Ryan Reign (New York Ruthless #4)(20)

“Oh. Have you always lived in New York?”

“Umm. No. I’ve moved around a lot.”

“Really? I’ve never left Ireland. Your life sounds so exciting.”

Too exciting.

“It just sounds wonderful,” she says with a soft sigh.

“Yet your life seems so wonderful to me,” I smile at her.

I hadn’t heard Shane walking up behind us and he startles me as he slips a hand around my waist. “We should get going soon, sweetheart.”

“Oh, let me get you that recipe for Irish stew before you go,” Aoife says. “My mammy makes the best, I swear.”

“Thank you,” I say with a smile as I watch her disappear back into the house.

“Did you mean that?” Shane asks when we are alone.

“What?” I frown in confusion.

“That Aoife’s life seems wonderful?”

“Well, yes. Imagine living here and never having to worry about some psychopath trying to murder you. She’s in love with Noel. They’re getting married. They have a lovely baby on the way. Of course it seems wonderful. For someone else, anyway,” I sigh and tears unexpectedly prick my eyes.

Shane slides his other arm around my waist and pulls me closer him. “I can see you living in a house like this. With a huge garden and six kids running around your feet.”

“You can?” I smile at him.

“Yes.” He brushes a strand of hair from my face. “In another life, maybe I could have been standing right beside you.”

“But not this life?” I ask as my heart feels like it’s about to break. I had never realized how good a normal life could be, and now that I’ve had a glimpse of it, I wonder if it will always make me wonder what if. He knows it too and I sense something shifting between us.

“If this is the life you want, Jessie, I would give that to you,” he swallows.

I blink at him. “You would?”

“If you wanted marriage and babies, you could have that,” he breathes. “With Conor.”

“With Conor?” I frown at him. What the hell is he on about?

“I told you I’ll never get married or have kids.”

“What about the twins?”

“They would never leave each other. They would get over it eventually, if they knew you were happy.”

“And what about Conor? Does he get any say in you marrying us off and becoming a dad to six kids?”

“Are you kidding?” he laughs softly. “He would fucking love it.”

“Are you being serious, Shane? You really think that’s what I want?”

“I’m just saying that you don’t have to give up on that life if that’s what you really want.”

“You think I don’t want to be with you?” I blink a tear away because he is breaking my heart here. “Don’t you want this any more?”

“Of course I do. I love you, sweetheart. More than anything in the world, and that’s why I would never stand in the way of your happiness. I want you to at least think about it.”

“There’s nothing to think about, Shane!” I snap at him but then Aoife and Em are walking over to us and the conversation is over, at least for now.





Chapter 12





Jessie





We spent an incredible evening with Em and Aoife yesterday. They are both so lovely and kind. Em told me so many stories of Shane and Conor when they were young that my sides hurt from laughing so much. She never really got to know the twins after their mom died; Patrick kept her away from his boys and I could see how sad that made her. But I have made them both promise that they will visit us in New York once Aoife’s baby is born.

Aoife is marrying her fiancé, Noel, in a few weeks’ time and I realized after we got back to the hotel last night that he was the guy who Shane had me look into all those months ago when I first met him. I love that even halfway across the world, he was still looking out for his family.

Shane has gone out to do more business today and I have been alone in the hotel suite alone all day.

I’m lying in the huge jacuzzi tub when I see the message from him pop up on my cell phone.

I’m sending you a gift. I’ll pick you up at 6 x

I grin at the screen. A gift? I wonder what it could be? And we’re going out! Shane has been so busy, I’ve hardly seen anything of Ireland since I got here. Full of excitement, I jump out of the tub, grab a warm fluffy towel from the rail and wrap it around myself. I open the closet, trying to think of what I’m going to wear, until I realize I have no idea where we are going.

I’m about to grab my cell and ask him what I should dress for when there is a knock at the door to the suite. I actually squeal with excitement, like a teenage girl.

Is this my gift?

Peering through the spyhole, I see a woman with black curly hair and bright red lipstick standing outside our room, holding three boxes.

I open the door and she smiles at me. “Mrs. Ryan?”

“Yes,” I breathe, still not used to being called that.

“Mr. Ryan asked that I had these personally delivered to you,” she says in an accent that I could listen to all day. I think she’s French. I stare at her open-mouthed and she laughs softly as she hands over the boxes.