Chapter 7
CHAPTER SEVEN
Riley
As I’m walking down the stairs, I smell bacon and eggs.
“You know, if you keep doing this, you’re going to spoil me.” I smiles as I join Fionn in the kitchen and give him a kiss. I stop and look him over. Holy shit, he’s sexy in his uniform.
“That’s my plan. If I spoil you enough, you’ll never want to leave. I was going to make you coffee. But my coffee skills are weak.”
“I’ll make you coffee when we get to the shop. Are you working today?”
“Not really, I planned to stop into the station and shadow the guys for today. I don’t know the areas around Lake Renegade yet.”
I can’t stop staring at him. He starts patting himself down, finally checking the zipper on his pants.
“Do I have something on me?” he asks.
“No. I’m just admiring the newest Lake Renegade deputy.” I giggle as he grabs me and kisses me. “You’re so damn sexy and I still can’t believe you’re here with me.”
Fionn smiles and holds me tighter. “Fate is a funny one. When I found your note, I thought I’d have to spend years looking for you. When I saw you in your coffee shop? I thought I was hallucinating, I missed you so much that I was imagining you.”
I nuzzle my face into his chest and hold on tight.
Fionn’s not only gorgeous, but the things he says just makes me melt.
He’s everything I’ve ever wanted in a partner.
Loving, caring and protective. And he’s not afraid to show it in front of everyone.
Last night at the barbecue, even when he wasn’t with me, I could feel his eyes on me.
I’ve never had anyone make me feel that way.
“Holy shit. You cook too?” Daphne laughs as she joins us. “Wait. No coffee? Is this a joke?”
“Why would I make either of you coffee when my girl owns the best coffee shop in Lake Renegade?”
Daphne squints at him then sighs. “Yeah. Okay. Fair enough.”
After we eat breakfast, we head to the shop. We have three hours before our grand opening and I’m too excited to wait any longer. Every time I look at the front of my shop, I can’t help the smile on my face.
“Dreams do come true,” I whisper to Fionn as he takes my hand.
“Your dream made my dream come true.” He smiles at me.
“What was your dream?”
“You.”
This man. I hope he always feels this way about me. Because I don’t think I could live my life without him anymore. I don’t know how I can feel like this after only a few days. But I’m living proof that you can. My future is here in Lake Renegade and Fionn is part of my present and future.
We head inside and start turning all the machines on and getting the coffee beans ready.
We fresh grind our beans for each cup when it’s ordered, I think that helps us have the freshest taste.
I head to the back to make sure all the beans are portioned out and ready so that we don’t have to take the time to measure what we need for each cup.
When I get back to the front, Fionn’s there talking to one of the guys I met last night.
“Riley, you remember Oliver Crawford? He’s Seraphina’s brother.”
“I do. Did you want our first ever cup of coffee?” I smile.
“Before you do that, I need to talk to you,” Fionn says to me. He asks Daphne if she wouldn’t mind making his coffee while we go and talk.
I follow Fionn back to my office.
“Is everything okay?” I ask him as he closes the door.
“I need you to keep an open mind. You know I appreciate that you didn’t fight me on moving in with me. I need you to do something else, though.”
I frown as I listen.
“Oliver will be your bodyguard.”
I burst out laughing.
“You’re funny. Why would I need a bodyguard?”
Fionn stares at me and waits for me to calm down. And then I realize he’s not laughing with me.
“Mo fhíorghra, I’m being serious. Playboy isn’t someone I want around you and I can’t be with you all the time. He’s unhinged and dangerous.”
“Baby, I’m going to be here at the shop, how would he get near me?”
“I can’t tell you everything you want to know. But I promise you, I will soon.”
“You make it sound like he’s going to kill me. I know that yesterday was scary, but I’m not going to go upstairs or leave the shop alone.”
Fionn sighs. “I’m sorry. But this is coming from my zio Giacomo. And we don’t question his orders.”
“Orders?” I laugh. “You make him sound like a mob boss.”
Again, Fionn’s staring at me. What the fuck is going on? And why is he talking about his uncle like he’s some kind of boss of the family?
“I need to go and talk to my zio. Please listen to Oliver and don’t take any chances. I promise I’ll be back soon,” he says as he comes to me and holds me. “I couldn’t live if something happened to you. I need you like I need air.”
I wrap my arms around him and nod. “Okay,” I say softly.
“Thank you, mo fhíorghra. I mean it when I say I can’t live without you. And I’m sorry If it scares you because of how fast this is. But I know how I feel.”
“I was thinking that this morning. That I don’t know how, but you…we just feel right and I can’t explain it either.”
Fionn leans down and kisses me. His kiss always makes me feel safe. And if me having a bodyguard makes him feel better? I’ll do it. Because if I’m being honest, I’ve been worried about Playboy too. If that fire hadn’t started and distracted him, what would’ve happened?
Fionn
I take Riley’s hand and we head back out to the front of the store. I lean down and kiss her.
“Oliver will call me if anything happens. It won’t take me long to get here if you need me and all the mamas are at the bakery. Since it’s your grand opening, I know the family will be in and out today. Please be safe.”
“I will, and you better be safe too. You say you can’t lose me, but I can’t lose you either.”
I kiss her again and then walk over to Oliver.
“You know what to do if you see Playboy, right?’
“I do. Don’t worry, I’ve got this.”
