Page 2 of A Temptation Too Great

All the pawns are in place to block the bishop so I can take down the king. Chess is easy when you use their queens against them.

Chapter One

Moira

Stretching out my body, I feel the kinks from sleep and roll my head to ease the tension already building in my neck. Tonight is another night shift, and then soon it’s back to college classes on top of work. It’s a never-ending battle, but one I’m glad to fight.

The day my father told me he wouldn’t help pay for college because he didn’t approve of my major, I already had a plan. He and my brother don’t think I’m strong enough to be a police officer. My father doesn’t believe women belong on the force, and my brother is just cruel. He constantly tells me I’m weak and too small. We both studied martial arts growing up. We’re nearly evenly matched now, but I’ve been training in other disciplines.

I don’t need my dad to pay my way or help me. I work Thursday through Sunday as a night auditor at a hotel to cover expenses my scholarships don’t, like rent so I can live off campus with my girlfriends.

I look across the bedroom at what used to be my best friend’s bed. Now, my bags and some of my clothes take up the space. Fiona and I have been friends since we were five and in primary school. But now she’s married and living at her husband’s house on the coast, about thirty minutes away. It’s the furthest she’s been from me in a long time. She went to culinary school and left me behind, then she came back. For a while, we shared this very room. We used to share everything, but now I’m not sure I know her at all anymore.

It's hard not being able to talk to my best friend about everything. I could really use her advice right now about a certain man who won’t leave me alone. But Fiona wouldn’t understand. Her husband is the head of the Irish mob, and she loves him, despite the fact that he’s literally the bad guy.

My family believes in following the law and doing the right thing. Aidan, Fiona’s husband, is all about breaking laws and bending rules. Same with his brother Brody, the man who doesn’t leave my thoughts. The man I almost gave myself to… until he told me I wasn’t ready.

That was three weeks ago, after I’d been kidnapped and nearly killed. I just wanted to feel alive. And ever since the day I barged into Brody’s life, something deep inside me has been drawn to him.

I hate that he said my virginity was why he wouldn’t take me. I stormed out of the room and told him to feck himself. Then I locked myself in one of the rooms at his house because he wouldn’t let me stay with Aidan and Fiona.

Reaching for my cardigan, I throw it over my pajama set and pull my hair into a messy bun at the back of my head. I’ll grab something to eat first, then get ready for work. I was just at the hairdresser’s a couple of months ago, but my hair is growing so fast I need another trim. My dark brown hair, brightened with auburn highlights, falls in long waves nearly to my waist. The layers keep the weight from feeling too heavy.

I make my way down the stairs to the main floor. My room is on the third floor, along with Giselle’s, one of my roommates. She was kidnapped with me. We were used as pawns to get Fiona’s attention. Patrick, the man who took us, had a vendetta against Aidan for marrying her. I was the one who helped Fiona escape her awful parents and the arranged marriage to Patrick. With Aidan and his men’s help, she is safe now.

I still feel terrible that Giselle was beaten so badly. I was hit hard on the head and unconscious for most of the ordeal, but it still scares and haunts me. No matter how well trained I am, I couldn’t stop them from taking me.

As I step into the kitchen, a couple of my other roommates are sitting down to eat dinner. Arianna is an ER nurse at one of the local hospitals. She’s already comfy in her jammies. The first thing she does when she gets home is take a shower to wash off the day, then she makes herself dinner.

Bridgid, on the other hand, has all her bright red hair in braids and is wearing one of her many boho-style dresses. She never wears jeans. It doesn’t matter what season it is, she’s always in a dress. If you didn’t know her like we do, you might think she’s a flake or a nutter. She can be indecisive at times. Really, she’s just someone born in the wrong generation. She’s all peace, love, and crystals. She’s in business school because she wants to open a crystal store someday.

Our house is filled with crystals meant to protect us and improve our moods. I didn’t want to point out that they didn’t stop Giselle and me from being taken from this house. Brigid believes they protected the rest of the girls, and that’s true, I guess.

“Where’s Giselle?” I ask the girls as I move to the kettle to pour some hot water for my tea.

“She should be home soon. She texted me and said she had to run an errand,” Arianna says as she takes a bite of her sandwich.

We have some fresh bread from Fiona, and I grab a slice so I can make myself a soft-boiled egg with soldiers. It’s light and easy, plus it’s something my mam made me all the time before she died. I grab two eggs from the egg box, rinse them off, and place them in the pan to boil.

I turn around when I hear the front door open, and Giselle steps in with Brigid’s little sister, Ronan, and her best friend, Deandra. Deandra helped me talk to Aidan after Fiona’s parents took her home and wouldn’t let her return. They were going to force her to marry Patrick. I didn’t know it then, but Deandra’s father, Carson, is part of the Knights of Purgatory Motorcycle Club, the same one Brody is president of. The club is also part of the syndicate that Aidan runs, and it was Brody who took me to his brother so I could tell Aidan what was happening to Fiona.

That was the first time I saw Brody, and I was hooked. I couldn’t stop thinking about him, even after I broke his nose. He’s gruff and demanding. He doesn’t coddle me, but he treats me like I’m special. My father and brother think I should settle down and play house. They want me to marry and have kids, not become a police officer like them. I just want to find out who killed my mother, and I really want to prove to my father and brother I can do it.

I’m so confused, though. I shouldn’t want to be with Brody if I want to be a police officer. I pull my top lip between my teeth and gnaw on it for a moment. Memories of Brody making my body tighten and then explode with my first orgasm flood my mind. But when I reached for him, he shook his head, saying I wasn’t ready. I jumped up, half naked, and proceeded to tell him when I was ready, it wouldn’t be with him. He told me he’d kill any man who tasted me or tried to shag me. I snuck out of his house and left him. I couldn’t stay there. I knew if I stayed, I wouldn’t be able to walk away from him.

It's fecked up, I know. But after all the emotional abuse I suffered from my brother and my father growing up, sometimes I crave the wrong kind of attention. I always feel like I’m never good enough. It’s hard to explain, but they gaslighted me so much and love bombed me, that I thought I was the one in the wrong.

I’m seeing a counselor now, and she is helping me work through all of it. She told me I need to really sit down and ask myself why I want to be on the force, because the reasons I’ve given aren’t enough to build a career on. I guess I don’t want to look at it too closely. Maybe I’ll see what I’ve always wondered.

Should I be doing something that brings me pride? Something I enjoy?

I like working with kids. I volunteer at a local children’s home. And I love to draw and sketch. It’s how I release all the anger I carry.

“Hey, Mo, your boyfriend’s out there,” Ronan says with a laugh. I nearly drop the pan of eggs on the floor.

I’ve told him over and over to leave me alone, but he won’t listen. If he’s not there himself, then one of his MC brothers is. They’re always watching over me, following me around. No matter what I say, I can’t get him to stop.

“Fecking hell. Watch my eggs,” I snap at Ronan as I stomp toward the door. I slip on a pair of Ugg boots and storm outside.

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