The Claddagh Trilogy: Irish Affair - Irish Love - Irish Heart Read online

  Amanda Heartley

  © 2019 Cheeky Books Ltd

  Copyright and Disclaimer

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination and have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2019 Cheeky Books Ltd

  Copyright © 2019 Amanda Heartley

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of the trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

  Contents

  The Claddagh Trilogy

  Copyright and Disclaimer

  Read A Fun, Sexy Story—FREE!

  Irish Affair

  Irish Love

  Irish Heart

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  More from Amanda!

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  “In true Amanda Heartley fashion, this was fast-paced, intense, and DIRTY! *Wipes brow* Yup, the title says it all. Forbidden romances are my guilty pleasure and I was not disappointed in the least. Heather and Ryan’s story had me hooked from the start. When they give in to their ”lust”, it is “wicked” and “dirty”. Another great read from Amanda!”~Crazy Daisy Book Blog

  “So STEAMY!! I totally fell in love with this stepbrother romance. Chemistry between the two was amazing. The secrets and lies they tell to pull it off are exciting. Love the alpha Marine type personality of Ryan and his very explicit mouth when he is with Heather. Off the charts good dirty romance book!!”~Lisa P.

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  Amanda Heartley

  © 2018 Cheeky Books Ltd

  Copyright and Disclaimer

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination and have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2018 Cheeky Books Ltd

  Copyright © 2018 Amanda Heartley

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of the trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

  Prologue

  Amelia

  Am I really doing this?

  I collect my bags from the carousel and head outside Dublin airport. I glance around, looking for a taxi and spot an old guy leaning against his cab at the head of the line. I walk over to him, my heart racing, because every step closer to him takes me one step closer to finally meeting Garrett.

  Garrett. Sweet, perfect, amazing Garrett.

  He seems to be exactly what I need following the world’s worst break up when I walked in on my boyfriend getting a blow job from our landlord. Our male landlord, I should add. At least, it suddenly made sense why our rent was so darn cheap.

  With that behind me, I had no intention, whatsoever, of joining the world of online dating until one night, a few months ago—after one too many margaritas and a lot of self-pity—my sister started tapping on her phone. I hate it when people find what’s happening online to be more engaging than me on a night out, but then she dropped the bombshell that she’d just signed me up to I Date You. Before I knew it, I had a profile page displaying the world’s worst selfie, and a bio containing way too many inappropriate suggestions of what I might be into in the bedroom department.

  It had seemed fun at the time, but the next morning I’d woken up with a start—and the mother of all headaches—suddenly remembering what she’d done the night before. I’d crawled out of bed, grabbed some coffee and immediately called her for the login details. Of course, she found it terribly funny, but when I signed in to delete my account, there were already fourteen messages waiting for me. I’d attracted a lot of creeps, which was hardly surprising, considering what my sister had said I’d be willing to do, but one of them stood out.

  His name was Garrett. He looked like a real hottie from his profile pic, with a gorgeous smile. He appeared to be funny, sincere, sweet, and everything else I looked for in a guy. The only downside was, he lived in Dublin—as in Ireland—but once we’d gotten past the hurdle of being so far away from each other, we quickly developed a strong friendship which progressed over time into something more—a lot more. We chatted on Skype and flirted like crazy at least once every couple of days. Over these past two months, I’d felt a real connection growing between us each time we had a video call.

  We’ve often talked about meeting up and what we’d do to each other whenever we did. It’s been raunchy as hell, to say the least. There’s been many times when I’ve hung up from our conversations with my panties wet from thinking about being with him, his cock thrusting deep inside me. Oh God, how I’ve thought about that, over and over! Now, here I am. In Dublin, and about to surprise the guy I’ve been chatting to for the last three months.

  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not in love with him, but I can see it could head that way, and fast—if I let my guard down long enough to let him in. I guess that’s why I took the chance to come here, because I couldn’t go all-in without meeting him first. I hear so many horror stories about people on the internet not being who they say they are, and I need to make sure he’s genuine before this goes any further. As excited as I am, I’m also a little terrified of finally meeting him in person.

  I mean, of course, I know what he looks like, and the sound of his sexy voice, but he could still be anyone. He could have secrets he hasn’t shared with me. He might have ten kids and a little redheaded wife with cute freckles he’s forgotten to mention.

  Either way, I’m about to find out.

  “So where are we headed, darlin’?” the taxi driver asks me as I slide into the back of his cab.

  “128 Sorrento Drive, thanks,” I say, smiling at his strong accent.

  “Oh, Dalkey. Nice part of town is that, to be sure,” the taxi driver says. “What brings you over here? Visiting family?” he asks.

  “Something like that,” I say, forcing myself to smile.

