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Page 17 of Dublin Charmer (Emerald Isle Mafia #5)

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Nyx

I ’ve spent my entire adult life trusting no one but Gio. Now I’m sitting in a room full of Dublin’s most notorious criminals, and I’ve just handed them my most vulnerable secret. My brother. My weakness.

And somehow, it feels like the first right decision I’ve made in months.

“Thank you.” My voice is small but steady. “Gio is my everything. My biggest fear is that Gravely has learned I’m missing, and he’s taken his anger out on my brother.”

“Do ye know anything about how or where he is?” Tag asks.

“I broke through Gravely’s firewall weeks ago and have access to a video feed of his cell. There’s no sound, but I can see him. I watch that feed constantly. Being here is making me crazy because I can’t access it.”

“Do ye have a remote relay set up?” Finn asks.

“I do, but I need access to a computer.”

Finn looks to Tag who considers things for a moment before nodding. “We have a few minutes before dinner. Do what ye can to assure her of her brother’s fate and then join us in the dining room when yer finished.”

Finn stands and holds out his hand. “All right. Let’s see what we can find out.”

The room falls quiet as we prepare to exit but I stop and look back at Piper. I can’t imagine how she’s feeling. Two of her brothers and her mother are dead because of Gravely. Two more are still missing.

“I’m sorry for your loss, Piper. Truly.”

She flashes me a watery-eyed smile. “Thanks, Nyx. I appreciate that.”

I feel Tag’s gaze following us as Finn escorts me down the hall, back the way we came. He’s a strategic man—calculating, assessing—but he seems calm and well-balanced, unlike Gravely.

With Billy Gravely, almost all conflicts come down to greed, power, and ego.

I’m expecting Finn to take me to an office of some sort, so when he grabs the ornately carved banister and starts up a wide staircase, I hesitate.

“Where are we going?”

“Somewhere private where ye can access what ye need.”

“How private?”

Whatever he sees in my gaze makes him chuckle. “My computer system is set up in my bedroom. If ye want access, that’s where we need to be.”

“In your bedroom? That’s very convenient.”

He flashes a grin and waggles his brows. “What’s the matter, Nyx, afraid to be alone with little ole me? Afraid I’ll turn on the Dublin charm and seduce ye?”

“Afraid? No,” I lie. I pause, not entirely sure what I’m afraid of. I don’t get any stranger danger vibes off Finn. If anything, I think he’s more likely to bat his gorgeously long ink-black lashes at me and have me creaming my panties.

He doesn’t wait to decipher my resistance, just chuckles again and continues up the stairs.

Who would have thought that last night I’d be swept onto the dance floor by a mysterious man in a mask and less than twenty-four hours later I’d be following Finn Quinn up the staircase of his family compound to go to his bedroom.

“Why don’t you have an office?”

He chuckles. “More often than not, shit hits in the middle of the night. Tag or one of the others are always busting into my room needing something urgent. Having my computer set up twenty-five feet from my bed saves time and energy.”

We stop at a door at the end of the hall. When Finn pushes it open, I get another wave of hesitation. Yep, this is definitely his bedroom.

My gaze is immediately drawn to the king-sized bed with dark gray bedding dominating the side wall. Across from it, in a raised seating area sits a sleek desk with three monitors.

Normally, I’d be all over the system setup, but my mind is stuck on a loop, lingering on the bed. The sheets look impossibly soft. I wonder if they smell like him. I know from dancing with him that Finn wears a subtle but expensive-smelling cologne that doesn’t overpower his natural masculine musk.

I swallow, remembering how that scent drew me in and made me wet.

Finn clears his throat and arches a brow, his gaze much too aware. “I brought ye here for the computer access. If there are other needs that need to be met, I’m game for a change of plans.”

Heat crawls up my neck. “Ah, no, sorry. You’re right. I need your computer.”

He gestures to the desk chair. “Make yourself comfortable.”

I sit down, hyperaware of his presence behind me as he leans over to unlock the computer. His cologne—subtle, woodsy, and a hint of amber—surrounds me. His forearm brushes against my shoulder as he types, and the casual contact sends electricity through my skin.

I notice the ends of a Celtic design peeking below the edge of his rolled sleeve and wonder what is inked on his arm. Does he have any other tattoos?

“Here, yer all set.” His voice is slightly rougher than before. “Ye should have full access. And here’s yer phone, as well. Gravely hasn’t called. Either he didn’t miss yer company last night, he’s hungover this morning, or he’s too busy hunting McGuires to care.”

He hands me my phone, and our fingers touch. We both freeze for a second, neither pulling away.

