I rolled my eyes and tried again. "I'm can't drink because I'm pregnant."
Eoin jumped back with wide eyes. He grabbed at his hair and stammered, apparently too excited to say anything. I laughed and touched his arm.
"But listen, Eoin, Michael doesn't know yet so—"
"Noah," Eoin shouted as Noah passed with his arm around Aubrey's shoulder, "Noah, Abs here is knocked up!"
"So don't tell anyone," I finished with a sigh and a shake of my head before laughing.
Noah wrapped me into a tight hug and then Eoin wrapped Noah and me into an even tighter hug till we were both gasping for breath.
"Michael doesn't know yet?" Noah asked after wheezing for air.
He looked over my shoulder down toward the lake shore, where Michael was half buried in the sand and Zara was making him into a mermaid.
"Nope," I said, "he hasn't caught on yet."
And he didn’t catch on when I found an excuse to not try the local wines and he didn't catch on when I claimed my favourite song was on and darted to the silent dance floor to avoid taking shots and he still didn't catch on when I went out to dance with him and he was the one who fell back on his ass.
"Baby, let's go have a shot of Poitín for old time's sake," he said when a sea of stars took the place of an ocean of blue in the wide sky above us.
We were dancing with the whole family in the wild grasses and my stomach did a nervous flip as I grabbed his wrist and shouted, "Michael, I can't."
He giggled and dismissed me with a wave. "Of course you can. We're practically sober compared to the last time we were here."
I cupped Michael's face to still him as he danced wildly, happily, freely. "Michael, I am sober."
"Ha!" he laughed. "Yeah, me too. Stone cold sober."
"Michael, I haven't had anything to drink," I said, giving him a purposeful eye.
He frowned slightly. "I've seen you…that beer—"
"I dumped in the weeds."
Michael stopped dancing. "That shot."
"Over my shoulder."
"That other shot."
"Gave it to Eoin."
"That other other shot."
"Gave it to Eoin."
Michael looked over the crowd of people dancing toward Eoin, who was dancing with Duffy, slumped lazily over her shoulders. His slightly unfocused eyes came back to mine. I tried not to laugh as he pieced it together.
"But…but why…but why wouldn't you…"
He looked from my face to my stomach. I watched his eyes widen. "Abbi, are you…?"
I smiled and nodded.
"You're pregnant?"
"Yes."
Michael looked bewildered and ecstatic and overwhelmed and joyful and, yeah, still drunk. He dragged his fingers through his hair and then placed his hands on my stomach.
"You're pregnant?" he asked, eyes searching mine.
"Yes," I laughed.
"You're pregnant?"
"Yes!"
"You're pregnant!"
Before I knew it Michael had lifted me from the dirt dance floor to spin me around and around, the strings of lights all transforming into comets across the night sky. His lips found mine, warm and eager with the fire of whiskey. My toes found the ground again and he gripped my shoulders.
"We have to tell everyone! We have to—"
"Tell everyone that Abbi's preggars?" Eoin asked, appearing in the crowd with Duffy beaming by his side.
"You knew?" Michael said before turning to me. "He knew?"
My cheeks grew warm as I shrugged sheepishly. "Well…"
"We all kind of knew," Darren said as he and Kayleigh, followed by Noah and Aubrey slipped through the dancers to join us.
"All of you?" Michael asked, pointing to them as they grinned and nodded.
"Okay, okay, but what about—"
"Me?"
Michael whipped around to find Zara behind him, holding Ma's hand.
"You knew?"
Zara smiled at me. "Mom said it was supposed to be a secret. That she wanted to wait till the perfect moment to tell you."
"And I did," I said, moving close to Michael and intertwining my fingers with his. "With everyone around us, in the place where we first fell in love, this, this was the perfect moment I was waiting for. I can't imagine a moment more perfect."
Michael kissed me and Zara came to wrap her arms around us and before we knew it, we were surrounded by our family. Our family that was going to grow just a little bigger.
And a whole lot stronger.
The End
Get your hands on From the Heart: An Irish Kiss Novella ~ FREE!
Dear Readers,
To thank you for reading through the Irish Kiss series, I’d like to give you this Irish Kiss Novella (featuring all your favourite O’Sullivan brothers) as a gift.
You’ll also get an occasional email when I have a new release or sale.
This novella cannot be found anywhere else!
Michael O’Sullivan is convinced something is wrong with their mother - she’s been spacy, secretive, and taking phone calls from her doctor into another room…
Even move convincing is when Ma O’Sullivan cancels their regular Sunday lunch last minute. It only means one thing…
It’s time for an O’Sullivan brothers’ stakeout!
Your favourite O’Sullivan family characters return for one last romp in this sweet novella that’s from the heart.
Click here to download it!
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Sit tight, dear readers. The Irish Kiss series might be completed, but there’s a few sexy Irish billionaire characters who made a minor appearance in The Irish Lottery (some of Michael’s clients actually) who are about to get their very own spin off!
Stories in the works!
If you want to be
