Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 56875 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 284(@200wpm)___ 228(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56875 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 284(@200wpm)___ 228(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
“I haven’t felt anything for anyone in a long time. I use them for sex when I get tired of my own hand, and that’s it.”
He dropped his head into his hands. “Fecking TMI, Niall. TMI.” He looked up. “Are you honest with them?”
“Always.”
He was quiet for a moment. “I met Una when she was eighteen. She left me with a lasting impression I could never shake. I tried to be with others, but my heart was never with them. It was always with her. For a long time, I thought there was something wrong with me too, but when I found her again, I knew that I had been waiting for her. My heart had belonged to her all that time.” He blew out a deep breath. “Maybe you’ve just been waiting for Anna.”
I stared at him, some of my doubts beginning to fall away.
He stood. “Stop blaming yourself for things you didn’t cause. You aren’t broken, Niall. Those women meant nothing. They weren’t the right ones for you. There was nothing to them—no substance.”
“Except I have a pattern. I pick the wrong ones.”
“Then Anna is perfect. She picked you.”
That stopped me.
“She is real,” he insisted. “She has substance. A good heart. A loving heart. She wants nothing from you but your love. Why are you refusing to give her something you have in abundance?”
“I don’t know if I love her.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, give me strength. You wanted to kill Roman for offering her a new start. Beat the crap out of me for buying her some clothes. You threatened Rodney. A seventy-four-year-old man with a wife of fifty-plus years and grandkids, for looking at her too much. Who has cataracts, by the way, so he can barely see. One suggestion of getting her a place of her own, and you shut it down. What the feck do you call it if you don’t love her?”
I had no good answer.
“Let me ask you a question.”
I nodded.
“If she were in an accident and you could rescue her, would you?”
“Of course,” I snapped.
“If she were in the same accident with your mum, and you could only save one, which would it be?” he asked, watching me carefully.
I opened my mouth, but no words came out. I blinked, my heart thudding, my chest tight.
“If you could save them both but give up your own life, would you?”
“Yes,” I replied instantly.
“Because you love both of them,” he stated triumphantly.
I had to look down, grip the back of the chair, and take a deep breath.
Holy feck, was he right? Did I love Anna? The thought of her hurt killed me. The idea of her leaving was abhorrent to me. And I would trade my life for hers in an instant. Being with her made me feel things I had never experienced before. I felt lighter. Happier. As if the only thing in the world that mattered was right there.
I looked up, meeting Finn’s knowing gaze.
“The lightbulb finally went off,” he stated, triumphant.
I walked toward him, and he held out his hand, expecting me to shake it.
Instead, I punched him in the gut.
He gasped, bending over.
“That’s for putting me in a fecking impossible situation.”
“It was hypothetical!”
“Fecker,” I snarled.
He laughed between gasps of air.
“Go get your girl, if she’ll still take you.” He sat down. “You dumb feck.”
I slammed the door behind me and headed to the elevator.
But I was smiling as I stepped in.
Anna came out of the bedroom, looking nervous. I stared at her, enraptured by her simple beauty. Her makeup was light, mostly covering the fading marks, but she had played up her dark eyes and they looked huge in her face, set off by her long lashes. Her mouth was pouty with some pink stuff on her lips I wanted to kiss off.
She wore a dress I’d picked. A swath of royal blue, the color suited her. With a deep neckline and gathered at the waist, it had long sleeves, a demure slit on one leg, and suited her to perfection. I knew she’d chosen it as it covered the still-darker bruises on her arms. Her hair was up to one side, tendrils hanging around her face. She was elegant and sexy.
“You take my breath away,” I told her. “You are so beautiful, mo mhuirnín.”
Her eyes widened, and she looked away. I stepped closer, brushing my knuckles over her cheek.
“What?”
“That doesn’t mean little doll.”
“No,” I agreed tenderly. “It means more.” I paused. “You mean more.”
She inhaled sharply.
“I need some time, Anna. To put it all into words. The right words.” I tilted my head. “Can you give me a little more time?”
Her answer was breathless. “Yes.”
I pressed a kiss to her soft mouth. “Thank you.”
I slipped a small box out of my pocket. “I had this made. I had planned on asking you to wear it for added safety, but the truth is, I want you to wear it because it’s from me.”