by L. A. Casey
Alannah pulled back from Bronagh’s hold and looked at Aideen.
“I’ll pay, I don’t want them to help me with no charge, but if it could be in instalments, that’d be perfect.”
Aideen said, “We’ll work it out, just don’t worry about it.”
Alannah nodded, but she wore her heart on her sleeve, and I could see worrying was all she would be doing. When I looked at her, I saw myself only a few months ago. She knew her whole life was about to change, and she wasn’t sure if she could handle it.
“Lana,” I said and stood up, feeling Ryder’s hand drop away from me. “Come with me, I want to talk to you.”
We left the room then, and went outside to the front garden where we could speak alone without being heard.
“Don’t bottle it up,” I said. “No good will come from holdin’ it inside. Trust me.”
Alannah’s shoulders slumped. “I know that’s why I told you lot.”
“I’m proud of you for that.”
She wiped her face with her hands. “I can’t tell me ma, this will kill ‘er.”
I didn’t want to tell her what to do so I just listened while she spoke.
“I think… I think I’m goin’ to talk to me da. I don’t know when, I’ll figure it out, but I need to talk to ‘im. Maybe… maybe I can make ‘im stop the affair… I mean, this could have been their first date together, right?”
Her mother said he had been working long hours recently, so I doubted it.
“Lana—”
“I can make ‘im stop,” she continued. “He will pick me and me ma over some little thing. I know he will… he just… he just made a bad decision. That’s all.”
She was killing me.
“Alannah—”
“It’s gettin’ late, I have to get goin’,” she cut me off. “I promised me ma I’d come by and help her bring her old clothes to a few charity shops. I’ll talk to you tomorrow, say bye to everyone for me, will you?”
She gave me a quick hug, and before I could say a word, she was walking down the driveway then across the road to where her car was parked outside Ryder’s house. I saw the damage to the back of her car and how smashed on her boot door was, and I hated that it was just another worry added to her list.
I watched her drive off, and when she was gone out of sight, I re-entered Alec and Keela’s house and went into the sitting room.
“She’s in denial,” I said, getting everyone’s attention. “She thinks she can make ‘er da stop cheatin’ on her ma. She is puttin’ pressure on ‘erself to keep her family together.”
Bronagh rubbed her face with her hands. “What are we goin’ to do?” she asked.
“All we can do,” I replied. “Just be there for her. Tellin’ her what to do will only result in a fight because right now, what she has decided is the only thing that makes sense to ‘er.”
Silence fell upon the room until Damien said, “I have to fix shit with her. I heard what she said to Dominic, and I need to fix it. I hate what I’ve done to her.”
“I understand you better than anyone,” Ryder said, “and my advice is baby steps. You’ve said you’re sorry a million times, and you give her space whenever she is around, but what you need to do now is let her know you’re here, you’re staying, and that you will earn her trust back.”
“How the fuck am I going to do that?” Damien asked on a groan. “She barely looks at me.”
“I can’t answer that, it’s something you’ll have to figure out for yourself, kid, but it’s obvious you do like her, so just stick to your guns.”
Damien nodded, then retreated into the company of his own mind so he could think. We spent the next few hours together and after Keela made us a big feast, we scattered around the house to digest our food.
Kane, Damien and Ryder went upstairs with Alec to look at a new weight set he bought. Dominic didn’t leave Bronagh, which was standard protocol since she hit the thirty-eight week mark in pregnancy. He refused to be away from her side in case she went into labour. He didn’t want her to be without him like Aideen went without Kane for the majority of her labour.
The conversation, as usual, switched back to sex.
“It’s difficult with you sometimes though, babe,” Dominic said to Bronagh. “I’m constantly torn between wanting to fucking destroy you, but I also want to bring you flowers and chocolates and treat you like a princess.”
Bro, TMI!
Bronagh didn’t bat an eyelid. “Why not do both?”
Sis, TMI!
