Double The Risk (18 page)
Ronan grinned at him over Cassidy’s shoulder. “I have no idea what you just said, but I’m assuming it was good for you?”
Diego grinned back. “It was, and if we’re going to stay together, I’m going to have to teach both of you some Spanish.”
“Hmm,” Cassidy purred. “I took Spanish for a few years in school, but I don’t think I ever learned those particular words.”
Diego shifted his arms to wrap them around her waist and leaned in to kiss her shoulder right above where Ronan’s arm rested. His throat rubbed against that arm, and yet the accidental touch didn’t bother him, not anymore. He was too well-fucked. “Well, you’re going to hear them a lot from now on. You make me lose control,
querida
.”
Cassidy moved one hand to caress Diego’s arm. “Good. I like that. I love that. And I love being with both of you.”
Even said as it was in a low and sleepy voice, it had the power to make him ridiculously happy. He glanced up at Ronan and saw those same feelings in his eyes. Had it really only been a couple of short weeks since he’d worried that he wouldn’t get the new start in Boston he craved? Things had worked out in a strange, yet wonderful way. This was right—the three of them could make a family.
“So do I,” he said, looking straight at Ronan.
Slipping one arm from around Cassidy, Ronan clasped his hand on the back of Diego’s neck. It wasn’t a sexual gesture, but a fraternal one. Ronan didn’t say anything, he didn’t have to. His expression said it all.
It said “welcome.”
Epilogue
Ronan was nervous. Weird. It was only a small family gathering. A backyard barbeque with his brothers and Regan, Uncle Jack, Caruso and Craig before the fall weather set in. Family. Just family. And that was why he was nervous, because he was bringing his new family.
Cassidy and Diego sat in the back of Ronan’s car, each holding a pie. The driving configurations were still a tricky thing to work out. But all other things being equal, they’d manage to weave three lives in an effective and satisfying way. They were happy, deliriously so. It wasn’t only the sex, either. They enjoyed each other’s company. Diego had more in common with him than he’d realized, and if they could manage to survive baseball season, then life would be perfect.
He parked in the driveway of his childhood home and took a second to see it from the other’s eyes. It was a neat and tidy home, a great place to grow up. Now he was gone from it for good. Slowly, he and Diego were moving their lives into Cassidy’s beautiful townhouse. It only made sense, but a working class kid from Charlestown living in the Back Bay was, well, once again, weird.
By the time he got out of the car, Diego and Cassidy were on the sidewalk. They each held their pie in one hand and Diego’s other hand rested on the small of her back. They smiled at him as he approached. They must have sensed his nerves. There wasn’t anything he held back from them anymore and vice versa. If they were to be a family, they had to know and understand each other.
When he reached them, Cassidy slid her hand in his so that she was, as usual, sandwiched between her two men. “It’s going to be fine, you know,” she said with a squeeze of her hand. “They’re your family, and they will accept you as you are.”
“I know. They have to because you’re my family, too, now.”
Diego grunted. “I’m glad we’re starting with yours, my man. Mine will be a harder sell.”
“As will mine,” Cassidy said on a sigh.
Ronan had no chance to respond. The front door opened before they got to it, and Regan stood in the doorway with eyebrows raised. “Hey, cuz. Cassidy. Diego.” She greeted each of them in turn with a grin that became more wry as she went. “Oh, pie.” She reached out to grab the desserts and went back into the house.
Ronan led the way inside. As much as he and Diego loved to keep their hands on Cassidy, it wasn’t possible to go through the doorway three-abreast, so he let go. Ronan immediately took Cassidy’s hand once more. They walked through the house and into the backyard. He stopped a moment to take in the scene.
Daire was manning the grill already, with Finn and Michael standing nearby, drinking beer and heckling him on his cooking skills. Regan had set the pies on the picnic table and was slapping Uncle Jack’s hand as he tried to steal a piece of pie crust. Craig was off to the side of the yard playing tug of war with a medium-sized mutt. The kid looked happy, and Ronan remembered Finn saying something about getting him a dog.
It was all right and perfect except for one thing. He whistled once, sharp and loud. All talking stopped and even the dog turned to him.
