Page 78 of Redemption

Wasn’t that the way I also felt about Finn? He might love me with desperate intensity, but I loved him back just as hard. Kim and Lorcan took massive risks with and for each other to become undercover agents together. The trust has to be mutual.

“Very well.” Thomas gives a decisive nod. “I like your logic. I’ll see him in private before anyone is welcomed into the house. The family will need guarantees only he can deliver. As much as Kim might be Lorcan’s leash, while you’re in this house, he’s hers.” He waves a dismissive hand. “Send him to me alone and unarmed. If he returns to you, we’ve struck a deal.” He ignores me to focus on Finn. “Trust goes both ways.”

He drains his coffee and sets the cup on the table in front of us. He rises and offers his hand to Thomas, but he refuses to take it.

“We shake when I know we’re square. Until I’m sure of your brother, no deal has been done.”

Thomas makes us leave our weapons at the front door when we exit. Another test to see how much we want his help. Will we abandon the few weapons we have? Finn’s jaw is tight when he realizes Thomas’s intention.

We’re through the gate and walking back to the SUV, and Finn’s posture is still strung tight.

“Lorcan can convince him. He’s going to say yes.” He might not like Thomas’s tactics, but surely he can appreciate them.

“All these head games,” Finn grumbles. “I’ve known the guy for years.”

“Which is exactly why he’s playing them. He knows you, and he knows your brother. For you to leave without your weapon, for Lorcan to see him unguarded and unarmed—those are huge markers of trust.”

He loops an arm around my shoulders and kisses my temple, dragging me closer to him as we walk. “I want to solve this PLA puzzle quickly, pin them, show them they can’t fuck with our lives without consequence. At the same time, I want to drag this out, steal every moment. ’Cause when this is over, I go back to prison, and you go back to Cape Verde.”

“Three years isn’t forever.” I gaze up at his frustrated expression.

We’re approaching the SUV, and he brushes his lips across the top of my head. “The more time I get with you, the more I want. Nothing is ever gonna be enough.”

My stomach drops to my toes at his words. No matter how often he gives me a peek into how much he loves me, no matter how deep in my bones his love is secured, hearing him say something like that—so gruff, so true, never gets old. We only get this lifetime together, and sometimes I wonder whether I’ll be on my deathbed begging for more.

“Well,” Lorcan calls out the window. “He didn’t put a bullet in your head, so it couldn’t have gone too badly.”

Finn chuckles. “Still might put a bullet in yours, brother. He wants to see you.”

Chapter Thirty-Five

Finn

We’vebeenwelcomedintothe Byrne house. Whatever Lorcan said or guaranteed Thomas, it was enough to get us entry. So far, no one has fired a shot or thrown a punch. Not a bad start to an uneasy alliance. Jay is tucked away in a private bedroom, and Thomas called his personal physician to double-check John and Lorcan’s patch job. He sent a maid to a shop to purchase us an extra set of clothes. Not a full wardrobe like the PLA, but I’ll take loyalty over outfits any day.

When Carys gets off a video chat with Lucas, and she’s been able to reassure Lena and Sofia about Jay’s condition with a straight face, I figure I might as well know what she promised Semyon. Depending on how things go with the PLA, we might end up in debt to Thomas and his family. Perched on the bed, fresh from our shower together, she looks relaxed and, dare I say it, happy.

I drop my towel and crawl across the bed toward her. She eyes me with amusement. “Again?”

Instead of tugging her under me like she expects, I sprawl out beside her and drag one of the pillows under my head. “I didn’t want to talk about it in prison—because what would be the point?—but in three years when I’m out, what do you want?”

With the PLA listening in while we were in Northern Ireland, I didn’t get a chance to discuss the future. But I don’t want to do it at a cramped table in a room full of other people during visitation either. Maybe it’ll help when I’m back there to have an understanding between us of where we’re headed.

Confusion flashes across her face. “Well, I thought—I thought we both wanted the same thing. You, me, Lucas, Cape Verde. The hotel and casino.”

“I guess.” I scratch my head and force myself to maintain eye contact. This is not a conversation I ever expected to have with any woman, but I want Carys to have everything she’s dreamed about—even if she has to wait three years to get it. “I guess I’m wondering whether, and this isn’t me asking officially because I know better, whether you wanted a wedding with all the family stuff.”

She bites her lip, and a slow smile tugs her lip from her teeth. God, she’s sexy.

“Are you asking me to marry you?”

I roll onto my back and stare at the ceiling, chuckling. “Uh, no. ’Cause I know better than to ask a woman like you without a ring.”

“With or without a ring, Finn Donaghey, my answer is the same.” She traces figure eights on my chest.

“Don’t keep me in suspense.” I turn to gaze at her. “Is that what you’d want?”

“I don’tneedto marry you to feel like we’ll be together forever, but yeah, Iwantto. I really, really want to.”

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