the arse to get moving forward without stiffening up.
When I was about to step over the marker from one parking lot to the next, a female voice stopped me.
I glanced back, not sure if she’d called out to me or someone else. The view, however, had me turning around. I wasn’t one to ignore a stunner like the blonde walking toward me. Tight, short, faded denim miniskirt that showed off golden-tanned legs that ended in a pair of pale blue cowboy boots. Or was it cowgirl if a female was wearing them? I wasn’t sure.
My gaze slowly traveled back up her body to the formfitting black shirt that didn’t quite meet the waistline of her skirt, giving a peek of her flat, toned stomach. Something glistened at her navel as the sun caught it, and I realized it was a piercing.
When she reached me, she stopped and placed a hand on one hip and flashed dimples with her smile. Perky tits were outlined by her black top, and I read the words Paradise Brew across the top.
Is she a waitress at the bar? I wondered.
“How can I help ye?” I asked, wishing I had more time to spend charming this one out of her knickers.