Page 25 of Her Michigan Mob Boss

It wouldn’t take me long if I didn’t worry about folding everything properly. Ciaran shook his head, though. “I’ll get that taken care of. Why don’t you just relax and enjoy the evening?”

“Oh, okay.” I guessed it wouldn’t hurt to let the hotel staff take care of my packing. It wasn’t my favorite thing in the world to do.

Ciaran raised his glass. “To us, and whatever the future might bring.”

“To us,” I echoed, clinking my glass against his.

As Ciaran drained his whiskey in a single gulp, I couldn’t help wondering what he meant about the future. It wasn’t as if we had one, since I was leaving tomorrow. A strange sense of unease coiled in my stomach. Mr. O’Hara’s words bothered me. What had he meant bymixed upwith Ciaran? Was he suggesting that Ciaran was the bad guy? Perhaps I was making a mistake.

“You know, I’m not sure I should come to your family dinner. I mean, it’s your sister’s birthday. She won’t want a stranger there.”

“Nonsense, she’ll love you. They all will.” Ciaran got up and held out a hand to me. “Now, come on. We don’t want to be late.”

Setting my drink down on the table, I took his hand and allowed him to pull me to my feet. As he led me from the bar, I shook off my concerns. That horrible little man had put ridiculous doubts in my mind, but Cieran had been nothing but wonderful to me. Tonight was going to be great. I’d meet Ciaran’s siblings, have a nice meal, and if I was lucky, after dinner, I’d score another couple of orgasms. Then, tomorrow, I’d get on my plane and head home with amazing memories and no regrets.

ChapterTen

Annie

When Ciaran said we were going to his family’s lake house, I imagined a cabin in the woods, something no frills but comfortable. I thought we’d have to bump over miles of dirt track to get to it. Instead, our destination was a community of enormous houses with meticulously landscaped gardens.

We drove past several impressive-looking homes before coming to a stop at a huge set of wrought-iron gates. One of two guards, who I was pretty sure were armed, acknowledged Ciaran’s driver with a nod and pressed a button to open the gates. As we drove through, I could have sworn he saluted.

The property was surrounded by a high brick wall, and I spotted several security cameras. As I thought about it, I realized just how well protected Ciaran was. He had a lot of different men working for him. I hadn’t seen the same ones twice. His apartment could only be accessed with a special code, and this one had more security than my local bank. Who on earth was Ciaran that he needed to be shielded like this?

As we pulled up outside a mansion, my jaw dropped. The house was stunning. It looked as if it had been plucked from the English countryside and set down in the middle of Michigan.

“How far is the lake?” I asked as Ciaran opened my door and helped me out of the car. So far, I hadn’t seen the body of water for which this area was named.

“It’s about a hundred feet from the back of the house. We have a small boat moored off the jetty.”

I suspected his idea of small differed from mine. It was clear from this place that Ciaran didn’t do things by halves. As I looked at the glass-fronted door before me, I sucked in a breath. Ciaran squeezed my hand reassuringly.

“Ready to face the Reilly clan?”

“I suppose so, but I wish you’d have let me stop to pick up a gift for your sister.” I’d been brought up to consider it rude to turn up at someone’s home empty-handed, especially if they were celebrating something.

“It’ll be fine. She’ll be too pleased I brought you to care about anything else.”

“Okay, then,” I said, somewhat mollified. “Let’s do this.”

I clung tightly to Ciaran’s hand as we walked through the front door. Meeting his family made me inexplicably nervous. It wasn’t as if I’d see them again if I embarrassed myself somehow.

I was surprised by how bright and modern the house was. The brick façade on the exterior was very traditional, and I expected the inside to match. It didn’t. The floor was white-washed wood, and the walls were painted pale blue. A large round table sat at the center of a spacious foyer adorned with a beautiful arrangement of pink roses.

Ciaran led me past a wooden staircase and along a hallway, leading from the foyer toward what I assumed was the back of the house. Beautiful paintings lined the walls.

“Someone has a thing for wildflowers,” I remarked.

“Ah, yes. Those are my sister Erin’s. She’s been painting since she was a kid. She did those in her senior year of high school.”

“You’re kidding!” I paused to study an image of poppies swaying in the wind. Each brush stroke seemed to have been meticulously placed to create a photo-realistic image. There was such a sense of movement in the picture, I could almost feel the breeze whispering over my skin. It was incredible to think a teenager had created something so evocative. “These are amazing.”

“She moved on to portraits after high school.”

“Has she ever painted you?”

Ciaran nodded. “From a photograph, though. I can’t sit still long enough for someone to paint me.”

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