Duncan: The Lucky Irish Series - Book 1

by Anna Castor

  She said nothing, just stood there with wide eyes. Then she looked at the ground and shook her head.

  Duncan tilted her chin with his knuckle so he could look into her eyes again. “Kayla, buster, wildflower... beautiful. Do you know why I have all of these names for you?”

  Kayla shook her head. Duncan knew that he had to fight for her to understand, but that was okay. He happened to be a fighter; he could throw some figural punches.

  “Because you are all I need. The intoxicating wildflower who had me from the moment she bumped into me, the independent Kayla, the playful buster, and the beautiful woman that makes my heart beat a thousand times faster. If you tell me that you’ll be having my baby, I would be experiencing yet another side of you. I want that. I want all of you.”

  A tear slipped from her eye and down over her cheek, falling to the ground before he could wipe it away with his thumb. “I know... I know you’re not ready. Hell, maybe you’re right and I’m not ready either, but in the future? Fuck yeah, Kayla.”

  She shifted onto her tiptoes, placed her hands on his chest, and kissed his lips. “You’re still crazy, Dunc.”

  “Well, I know I love you, and I know you love me. I know that I’ve already let your father know that I’ll be coming by to ask for your hand in marriage, and he didn’t even bat an eye.”

  Kayla eyes went wide, and she shrieked, “I don’t believe it. Really?”

  Duncan’s chest puffed out with pride. “Fuck yeah. So, Kayla, we’ll keep on doing what we do. You live with me, your sisters will live at your place by themselves, and we can even get a new house. We’ll get married, get a dog, and have four little Duncans and two little Kaylas.”

  She smiled up at him. “If this is supposed to be a proposal, then it’s a no.” She smirked at Duncan and bumped her naked hip into him.

  “Mmm, I know, but don’t be surprised to find me doing it the right way sometime soon.” He kissed her nose, and she smiled dreamily. He then picked her up and walked them back into the bedroom as she clung to him with her legs around his hips.

  “Come on, buster, let’s see if you’re still ticklish.”

  EXCERPT FROM

  Coming soon from Anna Castor

  Unedited and subject to change.

  Nothing screams ‘boring’ more than spending your Saturday night alone on the sofa when everyone you know is out partying together. It wasn’t like Kate hadn’t been invited; she even had a discussion about not going with both of her sisters, who for the likes of them couldn’t understand why she wanted to stay home alone.

  She had to feign sickness for them to leave without her tonight, because if her sisters Kayla and Errin got a hint of Kate sitting pathetic and alone with a pint of chunky monkey ice cream, they would bust down the door and drag her out by her hair.

  Ugh. Kate was so unlike them. She loved both with all of her heart, just like she loved the rest of her family. But sometimes, she just needed time for herself. Now that she’d moved to Austin to live in Kayla’s former apartment, she was literally stuck with the most bubbly Walsh sister, Errin, who’d moved into the other vacant room. Errin’s power was switched on from dusk till dawn. The Walsh family even compared her to the Energizer Bunny.

  Bunny, as they nicknamed Errin, also gave her opinion on just about anything and everything. After a couple of months living under the same roof together again, Kate was reminded why she had rather liked living on her own in New Jersey.

  Kate glanced at herself in the mirror as she wiped her face clean from makeup. With her hair in a bun on top of her head and dressed in her onesie with a yellow-and-pink cupcakes print, she was ready to veg out in front of the TV. She had her flurry flamingo slippers placed on the ironically same printed flamingo pouf that was part of the interior left by the owner of this apartment.

  Kate took a bite of her ice cream and moaned at the taste. She’d put on a rerun of the TV show The Bachelor and couldn’t believe the things some of the women said on national television. She guffawed at a certain bleached blond bimbo who was talking about how she would make the man, the bachelor, fall for her during the show. The bimbo stated that she had certain qualities that had never let her down before.

