Taking Risk Series Read online

  I know he is right, but I still doubt the fact, even though everyone has told me the same thing. I just feel so stupid and wish I were a better judge of character. “I just don’t want to look bad in your eyes, and I feel like that is exactly what happened. I not only turned you down, but I went out with a guy you obviously hate. I mean, how do we come back from that? Do you even want to be anywhere near me?”

  When his hand cups my chin, I look up, surprised to find him much closer than he was a second ago. Looking deep in my eyes, Declan holds my face tenderly as he says, “You’ll never look bad in my eyes, Amberlyn. I’m smitten with you, if you haven’t noticed. I have been since the moment I saw you. I never want anything to happen to you. I’m sorry about what happened, but I can promise it never will again. Not while I’m around. And the answer is yes… I want to be near you, very much so.”

  I can only blink as he holds my gaze, his other hand coming up to cup my cheek. “I’d like to take you out to dinner and get to know you. See if this thing I have for you is real because, yeah, you did turn me down, and you did go out with someone I despise, but that’s all in the past, done with, over. All I care about at this moment is your lips forming the word yes.”

  I know my eyes are wide and my mouth is hanging open in complete shock as I dumbly ask, “Really?”

  His mouth curves up as he nods slowly, his lips only inches from mine. “Yes, I promise it will be worth your while.”

  I don’t doubt that at all. “Then, yes, I’d like that.”

  He smiles as he drops his hands from my face and takes my hands in his. Bringing my knuckles to his lips, he kisses each one before looking back up into my eyes. He leans in, his mouth so close that my lips part as I await his kiss. I can feel his breath against my mouth as he whispers, “Tomorrow?”

  I’m breathless as I agree. “Sure.”

  “Wonderful. Let me walk you back to the pub.”

  Wait, what? His fingers intertwine with mine, and I’m still gasping for breath, unsure on what just happened. “You’re not going to kiss me?”

  I. Did. Not. Just. Ask. That.

  Oh my God, someone kill me now. What the hell is wrong with me? I close my eyes, covering my face with my free hand, but Declan laughs as he uncovers it, taking my chin between his forefinger and thumb. Holding my gaze, he says, “Not yet, but did you want me to?”

  My heart skips a beat as I smile, looking deep in his eyes. “Yeah, I do.”

  He smiles. “Good to know. Yes, of course I want to, but I want to wait.”

  My brow comes up as I look at him questioningly. “For?”

  “The moment it will mean the most, when you’ll least expect it.”

  Breathlessly, I grin like a fool as my heart swells in my chest. I’m glad he didn’t kiss me because now I want to wait for that moment too. I don’t know why, but as he holds my gaze, I know it will be a moment worth waiting for.

  As long as it’s with him.

  Chapter 12

  Declan

  “What are you grinning at?”

  I glance over to where my sister is watching me from the doorway. I am sitting in my favorite chair in my library, getting lost in the world of The Hobbit. I don’t know how I forgot how much I love this book. It’s been years since I’ve read it, and I feel like a kid again—lost in the world of dwarfs, hobbits, and the dragon, Smaug. It’s great, and I wish I did this more often. Usually, I work all the time, and I’ve decided I need to make more time to read. Instead of only doing it when I am nervous and trying to distract myself. I am doing that now, to pass time before I have to go pick up Amberlyn.

  Amberlyn.

  Ugh, just thinking her name has my heart palpitating in overdrive. I was so mad before I found myself in the field with her. Alone. Just us. Her eyes set on mine, and all my anger was gone. Feeling her so close, holding her hands, and looking so deep into her eyes had me wondering why I waited so long for this moment. I should have just jumped in from the beginning, but that was in the past. Now all that matters is that in no time, I’ll be getting lost in her aquamarine eyes. I am giddy. Something I’ve never felt before, but looking into my sister’s knowing eyes, I feel that my giddiness might be short-lived.

  “Nothing,” I lie, because there is no way I am sharing my thoughts of Amberlyn with her, or anyone for that matter. I haven’t even kissed the girl, and she can turn me into a blabbin’ eejit. I want her, desperately. I want her lips on mine; I want to feel her body against mine as we lay in bed, talking and getting lost in each other’s bodies. I have never been this far gone with a girl whom I’ve just met, but I find that I am. It’s scary and causes my heart to feel like it is blowing up in my chest, but there is something about Amberlyn that hits me in my core.

  Pressing my lips together, I glance back at my book but I watch her out of the corner of my eye. She is wearing jeans and a T-shirt, not something she’d wear to go out in public, which means she is having a “lazy day” as she calls it. Usually she’s so made up, every single detail so perfect that she looks like a Barbie doll. When I say that, she gets mad, but it’s the truth. It makes me nervous because I know that’s not her. She does it for my ma, for Micah, since his family expects her to look pristine at all times. She’s so young, but she already has so much on her shoulders. Sometimes I wonder if she is really doing what she wants or doing only what everyone expects of her. I refuse to do that, but then, maybe I am because I’m doing exactly what my da wants of me. But that can’t be right because I’m not doing it for him; I’m doing it for the distillery. It’s my home, my business, and I won’t have another person run what’s mine. I’m what’s best for it, and I’ll do anything to keep it.

  Lena sits on the arm of my chair, leaning into me as she wraps her arm around my shoulder. “I know it’s something, Declan, or someone maybe?”

  I shake my head innocently. “I don’t know what you are talking about.”

  “Fiona Maclaster maybe?”

  I scoff. “No, Kane’s goin’ out with her.”

  That must have stunned her, which means that not too many people know about Amberlyn, but they will after tonight. Even though it has my skin breaking out in goose pimples and my heart beating out of control, I know that once I bring Amberlyn to Thornton’s, everyone will see us and report it as news when all it’s supposed to be is my first date with the most gorgeous girl in Ireland. But I try not to think about it. Instead, I’ll enjoy stumping my sister and my ma too, since I know she sent Lena in to spy. “Then who are you seeing at the Céad Míle Fáilte?”

  I shrug my shoulders. “No one.”

  “Oh, ya liar!” she accuses as she smacks my forearm. “Fine, fine, keep it to yourself. Are you going to bring her to the White Ball?”

  I don’t want to answer, but before my brain can tell my mouth that, I say, “If she’ll have me.”

  “Ha! I knew there was someone!”

  Fuckin’ hell. “Yeah, so?” I ask as I look up at her. Her eyes are dancing with laughter, her grin unstoppable, but when her eyes meet mine, her grin falls.

  “No, I’m happy,” she says with her palms up to me. “I want you to find your Mrs. O’Callaghan. This is awesome.”

  “Don’t go putting that thought in your head. It’s our first date. I could find her annoying after tonight.”

  I doubt that, but it could be true. Lena gives out a laugh as she shakes her head. “No way, not with the way she makes you smile.”

  Maybe so. Pushing into her playfully, I smile when she hugs me tightly. Pulling away, she leans back as she rests her head against mine. “Have you talked to Kane lately?”

  “Of course, saw him earlier today.”

  “So you know that he and Casey got into it?”

  I pause before moving my head out from beneath hers to look up at her. “Got into it? Way I heard it, Kane knocked him the hell out.”

  “Yeah, that’s what I mean.”

  “Then yeah, I heard. Why? How did you?”

  “One of my