“That right there,” Dominic snapped his fingers, “that’s why I love you.”
I laughed and so did Bronagh as he lowered his head and kissed her. It was adorable.
“I can’t believe you’re both having a little human being.” I said as I gazed at my sister’s extremely swollen stomach.
Bronagh smiled against Dominic’s mouth before turning her head in my direction.
“I know, I wish she’d hurry up. I’m goin’ to be down at the hospital with you first thing in the mornin’ to get induced if nothin’ happens tonight. I’m pregnant nearly forty-two weeks. Enough is enough.”
I knew she was miserable and wanted her baby in her arms, but I couldn’t feel sorry for her when I was so bloody excited.
I clapped my hands together. “I’m goin’ to be the coolest auntie ever.”
“Technically,” Dominic started, “you’re the only auntie since I have no sisters…”
“Finish that sentence, Slater, and you won’t be around long enough to see your child bein’ born.”
I didn’t need to look at the door to know Aideen re-entered the sitting room, her voice was enough for me to move my legs, with a smile on my face, as she dropped down next to me with a still sleeping Jax bundled up against her chest.
The kid slept a lot—like father like son.
“I’m goin’ to be her auntie, too,” she stated crossly. “Keela and Alannah as well.”
Without speaking, I reached my arms out for Jax, and Aideen gently lifted him from her chest, and passed him to me. I leaned back, and lay him across my chest. I couldn’t resist smelling his head, and it almost caused me to gobble him up on the spot. I leaned my cheek carefully on his head, and sighed in delight.
I could get used to this.
“Yeah,” Keela jumped into the conversation, regaining my attention. “Fuck you for suggestin’ otherwise.”
Dominic held up his hands when he realised he was outnumbered.
“My bad, I forgot.”
He was such a wuss when it came to us, and it amused me greatly.
I closed my eyes as I heard footsteps as someone descended the stairs. I listened to my family converse while I gently stroked Jax’s back, but opened my eyes when I felt like someone was watching me.
I locked my gaze on Ryder when I saw him leaning against the doorway of the sitting room; his arms were folded over his chest as he watched me with his nephew. I would have paid good money to know what was going through his mind, but I think I had a clue as to what he was thinking because I was thinking the same thing.
I wanted to come home and see him lying on our sofa with our baby on his chest. I really wanted that, and I knew in my heart that he did too.
With my gaze still on Ryder I said to Aideen, “Ado, take ‘im, will you?”
She took her son then looked between Ryder and myself and said, “I’ve a feelin’ the drought is about to come to an end, am I right?”
“Yeah, babe,” I said as I stood up, still staring at Ryder. “There’s about to be a fuckin’ storm.”
“Go get ‘im, mama.”
Without a second thought, I walked towards Ryder. His eyes flared with heat as he pushed away from the wall, and grabbed hold of my hand when I reached him. Without a word to anyone, he turned and together we almost sprinted out of the house.
“Don’t break him, Branna!” I heard a voice shout from behind us then, “I still want to be Ryder when I grow up!”
R
yder and I laughed until we got into his—no, our house. As soon as the door closed I turned to face him.
“I’m movin’ back in. Tonight.”
“Okay.”
“We aren’t usin’ a condom either, because I want us to have a baby.”
“Okay.”
“From this moment on, being a gentlemen is over. When we’re alone you touch every part of me. Every. Single. Fucking. Part.”
“Okay.”
“And I want to get married. Soon. We can figure out a date.”
“Okay.”
Every time I spoke, I took a step backwards, and every time Ryder replied, he took a step towards me.
“Just okay?” I asked. “You agree with everythin’ I’ve said?”
“Every. Single. Fucking. Word.”
Oh.
I blinked. “Do you have anythin’ else to say?”
“Yeah,” he said and shot forward. “I’m going to make you scream.”
My legs went weak, and before I submitted to him completely I said, “Promises, promises.”
