* **
Rowan
Walking off the elevator and into OAF my eyes scan the lobby. Nolan, my head security, is five steps behind me. As usual he’s also scanning, but you can never be too careful. Life is calm enough right now, but that could change at any moment. When you’re the head of the Irish Mob, or the Captain of the BOCG ‘Byrne Organized Crime Group’ when in polite company, you have to constantly stay ready. Making my way to Kellum’s office my eyes make one more quick scan - we’re alone.
Everyone else must be out to lunch. I bet he’s not expecting me yet, but I’m always early and don’t need a secretary to tell me my best friend will “see me now”. He’ll see me whenever the hell I want to barge into his office. That’s the perks of being best friends with someone since Kindergarten. When he told me yesterday he’d “clear his afternoon for me” I could barely hold back my annoyance. Well, excuse me for interrupting your incredibly busy day, dick face.
Barging into Kellum’s office with Nolan trailing behind me and making sure to shut the door, a huge smile breaks out on my best friend’s face when he sees me. He quickly contains it and he feigns shock, “No way. THE Rowan Byrne in the flesh! No, it can’t possibly be the hot shot Captain coming to see us small guys?”
I roll my eyes and shoot him a glare with no malice behind it, “Shut up, Kel. If you miss me, just say that.”
Now it’s his turn to roll his eyes but he grins as he shoots back, “Yeah, I miss you alright, about as much as my ex wife.”
I scoff, “Yeah right, I’m definitely higher up than the stripper you drunkenly married. You didn’t even know her name until you were filling out the annulment papers eight hours later!”
Kellum laughs, “Yeah, but she didn’t call me last minute demanding to hang out either.”
Pulling him into a bro hug I smack his back and smile, “We both know you were having withdrawals, and I needed to get away from my brothers before I take them all out myself.”
He barks out a laugh, “All five? Damn what are they doing now?”
I’m about to start with how Sully and Flynn, the youngest of my five brothers at seventeen and seniors in high school, won’t go to school unless I or one of the others personally escort them daily. They think they don’t need school when they’re just going to end up working for us anyways. What they don’t realize is that they have to graduate college before I’ll let them dip a single toe in this side of business.
Honestly, even that’s not set in stone. I’d love nothing more than for the twins to decide they want nothing to do with this life. It’s already swallowed up the rest of us, they still have time to decide another route. Everyday Declan and I talk about how we hope they take the out we’ve given them. As I open my mouth the office door swings open drawing all our eyes and subsequently Nolan’s gun.
In the doorway stands the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. She’s about five foot eight inches with the most mouth-watering curves I’ve ever laid eyes on. Her black pencil skirt and light pink blouse cling to her skin in a teetering on appropriate-for-the-workplace kind of way. My heart rate continues to pick up as I rake my eyes over her.
Her light pink heels make her legs look impossibly long. Herdeep brown eyes lock on mine as her brown hair falls down her back in soft waves. That is until she notices Nolan. Her focus shifts from me to the barrel of his pistol, and I feel a pang in my chest, wanting her eyes back on mine. They bug out as tears instantly form on her long lashes. What the fuck? Why am I noticing the length of her eyelashes, and why does my chest tighten seeing the fear written all over her face? Who is this chick?
She starts trembling like a baby deer learning to walk. I’m able to see the rapid rise and fall of her chest as she immediately stammers, “My name is Clara Sanders, I’m twenty-seven years old, I have a little boy who is four. He’ll miss me, I’m a single mom. If you kill me you’ll leave him with no one. Oh my God, no, no no no you can’t do that. He’s been through enough, please don’t do this to him.”
Nolan looks to me and gives me a‘what the fuck is happening’look. I put both hands up hoping to placate her, “Nolan put the damn gun away. NOW!” Nolan quickly holsters his gun, but Clara starts shaking so badly I can hear her teeth chattering.
I chance a look over to Kellum for some sort of help on who this is but instead he looks as confused as I do. He lowers his voice into what I think is supposed to be comforting but sounds all wrong coming from him, “Clara, did you need something? This is Mr. Byrne and his security Mr. O’Connor.” Clara whips her eyes to me, they are wild and I can see the panic swirling. Her face is a ghostly shade, she looks like she may pass out.
Nolan murmurs, “Sorry about that.”
She either doesn’t hear him or doesn’t want to acknowledge him. Regardless, she doesn’t respond. I still have her beautiful brown orbs. Deciding to use my most calming voice - the one Iused on my brothers when we were younger. Not patronizing, just calming, “Hey, I’m Rowan. That’s Nolan. You just startled us, that’s all. Everything’s okay. I’m sorry we scared you.” She opens her mouth to speak then shuts it again.
2
Chapter Two
Clara
What the actual fuck did I just walk in on? After finishing up lunch ten minutes early I came to catch Mr. O’Brien. The one time I forget to knock on a door. I swear if I didn’t have bad luck I’d have no luck at all. Now I’m standing in a room with three terrifying but impeccably dressed men. All of them are staring at me like I’m the issue. They don’t even blink at the man who just had a GUN pointed at my head. No, apparently that’s normal and I’m the weirdo.
As if that’s not embarrassing enough, all I could think while a gun was pointed at my head was the episode of that doctor show where they say to start telling facts about yourself so the shooter sees you as a human instead of an object. Studying the man I now know as Nolan O’Connor, he’s about six footfour with hair so dark it may be black, whiskey eyes, and looks like he’s never missed a day at the gym. Which I guess if he’s someone’s security that makes sense. He looks menacing like he wouldn’t blink twice if his boss told him to pull the trigger.
I pull my gaze from him and focus on Rowan Byrne. He’s the same height as Nolan but just a little trimmer. Even so his arms are still barely contained in his dress shirt and jacket. As I continue taking him in, my eyes scan his trim waist and long strong legs, his trousers look like they fit him like a glove. Moving my eyes up to his face, my teeth lock around my bottom lip. He’s smirking at me, busted. I’m already mortified at this point so I’ll just continue taking him in. Tattoos snake out from the collar of his dress shirt, his light brown hair is short on the sides but longer on top, his strong square jaw has a dusting of reddish brown hair like he hasn’t shaved in a few days. Finally making my way to his eyes, oh those eyes, dark green like the forest after a rainstorm, they’re reserved, stoic almost, and look like they hold a million secrets, but they dance with amusement too. They stay on mine as he tilts his head almost like he’s trying to figure me out, good luck buddy.
His words filter through my brain “Everything’s okay. I’m sorry we scared you.”
I let out an awkward squeak, “Oh, it’s okay. I should have knocked.” It’s definitely not okay and I’ll be bolting out of here to lock myself in the bathroom and panic as soon as I can.
Mr. O’Brien clears his throat, “Umm Clara, did you need something?”
My eyes snap to his blue ones and my face heats, “Oh, um yes, uh it’s fine, I didn’t realize your appointment was here already. I’msosorry. It’s just about my schedule, we cantalk later.”
