Page 38 of Three Irish Kings

I’m a fucking idiot.

I sigh as I get into my car, and I barely remember getting home. My head is spinning with too many thoughts to pay attention to the ride home.

When I get home and walk inside, I look around my studio apartment. It’s a huge loft with wall-to-wall windows. It’s a beautiful place, and I’d bought it several years ago, but sometimes, it sure is lonely.

I crack open a beer and sit down in my recliner, knowing I probably won’t sleep again tonight.

Chapter Eleven

LIAM

It’s nearlythree in the afternoon before Maggie wakes up, wearing one of my mother’s sundresses and rubbing at her eyes as she walks into the living room.

“Hello, sleeping beauty.” There’s not much of an edge to my voice, not like I intended, and one of the reasons there’s not is because sheisbeautiful, even barefaced.

Her hazel eyes sparkle, even in this situation, and her mouth is this natural shade of pink that makes me wonder if her nipples match.

I’vegotto call some of my backups. It’s been weeks since I’ve had a woman, and that has to be why I’m staring at Maggie the way I am.

“Have you decided if you’re going to kill me?” she asks, but she doesn’t seem afraid, just... curious.

“I told you I wouldn’t harm you.”

“You also said I couldn’t trust you.”

“Touché.” I stand up, brandishing my cup of coffee at her. “Want a cup?”

“Please.”

“Let me guess, lots of cream and sugar.”

She shakes her head. “Just one cream. No sugar.”

I raise an eyebrow but make it for her, sliding it across the table.

She catches it, looking up at me with curiosity instead of fear again. “So, you and Cillian grew up here.”

“In a manner of speaking."

“What is that supposed to mean? Next you’re going to tell me you were never a kid, just sprang fully formed from your father’s head.”

“Like Athena.”

She blinks at me, clearly surprised. “I wouldn’t expect you to know Greek mythology.”

I snort. “What, you think I’m some kind of moron? You don’t become CEO of a business by being dumb and not reading.”

“I guess I didn’t expect a mobster to be well-read.”

“You think I wanted to be a mobster?” I scoff, pouring myself more coffee. I’ve already had too much, my leg jiggling under the table, but I’ve got to stay alert.

I don’t trust her as far as I can throw her, especially now that she’s got Dare wrapped around her little finger.

She frowns. “You didn’t want to be in this life?”

“What I want is irrelevant. I was born into it. It’s not really something you can decline.”

“I suppose that’s true.”