“Sorry. I just have a little announcement to make.” He glanced at a surprised Cassidy and Diego for a quick consent. They hadn’t discussed making a statement about their relationship, but it suddenly felt right.
He cleared his throat. “Um, I just wanted to let you all know that Cassidy and Diego and I are moving in together and we’ve formed a family. The three of us,” he clarified just in case his point hadn’t been made. “We’re a family now.”
There was silence for a few seconds as everyone stared at them, frozen in place. Ronan’s heartbeat sped up. Oh, shit, had he read his brothers and the others wrong? Would they be unwilling to accept the life he’d chosen?
Uncle Jack broke the quiet. “Well, Christ Jesus, boyo, you think we don’t know that? We’ve got eyes, haven’t we? Cassidy, darling, did you bake these pies?”
Cassidy blinked a few times. “Yes, I did.”
“Then tell my daughter here that it’s okay for me to have a slice before dinner.”
Cassidy laughed. “Well, maybe just a sliver.” She tugged her hands free and shot each of her men a sexy grin before heading over to the picnic table.
“Hey, Nieves, I could use another beer over here,” Daire called out before turning back to his grilling.
“On it.” Diego winked at Ronan before trotting over to the cooler by the door.
Ronan stood where he was, watching everyone else. Cassidy laughing over something with Jack and Regan, Finn leaning into Michael, Daire taking the bottle from Diego before flipping a burger. Craig and the dog were on the ground wrestling over the hunk of rope. Something bumped his hip, someone. He turned to Diego and accepted the offered beer. They clinked the bottles together before taking a swig.
He knew a moment of perfect happiness until he remembered that life wasn’t going to be perfect, nor completely happy. Not until they had the answers they needed. He’d been so close. But they knew more than they had before and someday they’d know it all.
For now, he was with his family, and it was enough.
About the Author
I'm a corporate lawyer, happily married for over twenty years with three kids and four dogs. No white picket fence, but we do live in the burbs west of Boston. While my husband and I still do occasionally lick chocolate off each other, our more typical evening involves lying in bed once the kids are in theirs and reading separate books. Mine of course are romance. I started reading them as a defense against all those boring legal documents. Once I started, I couldn't stop.
I've also loved erotica since I was old enough to appreciate what sex is. I've been publishing erotic romance since 2009.
Besides my family, writing, and reading, my loves include the sight, smell, and sounds of the ocean (I'm a New England girl through and through), chocolate (naturally), prime rib (bloody), and good bourbon on the rocks.
Visit Samantha at
To chat with Samantha Cayto and other Wild Rose Press authors of erotic romance, join us at www.groups.yahoo.com/group/thewilderroses.
Coming Soon
Cuffed & Collared
Book Three
Boston’s Brave
by Samantha Cayto
Regan Malloy is a dedicated homicide detective married to her job. A tough woman who holds her own when it comes to the opposite sex, she is nevertheless resigned to lonely nights with fantasy men. When a serial killer targets wealthy submissive men from an upscale BDSM club, Regan is convinced the killer is a woman and goes undercover.
Kyle Ramsey is a topnotch litigator juggling life as a divorced father and a workaholic. Raised to be strong and to always take charge, he has trouble trusting that anyone else can get the job done. When he finds his good friend murdered, he mounts his own investigation despite Regan's warning not to interfere.
Regan is furious to find the sexy lawyer at the club but can't deny her attraction or her need to dominate him. Kyle discovers more than clues as, to keep from blowing their cover, the fiery cop demands obedience. Together they embark on a journey to explore this new world of hidden desires, but the road could take a dangerous turn when they cross paths with the killer.
Also Available
Blue Heat
Book One
Boston’s Brave
by
Samantha Cayto
Finn Callaghan’s quest to prove his father wasn’t dirty and to follow family tradition leads him to become one of Boston’s brave. Like his father and brothers, he proudly wears the blue but as an openly gay man. His first assignment—going undercover as a teenage runaway. The sexy detective in charge is a bonus and a distraction he just can’t pass up.