I nod. “I’ll be back as fast as I can. But I have to stop at the station too.”
Oliver positions himself behind the counter so he can see the front and back doors.
For now, we’ve blocked off the back door since we’ve had issues before with back doors.
There’s something about Oliver that Riley doesn’t know.
He’s a Taipan snake shifter and I’m not sure how she’s going to react when she finds out. But I can’t wait to see her reaction.
I head back to the property to talk to my zio.
I need to ask permission to tell Riley about our family.
Then I need to talk to Enea Mancini, Zeus Athanasiou and Panagiotis Nikolaidis.
Enea’s the head of the Chicago Mafia and Zeus and Panagiotis are the heads of their shifter families.
Before I can tell Riley anything about any of the family, I need to get permission.
I get to the clubhouse and knock on Zio Giacomo’s office door.
“Yeah?”
I hear him say from inside, I open the door and stick my head in.
“Hey, Zio, do you have a minute to talk?”
“Of course. What’s up?”
“I’d like to ask if I can tell Riley about the family. I’m headed to talk to Enea, Zeus and Panagiotis after I talk to you. I know it’s fast, but she’s the one for me and I want her to know who our family is,” I blurt out in one breath.
Zio Giacomo laughs. “Take a breath. Are you sure Riley’s the one? And you know that if you tell her, she has to understand that if in case she decides to leave you, she’s still bound to the family not to talk about us.”
“I will make sure she understands that.”
“Then yes, you have my permission. But I can’t speak for the others. Let me call them and get them here. You can talk to everyone at the same time.”
“Thank you, Zio.”
“While we wait, tell me how you met Riley. I feel like you knew her before you got to Lake Renegade.”
I chuckle. “I met Riley and Daphne in Ireland. It was their last couple of nights there and we met at a pub. And we spent the night together. But when I woke up, she was gone. I knew I would try to find her once I got here to Lake Renegade.”
“Wait. You didn’t know she was the owner of Espresso Joy? Did you know anything about her?” He laughs.
“I knew her name and that she was opening a shop somewhere. I had planned on making her breakfast and finding out all these things…”
Zio Giacomo is still laughing as the others join us. I sigh.
“I feel like we’ve missed something,” Enea says as he takes a seat.
“Don’t we always? At least I’m not apologizing for something one of my boys did again.” Zeus laughs.
Zeus’ sons are always getting into some situation or doing something funny.
Like Adonis and his pocket sammiches. They’re pitas filled with whatever he thinks of.
And then he stuffs them in his pockets. I mean he does offer them to whoever’s around.
But do you really want a squished something he pulls out of his pocket?
We never know how long it’s been in there.
We all laugh as we agree with Zeus.
“So, what is it you need from us?" Panagiotis asks.
I ask all of them the same thing I asked my zio.
“Are you sure? Our secret is the biggest and I know the mamas have taken her under their wing. But that doesn’t mean they’d tell her our secrets,” Panagiotis says.
“I’m sure,” I say as I look at each of them.
“You have my permission,” Enea says to me.
Zeus and Panagiotis look at each other, then at me. I’m worried they’ll tell me no and I can’t be mad if they did. Their secret of being shifters is a huge one. And if everyone started finding out? There could be serious problems for them.
“We’re okay with it too.” Zeus nods. “And showing her our animals will be fun.”
We all laugh. Every time someone new has joined the family, introducing the shifters is always the best part.
The most recent one to learn about them was Sawyer, Emerson O’Connor’s wife.
She screamed a lot and kept saying we were all going to die.
I wasn’t able to be there, but my cugino Francesco made sure we were all on the live when it happened.
I’m pretty sure my Riley is going to be the same way. I can’t wait.
“Thank you all,” I say as I give each of them a hug. That went a lot smoother than I thought it would.
“How is Riley doing having Oliver as her bodyguard?” my zio asks.
“At first she pushed back. But I think she’s afraid of what Playboy could do.”
“She should be. After talking to Scrapper, he said that Playboy was a close friend of T-Rex. He was laying low and following the rules. But when Scrapper gets here, he plans on pulling his patch. Scrapper doesn’t want the Feral Raptors to lose their place with us and he knows this is the only way.
So the three others with Playboy will have the choice to either stand with Playboy or with Scrapper.
I’m also considering putting the family on lockdown,” Zio Giacomo tells us.
“I think that’s a good idea. And the ones that have to be out, we need to double the bodyguards. The O’Connors are all headed back this weekend too. They’ll be here for a couple of weeks. I’ll make sure they know what’s going on and the boys can help with security,” Enea adds.
The O’Connor family is part of Enea’s family. They don’t live in Lake Renegade full time. The four O’Connor boys are all MotoGP riders. But they come here between races and I’ve gotten to know all of them.
“When do you plan on telling her about the family?” Enea asks.
“I was thinking this weekend. Since everyone will be there.”
“Okay, we’ll plan another barbecue. That way we can make a big show of revealing our animals. Seraphina’s going to love it.” Panagiotis laughs.
Seraphina likes to fuck with everyone when she’s in her snake form.
She and her family are Taipan snakes and they’re deadly.
But her family is special, they have lethal and non-lethal venom.
While she’s never actually bitten anyone in the family, she threatens to all the time.
And she tries to make it sound cute by saying all she wants to do is nibble. Yeah. No thanks.