Embraced

by E. C. Land

  I didn’t miss the heated look Dean had given me before grabbing my hand and guiding me out to the car where he then brought us here. To Sinner’s Cove. A place I found out real quick is a strip club. I’m not sure how I feel about it. Or the fact he’s around naked women all the time.

  He’s surrounded by beautiful women constantly. Why would he want to have me? The man is a pain in the butt and I’m not understanding anything about him right now. It makes more sense now what Jewel said about her being who she thought she was to him. I met his manager and I have to say she’s beautiful and could easily give Dean what he wants at any time. She probably has, and I don’t know why I feel a sense of jealousy and discontent at the idea of her or any of these other women having my husband.

  “You keep looking at me, mo chuisle, I’ll take you here and now when I’m supposed to be getting ready to have a meeting,” Dean declares, startling me from my thoughts.

  “What?” I ask, focusing fully on Dean and meeting his gaze.

  “Don’t try to play coy with me, Bridget. Your mind is nearly blaring your thoughts loudly and I’m not about to let you sit there and think anything negative. Not after having taken you this morning for the first time since I took your virginity,” he growls, and I swear his eyes alight with promise to take me again right here in his office where anyone could walk in on us.

  I don’t know why the thought of him doing something so erotic sends a tingle through my entire being but it does.

  Sighing, I glance back to my e-reader. I can’t be thinking such things. I mean, seriously, with all the beautiful women who work here there’s no way any man would want to stay faithful to one woman. A woman who he doesn’t even know.

  I’m so consumed with my thoughts that I didn’t hear Dean get up from behind his desk or see him approach until he’s removing the e-reader from my hands. He then proceeds to sit next to me and pull me to him, adjusting me on his lap with both my legs straddling his.

  “Seems we need to have a talk before you and I go to the main floor for the meeting with the staff,” he states. Those tingles increase and my core weeps for Dean’s attention. I need him inside me again. I didn’t think a person could become addicted to sex but I’m thinking I am. I can’t get enough of this man. Maybe I need to buy myself a vibrator and let that take care of my need. Then I won’t need him any longer.

  “Fuck, mo chuisle, the glimmer in your eyes is makin’ me fuckin’ hard. You want me inside you again, don’t you?” he growls, fingers gripping my waist tightly while he grinds his thickness against my jean covered entrance.

  Mhmm, I need him.

  I nod my head to answer him, hoping maybe he’ll give me what I want.

  Grinning, Dean shakes his head slightly. “You want anything, sweetness, you’ll have to use your words,” he declares.

  My eyes widen. I’ve been doing my best not to talk to him and he’s now going to play this game with me. Damnit. I huff and divert my gaze from his.

  “That’s alright, Bridget, my love. I’ll be sure to have you begging for it by the time I sink deep inside your hot sheath. You know how I promised to tie you to the bed, forewarning, baby, it’s gonna happen,” he says gravelly and his nostrils flare with his statement.

  Oh my.

  I’m in trouble.

  “Now, since you’re not wanting to talk, this works for me since I want you to listen good to what I have to say. Before I married you, I will admit I’d fucked Jewel.” I stiffen at the mention of that bitch’s name. “I know you don’t want to hear about her but you need to listen. I never fucked women alone. There was always a second woman. Jewel knew my rules and went against them trying to put a stake on me. I’m not a man you can do that with. I won’t be tied to a woman if it’s not what I want.” This does nothing to ease the tension inside me.

  I remain quiet as he continues to speak.

  “That being said, Bridget, I’ve never wanted to be tied to a woman until I saw you climbing down the trellis. Seeing you do something so stupid determined to find your freedom, I knew you were it for me. I get what that bitch did has caused you to have doubts in your head about if I’ll be true to you. But I’m tellin’ you now, I mean what I say and you don’t have anything to worry about. Your lips,” he murmurs, pressing his mouth to mine for a chaste kiss. “Your body,” he says just as quietly, moving his lips down to the crease where my neck meets my shoulder. “Your pussy,” he says, rocking my hips against his shaft. “Is all I want. You, mo chuisle, are mine and the only one I intend to sink my dick in. No other woman compares to you.”

  Tears well in my eyes and I’m not sure I can stop them from spilling. All I’ve ever wanted is to have my freedom, to be who I am, and to find someone who wanted me for me.

  “Do you understand what I’m saying, sweetness?” he asks.

  “Y-yes,” I say, my breath hitching in the midst of the word. Leaning forward, I press myself into him. “I believe you but I’m still confused by all of this. You make me feel things I didn’t think I could where you’re concerned. I thought I’d want to run away the moment my feet hit the pavement here, and I wanted to after what that . . . bréagán . . . what I walked in on in the hospital room. You don’t understand how scared I was when Kean stabbed you. I wish I’d killed him.”

  “Bridget, is this what’s really getting to you? You’re scared?” he asks knowingly, and I nod against his chest. “You’ve nothing to fear. Not me cheating on you. Not another woman taking me from you. And definitely not Kean. He might have been able to get me once but it won’t happen again. I’m not going to let him get you. You’re my wife, and I’ll protect you at all costs. Same goes for my men. No one will allow Kean the chance to take you.”

  Sliding a hand up my spine, he reaches up and grasps my hair in his fist. Dean gently pulls my head back in order to see my face. “Trust me, mo chuisle, and you won’t regret it,” he rasps.

  I gaze deep into the depths of his dark eyes and I see the truth deep within. He means what he says and I do something I pray I don’t regret.

  “Okay, I’ll trust you,” I whisper.