“Thank you,” I murmur.

He nods, breaking the connection. “I’ll give ye some space but know that I’ve got a key logger activated, so I’ll know if ye try anything beyond what ye say yer doing. Please don’t betray us, Nyx. When Tag warned ye that this is yer one and only chance, he was serious.”

“I understand.” The fact that he doesn’t trust me completely actually makes me feel better about things. If he just gave me free rein, I’d be worried about what I’m missing.

And even though he’s saying he doesn’t trust me, when his eyes meet mine, there’s a warmth there that makes my chest ache.

I turn to the computer and access my cloud storage, typing rapidly to connect to the relay that feeds me the surveillance of Gio’s cell. The connection fails, so I try again. Nothing.

“No, no, no...” My hands start to shake.

“What’s wrong?”

Panic claws at my throat as I try once more. “I can’t connect. The relay isn’t responding. What if Gravely found out I hacked in? What if he knows you took me last night and moved Gio? Or worse?—”

Finn’s hands settle on my shoulders, and he leans down to speak softly next to my ear. The warmth of his breath washes over the flesh of my neck and jaw and sends a shiver up my spine. “Breathe. There could be a dozen explanations. DNS outage. System maintenance. Server reset.”

His thumbs trace small circles at the base of my neck, and despite everything, I lean into his touch.

“You’re right.” I force myself to think logically. “But I need to know for sure. I need my own equipment. I’ve breached Gravely’s network, broken through his firewalls. With my computers, I won’t be blind.”

Finn moves to face me. He props his glorious ass on the edge of the desk and crosses his feet at the ankles. “And I assume yer home base is on the south side?”

“ Si , it is. We can get there, grab what I need, and be back here within an hour.”

“But if it’s not a DNS outage and Gravely discovered that ye’ve accessed his system, ye can’t go back there. Ye could be walking straight into a trap.”

“He doesn’t know where I live. I’m very careful about that.”

Finn frowns. “And if yer wrong?”

“I’m not. I’m the security officer for his little band of mercenaries, remember. I have a little dive apartment that I go to when I think someone’s following me, but that’s not my home base.”

“What if yer brother gives up yer home base? He’s been a captive for months now. Him breaking wouldn’t be a surprise.”

I shake my head. “I moved my home base as soon as he was taken. Not even Gio knows where I am.”

His hand comes up to tuck a strand of blue hair behind my ear. The gentle gesture catches me off guard. Strangely, I don’t pull away. Instead I have to fight the urge to lean into his touch.

“All right. We’ll speak to Tag and see what he thinks. Odds are, he’ll want to send a team to collect it for ye.”

I scoff. “They’ll never get inside. I’ve rigged the entrance with traps that will detonate rather than let strangers gain access to my stuff.”

His lips curve into a half-smile. “Of course ye have. Okay, then if yer going, I’m going too. I’d like to see where the notorious Nyx lives.”

The idea of having Finn in my personal space makes a swarm of butterflies flutter in my stomach. Before I respond, he leans down and presses his lips to mine. The kiss is brief but deliberate, his hand cupping my cheek with surprising tenderness.

When he pulls back, I’m breathless.

“What was that for?” I whisper.

“Because I’ve been wanting to do that again since the party.” His thumb traces my lower lip. “And because it seems we’re on the same side now. Ye know what they say, the best romance trope is enemies to lovers.”

Oh, this man. I tilt back in his office chair and reach up to pull him down to me.

Despite it being crazy and reckless, I kiss him back, deeper this time, and let myself sink into the warmth of his mouth. Kissing Finn is like falling into a warm, drunken haze. My skin tingles, my body relaxes, and for just a moment, the danger and troubles of my world melt away.

Too soon, Finn pulls me out of the chair and wraps his arms around me, ending the kiss with one hell of a grand finale. When we break apart, we’re both breathless and I’m still a little dizzy.

I rest my forehead against his chest. “Let’s go talk to your brother.”

Finn

The flower delivery van reeks of lilies and roses, but is still one of the better backdrops for a covert Quinn mission to the south side. Nyx settles onto the bench seat beside me, the two of us cramped shoulder to shoulder because of the shelf of flower arrangements down the side wall.

Kieran slams the sliding door shut and then hops in the front with Kiefer Gallagher behind the wheel.

“Your brother didn’t seem happy about this,” Nyx says.

“Tag’s never happy when anyone is in danger. At least he let us go.” I check my Browning 19mm, making sure it’s loaded before tucking it into my shoulder holster.

I’m no sharpshooter like Ginny or Sean, but I can hit what I aim at when it counts.

“So, how are you doing with all this?”