Alistair Chapter 15

Aisling and I sat in front of her laptop, and her entire family was on the screen. My gut tightened. This wasn’t a good sign. I was ready to snarl and ask them what the fuck was wrong. They were going through the niceties of greeting each other. I clenched my fist to help me hold my tongue. When I messaged them earlier to set the time to call, they asked us to have Kendric and Creed join the call. That had put me on edge, but this far surpassed it.

“Okay, enough of the chit-chat. I can see Alistair is about to explode, and we don’t want that. I know you have to be dying to know why we’re all here and why we asked Kendric and Creed to join us,” Darragh broke in to say.

“I’ve got to say, yeah, I’m on edge. What the hell did you guys find?” I said back impatiently. Ais reached over, took my hand, and squeezed it in support, I think.

“We hear ya. Okay, Cody ran through the main tape. It shows three shadowy figures dressed in all black tossing basic Molotov cocktails through a window that they broke, and then they ran. I don’t think they expected one of your neighbors out there to have a fire and rescue company, and they responded to it even before the regular fire department. If the culprits used more cocktails or an actual explosive, they would’ve destroyed the whole building,” Dar explained.

“That’s what the regular video showed, I presume. Did you send it to the cops? I want to know what the private security cameras showed,” I muttered.

“We did have our legal team send it to the police. They won’t find anything on it to help them, but they have it. As for the private one, it didn’t yield us much more. They kept their faces well covered, and no identifying marks or tattoos were visible. They ran off to the south of the winery along the main road. We believe they had a car waiting a distance away for them. I wish we had an idea who they were, but we don’t,” he added with disgust.

“Alright, so what’s with the clan being gathered if that’s all you have to tell us? And I could’ve easily told Kendric and Creed this,” I told them. I tried to keep my impatience out of my tone. They were my bosses, after all.

“He’s trying not to cuss and go off. See the vein in his forehead,” Rory said.

“Shut it before we let him go off on you. You’re right, Alistair, we have more. While the videos didn’t show us anything, Cody and his team finally got a lead, I guess you’d call it. Before you get too excited, it doesn’t tell us who did it,” Cormac hurried to add.

“ Mac galla , son of a bitch. Okay, what did he find?” I asked.

“He picked up dark web chatter asking for possible help in taking out a winery in California and the bitch running it. The odds of it being another winery are almost zero, especially when you take into consideration the timing of it right after they hit Maeve’s. The IP address was masked, but he was able to unmask it. But the person or persons who posted were smart, and they have it bouncing all over the world to different IP addresses. It’s gonna take time to unravel them to get to the source, but Cody is confident they’ll do it,” Darragh explained.

Instead of making me angrier, hearing this settled me because it meant we had a real lead, and we knew whatever was happening was directed at Aisling. Which meant the wreck she was in with Brynes was almost certainly the same people. I knew Cody would work his magic, and when he did, I’d be able to go after those who dared to target the woman I loved. I’d gladly take them apart slowly. A smile spread across my face.

“ íosa Chíost , Jesus Christ, I told you he’d go all craiceáilte , crazy Scotsman on us,” Aidan muttered. The others were all nodding their heads.

“Whoever did this messed with the wrong person. It sounds like a crazy Scotsman is what you need. Is there anything else? Was there any chatter about the rest of the family, or was it all directed toward Ais?” I asked as I continued to smile.

“So far, nothing against the rest of the family, but we’re staying on alert in case it changes. If they can’t get to her, they may change their target. No clue as to why they chose her rather than one of us. Or why they’re including the winery in the mix. This brings us to the last thing,” Patrick was the one to interject this. He had a tenseness about his face, and so did the others.

“What’s that, uncail ?” she asked.

“We want you to come home. We know you have work to do, but surely it can be done remotely. We want to see if we separate you from the winery, if they’ll stay to attack it, or if they’ll shift away from it to you or one of us. With us all here in one area, protecting everyone is easier. And speaking of work, how did the meeting with Caliari go?” Patrick asked.