With a promising grin, Ryder grabbed hold of me. I yelped when he picked me up, put me over his shoulder and beelined up the stairs, taking the steps two at a time. Like the snap of my fingers we were in our bedroom, and he had me pressed against the bedroom door, pulling my clothes from my body as he dominated my mouth with his.
I matched his hunger and kissed him back, hard. My hands pulled at his shirt, and I heard some of the material rip. Ryder growled against my move, grabbed his shirt and continued what I started. He ripped the fabric from his body and tossed it behind him. I placed my hands on his bare chest and groaned when I slid them around to his back and felt rippling muscles contract under my fingertips.
Damn.
“Now,” I begged against his lips. “No foreplay, just you inside me. Please, Ryder.”
I didn’t have to ask him twice.
“I love you, sweetness” he said.
I hummed. “I know, and I love you too.”
“I just wanted to tell you.”
I licked my lips. “Why?”
“Because I’m going to fuck you like I don’t.”
My breath caught in my throat when he picked me up and moved us over to the bed. When he lay me down, he rid me of my shoes, socks, jeans and knickers. My top was thrown somewhere in the room, and so was my bra. He got himself naked then in record time and it made me laugh.
“You’re so eager.”
Ryder growled. “You have no fucking idea.”
Oh, but I did.
I was starved of being imitate with him for a long time too, and I was beyond ready to bring that to an end and reintroduce myself to every part of his hard body.
To show my eagerness, I parted my thighs for him as he crawled up my body and hovered over me. I groaned when he balanced his weight on his left forearm and used his right hand to grip the base of his cock and rub the head back and forth over my throbbing clit.
“Ryder,” I moaned and slid my hands from his waist around to his back.
“I’m here, sweetness,” he replied. “And I’m not going anywhere. Ever.”
I gasped as sensation filled me.
“I’m holdin’ you to that,” I moaned.
He slowly rubbed the head of his shaft down my pussy until it kissed my entrance. I burned to have him inside, but knowing he was a hair away from being inside me was such a turn on.
“Fuck,” he breathed and shook his head. “I’m scared and I don’t know why.”
I pulled my hands from his back and placed them on either side of his face.
“You’re nervous, but don’t be. It’s just us.”
“Just us,” he repeated.
I nodded. “Watch me as you enter me, you’ll feel better. I promise.”
With his eyes locked on mine, he slowly slid into my body. I saw his jaw set, and the muscles in his arms flex as he entered into me inch by agonising inch. It felt so good that I couldn’t keep eye contact with Ryder; I allowed my eyes to roll back and for a groan to escape me.
“Beautiful,” he murmured.
I felt his lips on mine then. The taste of his mouth was mixed with the pleasure in my core, and it caused me to become very vocal.
“I fit perfectly with you,” he said against my mouth. “You’re wrapped around me so tight, Bran… fuck.”
I returned my hands to his back and gently grazed my nails against his skin, causing him to hiss and thrust into me harder. The urge to come was overwhelming so I took one hand and trailed it down my body until my fingertips grazed over the swollen bud that hurt so good.
“Yes,” he rasped. “Rub that pretty clit of yours, baby. Show me what you’ve been doing when you didn’t have me.”
Yes, sir.
I bit down on my lower lip as I lifted my fingers to Ryder’s mouth as I watched him lube them up with his saliva. I placed them back on my clit and began to rotate them.
“Holy fuck!”
Ryder drove into me harder, faster and a hell of a lot deeper. He switched up from slow and steady to fast and furious and had me almost screaming in pleasure.
“Did you pretend your fingers were my mouth, baby?” Ryder asked, his voice primal. “Did you fuck yourself and wish it was me?”
“Yes!” I panted. “Only you.”
He picked up his pace. “Come on, baby. I’m so close.”
Me too.
I rubbed my clit faster, and watched Ryder’s face contorted with pleasure as he reminded my body, and me, just what we could do together. We could make fireworks.
