by Kasey Krane
I told him I wasn’t hungry and ran back to my room.
He didn’t even bother coming after me.
My brain was a fuzz by the time I returned to the precinct with the food. I didn’t even care anymore if I got the orders right or not. I left all the food in the cafeteria and walked back to my desk, barely hearing anything anyone else was saying.
My parents’ marriage had deeply affected my life. In more ways than I was ever brave enough to admit. When I thought about it, I realized my childhood was the reason why I was always so afraid of commitment and getting married. Why I never wanted to rely on someone else for my happiness. I didn’t trust anyone. I especially didn’t trust men. They were guaranteed to disappoint and I didn’t want to deal with that again in my lifetime.
Was that why I had such a knee-jerk reaction to waking up and finding a ring on my finger?
Not only had I done the thing I was always so afraid of doing—getting married, but I’d married a complete stranger. I definitely couldn’t trust him. No matter how good the sex was.
He was a Doherty. He belonged to a mafia family that lived in a world of violence and crime. The very world my profession was at a constant battle with. I got into this job because I had a vested interest in peace. I wanted to fight against people who created turbulence in our cities and in this country. I wanted to play a role in fighting crime. How was I married into it?
I sat at my desk while my head spun.
I couldn’t align the two images together—the guy I had woken up to, the guy I had sex with that morning in the shower, did not make me angry or fearful. In fact, he had the opposite effect on me.
He calmed me. He made me feel safe. When I didn’t know who he was, I felt comfortable around him. Even though he was still a stranger. If I was crazy enough to ever actually marry someone, this was the image of a man I would have in mind.
I couldn’t picture him as a part of a mafia family. Not even when I saw him with the other Dohertys—his brothers. They looked normal. Well, sure, they were all ridiculously attractive, but other than that, they just looked like a group of men who were having fun together.
The accounts I read and the stories I heard about the kind of stuff his family had been involved in—did not fit what I saw.
Or was I just being delusional again? Was my judgement clouded by the sex and how he made me feel?
I reached into my purse sheepishly and rooted around for the ring. I just wanted to feel it in my hand again. I didn’t know why, but it brought me some sort of comfort. Like I felt closer to him.
“You messed up my order,” I heard a voice behind me. I spun around in my chair to find one of the detectives standing there, glaring down at me with his arms crossed over his chest.
“Okay, I’m sorry, I guess,” I replied distractedly.
He narrowed his eyes, a bitter smirk crossed his lips and he shook his head.
“Attention to detail is one of the qualities a good detective has. You’re clearly not going to make one,” he said.
I was too stunned to say anything for a few moments, and I just sat there in silence. He had already walked away when I opened my mouth.
“You’re harassing me,” I said.
He turned to me slowly as I stood up.
The floor was empty. Everyone else seemed to already have gone to lunch. So it was just him and me there.
From the look on his face, I could sense he was fuming. The trouble was—I didn’t know what he would do to me.
“What the fuck did you just say?” he growled.
“This is harassment. All of it. You are all abusing your positions here by using me to run your errands.” I crossed my arms over my chest just like he had.
“Just face it, Price, you’re not man enough for this precinct and you never will be.”
“No, I won’t, because I’ve got a pussy,” I said, walking past him.
It was his turn to be too stunned to say anything to me.
I knew he was staring after me, but I was glad I got the last word.
I went to the toilet and locked myself in a stall, trying to catch my breath.
I was worried I’d fucked up. These guys had more control over my career than I did. He could screw me over if he wanted to. We both knew that.
But the truth was, I didn’t regret it. He had it coming.
Apart from a pussy, I had something else none of these other guys did. I was married to a Doherty.
The more I thought about it, the more the idea took shape in my head.
What if I was somehow able to use this marriage to my benefit? Was there any chance I could get close to Colin and his family? Could I infiltrate the mafia? Could I go back with him to New York?
How crazy would that be? What would it mean for my career?
If I could get information nobody else around here could get their hands on—I’d be unstoppable. Every asshole here would have to eat his words and maybe then, maybe finally, they would learn to treat me with a little respect.
Now, all I had to do was convince Colin I was harmless.
The thought of seeing him again gave me a thrill I wasn’t expecting. And now I had the perfect excuse to be close to him again.
I was going to do it for the sake of my dreams.
Twelve
Colin
When I told Aidan I wanted to go back to the hotel and take some time off from the group, he seemed to jump at the idea. Almost like he wanted me to leave.
Maybe my hangover and my general gloom were acting as deterrents to their celebratory mood. I couldn’t really blame them. I would have hated being around myself.
I left them at the casino and returned to my hotel room. I wouldn’t have to put on a happy face and make conversation with anybody. I needed some time to myself and I needed time to think. Neither of which my brothers would understand.
I grabbed a few whiskey minis from the bar and climbed into bed, not even bothering to change out of my clothes.
I wasn’t as hungover anymore, just exhausted and on the brink of falling asleep.