I wondered if she’d immediately tell them it wasn’t happening or if she’d listen to them. Truthfully, as soon as they mentioned the chatter, I wanted to demand we go back to Florida. I held off, knowing she’d be more likely to listen if I didn’t bulldoze her. Her family, on the other hand, could demand it, and she would be less likely to automatically deny them. Although if she said no and I believed she was in imminent danger, I’d remove her against her will, and she’d have to get over it.

“First, let me say I didn’t even get to go through my spiel on why he should work with us. He’d already made up his mind.” She paused after saying it. I wanted to laugh because we both knew the conclusion they’d jump to and their responses.

“What the hell!?”

“He’s an idiot. I hope you told him that.”

“His goddamn loss.”

When their muttering died down, she continued. “Yeah, he was already sold on doing business with Maeve’s. He told me to send over the contract and information, and he’d get to work on it right away. Even the possible delay in the rollout of the new wines didn’t deter him. He’s tasted all our current ones and is impressed. He’s in the process of expanding his restaurants. Tino said a friend helped him make his final decision.”

“Tino, is it? Sounds like it went really well, and you’re a brat for making us think he said no,” Tiernan said.

She laughed. “I know, but I’ve gotta get my kicks where I can. It was such a good meeting and so relaxed.”

“Who’s his friend who helped him decide?” Darragh asked.

She grinned. “I was told to tell Cian that Pino is eager for him and Miranda to visit so he can make up for his faux pas with her. Apparently, Pino’s family and Tino’s have been friends for generations.”

Cian chuckled. The others smile. “Pino and Tino, Christ, do you think they were named to rhyme on purpose?” Rory asked.

“I doubt it. Tino’s real name is Santino. He even asked where he could find a woman like Ais. She explained he needed to stop looking and hang out in new places like Dar, Cian, and Aidan did. I told him I was lucky to watch mine grow up. Although when he kissed her hand as his way of welcoming her, I thought about taking off his head and shoving it up his ass,” I told them with a wink. I knew they were trying to ease tension before we got back into the somber discussion of her coming home. This cracked them up. Even Aisling giggled and rolled her eyes.

“He was quick to apologize when he realized who you were, so you had to give him points for that. I’ll be sending over the contract and documents in the morning. While I appreciate you trying to soften the blow by talking business, we need to get back to me coming home.”

“Before you say no, please consider it. We know you have work, but with the Caliari and Tillman and Hayes meetings out of the way, is there anything more you have to do where you must meet face-to-face with them? And is there work that only you can do there at the actual winery?” Shane asked quickly.

“I–” she was cut off by Cathal.

“You know we only have safety concerns. And if there’s a chance others being near you could make them targets or collateral damage, we know you wouldn’t want that.”

“I wouldn’t want that,” she squeezed out before the next one threw in his two cents. The next one came from her dad, so I knew it would impact her more.

“ Muirnín , I don’t want you so far away. Whoever is doing this worries the hell out of me. Your mam and I want you here. Please, come home until we take care of this threat.”

“ Daid , if you guys would let me finish, I’d tell you I have no problem coming home. I don’t want to endanger anyone else, and those meetings are the big ones I had planned. The rest I can do remotely. All I ask is the winery and offices here have added security not only to protect the winery but also our employees. I won’t leave them open to attacks. Tiarna , Lord, I expect Mamó , Mam, and the aintíni to pop up any second crying.” she joked. Or maybe it wasn’t one. I had no doubt they’d do it if they thought she was being stubborn.

“They’re in the hall waiting for our signal,” Patrick said with a wink.

“ Dia , my family is too much. Are you sure you want to be an official part of it? I mean, you’re an honorary member already, but it’s worse being official. You thought they had their noses in your business before, wait,” she warned me.

“ Leanabh, there’s no way in the world they can scare me away. You’re stuck with me.”