My orgasm slammed into me just as hard as Ryder’s did. It consumed me and flowed through my veins, pumping the feeling of ecstasy throughout my body. With my back arched, and my toes curled, I was thrust over the edge and into heaven.
I heard, and felt, the moment he let go too. He roared my name and slowed his hips to slight jerking motions as he spilled himself inside of me. I opened my eyes just as he fell forward, covering my body with his.
I laughed and moved my hands to his sides and began to tickle him. He twitched and jerked in response and rolled to the side, falling off me, and out of me, in one fluid motion.
“Oh, my God,” he breathed.
I hummed. “My thoughts exactly.”
Ryder reached his hand out, and before I closed my eyes, I threaded my fingers through his.
“Can we do that again?” he asked, his breathing still laboured. “Right now?”
I laughed, again. “After I take a power nap because that orgasm was… wow.”
“I know how you feel,” he chuckled. “It wasn’t the longest sex we’ve ever had, but damn if it didn’t feel like the best.”
“All that built up foreplay and teasing over the last three months has finally found its release.” I said, and yawned.
Ryder turned to his side and grabbed hold of me. He pulled me a few inches up the bed until my head rested on a pillow. He covered us with the bedcover, and snuggled his body against mine.
“I love you, darling.”
I squeezed him. “I love you, too.”
We both fell asleep quickly and when I woke up, the clock on my nightstand told me it was after nine pm. I only had a few hours of sleep, but I felt so rested. I turned in Ryder’s arm and stared at him. He was sleeping, but thanks to our bedroom light still being on I could take my time and scan his features without worrying he would open his eyes and tease me about it.
His plump pink lips were parted, and he was lightly snoring. He hadn’t shaved in a few days, and the scruff of hair on his face really suited him. I made a mental note to tell him that.
His mop of dark brown hair needed to be trimmed because it was long enough to fall into his eyes now. Aideen usually did it for all the brothers, she grew up with four of them and had learned how to trim hair without butchering it when she was in her teens.
I reached my hand up and gently brushed the hair back out of Ryder’s face. I smiled and ran my fingertips down t
he side of his face, admiring the man I love so much. I was going to lean in and kiss him, but my phone rang from my bag and it caused Ryder to shift in his sleep.
He woke up when I had to move out of his arms so I could find my phone. I found my bag near the bedroom door, grabbed my phone then scurried back to the bed and under the warm covers. Ryder gathered me up in his arms almost instantly, his hand resting on my stomach.
I looked at my phone, saw Dominic’s face on the screen, answered it then pressed it against my ear.
“What’s up, buttercup?” I answered.
Ryder snorted from my side as he stroked my bare midriff.
“It’s happening.”
I gasped and shot into an upright position. “Bronagh’s in labour?!”
Ryder sat up, too, staring at me as I listened to Dominic.
“Yes, her water broke an hour ago while I was bringing Tyson on a walk. She waited awhile to make sure the water had stopped coming out of her, then showered and dressed herself and made us fucking dinner. She said she didn’t need to call me, you or anyone else because she was okay. She is so calm, Branna. What’s wrong with her?” he said, clearly frustrated.
I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Honey, women react in different ways. This is her reaction to her labour right now, her body is tellin’ ‘er to be calm, so that’s what she’s doin’.”
I heard Dominic practice Bronagh’s breathing tactics, and I wondered if I’d be taking care of him in the delivery ward as well as her.
“I feel like I’m about to pass out.”
Yep, I’m definitely going to be looking after him.
“Keep breathing, you’ll be fine,” I assured him. “Where’s me sister?”
“Why’re you telling Dominic to breathe?’ Ryder murmured.
“He’s freakin’ out,” I whispered in response making him snicker.
“She’s in the bathroom—oh, wait, here she is now.”
I heard him ask my sister if she was okay.
“Shit, Branna, she’s feeling contractions now, but they don’t last long she said. They’re hurting her though. What do we do?” Dominic asked, his voice raising a couple of octaves.