I had the TV on but left it on mute, and I just lay there on the bed, surrounded by more alcohol than was good for me.
Clearly, the room had been given a clean because the sheets didn’t smell of Marley anymore. One of the first things I’d noticed when I woke up that morning was her perfume on the pillows. Even in the shower while I fucked her, the smell surrounded me and I was sure I would never forget it.
I couldn’t help but groan when I remembered the look on her face when she saw the ring on my finger. Horror mixed with confusion. She didn’t want it to be true. Was it me? Or was it the concept of marriage?
I didn’t know her well enough to know which one it was.
Did I know any girl well enough?
Anyone other than Tina?
Tina was the first person I had opened myself up to, and I was amazed that she had wanted to get to know me too.
I tried not to think about her. I closed my eyes and tried forcing myself to sleep, but the opposite happened. I was waking up more. My mind filled with dizzying thoughts of Tina.
Her face when I asked her out the first time.
She had bright red hair, the likes of which I’d never seen before. We were both seventeen. She was beautiful and I wanted her.
I didn’t think she would go for a guy like me. She knew about our family’s reputation. She knew the kind of life I was involved in, and Tina was a good girl. She was dating the jock in high school. She was in the cheerleading squad. She was popular.
She was the kind of girl I thought was too good for me, but I wanted what I saw and decided I had to have her. As it turned out, she wanted me too. The sex was going to be an adventure.
We fucked behind the bleachers one night after a game. Tina’s face was flushed after sex and I noticed how she couldn’t stop staring at me.
“Would your boyfriend be mad if I asked you out?” I said as I pulled my pants up. Tina blushed hard and I had no idea why.
“I don’t want to be with him anymore,” she replied.
We got into a relationship.
I’d gone all my teenage years so far without having an actual girlfriend, but Tina demanded it. She wanted to be known as Colin Doherty’s girlfriend and I wasn’t going to deny her.
This was the first girl who was able to make me stop in my self-destructive path and take a good look at myself in the mirror.
“You drink too much, Colin,” she said to me one morning when she woke up in my bed.
I could have thrown her out of my room. I hated being told what to do. But all I did was smile and she smiled too.
“It’s your life and I’m not going to tell you how to lead it. I’m just making an observation, that’s all.” She sounded too mature for her age. Wise beyond her years.
She was a good influence on me and it didn’t matter that I was getting sucked into being sentimental over a girl. Tina was worth it.
My father saw her in the house once. She was making herself a cup of coffee in the kitchen. At first he wasn’t sure whose girl she was. He assumed she was with Aidan.
“I’m Colin’s girlfriend.” I heard Tina’s voice in the kitchen while I rushed down the stairs. I didn’t realize Dad was at home. I’d never introduced him to any of the chicks I slept with. None of them ever stayed over.
Dad was standing there, stunned, while Tina made herself comfortable with the coffee at the kitchen table.
“You have a girlfriend?” Dad asked when I walked in.
I looked at Tina, she had her brows arched high up on her forehead. She dared me to answer. To finally admit it.
I didn’t want to lose her. I was going to do anything to keep her with me. For the first time since my mother’s death, I actually felt something for someone. I wasn’t going to give that up.
“Yeah, I do,” I replied, walking over to plant a kiss on Tina’s cheek. I knew how cheesy that was. I knew my father was in shock. But, I made a statement.
It worked because she was more happy with that than any expensive gift I would have given her.
Dad nodded and then he smiled.
“Good for you, son. It was about time you found someone,” he said and giving Tina a wink, he walked out of the kitchen.
She threw her arms around me and kissed me feverishly.
“Take me upstairs, now,” she murmured in my ear.
She was the only girl whose orders I obeyed.
I had to splash my face with cold water. Something to knock those memories out of my head.
Every time I thought of Tina, I was first filled with despair, and then anger. Nothing made sense in the world anymore. Least of all—my own existence.
I should have just drank all the alcohol in the room and forced myself to pass out. It wasn’t worth staying up.
When I came out of the bathroom, there was a knock on the door.
I expected it to be one of my brothers. Aidan, most likely; coming to check up on me.
But it wasn’t.
Marley stood on the other side.
She had changed into a pair of tight blue jeans and a sleeveless olive-green top that showed off the pink bra she wore underneath.
It was a different look from what she wore the previous night, and I couldn’t take my eyes off her.
“Didn’t expect to see me?” she asked, striding in casually.
“No, I did not.”
“Yeah, I didn’t expect you to be here either. I thought I’d take my chances and check,” she said, looking around.
I sensed she was making note of how clean the room looked now, than how it did that morning when we woke up.
“Why?” I asked.
She turned to me with her blue eyes shining.
“Why?” she repeated.
“Why did you come to check on me? I thought you were going to text me.”
She sighed and walked over to the mini bar. There were a few vodkas and gins left and she grabbed two of them.
Clearly, this girl could give my drinking habit a run for its money. And that was what landed us in this shit in the first place.
