Lachlan: A Dark Irish Mafia Romance (Dangerous Doms)

by Jane Henry

  I want to kiss her so badly I can’t breathe. I can already taste her, so sweet and seductive, she’d pull me under, never to resurface again.

  They’d kill me. Nolan first, but Cormac and Keenan would help him finish me off. That is, if Sheena didn’t murder me with her own bare hands before they got to me.

  “You’re lying to me, lass,” I whisper in her ear. Her hair tickles my nose and brushes my hand, warm and intimate. I’m washed in the scent of warm vanilla. “You know I expect you to tell me the truth.”

  And I do. I’ve told myself I’m like her older brother, stepping in to take care of her when necessary. I’ve made her report to me, insisted on her safety, and I won’t allow her to lie.

  But Jesus, I’m no brother to her.

  She doesn’t respond, but places her hand on my wrist. Maybe she meant to stop me, but she doesn’t push me away.

  “What if I am?” she whispers.

  I close my eyes against the rush of heat in my chest, at her flirty suggestion.

  “Lying?”

  “Aye.”

  “You know better than to lie to me.”

  A girl who lies ought to be taught a lesson.

  The thought of punishing her makes a low hum of need coil in my belly, and I’ve barely even touched her. I’ve subdued my own desires, to master, dominate, and control. But I know what I want from Fiona. I know that she’d fight submitting to me, but I’d show her how good it could be.

  She shivers, but this time I don’t think it’s from cold.

  She tips her face up. I stare at the fullness of her lips. I bend down, and time stills. Her eyes close. Her lips part.

  And like a coward, I brush my lips across her cheeks.

  For long seconds she doesn’t breathe, before she pulls away. Moonlight glints on gold at her neck. The locket. She’s wearing the locket I got her, that I agonized over buying for her, afraid she’d read something into an intimate gift like jewelry. In the end, I felt it the right thing to do, though.

  “Take me home, Lachlan.”

  There’s a sadness in her voice that breaks my heart, a plaintive plea to take her away from what we can’t have. To bring her home to safety.

  I give myself one last second of closeness. My forehead on hers. Our breaths mingled with salty air. A hum of unrequited longing between us.

  “Let’s get you home,” I agree, unable to mask the resignation in my tone.

  I pull away from her, and she shivers. Swallowing hard, I swear she looks as if she’s going to cry again.

  “Don’t cry, lass,” I try to encourage. “Please don’t.”

  I take my hoodie from the pile of clothes and drape it over her. She swims in it, like a child playing dress-up. I’m torn between thinking she’s adorable and feeling like a prick for even wanting someone so young. She looks down bashfully and sticks her arms through the sleeves.

  “Thank you,” she says with a laugh. Thank God she can laugh still.

  “You’re freezing your arse off. Can hardly bring you home to Sheena and Nolan all frozen.”

  “Suppose not. Aren’t you going to freeze?”

  Not going to happen. My lust-filled blood pounds through my veins, boiling with need and longing.

  “Hardly,” is my only response.

  Tonight, I told Keenan I wasn’t going to Boston. I made the decision to stay right here where she is, though I don’t fucking know why if I can’t have her. I should trust my brothers to give her the protection she truly needs.

  It’s freed me, though. I didn’t tell him why, and a part of me wondered if he knew without me saying, for he agreed readily and said he’d assign me duties this morning. It’s partly why I came for a late-night swim, to clear my brain and school my thoughts. When I’m submerged in the depths of the frigid water, I can’t think of things I shouldn’t.

  “Have fun at the club tonight?” she asks. For some reason there’s an edge of hardness in her tone when she asks me, though she actually winces.

  Bloody hell. It was her.

  “What do you mean?” I ask. “At the club? So help me, Fiona, if you tell me you’ve been to the Craic—” That quickly, she’s renewed my desire to punish her. More than once I’ve clenched my fingers when my palm itched to spank her good and hard.

  She wraps my hoodie around her like a blanket and snaps her eyes to mine. “And what if I have? Hmm? You’ve no control over me, Lachlan. You can’t tell me what to do.” She pauses, and her next sentence is weighty, laced with meaning. “Especially now that I’m an adult.”