“Good,” she whispered before she kissed me. As she did, I heard her brothers and cousins making gagging sounds, calling out for us to stop, and complaining they were blind. I kept kissing her as I flipped them off. I took my time before I let go of her. When I did, I smirked at the screen.

“We’ll work on making the arrangements to return in the morning. I’ll let you know when to expect us. It may take a day or two to get there. I’ll talk to Aegis about having their people stay here. Now, if that’s all, I think she needs to get some sleep. Oh, and you can thank me later, guys, for showing you how to properly kiss a woman.” I informed them smugly, just to push their buttons.

This earned me boos, hisses, and crude remarks on what I could do to myself. By the time we ended the call, we were all smiling and laughing. I sat there with my arm around her.

“Aisling, all joking aside, I know this is stressing you. All I can say is try not to let it overwhelm you. Focus on getting home and what you need to put in place before we do. I’ll help you however I can. This will be over soon.”

“I hope so and thank you. I don’t know what I’d do without you here.”

“You never have to do anything alone.”

A final kiss and I led her off to our room. There would be time to worry about the details tomorrow.

???

As we drove through the gates of the family compound, my whole body relaxed, catching me sort of by surprise. Until it happened, I had no idea I was so tense. If asked, I would’ve said I wasn’t overly stressed. I guess it was the knowledge she was on home turf, and I had tons of allies and backup to keep her safe, that did it.

It took two days for her to wrap things up in California, so we were free to return. The flight was a smooth one. We brought all the bodyguards and others who worked directly for the family back with us. The winery was left in the capable hands of the Aegis employees. They’d mainly watch the winery with an occasional pass by the house. Since no one was there, it wasn’t the priority. In preparation for leaving, we made sure to tell anyone who asked that we were leaving and made sure we were seen putting luggage in the cars taking us to the airport.

There hadn’t been any more attempts while we waited. The fire marshal did his inspection, and as we knew it would, the report showed it was deliberate. Plain gasoline had been the accelerant in the Molotov cocktails they launched into the winery window. The cleanup began this morning, and we’ll soon know the estimate for rebuilding and the timeframe to complete it.

The car came to a stop in front of her house. I knew we’d only be able to stay long enough to drop off our luggage and maybe change clothes, but then we’d have to head to the main house so her parents could see her as well as anyone else who might be home right now. Later, after work, we’d be mobbed by the whole clan. I’d bet money they had a family dinner planned, too. Even though she’d only been gone ten days, it had to feel longer to them.

Growing up, I’d envied them the size and closeness of their family. For me, it was just me and my parents. They weren’t close to their extended family, and I had no siblings, and neither did my parents. We’d been lucky to be included in the O’Sheeran family holidays. I was looking forward to not only continuing those as an actual family member but also having children of my own. I wanted a minimum of three if I could. I hoped Aisling agreed. It was something we needed to talk about. Other than knowing we wanted kids, it was undecided.

We were dropped off first, then the bodyguards who lived in the onsite quarters would be dropped off to get themselves organized and possibly to work. Not all of them lived on the compound, but a majority did. Creed was one of the ones who did, and he insisted on helping me to carry in our luggage. Before leaving, he checked to make sure there was nothing we needed. The more I was around him, the more impressed I was. He took his job seriously while still being friendly. He genuinely cared about what happened to her, but I got no romantic vibe from him. Aisling cared for him, too, and it showed. It was like she had another brother or cousin. Watching them go at each other if they got irritated or just wanted to joke around was fun.

“Thanks, man, appreciate it,” I told him before he left.

“My pleasure. Besides, I gotta be sure no one is hiding under her bed to do her in. You know what a pain in the ass she is,” he said the last part louder, so she would hear him.

“Dream on. The only one who’s a pain in the ass around here is you!” she shouted from the kitchen.

He laughed, then gave me a chin lift before closing the door. She came hurrying into the room.

“Damn it, he got away before I could instigate him more. I’ll get him later.”

“I swear you two are like squabbling siblings. Don’t you have enough of those?”

