Page 57 of Temptation at His Door

They were completely different people, but he agreed. They would’ve been friends. Ronan pulled in a deep breath, trying to ignore the prickle of heat in his eyes, the slight burn. “Thanks. For being here... For doing this. For—” Jesus, his voice was cracking “—you know, everything.”

“You should be grateful since I left my brand-new fiancée to be here.” Carrick’s fist smacked his arm. Ronan audibly cursed Carrick but silently thanked him. Had he not punched him they might all be in tears by now. They all preferred pain to pathos.

Finn snickered. “You should be grateful to Ronan for giving you a damn fine excuse to take a break from Sadie. You’re not as young as you used to be, Carrick.”

Carrick nailed Finn with a hard look. “Bastard.”

Finn’s phone beeped and he pulled it out. He swiped the screen, read the message and cursed. Happy for the change of subject, Ronan asked him what the problem was.

“Obviously you remember Ben? He spent a lot of time at our house when I was a teenager?”

Ronan nodded.

Finn continued. “Well, he and his girlfriend from way back then have recently reconnected. They both ended up working for the same company in Hong Kong and are getting married. But because they are there and not here, they want me to organize their wedding.”

Ronan exchanged a glance with Carrick, thinking that there was more to the story. But he couldn’t help laughing at Finn’s uncomfortable expression. “Really? You?”

Finn looked miserable. “No, Not only me. Beah’s going to help me since Ben and Piper attended our wedding ceremony in Vegas.”

Carrick frowned. “About that...”

Finn rolled his eyes. “It happened nearly ten years ago and we got divorced. You can’t still be pissed that we didn’t invite you to the wedding.”

“You didn’t even tell us you were getting married,” Carrick retorted.

Ronan listened to the oft repeated argument and tuned them out. He turned his head at the sound of his front door opening and noticed a shadow crossing his hallway. His boys were home and he hurried into the hall to see them standing statue still, looking up at the empty wall. Ronan uttered a quiet curse and skidded to a halt when he saw Joa standing in the open doorway, snow dusting her dark hair. The icy wind blew snow inside and Ronan shivered. He walked over to her, tugged her forward and pushed the door closed, looking from her to the boys. “Where’s Tanna?”

Joa’s big eyes flicked off the bare spot on the wall to his face and immediately went back again. “Um, she pulled up as I did. She was in a hurry to get back, so I brought the boys in.”

Ronan nodded and went over to his boys, dropping to kiss each on his small head. “Hey, guys, did you have fun?”

Aron nodded enthusiastically and held up his arms to be picked up. Ronan hauled him up and settled him on his hip. “There was lots of ice cream and a horse and a clown—”

“Where’s my mom gone?” Sam demanded.

Ronan tightened his grip on Aron as he dropped to his haunches to look Sam in the eye. “Your mom hasn’t gone anywhere, Sam. I’ve just taken her painting off the wall, that’s all.”

“Why?”

Explanation time.Hell. “Because she’s not here anymore and I think it’s time we start to remember her in our hearts and minds and not because there’s a huge picture on the wall.”

“But what if I start to forget what she looks like?” Sam asked, panic in his voice.

“There’s a photo of her next to your bed. You won’t forget, Sam.” Ronan darted a look at Joa. “We won’t forget her, Sam, I promise.”

Joa dropped her head to stare at the floor as Ronan pulled his older son in for a hug. “It’s time, Sam.”

Ronan felt Carrick remove Aron from his arms and he looked up to see Finn place his hand on Sam’s shoulder. His younger brother waited for Sam to look up at him. “Hey, bud. Want to come home with me? We can have a movie and video game night.”

They were supposed to be going out for supper with their new nanny but Ronan couldn’t face it. Besides, he had something important to do, much to say.

Ronan stood up, pulled his phone from the back pocket of his jeans and quickly sent Abigail a text message, asking to postpone their arrangements for the evening. He saw that she’d read the message and then a thumbs-up emoji appeared on his screen.

Right, one very small mission accomplished.

Ronan returned his attention to the conversation between Sam and Finn, who were discussing what movie to watch.

“Popcorn?” Sam asked. His boys were such boys, Ronan thought. Easily distracted with the thought of junk food and some age-appropriate violence.

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