Craven Cove Royalty (Craven Cove)

He gives her one last look before he turns around and gives her his back. It’s the only answer she’ll get as security takes her out of the room kicking and screaming.

A deafening silence falls over the room before I walk over to where Shy is standing. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for you to see that.”

“I know,” he says and his shoulders drop. “I followed my mom after I left the restaurant. I saw her getting on the yacht, and I followed her. I wanted to confront her, but I was still hoping that—” He blows out a breath. “I guess that it somehow wasn’t true.”

I nod in understanding as I place my hand on his shoulder and give it a squeeze. “I meant what I said. You’re part of our family now.”

“I’m not sure I know what that means anymore,” he says so softly that I almost don’t catch it.

“We’ll figure that out together.” My words are almost as soft as his.

When he looks up at me, there’s a sliver of hope in his eyes. Maybe all he needs is time, but for right now, this is enough.

Chapter Sixteen

Anna

I know I’m madly in love with Rory, but after today, there is no going back. To be without this man would kill me, and I know I wouldn’t be able to survive it. I didn’t realize there were men in the world like him, and I don’t know how I got so lucky that he’s mine.

“You’re a good man. You know that?” I tell him when we pull into the garage a few hours later.

“You wouldn’t say that if you knew the things I thought about doing when you kept trying to get away from me.” He hits the button to close the garage door behind us.

“Are you sure about that?” I click my seat belt and crawl over into his lap. “I think it might be hot to live out some of those fantasies.”

“Might have looked into buying an island so I could kidnap you.”

“You’re not even joking.” I shake my head at him. Rory is a good man, but when it comes to me he’s more than willing to be bad to get his hands on me. I love and adore that I can bring out a different side of him. The lengths he’s willing to go shows me how much he really does love me. I’ll never doubt that.

“One way or another, I was going to make you fall in love with me.” He digs his fingers into my hair, getting a firm grip on me. I’m not going anywhere.

“I came to Craven Cove because of you,” I admit, and his face stills with surprise. “I wanted to find a place to settle down for Celeste to do her final year of high school. Then I saw you and I started digging. I found out you were here on the island and I needed to come see you for myself. You’re why I came here to begin with.” Without him I wouldn’t have known it existed.

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, it’s kind of crazy, but I’d planned on you being a mark while I was here.” I shake my head as I let out a small laugh. It’s a bit crazy how this all unfolded along the way.

“Fate brought us together.”

“You really believe that?” I ask, pondering the idea.

I never believed in the fortunes I’ve given, even if a lot of them did come true. I’ve always chalked it up to being able to read people and pull small pieces of information out of them.

If people are looking for love with an open heart, they are likely to find it. You can give a reading that helps to guide the person down the path they are already on, but they’re already on the path. I just nudge them to keep going or sometimes to turn back around. I’ve often felt like more of a counselor than anything.

I’ve been saying over and over that I came to Craven Cove for my daughter and to give her some stability, but what if the reality is I was doing it for myself too? I had Rory Crew in mind the whole time, but maybe I was unwilling to admit it out of fear. Now I’m giving myself a reading.

“To a degree I believe in fate. Fate gave me Apollo, and I also think fate pulled Shy toward us for a reason. With you, though, I wasn't waiting on fate to do its thing after I saw you.”

No he wasn't. He made it clear from the start he was coming for me.

“I need that. I might get all pissy when you push, but I need it.”

“I know. I’ll always fight for you, for us.”

“For all of us,” I agree.

When it comes to this family, Rory does whatever it takes. Shy is Apollo’s half-brother, and without a thought Rory is ready to bring him into our little family. To welcome him in so that Apollo can have a chance to be close to his half-brother if he chooses to.