“Never enough. Give me fifteen minutes to unpack the luggage and change. No, more like thirty. I gotta see if I need to put in a grocery order. You need to tell me what you want me to get. Oh, and we need to decide where we’re gonna stay. I assume at least tonight it’ll be here, but going forward, do you want to split our time between your place and mine or have us stay in one or the other?”

As she talked, she walked off, so I followed her. We ended up in her bedroom. The suitcases, including mine, were on the bed. She unzipped them. She scooped up a load of clothes from hers and went into the bathroom to her hamper, where she dumped them. Coming back she opened my suitcase.

“Which ones are dirty in your case? I packed mine with the dirty ones on the right and the still clean ones on the left, so it’s ready to go. I planned to wash them before we left, but then time got away from me.”

Yeah, most people would be shocked to know she even knew how to wash clothes, let alone that she did it. Her question about mine, as well as what she said about where we’d be staying, required me to say something.

“Ais, slow down. We need to talk about what you said about where we’re staying.”

“Oh yeah, I guess if you don’t plan to stay here, there’s no sense in me washing your clothes or putting them away here. Sorry.” She went to zip up my bag, but I stopped her. I knew from her body language that she was upset but was working not to show it.

“You have nothing to be sorry about, and I didn’t say I didn’t want to stay here. Let’s sit a minute and talk.” I led her to the chaise in her dressing area. I turned so I was facing her, and I took her hands in mine as we sat.

“I’d love to have my clothes with yours. What we need to decide is whether we should stay here or at my place. I don’t like the idea of splitting our time, but if you do, I’ll do it for a while. Eventually, we’ll have to decide on one or the other. I just hate the idea of being apart from you.”

“I don’t want us to be apart either, but if you need space, I’m willing to give it to you.”

“Why would I need space? I’ve been dreaming of you being mine for years. I want you with me all the time. My house is decent, but it isn’t like yours. It’s a place to live, and I’m open to fixing it up, finding a new house, or even building something else if you don’t want to live in the compound. Or we can live here in this house.”

“Be honest with me, please. Do you hate the thought of living here? If you do, I get it, and I’m willing to move wherever you want. Yes, I love my family and my house, but I want us to have our home, not mine. We can always visit, or we can build something new here if you want,” she rambled quickly.

“ A stór , darling, I truly want whatever will make you happiest, and I’m not just saying that. Do I love your house? Yes, it’s great. Do I like the idea of being so close to your family all the time? I don’t mind as long as we can lock them out when we want our alone time. The thought of you and our kids being safely behind these walls and having guards around day and night makes me extremely happy. Speaking of kids, we need to talk about those soon, but not this second.”

“Are you sure you’d be comfortable and happy to live in this house? What would you do with yours? And yes, we need to talk about kids.”

“I’ll be happy anywhere as long as I’m with you. Mine I can rent out, sell, or keep to give to one of our kids someday. I have a retreat in the swamp not too far away, which I use when I want to totally disconnect and get away. I plan to keep it, but I don’t expect you to ever go there.”

“Is it because it’s your guy’s retreat, and no women are allowed?” she asked with a smile.

“No, I figured you wouldn’t want to rough it out in the middle of the swamp.”

“Why not? I can rough it. I’m not high maintenance all the time. You’ve never gone with us when we go back to Ireland. We’ve gone pretty rough there more than a few times.”

“I wasn’t insulting you, Ais. I’d be more than happy to show it to you. So, back to which house to live in, I think we’ve made our decision. We’ll stay here in yours, and we’ll decide later what to do with mine.”

“I’m all for that plan, but I want you to tell me if you want to change or add anything. I know we built these houses when we came of age, but we should’ve thought about our future spouses and maybe waited to be sure what they wanted. We all assumed whoever we ended up with would want to live on the compound and in these houses. We were self-centered. So far, no one has objected, but it might happen.”

“It might, but it’ll be those couples’ battles. I can’t see myself wanting to change much, but if there’s anything, I’ll let you know.”

“Yes, please do that. Now, what was it about kids you wanted to talk about?”