  During her laughing fit, Kate heard the doorbell ring. Who could be standing in front of her door on a Saturday night at nine thirty? Everyone she knew in Austin was at the same party in the pub owned by the family of Kayla’s boyfriend. Her sisters would’ve used their key to come in, so it had to be someone else.

  After the attacks on her sister Kayla, she was certain to check the peephole first. Her breath hitched when she saw him standing there with his gaze trained on her door. Why was he here? Shouldn’t he be at the party for his brother Ronan in the pub by now? She had texted his other brother, Brennan, who organized the party, earlier that she wasn’t able to come tonight.

  Ronan had won an important MMA match yesterday. He wanted to celebrate with his family, and apparently she classified as such, as her sister Kayla was living happily with his brother Duncan.

  She figured that no one would miss Kate being there and secretly rejoiced in the thought of spending a night alone with her ice cream and guilty pleasure on the screen. How delightful to have a night without Bunny sitting next to her, talking through the people on the TV so she had to rewatch the whole show.

  “I know you’re there, Kate. Please open the door.”

  She stood still while holding her breath. Maybe he was just being his cocky self and he’d only figured she had to be home as she was not in Lucky tonight. Where else would she be, right? Maybe he hadn’t really heard her. Speaking of unnerving men, the one person that could rattle Kate like no other was standing on the other side of the door.

  Donovan Mills was certifiably sex on a stick. He was everything she’d always read about on her e-reader. She devoured several books a week, mostly stories about domineering alpha males who were always in control and liked to show the heroine how good it would feel to let go and hand over the reins to them.

  She’d fantasized about Donovan ever since they’d first met five months ago, when he held her hand in his family’s pub Lucky and stared into her eyes. They stood there for what had felt like hours but was only a mere moment. He gazed into her eyes and all she could see was him. She had been struck by the Donovan lightning bolt, as she named it. Yes, the same lightning bolt she unfortunately had seen other women be struck by since then.

  He was tall, about six foot four, with a strong and muscular build and a lean waist. Kate was first drawn to his icy gray eyes that stood out from his tanned complexion and dark, wavy hair. The black strands fell a bit over his eyes and he often blinked his long lashes as to get rid of the strands bothering his eye.

  He stared at her as if he wondered how she got there, like he wanted to know how he could keep her there. He listened to her talk about her job in New Jersey and he never gave others even a bit of attention. Not even when Errin whined that he left her standing without helping her to a chair.

  Donovan asked her about her life and he made her feel so special, as if he only had eyes for her. She’d never experienced a more intense person before. He intrigued her as he made her feel treasured and she’d been infatuated with him ever since.

  But after her move to Austin in July, the first night they saw each other again in Lucky wasn’t at all she had imagined. He flirted with other women in front of her. It had hurt that he didn’t talk to her and in the end even took two women home with him. In the past two months she made sure to steer clear of him and she often left early from gatherings where he would attend. She just didn’t want to sit on the front row of the Donovan Lightning Bolt Show.

  “Exhale and let me in before you pass out, Kate.”

  What in the world was she to do now? He really knew she was standing behind her door, holding her breath for him to leave.

  “I’m sick and I don’t want to give you the same bug.”

  She rolled her eyes at herself. That was probably
the most lame response he’d ever heard. Donovan Mills wasn’t one to brush off; she figured that he wouldn’t leave that easily.

  “Open the door,” he said sternly.

  She exhaled again, which came out as a big sigh.

  “Don’t you sigh at me.”

  Kate now rolled her eyes at Donovan, behind the safety of the closed doors. She grinned at her own cowardice and opened the door.

  “Why are you smiling? I don’t find it funny that you would’ve left me standing here if I hadn’t heard you. I should throw you over my knee for that,” he said as he raised an eyebrow at her.

  Kate wanted to act indifferent at his remark about putting her over his knee, but she could feel her skin heating up at the thought. God, was it warm in here or...? Oh no! She remembered her cupcake onesie and fluffy flamingo slippers. Her cheeks reddened even more and if she could’ve, she would’ve died right there of embarrassment.

  “Nice flamingos, cupcake.”

