“Sorry? Do you mean you’ve never got off with a fella?”

I pause as I look into her aquamarine eyes. Did I really want to admit that right now? To my surprise, I’m slowly nodding my head and then I say, “Yeah.”

She can only blink as she holds my gaze. “I’m sorry, but I have no clue what to say. You’re gorgeous Amberlyn! What are you waiting for?”

I grin shyly as I shrug my shoulders. “I never had time. Too busy with my mom and school and stuff.”

Her eyes fill with sympathy, before she wraps me up tightly in her arms. I smile against her shoulder as I hug her back. I really love Fiona and I feel my mom knew that I would, hence the reason she sent me here. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I instantly loved my aunt and uncle when I met them but with Fiona, she just gets me, she understands and loves me, even when I admit horribly embarrassing things. She doesn’t make me feel like crap for it. In a way, she gives me hope with her sparkling, bluish green eyes.

“Well, that is going to change. I promise you that!”

I laugh as she pulls away and says, “Maybe Kane has a friend?”

I shrug. “Maybe but I’m not looking for a quick lay. I want a relationship. I want to be wooed.”

“Wooed?” she asked, obviously confused.

“Yeah, like romanced,” I supply.

“Oh! Sure, sure! Kane is good at wooing,” she says with a wink.

“I don’t doubt that. He looks like it.”

“He is and no worries. We will find you a fella that will knock you on your arse with his wooing!”

“I can’t wait.”

“Me neither, I’m excited! For us!” she yells before her eyes get all glassy and dreamy looking. She then starts to spins in place before stopping and holding her hands to her chest, a euphoric look on her beautiful face. In that moment, I want what she is experiencing. I want to know what it feels like to be completely taken by a guy. Even though I was scared at first at the thought of falling in love, now I think it is something I might need to try.

“I talked to that girl from the pub last night.”

I glance up from where I am checking shipping forms. I hate this part of my job. It’s so boring, so tedious. I’d rather be malting than doing this shite. “Oh really?”

A smile pulls at Kane’s lips as he looks down at his own stack of paperwork. He has been working for my da since we were both fifteen. His dad is a malter for the company, and his ma is my ma’s lady maid. That’s why we’ve been so close our whole life; he’s always been there. He usually works in sales, but today he is helping me with shipping since we are a wee bit behind.

“Yeah, she is something, Dec, honestly.”

“Fine, okay, what’s her name again?”

“Fiona Maclaster, her parents own the pub and B&B.”

“Sure, I know who you are talking about. I haven’t met them yet though. Heard good things about them.”

When I look up, Kane sets me with a look and I ask, “What?”

He lets out a breath as his hands come out before him in obvious frustration. “Because you don’t freckin’ leave! You said you’d go out with me. Have you? No.”

“I don’t have time.”

“You have plenty of time. Ya just don’t have the balls to step out of the gates of your home to meet someone. It’s like you’re Rapunzel up in your tower. Jump out, Declan, and get your feet wet.”

I roll my eyes. “You act as if I’m a hermit. That is not the case—not by a long shot.”

“Yes, it is. You stay locked up in this damn castle and don’t do anything that would potentially make ya happy.”

I throw my hands up. “Fuck off, Kane! I do all types of things that make me happy. I read, I write, I ride, I take the boat out—I’m happy.”

Kane looks at me, stone-faced, as he asks, “How do you say that with a straight face? That is the stupidest shite you’ve ever said. You are not happy. You are content and believe me, that’s nowhere near happy. I also like how ya didn’t deny that ya don’t leave the castle. We both know you don’t. Everywhere ya go is on the grounds and if you need something, you have it brought in.”

I let out a breath as I look back down at my paperwork. “I don’t have time for this right now.”

Kane scoffs. “You never do.”

“Leave it alone, Kane,” I warn. I’m not in the mood. My dad has been on me about these shipments, about my part in the company, and then of course, about my mission to find a wife. I don’t need to be lectured by my friend too. So what if I don’t go anywhere or do anything? I am busy. I am trying to own a fucking company here.

“Fine, when you lose it all, it’s on you.”

As if I really needed that reminder.

“You’re right it will be, so leave it be,” I snap before letting out a long breath and running my hands down my face. An awkward silence falls between us, and I hate that. He roughly moves through the paper and I do the same, both of us mad but neither of us wanting to admit that the whole argument is stupid. That he is right. He’s always right. I don’t want to come out of what I know. It scares me to go out where people know me and I don’t know them. To try to meet someone and know they probably only want me for one thing. I know it’ll never happen if I don’t try, but a part of me just wants to wait it out, hope she falls into my lap, and that I never had to leave what I know. The unknown scares me.

Looking across the desk at my best friend, I shake my head. I know he is only looking out for me. He’s always been that way. He’s always played the big brother role with me, and I’ve let him because it always helped me out. When we were younger, I was the gimp while he hit his growth spurt early and had a mustache by 1st year of Secondary School. When anyone picked on me on the pitch, Kane was there, ready to kill anyone that had anything to say about me. I tried to be tough like him, but guys could sneeze and it would brush me to the side. Then I hit my growth spurt, but I was still weak. Kane suggested that I work out more to tone up, so I did. Soon, I was as big as he was, and no one messed with us after that.

Back then, I had no cares. I didn’t think that a girl wanted to date me because of my money. They wanted me because I was good looking, buff, and the best on the pitch. That all went to shite after Keeva though. She showed me what some women could be like. I won’t say I loved her, because I don’t think I did. Love is soul deep, like life consuming, and while I loved getting it on with Keeva, I never saw her as a wife. No matter how hard she tried to convince me she could be. Her dad was a politician and good friends with mine. They thought it would be great for our families to unite. I didn’t agree. She was great in bed, but she annoyed the shite out of me.