  For the next thirty minutes, I sit with my hands tucked under me, silently shitting myself. I see more and more signs for Dalkey, and as we get closer and closer to his house, my anxiety skyrockets. I feel like I’m waiting to be sentenc
ed. I switch from this being an extremely bad idea, to this being my best idea ever ten times on the journey. Fortunately, when the taxi finally pulls up outside a large bungalow, I’m back at thinking this is a great idea.

  The driver turns in his seat and smiles at me.

  “Well, here ya go, darlin’.” He studies me as I sift through my purse looking for the fare and change for a tip. “You sure you’re meeting family, sweetheart? You seem very nervous.”

  “Family I’ve never met before, and who have no idea I’m here,” I reply as my nerves begin to spiral out of control. “I’m surprising them.”

  I keep telling myself I’m here to surprise him, but a small part of me is wondering if I’ll catch him out. After everything that happened with Jake, I’m the first to admit I have some deep trust issues.

  “Ah, now I understand,” he says with a nod. “In that case, I’m going to wait right here, until you turn around and give me the thumbs up, okay?”

  “Thanks,” I say. I’m not sure if I should be offended by his lack of confidence in this going well, or just be appreciative he’s looking out for me. I decide to go with being appreciative.

  “Good luck,” he says with a chuckle.

  As I climb out of the taxi, I take a deep breath that does literally nothing to calm my nerves. I flex my hands, trying to stem the shaking. I’m so nervous, but I didn’t come half way across the world to chicken out now.

  Come on, just do it. Walk up there and knock on the door.

  That’s the hardest part. That first moment when we meet. Our eyes will connect and in a split second, I’ll know if that attraction I’ve felt with him online is there in real life. The only problem is, I’m still not sure if I actually want it to be there, or not. My defenses are still up.

  Taking a deep breath, I walk up the three steps and knock on the door. I run over in my head what I’m going to say, but nothing sounds right. “Hey, thought I’d fly halfway across the world to meet you without telling you first,” doesn’t sound like I’m stalking him at all, right?

  The door suddenly swings open, catching me off guard. A short redheaded woman stands there glaring at me. This is not a good sign. She looks about thirty and seems angry about something. Maybe this is a bad time? I glance behind her, down the hallway, for any sight of those ten kids I’d imagined on the way over here.

  “Can I help you?” she asks with a strong Irish accent.

  “Hey,” I say with a smile, but she just continues to glare at me. “I’m…I’m looking for Garrett?” I say as a question, hoping he’d given me the right address. My heart pounds so hard in my chest, it feels like it’s going to pop right out. God, I feel sick. Why am I doing this again?

  “What do you want with him?” she barks, frowning and narrowing her eyes at me. Before I can answer, she turns around and hollers out to him. “Garrett. There’s some young girl here to see you.”

  Young? I’m twenty-two, and besides, he’s only two years older than me…isn’t he? At least, that’s what he told me.

  My heart pounds as he walks down the narrow hallway toward me. As his face comes into view, I recognize him immediately. Even though he’s clearly a little older than the twenty-four years he’d claimed to be, I know it’s him. He stares at me with a stunned expression, his mouth hanging open. I force myself to smile, even though I’m now feeling very uncomfortable, all I want to do is run.

  “Do you want to fill me in on why you’re here to see my husband?” the woman snaps, glaring at me and then directing her glare back to Garrett. She places her hand on her hip and scowls. “Again?” she says, screeching at him. “You’ve seriously done this again?” She shakes her head and storms down the hallway, throwing her hands in the air and cussing like a sailor. “That’s it, I’m done with you. I’m leaving.”

  Garrett turns to me, frowning at me like this is my fault.

  “Why would you just turn up here unannounced?” he hisses.

  No hello, or it’s great to see you, or I can’t believe you’re here. Well, the last one kind of applies, but not in the way I was hoping.

  “Seriously?” I growl. “You’re angry at me? Fuck you, Garrett,” I say, tears burning my eyes. I feel sick. He lets out a deep sigh and runs his hand through his hair. For a second, I think he’s going to apologize, but then he turns around and races after her, leaving me standing there at the door feeling like an idiot. Fuck this. And fuck him. Fuck everything about this stupid place.

  I run back down the steps and over to the taxi, which, thankfully, is still waiting for me. I crawl onto the backseat, not sure what I’m going to do. I’m in shock. While I might not have had the highest of hopes for this relationship having a happy-ever-after, I wasn’t expecting this. To make things worse, the driver would’ve witnessed that whole thing. I slink deeper into my seat, embarrassed and ashamed for being so stupid.

  “I get the feeling that didn’t go as planned,” he says, sympathetically.

  “Not exactly,” I sob through my tears.