  Is that hopeful challenge in her eyes?

  I stop and reach for her hand, making her stop. “Were you at the Craic tonight?”

  Christ, I’m glad I didn’t touch another woman.

  “I don’t have to answer to you, you know.”

  I reach for her arm and grab at thin air as she’s marching away. We’re almost back at her family home, only paces from her door now.

  “You’re a right brat sometimes,” I mutter, and for one brief moment I consider stopping her right here and yanking her straight over my lap for the spanking she’s had coming for years. No one brings out fire in me like Fiona.

  “Fuck off,” she says. She spins around to tell me off, her eyes flashing at me. “If I want to go to the fucking Craic, I’ll go.” Her voice is strained, and her eyes flash at me. “If I want to go to Boston, I fucking will.” She juts her chin into the air. “I told them tonight I would.”

  Boston?

  Jesus fucking Christ, she can’t be serious. One moment I want to pull her over my lap and redden her arse for her cheek. The next, I’m stricken.

  I’ve just told Keenan I’m not going. I’ve told him I’m staying here, and he’s already made arrangements for just that. I’m heading to Madrid in the morning.

  “You can’t be serious?”

  “I’m so fucking serious,” she says. Her voice catches at the end, and she’s swiping angrily at tears again. She breaks my heart when she cries.

  “Why? Why the bloody hell would you leave here and go so far away?”

  She looks me straight in the eyes and doesn’t blink.

  “Because of you,” she says, her voice tight and shaky. “You.”

  I feel my brows draw together in consternation.

  “Me?”

  “You,” she repeats, crying freely now. Her lower lip trembles. “You were with another woman at the club, and I know…” her voice wobbles. She blinks hard, shedding fat tears. “I know I have no claim on you, Lachlan. I know that. And I feel silly even admitting I’ve ever… ever hoped… but I did. I bloody well did. And to answer your question from earlier? Who made me cry? You.”

  And then she breaks down, turns from me, and lets herself in the house. The door slams behind her. I hear the final click of a lock and her distant sobs. I step toward her. I want to break this door down and yank her out. I want to shake her until her teeth rattle, then tell her she’s wrong, that I didn’t do anything with another woman, that she’s the only woman for me and always has been. Then I’d kiss her, long and hard, until she melted into my arms, where she belongs.

  I take a step toward the door when a voice comes behind me.

  “Wouldn’t do that, sir.”

  I swivel around to see the guard standing sheepishly a few paces behind me.

  “What the bloody hell are you doing here?”

  “My job, sir.” He’s below me in rank, so defers to me with respect. “I’m just… well, if you break down that door, I think Mr. McCarthy might not be happy. They just installed that brand-new door a week ago, sir. Custom.”

  I know he’s right, but I’m fucking pissed. “Who the bloody hell asked you?” I bellow. He flinches as if I struck him. Good. I wish he’d give me half a reason to.

  I turn away and go back home. The wind bites at my still-damp, naked skin, but I barely feel it. What the hell is she talking about? And what does she mean, she’s going to Boston?

  Chapter 5

 
Fiona

  When I shut the door behind me, I could hear him on the other side. I felt like a jerk for the way I treated him, but bloody hell, he’s the one that was with another woman. He’s the one that won’t kiss me. He’s the one that will barely touch me.

  Why?

  I’ve made my decision.

  I tear off his sweatshirt and whip it into the corner of my room, but when I climb into bed, I can’t sleep. Reluctantly, and with another fresh round of tears that will do my bloody head in, I finally get his hoodie, drape it around me, and fall to sleep enveloped in his scent.

  Maybe I like to torture myself.

  I avoid him the next few days. Nolan makes plans with Keenan. Honestly, it should take a while for me to get my paperwork and bearings to head to Boston, but with the connections the McCarthy family has, I’m a registered student at Boston University by sunset the next day. School starts soon, and I’m eager to go.

  I numb myself to the pain I feel leaving this family home. Leaving my friends and family to go to a foreign place. But when I left my home in Stone City, I made a promise to myself that I will not back down from. I said I’d never stop myself from doing what was right for me out of fear. Ever. And I bloody well won’t.

