Page 5 of Stolen Mafia Vows
Eoghan deals the cards and checks his hand. His expression gives nothing away, but it quickly becomes apparent that he is going to lose. Again. So, I steer this round in his direction, hoping that his brother won’t notice.
Eoghan wins.
Ruairi grins at me like he knows exactly what I’ve done and what I want from his brother, and I pray that they don’t share their experiences with each other. It’s one thing to want Eoghan inside my panties, but his brother knowing about it is quite another matter. I’m not that uninhibited. Yet.
Then I spot the digital board above our heads and realize that my family’s flight has landed.
My stomach twists as I stand up, and I miss Eoghan’s body heat the instant it is gone. I glance at the sliding doors through which my family will be arriving at any moment now. Then a slip of paper and a pen is pressed against the palm of my hand, and I turn around to face Ruairi, who shrugs.
“He won fair and square.” He jerks his head in the direction of his brother who is also on his feet now and watching me so intently that I don’t trust myself to even remember my number.
I scribble my number, silently repeating the digits in my head like a mantra, and place it in the palm of his hands. “See you around sometime.”
He smiles. “You will, Emily.”
I love the way he says my name with that melodical accent.
I barely notice the tall, sandy-haired guy with the leather bag slung over his shoulder as I cross the lounge and join Sienna.She smiles at me, bright-eyed, and I squeal like a teenager as the door slides open and Kyle steps out first.
His eyes are all for Sienna, and that’s okay. That’s exactly as it should be.
We’re a tactile family, so I run to my dad who hugs me tightly and swings me around until I feel dizzy. “How’s my baby girl?”
“I’m happy, Dad.”
My feet touch the ground, and more hugs follow. My mom. Caleb, Victoria, and their baby, Holly. Abigail, Victoria’s niece. Cash and Bash my twin brothers. We’re all together, and although I’m excited for the wedding, the buzzing in my veins is mostly for Eoghan.
I glance around as he and his brother are heading outside with the sandy-haired man who must be their dad. It occurs to me then that I didn’t think to ask who they were waiting for. I guess I was kind of distracted.
“Who’s that, sweetheart?” Dad asks, following my gaze.
My pulse spikes. I love my dad to bits, but I don’t want him to tarnish my first meeting with Eoghan before I’ve even had a chance to get home and dissect it, word for word, and figure out what it is about him that turns my legs to mush in his presence.
“Some guy I was talking to.”
Sienna comes up behind me and links her arm through mine. “They were playing cards,” she says, diffusing the situation before my dad can blow it out of proportion. “He seemed nice.”
Nice? Try red-hot and smoking, instead.
“Name?” My dad is still watching the backs of their heads as they disappear through the revolving doors that lead outside.
“Eoghan. Eoghan Byrne.” I realize with a smile that I repeated his name twice, the way he did when he introduced himself.
“Byrne?” My dad is trying it on for size. “As in Declan Byrne’s son?”
“Okay,” My mom interjects, entwining her fingers with my dad’s and rolling her eyes. “How many Byrnes live in Ireland, do you think? At a guess?”
“Hundreds.” Bash wraps his arms around my waist and nuzzles my neck with his stubble, and I feel the color rise in my cheeks again. We always mess around like this, but now that I’ve felt Eoghan’s lips on my face it feels wrong somehow.
So, I extricate myself from his embrace and link my other arm through his. “We should go. We have forty-eight hours to prepare for a wedding, and I’ve seen how long it takes you to get ready.”
We leave the airport, our voices tangled up as we all try to speak over one another, our security team pushing trolleys piled high with luggage behind us.
Outside, I search for a glimpse of Eoghan, but he’s already gone.
2
EOGHAN