  “It’s none of my business, but you must have some pretty major family issues going on for them to kick you out like that.” He frowns at me. “They realize you’ve travelled all this way, right? You’re from Canada, right?”

  “New York,” I mumble, relieved he didn’t overhear the real story. “And I guess I should’ve called first,” I add weakly.

  “I’ll say,” he murmurs. “So, where to now?”

  I shake my head. I need time to rearrange my travel plans, but I’m so jet-lagged right now, all I want to do is sleep. Stupidly, I haven’t even booked any accommodation. In my head, I’d pictured a romantic meeting with Garrett and I’d be staying with him. Even if things had gone well, that was a silly presumption to make.

  “I don’t know,” I say, hopelessly. “Just drive me away from here, please. I can’t bear to be here any longer.”

  “I think I know what you need,” he says, starting the engine.

  All I can do is nod. Anything and anywhere has to be better than this.

  * * *

  Fifteen minutes later we pull up outside a pub. Out the front hangs a sign advertising rooms for rent. I frown. This isn’t what I had in mind. There was a nice hotel just a few minutes from the airport. I thought if I stayed there tonight, I could have a nap, then arrange to fly back home early tomorrow.

  “Go in there and ask for Maureen. She’ll set you up in a room for the night. My treat.” He looks at me. “Can I suggest you also have a drink or two to take your mind off everything?”

  “What? I can’t take advantage of your already gracious generosity like that. I can pay for my own room,” I say.

  “Nonsense,” he replies. “Your country helped a lot of Irish people to make a home, so let me repay the favor to a woman in trouble in ours. And, I’ll not take no for an answer. The name’s Seamus, by the way.”

  I manage a small smile and offer to pay for my fare, at least, but he refuses that as well, waving my money away. He’s gone out of his way to help me and I don’t want to seem ungrateful by refusing his kindness.

  “Thanks for everything, Seamus” I say. “My name’s Amelia, and if you ever visit New York, I’ll get you back, I promise.”

  He waves me off. “Amelia? Now there’s a beautiful name, if ever I heard one. You’re welcome anytime, darlin’. I’d come inside with you, but I’m running late for an appointment at the vehicle testing station, so I have to go. I’ll call Maureen on the way. She’ll see you alright.”

  I wave as he drives away then wheel my suitcase inside the pub, still trying to figure out how this all went so wrong. I’m totally swearing off men. Considering that every guy I touch fucks me over, it’s the only thing to do.

  I frown and look around. It’s so quiet, I’m not even convinced they’re open. I glance at my phone and realize it’s barely eleven in the morning, on a Wednesday. No wonder it’s so quiet. Who would be drinking at this hour? Suddenly, a friendly-looking woman pops up from behind the bar. She spots me
and rushes over to greet me with a big smile on her face.

  “Sorry, I didn’t see you there, lass,” she says, wiping her hands on the front of her floral apron. “Can I help you?”

  “Uh, I’m not sure, actually,” I say, forcing a smile. “The taxi driver who just dropped me off here said you might have a room for me?”

  “Of course,” she replies. “You must be the girl Seamus just called about.” Wow, he didn’t waste any time. “Is it just for tonight?” she asks, walking over to the bar. I follow her and lean against the counter as she pulls out a diary.

  I nod, shrug, and then shake my head in answer to her question.

  “Clearly, I’m very decisive,” I mumble.

  “You look like you’ve had a tough time of it,” she says with a sympathetic smile. She hands me a key with ‘Room 10’ printed on it. “I’ll tell you what, you go up there, get yourself together. Maybe have a bath and a nap, then come back down here for some dinner later, okay?”

  “Thanks,” I nod. The idea of a soak in the bath and a nap sounds very appealing. I trudge up the stairs in search of my room, finding it at the end of the hallway, and let myself in. It’s small, barely big enough for the double bed that just fits in, but it’s clean and comfortable and I’m sure it will do just fine for tonight. I lay down on the bed and sigh. I’m exhausted, jet-lagged, depressed and heartbroken. Not necessarily in that order. What the hell was I going to do now?

  I left my entire life behind in New York on a whim to chase a guy I thought I had a chemistry with, and it just bit me on the ass.

  Chapter One

  Amelia

  I sit at the bar, still working on my second beer, trying to figure out what my next move will be. I tried to have a nap earlier but couldn’t sleep. Every time I closed my eyes, I imagined Garrett standing there with his arms around his wife. I’m a little less heartbroken now, and more pissed off at how gullible I’ve been…again. Truthfully, I feel more pity for his poor wife than I do for myself because, from the sounds of it, it’s not the first time he’s been a player. Maybe I’ve been naïve, but if I’d known he was married, I’d never have taken this trip. Home breaking is so not me.