Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 105065 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 525(@200wpm)___ 420(@250wpm)___ 350(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105065 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 525(@200wpm)___ 420(@250wpm)___ 350(@300wpm)
He sends me flying over the edge with only a full minute of effort before I collapse against him.
“Have I worn ye out, love?”
When I blink open my eyes, there’s a satisfied smirk on his face. “Yes,” I answer.
“Grand,” he murmurs against my lips. “Ye know I’ll murder anyone else who touches you, Mack. Just remember that.”
He’s not saying these things for show. I really think he would kill someone who tried to touch me. I wrap my arms around him and stroke the back of his neck as I stare up at him earnestly. “I would never do that to you.”
He nods, but doesn’t look convinced. Can’t say that I blame him after last night.
“I have to head on,” he says. “I won’t be in until late, but Ronan’s on his way back here now to take ye home.”
Home. As in his place. How comfortable he is with dropping that word. In another lifetime, I imagine what it would have been like for me to meet Lachlan. If Talia were still here, and she wasn’t the reason I was doing this, could I be with a man like him? Be the little woman to a mobster? I don’t know, but a part of me strongly suspects that I wouldn’t be able to help myself.
Lach brushes his lips against mine one last time and straightens his clothes before he walks towards the door. He gives me one last glance and a wink.
“Be good, butterfly.”
“I will,” I reassure him.
He turns again, but something else slips out of my lips. Something crazy.
“Lach?”
“Aye, sweetheart?”
“Be careful.”
This earns me a boyish smile. And fuck me if I’m not grinning right back at the goofy bastard.
***
When the door opens again, I figure it’s Ronan, so I finish up counting the bottles before I spin around. But when I notice Sean standing there, his eyes on my body, my stomach rolls. Is this why Lachlan came and fucked me earlier? Because he knew one of his men would try to corner me like this?
“Hello there.” Sean winks. “I didn’t know you were in here.”
Yeah, sure you didn’t. Asshole. I smile sweetly and shrug. “It’s okay. I was just about to leave anyway. Ronan’s taking me home.”
I hope this will make him back down, but not so.
“You’re sure a pretty little thing, aren’t you?”
“Thanks,” I say tightly.
I try to move past him and reach for the door, but he grabs me by the arm and holds me in place.
“What’s the rush?” he asks.
“I told you, Ronan’s waiting for me.”
“Last I checked Ronan does as I tell him,” he replies. “He can wait a little longer.”
If he were anybody else, I’d have punched his lights out by now. But this is Niall’s son. And I’m in a very precarious position. Sean full well knows it too. I doubt there are many women who have the balls to stand up to him, knowing what he can do to them.
“I can see why Crow likes you,” he says. “Why don’t you stick around and have a drink with me.”
“I’d love to,” I try to keep my tone even and patient. “But it’s been a long day, and I’m really tired. How about a rain check?”
His eyes narrow, and his grip tightens around my arm. A little bit of panic wells up inside of me. I don’t want to hurt him, but no way am I going to let him touch me. I know I should be agreeing to his request. Asking him questions, trying to get the information I need. That was my original plan. But that was before I started focusing on Donny. Now I want to stay as far away from Sean as I can help.
“Let me rephrase that,” Sean says in a tone that brooks no argument. “You’re bedding one of our men at a time when the syndicate is vulnerable. And I don’t trust him to vet someone he’s putting his cock in. So here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to have a drink together, and you’re going to answer my questions. Understand?”
Fucking prick. I nod and yank my arm away. “Of course.”
The door opens, and Ronan lurks in the frame, his eyes filled with accusation when he catches me standing with Sean in the small space.
“Ah, perfect timing,” Sean says. “Ronan, fetch us a couple drinks, will ya?”
I shoot Ronan a glare right back, letting him know this is not my doing. He presses his lips together and leaves without a word, of course.
“Come, sit down.” Sean points at the table and chairs in the back corner.
I follow him obediently when all I really want to do is punch him in the kidney. I pull my chair out of arm’s reach of his and sit down, and his eyes spark with annoyance as he watches me. Ronan appears a moment later, two glasses of some kind of whiskey on hand. I take mine and throw it back in one shot, not even caring what it is.
“You can leave now,” Sean barks at Ronan.
He’s still standing beside me, almost protectively, his hesitation obvious. I glance up at him and smile, letting him know I’ve got this. Sean might be Niall’s son, and he might be intimidating to everybody else, but he has another thing coming if he thinks he’s getting his mitts on me.
Ronan’s fists curl up at his sides, but he leaves as requested.
Sean sips on his drink, eyes appraising me over the rim of his glass before he sets it back on the table. “I assume Crow has told you we have a traitor in our midst,” he says. “So this is just normal protocol. I’m sure you understand.”
“Of course.” I give him a tight smile. Lachlan never told me any such thing. “Ask me anything you want, Mr. MacKenna.”
His eyes flash at the very impersonal reference, and I delight in that a little too much.
“Crow has a tendency to get distracted by a nice pair of tits,” he says, using the excuse to check me out again. “But he gets bored easily. It can be detrimental to the syndicate when he’s bringing strange women into the fold.”