“You want to do it now?” I asked. She nodded. “Okay, I was curious to know how many kids you see us having.”

“Why? Do you have a limit in mind?”

“Not a limit, but I do have a minimum, but it all hinges on you since you’ll carry them unless we adopt or use a surrogate,” I told her.

“Wow, okay, I always have seen myself having more than a couple, to be honest. I think it’s because I grew up with four older brothers and all my cousins. Not having a loud tribe would be weird for me, but I’m willing to negotiate. My only firm thing is it has to be more than one. Only children seem so sad to me.”

“Personally, for me as an only child, I agree it’s sad because I was lonely, and if it weren’t for your family being my playmates, it would’ve been worse. They were like the brothers and sisters I never had at home. Ideally, I’d like at least three kids, but it’s up for debate. We can choose to foster or adopt if it helps, though having a couple of natural children would be great if possible.”

Her smile made me feel warm inside. “Three would be my minimum, too, but I’m open to more in any capacity.”

“Perfect. When you’re ready to start working on the first one, let me know. I promise I’ll give it my all,” I told her with a wink. Then I kept going when her hand scooted up my thigh. “Behave, or I’ll say, let’s start right now,” I warned her. I was so happy she and I agreed on how many to have.

“And why wouldn’t I like that?” she asked as she scooted closer.

My heart skipped, then sped up. Was she serious? “Ais, you have no idea how much I want a baby with you. I’ve waited nine years for you. If I hadn’t been such an idiot and just told you when you turned eighteen how I felt, we could have a house full of kids already. The image in my head of you pregnant with my baby is crystal clear to me. I want one now, but I don’t want to rush you. I want you to want it as much as I do, and if it means I have to wait, then I will.”

“Stair, I waited those same nine years and have the same regrets. I don’t want to wait. I’m ready. And it so happens that in a couple of weeks, I’m due to renew my birth control shot. I get it every three months.”

“Don’t get it. If you’re sure, then let nature take its course and don’t renew. Who knows, we might be welcoming our first baby in the first couple of months of next year,” I said instantly and hopefully.

“Perfect,” she whispered as she gave me a heated look, which instantly turned me to thoughts of us practicing for the event.

I growled, and she giggled as I jerked her up onto my lap. She straddled me and pressed herself against my cock, which was beginning to harden just at the thought of being inside of her and impregnating her. I tugged her mouth to mine and kissed her. As we kissed, our hands were busy touching each other. I was in the process of lifting her top over her head when I heard a loud voice call out from inside the house.

“Where the hell are you two? You’d better not be fooling around. You have the folks at the house waiting impatiently to see you. Damn it, I told them not to send me. Put your clothes on and get your asses down here. I’ll be in the kitchen. Christ,” Declan yelled, and then we heard unintelligible grumbles.

Both of us groaned in frustration. Then, as we looked into each other’s eyes, we burst out laughing. It would serve him right if we made him come find us. Sighing, I lowered her top back in place. She stood up and then gently patted the aching bulge in my pants. “I’ll make it up to you later, big guy,” she told my cock. Her silliness made me laugh harder as I reached out to cup her between her legs.

“Yeah, I’ll make it up to you too, sweet kitty cat.”

Our laughter rang out as we got ourselves together and then went downstairs. Entering the kitchen, we found him at the island. He gave us suspicious looks. “What’s so funny? Please tell me you weren’t actually having sex.”

“No, but five minutes later and…” I trailed off.

“Shit, that’s it. Next time, they can send someone else. Are you two done? If you’re not, the family may revolt and storm the house soon.”

“We’re ready. Let’s go before we change our mind, and I drag her back upstairs to ravish her.”

“Duh, duh, duh, I can’t hear you. Come on,” he shouted as he stood up with his ears covered and walked toward the door.

We teased him all the way outside and into the golf cart he’d brought. They had them all over the compound since their houses weren’t right up against each other, and Aisling’s was at the back of the estate. The quick ride to the main house required him to uncover his ears so he could drive. We got our kicks teasing him the whole way. He was threatening to kill us by the time we made it.

