Page 24 of Blindsided
“You know I was buried in the sand. You know my name. You know I was drunk on a plane.” I shrug. “That’s more than most people know about me after a first date.”
“This isn’t a date,” she sputters.
I grin. “Not yet.”
Declan’s shout carries down from the cliff. “Kane! Get your ass up here now!”
I lean closer to Kori. “Come with me, just for a bit. Help me convince them I’m sober enough for whatever family shit we’re about to wade into. Then I’ll bring you right back to your cottage.”
“How do you know I’m staying at a cottage?”
“Where else would you be? There’s nothing out here but holiday rentals and sheep.” I can see her wavering, so I play my trump card. “Besides, don’t you want to meet the men who buried me alive? Could make for a good story when you go home.”
Her eyes harden at the mention of home. “I’m not going home.”
“Then we have that in common, too.” I tug gently on her arm. “Come on, airplane girl. Live dangerously.”
For a moment, I think she’ll refuse. Then something shifts in her expression—a flash of recklessness I recognize all too well. It’s the look of someone with nothing left to lose.
“Fine,” she says. “But only for an hour. And if your cousins try to bury me too, I’m going to be seriously upset.”
“That’s fair,” I laugh, feeling inexplicably lighter as we start trudging up the beach path. “Though if they did bury you, I’d dig you right back out.”
“My hero,” she says dryly.
As we approach the car, Declan’s expression morphs from irritation to confusion. Rory looks amused, the bastard.
“Who’s this?” Declan demands, eyeing Kori with suspicion.
“This is Kori,” I announce, as if introducing royalty. “She saved me from your sadistic beach burial. Kori, my cousin Declan —he’s the one with the control issues—and Rory, who does Declan’s dirty work.”
“We’ve met,” Kori says, surprising me. “Sort of. On the plane.”
Recognition dawns in their eyes. Declan has the decency to look slightly embarrassed.
“You’re the woman Kane was harassing,” he says. “I apologize for my cousin’s behavior.”
“Funny, I was just about to apologize for yours,” she retorts, and I have to bite back a laugh at Declan’s stunned expression. “Burying people isn’t exactly a normal way to handle family disagreements.”
Rory snorts. “The MacGallans aren’t exactly normal.”
“MacGallan?” Kori repeats, her brow furrowing. “The mob family from Toronto?!”
Declan shoots me a warning look that I deliberately ignore. “Nah, that’s just rumors,” I say vaguely. “Kori’s coming with us.”
“Absolutely not,” Declan says immediately.
“She already knows too much,” I counter. “She found me buried on a beach. What’s she supposed to think?”
“That we’re dealing with your alcoholism, the only way that works,” Rory offers.
I roll my eyes. “Yeah, because that’s so much better.”
Kori shifts uncomfortably beside me. “Look, maybe this isn’t such a good idea—”
“No, it’s not,” Declan agrees.
“It’s a great idea,” I insist, still holding her arm. “She’s staying at a cottage nearby. We can drop her off after we visit the property.”