  She looked at her fluffy flamingos and instantly hated the sight of them. She was supposed to be a twenty-seven-year-old seductress, a self-assured woman who Donovan would want above all others. In her dreams at night, at least she was. Never in her wildest dreams would he see her in a ice cream stained cupcake onesie.

  “What are you doing here?” she decided to ask instead of responding to his sudden nick name for her.

  Donovan passed her in the hallway and strolled into the living room. Kate took the opportunity to take in his deliciously filled slacks. The man really had a nice, firm backside. Kate shook her head and followed him into the living room where she saw him picking up her spoon and ice cream pint as he served himself to a bite.

  “Mmmm.”

  Donovan licked his full lips, and Kate stood frozen as she couldn’t take her eyes off him. He sat down on the sofa and patted the seat next to him after he placed the pint back on the coffee table.

  “Come sit with me.”

  Kate nodded and shuffled awkwardly toward the sofa. She planted herself next to him with enough room to put a pillow in between them. As he turned his body toward her, his eyes raked her body from head to toe.

  Kate jumped a bit when Donovan suddenly barked out a laugh with his head back against the back of the sofa. His loud laugh was all that was needed to get out of the Donovan trance she was in since the first time they’ve met.

  She looked at him sitting in her apartment, dressed to the nines in a black dress shirt and slacks, with his domineering aura and that beautiful face... laughing at her. She hadn’t asked him to come over. She didn’t want to feel self-conscious, even if her outfit was rather ridiculous. Wasn’t there a bimbo at the party for him to take home? Why was he even here?

  “Get out,” she said in a calm and even voice as she narrowed her eyes at him.

  He instantly stopped laughing and his eyes grew big.

  “Pardon?” he said, as if he really hadn’t heard correctly.

  “I want you to leave. Now,” Kate said as she stood from the couch.

  She entered the hallway and reached for the front door but then she felt two big hands on her shoulders as she was suddenly turned by Donovan. Even though he did hurt her feelings by laughing at her, she felt safe with him. But he’d ripped open old wounds which she never wanted to attend to again. Not even for him. Who in the hell did he think he was?

  Thank you, Hot Tree Self-Publishing, and especially Olivia, for putting up with this newbie writer. You took me proverbially by the hand and showed me where to begin, inspired and motivated me to keep on going, and also got me to finish my very first novel with pride in my work.

  Without my betas—Rebecca, McKinley, Gimenez, Janet, Donna, and Kirstin—and the very keen eyes of Virginia, Kristin, and Barbara, I couldn’t have done this. Thank you for all your hard work. I’m so grateful for your insights, notes, questions, comments, and thousands of inserted commas and other punctuation.

  Thank you, Tracey, for making the cover exactly what I had in mind. I’m happy that you’ve proven yourself to be a perfect mind reader ;)

  To Lori, my dear friend who was the first to hear about my absurd idea to stop my work as a wedding photographer so I could start a new career as a novelist. Your immediate support and motivational speech whilst walking in Madrid, Spain will be forever engraved in my heart.

  To my family, my husband and three daughters, you give me so much inspiration on writing about love and strong-willed heroines in particular. Every day, you make me feel so loved, and I can only hope that I’m making you proud.

  Anna Castor lives in a small town near Amsterdam, The Netherlands, with her husband and their three young daughters. When she’s not writing and has some time left between bringing her kids to school and picking them up from play dates or volleyball practice, she’s glued to her e-reader. Reading and writing sweep her away into other people’s lives.

  As a former wedding photographer, she found the best part of the job, next to creating beautiful pictures for the happy couple, was getting to hear their love story. Every wedding had a different story to tell: the histories of the bride and groom, their family dynamics, their challenges in life, and of course, how they met and fell in love. Anna loved being a small part of their lives during the wedding and telling their stories with her pictures.

  And now Anna takes her readers with her into the lives of her characters, the troubles and hardships they may come across on the journey to a happily ever after.

  Anna loves to hear from readers. Connect with her online:

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