We walked inside without knocking, and as soon as we entered, I heard the sound of a ton of voices. It sounded like the whole family was there, but surely some were still at work. Although they had moved the headquarters from Jacksonville to St. Augustine just two months ago, so they were now merely miles from home. Checking my watch, I saw it was only four o’clock in the afternoon.

As we entered the kitchen, where all the voices seemed to be coming from, I saw I was wrong. The whole family was there. Thankfully, with the combination of a huge kitchen, a large eat-in area, and a massive island, they were able to fit all of them, even if not everyone could sit. When they saw us, Tiernan called out loudly.

“About time. What took you so long? You weren’t fooling around, were you?”

Before I had a chance to say something smartass back, Aisling beat me to it. “Yeah, we were thinking about it. I hope you’re happy. We were gonna try for Daid and Mam’s second grandchild, but you people ruined it.”

To say she shocked them was an understatement. Hell, she caught me off guard. Not that I cared that she said it. I just hadn’t expected her to say anything. The whole room grew so quiet it was eerie. Then, like a switch was thrown, it exploded with their voices all talking at once. As everyone tried to be heard over each other, Cormac and Cyndi came rushing over to us. Cyndi was beaming with excitement, and Cormac was smiling, though I thought he was being cautious.

“I know you were only kidding, but know that when you two are ready, we can’t wait. We’ll take all the grandbabies you’ll give us,” her mam gushed.

“We will, but only when you’re ready. We know you’re just getting together and all and have a lot of things to figure out,” was Cormac’s more cautious response.

I glanced at Aisling, and I raised a brow at her. She knew what I meant, I hoped because she nodded and smiled. I answered them. “We’re late because we were talking about where we wanted to live. She offered to move to my house or for us to get another house, but I think staying here in hers is the best idea. I mean, her place is great, and I have no firm attachment to mine, and being behind these walls makes it even better, in my opinion.”

“Good, good, you have to think about security and comfort,” Cormac said.

The others quieted down when we didn’t answer them, and they listened to our conversation. “Then we were talking about how many kids we wanted and how we’d get them,” Ais added.

“What do you mean, how you’d get them? Don’t tell us we have to have the birds and bees talk with you two. I would’ve thought you knew the way to get those kids at your age. Don’t tell us Alistair has no clue,” Rory teased.

I gave him the middle finger. “I have a much better idea than you. In fact, if I recall correctly, your first self-pleasuring session—” I was cut off by him throwing an apple from the counter at my head. I caught it and took a bite as I grinned at him.

“We know the mechanics, thanks. What I meant was if we want them to be all ours naturally or if we might adopt or foster some. We’re open to all the above. Then we talked about numbers, which isn’t your business,” Aisling told him.

“Okay, well, hopefully, it’ll be more than one or two. You have to compete with the rest of us,” Cian said with a grin as he tenderly and lovingly rubbed Miranda’s pregnant belly. She was due in just over two months, and two months after her was Aidan and Karizma’s baby.

“No worries, we plan to bring several to the clan. In fact, if we’re lucky, we might see the first one next year,” I said offhandedly.

Cyndi let out a squeal, and then she threw herself at Ais. Cormac’s smile grew as he grabbed me and gave me a hug and back slap. The others were back to talking and shouting over each other. It was pandemonium. It took loud, sharp whistles to get them to calm down. Glancing around, I saw it was Darragh.

“I think we need to have a drink and celebrate this. And in case you haven’t guessed it, Mam and the other ladies have been working on a feast for dinner tonight. I suggest we see what we can do to help and then stay out of the way when we get our parts done. Alistair, Ais, in case you couldn’t tell, you’ve made the whole family happy. Plus, it means there’s no escape for Alistair, even if he wanted to run.”

And that was how we were welcomed home and announced our plans for the future—well, at least some of them. I still had to ask her to marry me, but I already had my plans in place for it.