“Yeah, I was going to text you, but then I figured you might be interested in a drinking buddy tonight.” She perched herself on the end of the bed.
I watched as she carefully undid the caps of one of the bottles and drank. Her soft graceful neck stretched as she tipped her head back and gulped.
“Why would I need a drinking buddy tonight? I’m here with my brothers,” I said.
Marley wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. She looked around the room with a faint smile on her lips.
“Where are they hiding?”
I clenched my jaws.
It was obvious that her mood had changed drastically. This morning, she was panicking and confused, literally on the verge of tears. Tonight, she was perky and making jokes.
“I was about to hit the sack,” I lied.
She breathed in deeply, nodded and then stood up.
“Okay, I’ll go if you want me to leave.”
We stared at each other in silence. I was trying to decide what to do. She was trouble. I knew that already.
“A husband and wife should spend their nights together. Isn’t that a rule or something?” I said, which made her smile.
Thirteen
Marley
I knew I was taking a huge risk by returning to his hotel room.
Firstly, there was a chance he would kick me out. I was nobody. Other than being a mistake, did I really mean anything to him at all?
Secondly, what if he figured it out? What if I gave myself away? What would he do to me if he found out who I was? From what I knew of the mafia and particularly his family… They didn’t take kindly to people who tried to manipulate them. They hated liars.
Colin reached for a half-empty whiskey bottle on the bed and I watched as he drank it.
A shudder of desire ran through me as I stared at his perfectly muscular body. I knew what he was capable of. I knew he was dangerous, and yet, my physical attraction to him was very real. It was undeniable.
He threw the empty bottle to the floor and came towards me.
I leaned back on the bed as he climbed on top of me, covering me with his shoulders and arms. His nose was less than an inch from mine, hovering over my hot flushed face.
All I could do was writhe underneath him, thrust my hips up in his direction, beg him in silence to take me again.
At the same time, my mind whirled with the fear of being found out.
I’d never done anything like this before. I wasn’t even trained in going undercover. This was madness.
I had voluntarily undertaken a mission I was more than likely going to fail at. Whatever Colin Doherty may have been—I knew he was a smart guy. Would I be able to outsmart him? Probably not.
But what other choice did I have? It was too late to back out now.
He kissed me. His tongue dove into my mouth and my body rose up in shivers to meet his. His fingers dug into my arms as he gripped me tightly, pinning me to the bed.
I couldn’t run out of the room now. I wanted this too bad. And anything that happened after this was literally out of my hands.
While he pushed his hand in my jeans and his fingers stroked my swollen clit, I thought about what I was going to tell the inspector. How would I explain it to the rest of the precinct?
I got drunk and woke up married to the mafia, and then I chose to keep sleeping with him because…because? I wanted to?
A moan escaped my lips when his fingers slid into me. His thumb pressed my clit, rubbing and stroking me in a soft rhythm that took over my body. His mouth was still on mine, taking control of me. I was so wet for him, his fingers slid in my cream as he thrust harder.
This definitely didn’t feel like a job.
I gasped like an idiot when Colin peeled my jeans off me. He grabbed my knees and pushed my legs to the side, kneeling on the carpet betwee
n my thighs.
My paties were on the floor already, and he peered into my eyes with that devilish look on his face. A look that told me he knew exactly how much I wanted this. He knew I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from coming when his mouth was on me.
I curled towards him, grabbing a fistful of his soft brown hair as his mouth pressed into my pussy. I cried out with delight when he licked me, long and slow. He licked me like I was a melting popsicle and he had to finish me.
I fell back on the bed again, my arms splayed on either side while his mouth took control. His tongue slid in me, flicked my clit, sucked and tasted. He made loud slurping sounds while he brought me close to the edge. Then he stopped, moving his mouth away from me. I could feel his hot breath falling on my wet dripping pussy.
I looked at him, pleading with him to finish me off. My whole body shook from the turbulent waves of a coming orgasm.
“Colin…” I murmured his name.
He took off his pants. I almost cried out with joy.
His cock was hard and he stroked himself a few times. He didn’t take his eyes off me and neither did I, off of him.
Then he positioned himself between my legs again and pushed himself into me with a satisfied groan.
He was big and strong inside me. I hadn’t forgotten what he felt like when he was there—but still, it felt good. It felt better than good. Whatever it was.
The best? Glorious? Unearthly?
I came almost as soon as he started thrusting his cock in me. The bed shook with his thrusts and he grinned. Delighted with the control he had over me.
I didn’t care about his ego at that moment.
The orgasm I was experiencing was nothing like I’d experienced before.
This didn’t feel like another random one-night stand. This felt like more.
Like we were connected to each other in some way. Like he could read my thoughts.
Colin plowed his cock in me, repeatedly thrusting, grunting and then he came too. Every muscle in his body was taut and hard. He was at an angle against the bed, pushing in and out of me, almost like he was doing crunches. He didn’t break a sweat. It didn’t even look like hard work to him.
