Page 98 of Ruthless Dream

I miss Adeline.

I had hoped she’d changed her mind. That she’d travel with us. Now, I see that it’s a good thing she hadn’t. There’s no way my cousins would let me live it down, bringing a woman with me on a business trip.

“You never acted this way with Rosa,” Seamus says.

I haven’t thought about Rosa in months. Not since Adeline started warming my bed.

“You hated Rosa.” My voice struggles against the wind.

“I hated how you acted around her.”

This catches my attention.

“You weren’t yourself around her,” he says. “You let her get to you.”

I hang my head over the railing. I’d like to dispute this, but I need time to think. To reanalyze my interactions with her. I’d certainly hated her in the end, when she’d decided I wasn’t good enough for her.

“I like Adeline.”

My head snaps up, and Seamus shakes his head, smirking. “Not like that, you daft fool. I mean, I like the pair of you together, is all.”

“What the fuck are you on about?” It’s the same question I asked earlier.

He shrugs. “You hate it here, don’t you?”

I frown.

He laughs, looking out at the mountains. “You’re standing at a rooftop bar at Knight, a Guinness in your hand, and you look bloody miserable.”

“Yeah, but only because you’re being a bloody git.”

“Maybe, but you’re the bloody git who’s standing here all alone on New Year’s Eve.” Seamus continues to take in the mountains, but I feel his next words. “You miss her.”

CHAPTER 25

Adeline

Two days after I saw Ciaran off to the airport, the doorbell rings.

“Oh my God.” Mom places a hand over her heart when I run to Ciaran. “I’m going to melt.”

It’s New Year’s Eve, hours away from the ball dropping, but Ciaran is once again in my parents' house. His hands squeeze tight around me, his forehead resting against mine.

“Did you miss me?” I tease, but the giddiness can’t even properly describe the well of emotion and how deep it goes.

“I missed you,” he murmurs, hugging me tighter.

“That’s cute.” Lennie comes downstairs, a book in hand. “Very romantic.”

Mom makes a puppy dog face, sighing. Dad wordlessly goes into his office, slamming the door.

“Happy New Year’s, princess.” Ciaran kisses my forehead, and when Mom finally gets the hint and leaves, he sweeps me in for something deeper.

Christmas break passes in a blur of goodwill and warmth. January is blue. It’s not horrendous, but I am sad to go back to school. I finally admit to myself that NYU is not what I thought it’d be like.

I’m happy to be at university, and I don’t hate studying. It’s just different than I’d pictured it. I have to have a grown-up conversation with myself that not everything turns out to be glitter and glam. I’ve got one semester left in Brittany Hall, and then I’ll figure out a different living arrangement. My internship ended before break, but I was surprised when the mean HR lady persuaded me to reapply for next year. I’m not sure if I really want to, but I’m gratified that the experience didn’t turn out to be as much of a disaster as I thought it would.

It helps having Ciaran around to give me a boost. Much of our days are the same. I thought I’d get bored, but it turns out I’m more of a creature of habit than I thought. I study like crazy, and Ciaran sometimes has to take phone calls in the bedroom, shutting the door. But I like when he makes me a grilled cheese for dinner, and my God. . . The man can do whatever he wants with my body, whenever.