  So, I go through the motions. I say goodbye to my friends, and Aisling’s thrilled I’m joining her after all. We’re even rooming together, again, thanks to Keenan’s connections. He’s orchestrated all of it.

  I busy myself with all that I have to do. It’s the only way I ignore the pang in my chest at saying goodbye to Megan, to my brother Sam, to Nolan. My only consolation is that Tiernan will be waiting for me at Logan airport when I get to Boston.

  I wish that Lachlan would chase me a little, if I’m honest. But he doesn’t.

  I haven’t seen Lachlan since the night I stormed off.

  I can’t take it anymore. The day my plane is scheduled to leave, I text Megan.

  Hey, so… have you seen Lachlan?

  She responds right away.

  Megan: Not in a few days, though Carson told me Nolan had an international job that was pressing?

  I swallow the lump in my throat.

  Do you know where?

  Megan: No. I’m sorry, Fiona. I know it’s hard for you.

  I don’t bother to deny it. It’s bloody fucking hard.

  Nolan would know, but I can’t bring myself to ask him. There’s a reason why they’re evasive with what they do, so I don’t push it.

  They have a dinner for me the night I leave, with all my favorite foods, but I hardly taste them. I scan the crowd for the one face I hope to see, knowing before I do he won’t be there.

  “Best of luck, lass,” Keenan says, giving me a big brotherly hug. “It’s been a pleasure seeing you grow, how well you’ve done. You’ll take Boston by storm.”

  I feel my cheeks flush a little. “Thank you,” I say bashfully. He’s Clan Chief, older than Nolan and Lachlan, and he’s stern but kind, with a decided paternal air about him.

  “If you need anything at all, you just say the word. And you’ll always have a home here,” Keenan says. “I mean it, Fiona.”

  I nod. “Thanks so much.” God, I love this family.

  I’ve got a bank account and a debit card, and my belongings should be waiting for me on campus.

  Sheena and Nolan drive me to the airport.

  “I’ll miss you,” my little brother Sam says. His wide eyes look woeful, a shock of red hair falling across his forehead.

  “I’ll call you all the time,” I promise. “And send you loads of things.”

  He nods, but his tear-filled eyes make my own water.

  I release a deep breath. I’m looking forward to a little freedom. A chance to spread my wings. My grief at what happened between me and Lachlan lingers, and will for some time, but right now, I’m trying to be hopeful.

  “On the plane, your guard will be on your left and right,” Nolan says from the driver’s seat. And my mind comes to a screeching, stuttering halt.

  “Excuse me?”

  My guard?

  He looks at me in the rearview mirror. “You know your guard will accompany you to Boston, don’t you?”

  “Oh. Okay, and then leave me there, right?”

  Sheena looks over her shoulder at me. “Of course not, Fiona. Are you out of your mind?”

  “I’ll have a guard in Boston? Are you kidding me? Nolan, tell me it isn’t so!”

  “Of course it is,” he says, half-glaring at me. “And why bloody not?”

  I open my mouth, then slam it shut. I need to think before I speak. I sigh. “I just… didn’t know I wouldn’t have any freedom.”

  “You’ll have freedom, lass,” Nolan says. “Promise. But you’ll also have protection. The McCarthy guard will bring you to school, and we’ve connections that will see to your guard at school.”

  Of course I bloody will. I stifle a groan. Why didn’t I think of this?

  “Alright, then,” I say. “Though I don’t know how that’ll work in my postage-stamp-sized bedroom.”

  “We’ll make it work.”

  I mumble under my breath but don’t respond. I don’t want to fight with him, not when he’s given so much.

  When I board the plane, I recognize the suited guard, though thankfully they’re discreet. No one knows the man on my left and the man on my right bear McCarthy Clan ink and loaded weapons. I have no idea how they possibly got through security, but apparently, they have ways.

  I can’t help it. I look around the plane for him, but he isn’t there.

  Of course he isn’t. He’s away on international business.

  Still, it feels as if someone’s watching me the entire flight to Boston. I tell myself it’s my guard, since they’re watching my every move, but it’s unsettling.

