Bottom Line (Callaghan Brothers #8)
Abbie Zanders
Before You Begin
WARNING: Due to frequent strong language and graphic scenes of a sexual nature, this book is intended for mature (21+) readers only.
If these things offend you, then this book is not for you.
If, however, you like your alphas a little rough around the edges and some serious heat in your romance, then by all means, read on...
Acknowledgements
Special thanks to Aubrey Rose Cover Designs for this amazing cover!
Special thanks also go to some very special ladies – Deb B., Anjee Z., Shelly S., Carol T., Tonya B., Susan J., Perryne D., Carla S., Stacy T., and Shayne R. (and a few of you who prefer to remain unnamed – you know who you are) - for reading the first draft and making invaluable suggestions. This is a better story because of you!
Chapter One
Aidan watched from beneath half-shuttered lids as Kieran gathered his new wife into his arms and led her out of the ballroom. Christ. The way she looked at him! Even obviously exhausted, her face shone with the radiance of the sun.
He didn’t know why it still affected him so much. It was a phenomenon he’d seen replayed time and time again over the last five or six years or so. All the Callaghan women looked at their men like that – like they’d hung the stars and the moon just for their pleasure.
It wasn’t any different for the men, either. In their brides they found the soul-deep peace they longed for, the ones who completed them, who would always stand by their sides, without question, without condition. They called them their croies – their hearts - and believed that they had been created for them and them alone by God or Fate or Destiny or whatever controlled those kinds of things.
Time, apparently, didn’t diminish the effect. Taryn and Jake, who had been together the longest, were closer now than they had been when Aidan first met them. And the others were just the same. Each year that passed strengthened their bonds, made them closer, stronger, unbreakable.
Aidan had up close and personal seats to witness two such couplings – his best friend and business partner, Lexi Kattapoulos, had married into the family five years earlier. Her husband, Ian, was the very air she breathed.
And Aidan’s own sister, Rebecca, who had spent more than ten years in the cesspools of the world helping the less fortunate via the International Red Cross and Catholic Relief Services, had wed the alpha of the clan, Kane Callaghan, only two years prior.
Both of those women were strong-willed creatures, not at all likely to swoon or be swayed by things like the Callaghan genetics (which made them attractive to the fairer sex) or wealth (the bastards were not only big and good-looking they were smart and rich, too), so maybe this croie thing actually did have some basis in fact.
Aidan grimaced at the uncomfortable ache in his chest. It wasn’t in his nature to be envious. At thirty-two, he was the CEO of the Celtic Goddess franchise, wealthy by even mogul standards. His mixed heritage gave him Greek god-like good looks – golden hair and skin, brown-gold eyes, and a natural smile that melted female hearts effortlessly. His keen intellect and business instincts had more than doubled his net worth in the last ten years. Everything he owned was top-shelf, from his designer clothes to his professionally decorated condo and customized Mercedes.
Yet, despite all the wealth and prestige, a strange feeling coursed through his gut. He reluctantly recognized it for what it was: longing. A desire for something his family name, his looks, and his money had been unable to attain thus far: a woman who looked at him like that.
No longer feeling in quite the party mood, Aidan slipped into the shadows and made his way up to his private office. No one would miss him; they were all wrapped up in their own little nirvanas.
Oh, he thought with a ghost of a smile, Lex might wonder where he’d disappeared to. In an hour or two, he would probably receive a text asking him where he was, if he was okay, and berating him gently for leaving without saying goodbye. Lexi loved him, cared for him like a favorite brother, and he soaked in her affection like a dry sponge. But it would never be more than that. As close as they were, she belonged to Ian.
Long before he knew about soul mates and croies, Aidan had considered asking Lexi to marry him eventually, a natural progression of their close relationship. He knew now that would have been a mistake. They could have been happy together, and Lexi wouldn’t have wanted for anything, but Aidan couldn’t give her what Ian had – that is, his very soul.