Adam

I held the red tie in my hands and raised a brow at my girlfriend. “You want me to put this on my eyes? Are you pulling my leg?”

“Please.” Anna raised her hands between us, palms pressed together as if in prayer. “Just trust me.”

Her green eyes were bright. Alluring. She was so Goddamn beautiful to look at that sometimes I wondered if she were real. Could she really be mine? I wasn’t sure what I’d done to get in the good graces of God, especially with my horrid mouth, but Anna was evidence enough that there was a higher power, and He or She was smiling down upon me.

“Of course I trust you.” I released an exaggerated sigh. “Put it on me.” I handed her the tie, and she fastened it around my forehead, sliding it over my eyes. “But tonight, I fully anticipate using this to cover your eyes while I do delicious and wicked things to your body.”

“What?” She was laughing, and I hated that I couldn’t see her mouth.

“You heard me. You can cover your eyes with this tie, or I can tie your wrists with it.” My lips spread into a smile. “Either works for me.”

“You’re so bad.” She poked my chest, and I blindly captured her wrist, yanking her against me.

“But you like it.”

Her lips brushed across mine, and she nipped at my bottom lip. “You are going to be in so much trouble tonight,” I teased.

“Mm. I can’t wait,” she whispered against my lips.

I slipped my hands down to her jeaned arse and squeezed. I groaned and shook my head. “Now, where are we going?”

“Patience, Mr. McGregor.” God, this woman loved to torture me. “You’ll need to get inside the passenger seat of your car.” I started for the tie, but she reached for my hand. “I won’t crash your Porsche, I promise.”

I blew out a breath. “Being blindfolded while you drive my car is not exactly what I had in mind when I taught you to drive a stick.”

Then I heard the sound of my car door opening, and she was urging me inside.

“This better be one hell of a surprise. I’m hoping it doesn’t involve clothes.”

I heard the sound of the engine a minute later, and Anna reached over and patted my leg. “Don’t worry, love,” she said, and I could hear the smile in her voice. “I’ll get us there in one piece.”

“Mm. Hm.”

“It’s a five-minute drive. Relax.”

“Five minutes with you behind the wheel could give me a heart attack. Maybe it’s a good thing I can’t see.”

“I’m not that bad of a driver,” she yelped.

“Not that bad, hm? Maybe you should stick to riding horses, love.”

A playful slap on my chest had me shaking my head, biting back the laughter. “Or just stick to riding me.”

“Adam,” she warned.

I held my hands up in submission. “Okay. Okay.”

I attempted to relax as she drove. Moments later, I fumbled around with the controls for the music. She brushed my hand out of the way.

“Are you serious?” I said as she settled on a station. “Justin Bieber? Now this is officially torture.”

“The fact that you even know this is a Bieber song means you listen to him!”

“You tell anyone, and I’ll—”

“Uh huh. Sure.” She chuckled.

A few minutes (and one Bieber song) later, she stopped the car.

Anna came around and opened the door, helping me out. Not being in control was something I wasn’t quite used to.

“You ready?” she asked, wrapping an arm around mine.

A soft blast of heat greeted my skin. We must’ve been inside. The smell of fresh paint met my nostrils, and I pinched my brows together, trying to figure out where we were.

“Okay. I’m going to untie you now.” Her voice was shaky, but why? What had her so nervous?

I kept my eyes closed as she removed the tie.

“Open your eyes,” she said softly.

It took me a minute to figure out what I was looking at. Several kids from the center were standing before me with smiles on their faces, and so were my brothers, my sister, Ma, and Da . . . and we were standing in a boxing studio. There were mats on the floor, two fighting rings, heavy weight bags, free weights, and other equipment, throughout the large space.

“What’s going on?” I took a step back in surprise when my eyes landed on the back wall. Painted in red letters were the words: McGregor’s Gym; beneath it, in ancient Gaelic, were the symbols that matched part of my tattoo. Family.

Anna came around in front of me and slid her hands over the sleeve of my jacket, resting on the spot where I had marked myself, long before. “You see? I don’t think you need to choose between family and fighting. I think we had it all wrong. I think you can have both.”

My mouth parted open, prepared to reject her words, but she swept a finger up to my lips. “I’m not saying you should fight competitively.” She shook her head. “But when I saw you training at your home that night, well, you were moving so gracefully. It was actually kind of beautiful. Martial arts doesn’t have to be brutal. It can teach respect and discipline, and I was thinking that maybe you’d enjoy sharing your knowledge with others.” She cleared her throat and took a step back, opening her palms in the air. “After some heavy persuasion, your sister agreed to help me, and we had this studio built for you. It took a couple months, but we thought this could be another haven for the kids.”

A martial arts studio as a haven? I wasn’t so sure about that. But if kids were going to learn to fight, maybe it was better they did it here under the supervision of an adult. They could learn how to assess an opponent, to know when it was appropriate to fight.

I dragged my palms down my face and looked over at my family. “Are you serious?” I looked back at her. Part of me was excited, but I was also terrified. In the last three months, I hadn’t even gone near a boxing studio. I didn’t need fighting because I had Anna. But . . .

“Why?” I choked out the word, suddenly overwhelmed by my emotions.

She shot me a nervous smile. “Because I love you. And I know you say that you don’t need it, that you’re happy without fighting, but—”

I pulled Anna into my arms and kissed her, pressing my lips hard against hers as my hand cupped the back of her head. I didn’t give a damn who was watching. I loved this woman so damn much that I couldn’t breathe.

After a minute I stepped back and stared at her. Anna was panting a little, her eyes shimmering. “Thank you.”

Those two words could not begin to capture how appreciative I was of her.

“So you’re okay with this? Not mad?” She bit her lip and fidgeted with her hands in front of her.

My gaze slid across the room and over at the fifteen or so people around us. No one was saying a word, which was highly unusual for this group.

“I could never be mad at you.” I smiled at her as I reached for her hand. “But there is one thing.” My heart tapped inside my chest like a hard clenched fist, pounding and pounding. I dropped to one knee, still holding her hand.

I barely heard the gasps from those surrounding us as I looked up at her. All I could focus on was the courageous woman before me. Her hand was trembling, and I brought my other one over it to warm her.

I bowed my head for a moment before looking back up at her with a smile. “I’m completely screwing this up,” I muttered. “I had this whole thing planned for next weekend—I was going to take you to the Ha’Penny Bridge. I got a ring and one of those lover locks . . . of course I left those at home.” I exhaled a deep breath as I noticed Anna’s free hand cover her mouth.

“But I’m a bloody idiot—I can’t wait another week. Or even a day. Marry me, Anna. Marry me. You talk about how I’ve made your dreams come true, love. Please, Anna, make mine come true, too.”

Tears streaked down her cheeks as she nodded. “Yes,” she whispered.

I stood back up, staring into her emerald green eyes. I held her forearms, bracing myself—not sure if I could remain upright.

“Kiss her! Kiss her!” the kids chanted, and I think even Ma was, too.

“Well?” Anna smiled through her tears. “You gonna kiss me or what?”

My throat constricted, and I couldn’t speak.

I was so utterly happy.

Gloves on, gloves off—it didn’t matter anymore. If Anna was by my side, I’d be the luckiest Irishman on God’s green earth.

“Anna McGregor,” I murmured. “I love the sound of that.” She gasped as I swept her off her feet and pulled her tight against me, holding her in my arms. Our lips locked . . . and Anna stole my breath, just as she’d done the first time I laid eyes upon her.