  I’m exhausted when I get in, and I’m so thankful Tiernan’s waiting at the gate. I’ve missed him so. I run to him, and he gathers me to him in a big bear hug.

  “Ah, look at you,” he says with older brother pride. “I’m so happy you’ve come here, Fiona. You’ll love Boston.”

  It’s hard to love anything when you’re heartsick, but I’ll do my best. He takes my bags and leads me to the parking lot where a sleek black car awaits. Who’d have known this was where we’d end up? Two kids from Stone City, globe-trotting, their every need met.

  Well. Almost every need. I can’t dull the ache in my chest.

  “Aye, I bet,” I tell him. “Aisling’s going to show me around. Can you join us?”

  “Wish I could,” he says. “But I’ve got work.”

  “Ah. Next time.”

  We chat easily about life at home, who he misses and how everyone is. Everyone but Lachlan. He doesn’t ask questions, and I don’t supply answers. I wonder if Sheena’s said anything to him about us.

  I’m utterly shattered by the time we make it to the bustling, teeming campus. Aisling runs up to me, and I’m instantly enveloped in a sea of wild blonde curls. Tiernan grabs us both before we tumble to the ground.

  “Easy, there,” he says. “Might not want to get a concussion your first day here, eh?”

  Aisling lets me go and stares at him with wide eyes. “Fiona,” she whispers in a stage whisper. “You didn’t tell me you were bringing Tiernan with you. And you furthermore didn’t tell me how hot he got now that he’s all grown up and… hairy… and inked.”

  I can tell he heard her by the way his lips twitch and he looks away, the way all the men of the Clan do to give you the illusion of privacy while they listen to every word and note every detail.

  I snort. “First, since when is hairy sexy?”

  “When he’s a bearded god of a man,” she moans.

  “Jesus, get yourself a vibrator, woman,” I mutter. “Ew, that inked, hairy god of a man is my feckin’ brother. Tiernan met me at the airport, but believe me, he wants nothing to do with young folk like us.” I give him a teasing wink. “He’s got manly business to attend to.”

  Her eyes rove over
him, and for the first time in probably ever, I realize what he might look like to someone else. Tall and muscular, stern and unyielding, the very stance he takes imbued with latent power and strength. To me, he will always be my older brother, the one who’s looked out for me since the day I was born.

  Though he’s only three and a half years my senior, it’s often felt as if he were much older, since he carried the weight of so much on his shoulders. At only sixteen years old, the men of the Clan welcomed him into the fold. He now stands as proud as any of them, trained in self-defense and the Irish martial arts, marked with McCarthy Clan ink.

  Tiernan bends down and gives me another hug. “I’ll leave you two to do your… college thing,” he says with a grin. He winks at Aisling and to her utter horror, ruffles her fluffy blonde hair before he goes. “Check in, sis?” he says over his shoulder, and I know him well enough to know it isn’t a suggestion.

  “Aye,” I say. “Will do.”

  “Jesus, Fiona,” Aisling says, watching wistfully after Tiernan. “He’s bloody hot, isn’t he?”

  I cringe. “Oh, God, shut it, Ais. Still my brother.”

  “Don’t I know it,” she says with a sigh. “But it seems last time I looked at him, he was all gangly and freckly, no? Now look at him, all… muscles and ink.”

  “All the men of the Clan are muscles and ink,” I say, immediately wishing I hadn’t, as my own bloody words conjure up the image of mesmerizing hazel eyes, powerful inked arms, and a lopsided grin that would melt my knickers.

  I cringe harder. “Can we please stop talking about my brother?”

  Or any men of the Clan, my mind supplies.

  Aisling and I have been friends since I first moved to Ballyhock, and her very presence brings a touch of solace to the homesick pain of my heart. She knows I’m associated with the Clan, but I don’t think she’s ever fully processed what that means. In her mind, as in the mind of so many residents of Ballyhock, they’re sort of superheroes.

  She grabs my hand and leads me around the campus. The main campus is snug along the Charles River, large buildings and sprawling lawns with busy students and teachers buzzing about like bees. Even though my heart longs to be back in Ireland, my feet firmly planted in the lush green grass on the McCarthy family lawn, I look around me in wonder. I’ve never seen anything like this.