Illicit Temptation (Astoria Royals #3)

CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE

Shea

W e land in a New York airport and my brothers are waiting for me on the tarmac. All of them, their limos lined up. I jog down the airstairs and the car doors fly open, my family racing toward me.

With the Quinlan Empire jet in the backdrop, Trace holds my hand with blood on his clothes from patching up my wrist on the jet. But there are still bugs in my hair and grass stains on my knees from the free fall out of the helicopter.

One by one, my brothers all hug me. Balor, Darragh, Eoghan, Cormac, Riordan, and Lachlan, who lifts me in the air and then plants me in front of Kieran. I wait to see disappointment. About everything. But he hugs me the hardest.

“Jaysus Christ, love.” He also holds me longer than any of my brothers.

But I don’t let go of Trace’s hand. The message: He’s mine, I’m not giving him up.

“She fought hard, O’Rourke,” Trace says to Kieran, wincing from the pain in his chest. “She’s strong. She can handle anything.”

“I know she’s a fighter,” Kieran offers. “She’s an O’Rourke.”

“About that ...” I’m shushed by my brother’s hand gently on my mouth.

I’m strong, I made it. But Kieran is always in charge. “Take a ride with me.”

Without question, Trace and I get into Kieran’s limo. His eyes stare at our dangling handcuffs, matching bracelets that remind him of what we went through. Together. Kieran no doubt had been told Trace and I are married.

How, when, and where we got married.

I’m here to make it clear to my brother what I want.

Hurt him. You hurt me.

We get cleaned up at Divona where both Darrah and Cormac check out Trace’s chest after inspecting my wrist. I lean against the doorframe of the breakfast nook watching my twin brothers, together again, working side by side. It would be hard for anyone to tell, but I see how, when they’re together, they’re whole again.

I wonder what’s next for Cormac. Darragh works for a medical practice but moonlights as a butcher for both the Irish Mob and the Bratva. They’ll figure it out. Together. I know both Darragh and Ana want him to be a part of his son’s life.

I choke up. My nephew JP has two fathers and the rest of us...zero. My energy level only allows me to ask about my mother, who I learned is in a hospital in Manhattan. I don’t bother asking about my father, who I overheard was packed up and flown back here when they left a few days before us. If I know Lachlan, he dumped Da’s body into the ocean.

Something to worry about later.

Trace stands up, looking strong, he’s still a picture of power and beauty. Wild eyes find me and he ambles my way, but stops short, the golden gaze reaching behind me.

I turn around.

Kieran stands there in a white dress shirt and dark trousers looking wrung out. But he quirks a smile when he says, “I just got off the phone with Nico Scava. I told him the deal is off.”

Nodding, I lean in and hug my brother, tempted to sock him in the stomach for making that deal behind my back in the first place. My limbs are too mush-like to follow through.

“I’ll fly there myself and make it crystal-clear to him,” Trace huffs out with grit in his voice. “He and I exchanged words last month.”

“Good man.” He grips Trace’s shoulder, forcing a faint snivel of pain from him, always reminding everyone of his power. “I guess Scava wasn’t going to be a good ally after all.”

It was always going to be a man who ran toward trouble and let me shine in the process. I never would have been happy with someone else.

“Can I take my wife home now, brother?” Trace says.

Kieran eyes our hands without rings. “I expect you to marry her properly.”

I consider all the weddings I put together for my brothers, except Lachlan who crashed Katya’s wedding, killed her groom, and then married her himself. My perfect wedding vision board is blank. I outdid myself for every client. I never saw it as me.

Always the bridesmaid, never the bride.

Until now.

But I don’t need a fancy dress or a big party. All I want is...Trace.