Saving a Legend(102)

“I think I’ve been here before, I—” she began to tease before he interrupted her. Kieran placed his index finger over her lips, quieting her as he smiled.

“I have a question for you.” Kieran removed his hand. “How often do you want the store to be open?”

“Well, I’d be profitable if I could be open more hours a day.” She shrugged, blushing slightly at what she thought of as a failure. With Shea now in a much better school program all day, and with the help of Kieran’s parents, she’d been able to put in considerably more hours at her shop and was making progress on paying back her bank loan. It wasn’t as fast as she wanted, but she was getting closer than she ever thought she would.

Only a few months earlier, she was sure her entire world had fallen apart, but Kieran proved himself to be the man she’d thought he was. He was doing great at his job at Legends, was off parole, and had not had a single legal issue since. He’d not only built a successful life for himself, but he included both her and Shea in every aspect of it.



“If you lived closer, do you think that would make it easier?” he asked.

“Of course it would, but is that an option? Did you want to try to find a place near here?” Fiona looked up and down the block. “It’s a very expensive neighborhood, Kieran.”

“Fi, we’re in the Bronx, not Beverly Hills.” Kieran chuckled, then pulled a set of keys out of his pocket and walked past the shop door to a smaller door a few feet away.

“What are you doing?” She scurried after him as he unlocked the door and stepped into the building. “This leads to the apartments above the shop.”

“Soon to be apartment…singular,” he told her as he motioned her toward the stone steps in front of them.

Frowning, she climbed them quickly, reaching a short hallway at the top that led to a small lobby with several apartment doors on each side. “Welcome home, Fi.”

“I don’t understand. Are you renting one of these apartments?”

“Think bigger.”

She stared at him but couldn’t understand what he was talking about.

“I bought the building and put it in your name, Fi. It’s all yours now. The apartments, the shop, all of it. Everyone who is here has a lease that’s up within the next month, and I notified them two months ago that I’d help them to find new places to live and would contribute to their moving costs. Once they’re all out, we’ll renovate and combine all four apartments into one big home for you and Shea right over the shop.”



Fiona’s eyes widened and she shook her head, trying to catch her breath.

“It’ll take a couple months, but I hope you like the plan…”

“You bought the building? Including my shop?” She couldn’t wrap her mind around what he was saying.

“Technically, yes, but legally, it’s yours. You’ll never have to worry about coming home late or being away from Shea again, Fi.” He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her against him, kissing gently at her cheeks, forehead, and the tip of her nose before sealing her lips with his.

“This is too much,” she whispered between kisses.

He shook his head, disagreeing. “I’ve spent all this time trying to figure out what I wanted to do after prison, but when I met you, I knew. I knew I wanted to have a family, and to help other people. You and Shea are like a packaged family, all ready to go. I’ve got the director job at the gym, and all of my brothers and I own stock in Legends. I made some pretty great investments back in the day that are still paying off. We’re even starting a pro bono MMA program for at-risk youth right in the gym itself. All of that, plus you and Shea, it’s everything I could ever want from life.”

“What are you saying?” Fiona smiled, her eyes traveling to his lips as her heart felt so full she was sure it would burst. “Do you want to move in together?”

“Hell yes, but not right now. I want to do this right. We have a little girl to be an example for. I don’t want to skip any steps, I want to take each one with you.”



“I want that, too.” Fiona squeezed his hand in hers. “So, so badly.”

He removed his hand from hers and stepped back, pulling a small black box out of his pocket. “Then take this next one with me, Fi.”

Fiona’s mouth fell open as Kieran got down on one knee in front of her and opened a ring box. The most beautiful white gold ring overflowing with diamonds sparkled back at her, and she was sure she’d never be able to take another breath.

“Fi, when I first met you downstairs at the flower shop, my entire life fell into place. For years and years, I’d been making a mess of everything, not fitting in anywhere. I was living only for myself and I thought I was happy, but I wasn’t.”