Free The Shamrock by Nikki Winter Page B

wasn’t tired of looking for someplace that could accept her status as a health liability. Okay, that was asking for a lot but when no one in town would take a chance on you, you get desperate. The Shamrock had been her last hope to get something stable enough to pay her bills and keep her in school.
    Now The Shamrock was simply home. Even after Sirai had managed to stumble her way through to getting her MBA, she couldn’t bring herself to leave the one place that had been so good to her. Oh, and maybe she couldn’t exactly separate from one slightly crazed Irishman who was constantly threatening to spank her.
    She smirked and made her way through the bar, waving to regular patrons as she went. Finally, she reached a door in the back and knocked. “C’mon.” A booming voice retorted from the other side.
    Sirai twisted the knob and put on her best ‘innocent face.’ When she stepped inside Carrick O’Reilly, larger than life, bad-ass Irish biker, looked up from the spreadsheet on his desk and smiled. It made his intimidating size and status virtually non-existent. Well, mainly because he spoiled her rotten.
    Carrick had once said he wanted a daughter before he’d wanted sons but that didn’t make him love them any less, there was just a connection a man had with his daughter, a special place he had for her that even a son couldn’t exactly fill. So when Sirai had slid into their lives, Carrick hadn’t wasted a moment letting her know she was wanted.
    Being that Sirai had no family and her number of friends were very limited—as a matter of fact she only had one best friend—it was really hard for her not to get attached to the old man and his sons. Now here she was, trying to pout and look put out because she knew a certain somebody was on his way to get her.
    “Sprung you from the cell, did they, jinx?” Carrick questioned as he sat back in his leather chair, folding large arms across his chest.
    Sirai poked her bottom lip out more. “It wasn’t my fault.”
    He chuckled.
    “No, really, this time I really didn’t do it on purpose. I was minding my business, dancing with Candice—”
    He held up one large hand. “Do I want to hear the rest of this story?”
    “Being that I stole your son’s truck and he’s gonna be on his way to put me across his knee, I would say, yes, you wanna hear this one, Pops.”
    When Carrick finally stopped laughing, he nodded his head at the seat in front of his desk. “Start talking, jinx.”
     

C HAPTER T WO
     
    “Stop laughing, Braedan or I swear I won’t wait until the truck stops moving to break your neck.” Ardan growled at his little brother.
    Braedan, who’d been laughing hard enough to possibly piss himself, by Ardan’s estimation, took a deep breath and ran a hand down his face. “B-but...I just don’t understand how you fell for that. I mean, this is Sirai we’re talking about, dude. Why would you ever think it’d be that easy with her?”
    “I. Don’t. Know.”
    “Oh, that’s a line of bull. Once again you fell for those long lashed eyes and the pout. Now you’re pissed off because you can’t seem to be any more immune to it than Pops or me.”
    Ardan’s jaw clenched as he stared out the passenger window. He wouldn’t admit it...at least not out loud. No, he wasn’t any more immune to Sirai’s pretty face than anyone else. If anything it was like a gut punch every time she swung those large copper eyes his way. When her heart-shaped mouth kicked up into a smile—taunting or not—it just about made his heart stop, and every word that left her lips, the husky sound of her voice set his heart on a racecourse. Even if it wasn’t something he wanted to hear, Ardan could listen to her talk all day long.
    If he wasn’t listening to her talk, then he was watching her every action. What never failed to shock and awe him was the fact that Sirai could cause a natural disaster without even trying, but as soon as she stepped through the doors of The