Only half out of the closet, Michael Caruso heads a task force to end an underage prostitution ring that preys on homeless gay teens. He has mixed emotions about using the hot young rookie as bait. Finn is perfect for the part, but Michael’s attraction to the pretty cop might botch months of work.
Attraction turns to alarm as Finn goes deeper undercover. Can Michael keep him safe? And even if he can, how can he protect himself from the danger falling in love?
An excerpt from
Blue Heat
Prologue
There was nothing more perfect than a summer night in Boston, warm with a slight sea breeze to keep the sizzling heat at bay. Rory Callaghan loved walking the streets of his city, especially when he had his pretty wife on his arm. Sheila was still a beauty in her middle years, only slightly rounder than she had been in their youth. But then so was he and without the reason of having carried and birthed three children, their sons.
Jesus, God, just the thought of his fine boys, healthy and strong, made his chest swell with pride. It was a bit sexist, yes, to be proud as a peacock that he had fathered three carbon copies of himself. He was a bit old-fashioned, so there it was. No fighting it. And each one of those boys was destined to wear the badge as he did, as his father and his grandfather and just about every other Callaghan male had for more than a hundred years since coming over during the famine.
It was a fine tradition to carry on even if times were dicey. There was trouble afoot, a rot in the force that came from top to bottom and back up again. It needed to stop before it infected many more. He hadn’t thought he’d be the one to take charge, but fate had her way of grabbing a guy by the short hairs and making him take notice. He’d deal with it. He had to. The shield meant too much to him to turn a blind eye and let it all slide.
Tonight, though, was for his lovely bride of twenty-five years. He’d promised her a nice evening out, and he never went back on his word. Dinner had been expensive for a cop’s salary, but she was more than worth it and had earned every morsel of pleasure he could give her.
Now, a nice turn around Columbus Park and the short drive back to their tidy house in Charlestown and maybe he’d get lucky. Luckier, of course. Any night he could lie beside the woman he loved, secure in knowing she was there and the boys were safely tucked in their own beds, was lucky enough for any man.
Squeezing her hand where it clasped his arm, he looked down at her and smiled. Still, a man could hope.
Except there was trouble looming in front of them. In a split second of time, everything changed. Hope turned to fear as the man approached. There was nothing to indicate danger other than the sense that twenty years of being a cop gave a man. He started to pull Sheila behind him even before the man showed his gun. Too slow. Damn it all, he was too late and too slow.
Sheila screamed when the first shot rang out. Rory pushed her down and flung himself at the man.
He didn’t feel the first bullet or even the second, but his body seized and faltered and fell just the same. More shots and more screams. He twisted his neck to see his love and found her beautiful sightless eyes staring back at him.
No! God, no, it couldn’t end this way. He’d failed to stop the rot and in that failure had thrown his woman into the danger. He’d trusted the wrong men or tipped his hand when he thought he’d been careful. Either way, it was over.
As he gazed up at his killer one last time, he thought of his boys. He would never see them wear the badge, wasn’t sure they should if this was how it would end for them. God protect his brave boys.
Chapter One
Finn Callaghan jack-knifed up in bed, panting through the last of his nightmare. Beside his bed, his alarm screamed its way through his aching head. He slammed his palm on top of it without looking, a practiced move that silenced the damn thing.
Christ, he hadn’t had the awful dream where he lived through his parents’ murder through the eyes of his father in a long while. It didn’t take a psych degree to understand why it had come back to plague him. Today was the day he followed the Callaghan tradition and pinned on the badge. Of course, he’d think of his father, the best cop he’d ever known. Rubbing the palms of his hands over his sweaty head, he tried to calm himself.
His bedroom door swung open after a perfunctory knock, and his brother, Daire, popped his head inside. “Oh, good, you’re awake. Don’t want to be late for your graduation.”
“Seriously?” Finn rolled his eyes. “I’ve been getting myself up for years now. You don’t have to mother hen me.”
Daire leaned against the door jam and studied Finn with eyes that always saw too much, more than what Finn wanted them to see anyway. He was just like their father, which was why Daire was the second best cop Finn had ever known.