  “Good girl, Bridget. Now we have a meeting to attend to then after I’m taking you home,” he announces, sliding me off his lap and standing. Dean then pulls me up with him and wraps his arm around my waist.

  “Um, I could wait in here,” I murmur, unsure of if I want to go out there and see just how beautiful his employees are.

  “Nope, you’re coming with me and I’m not gonna hear any lip. They all need to know who you are as you are now their boss as well,” he states, pulling me from the office, not giving me a chance to say another word.

  Chapter 15

  Dean

  Something about the look of panic in my wife’s eyes has me chuckling when I mention she’s now the women’s boss as well.

  With Bridget being my wife, I’m not going to leave her out of things and have her sit at home twiddling her thumbs. No, she needs to have something to do and this will keep her with me. The boys are even bringing a desk into my office for her to be able to sit at and work. She’s now going to be helping me with the things I despise doing most. Such as paperwork.

  I place a hand on the lower part of Bridget’s back and guide her out to the main room. The chatter of my employees stops when I enter, though their eyes are on Bridget.

  “Who’s this, Mr. O’Connell?” Sapphire asks, and I don’t miss the way she looks between the two of us. She’s another one of the women here who needs to learn her place. I know she’d been hoping I’d fuck her but that isn’t gonna happen.

  “Be quiet, Sapphire, and you’ll find out,” Kit-Kat snaps as she joins us in the front. She reaches out a hand to Bridget. “Hi, I’m Kit-Kat. I’m the manager here,” she says gently then looks to me with a wicked grin. She’d seen pictures Mitch sent her of Bridget when her and I got married. I’d had several from her saying I was a lucky bastard for having her and if I didn’t treat her right she’d take her from me.


  A chuckle slips past my lips at remembering her text.

  “Um, hello,” Bridget murmurs and takes Kit-Kat’s hand to shake it. Kit-Kat smiles even more when she hears my wife’s accent. She’s got a thing for women who have one doesn’t matter what type, but she prefers the Irish accent for some reason. I know this as she’s commented if she got the chance to find someone with such an accent, she’d snag them up in a heartbeat.

  Clearing my throat, I pull my wife firmly into my chest and wrap my arms around her to make my point. Kit-Kat nods in understanding that my woman is mine alone.

  Turning my attention to the rest of the room, I begin the meeting. “I have heard reports you all wanted to act out against Kit-Kat while I’d been gone. Someone want to explain to me why?” I demand.

  “We weren’t acting out,” Ember states from the back of the group.

  “If that’s so, then why did she inform me that you in particular were the main culprit?”

  Ember’s face brightens with anger and I can see she’s going to be a problem. But until she gives me a reason to fire her, I can’t and won’t.

  “It doesn’t matter your reasons why you all decided to act as if you were in junior high. I will say this now. You do it again, you’re out. I won’t tolerate it and you all know this. I can easily find new talent to replace each of you. Am I understood?” Each one of the women answers with a ‘Yes, sir.’

  “Good, now, I’d like to introduce Bridget, she’s my wife and you all will show her the respect she deserves as she will also be your boss,” I announce, and my woman tenses in my arms then relaxes.

  I’m filled with a sense of pride that my wife is trusting me to care for her, even in a moment like this one.

  “You’re married? Since when?” Ember fumes.

  “It’s none of your concern. All you need to know is that Bridget is my wife and you all will be answering to her from now on. Yes, I will still be here working as this is where my office is, but Bridget is now in charge,” I declare.

  “Um, Dean, are you sure about this?” Bridget murmurs her question.

  “You married some British chick?” Sapphire asks, seeming aghast.

  “I’m not British. I’m Irish and if you have a problem with me being anything else then keep your comments to yourself,” Bridget remarks, straightening her spine. “There’re some major differences between the two. One being that they’re two different countries separated by water. If you didn’t know that then go look it up on a map.”

  “Damn boss, she’s got fire,” Kit-Kat snorts, and I hear Mitch along with my other men standing around the room chuckle.

  “Kit-Kat, you haven’t seen anything yet. Boss’ wife is a nut with her dramatics,” Mitch chuckles.

  “I am not dramatic. Why you all seem to think so is beyond me. I’m simply stating a fact that she should have already known. I would say something about it having to do with her being a blonde bimbo but then I’d be stating it against myself and I’m not dumb. I made straight A’s in school,” Bridget rambles, her accent growing thicker as she rants.

  Grinning, I tighten my hold on her to keep her from going off the deep end. “Calm down, mo chuisle.”

  “I am calm,” she retorts.

  “If you say so,” I say and press a kiss to the side of her head. I again turn my attention back to the room. “You will not disrespect Bridget in any way. She’s your boss and you’ll treat her as such. As you just saw she doesn’t have a problem with putting you in your place, but if it comes to that then I will be intervening, and you won’t like the consequences.”

  A majority of the women nod their heads in understanding while a couple of them cast their glare at my wife. I know I’m not the only one to notice this considering the way Kenyon and Mitch both straighten. The two of them have earned her respect and they’ll do anything for her.

  Well, to an extent, they will do anything for her. What they won’t do is go against any orders I give them where her safety is concerned.

  They were there when shit went down in Ireland. Mitch and Kenyon both have told me how she reacted, and I’d been waiting on her to finally breakdown and release her emotions about it all. However, she hadn’t given me anything until a bit ago when she admitted to being scared.

  For her to finally admit to it shows me she needs to let it out. To finally relieve the heartache she felt. I remember the gun going off as Kean stabbed me. I know she shot him and doing that will fuck with anyone’s head. It’s time she gives it to me.

  Finishing the meeting, I guide Bridget back out of the room and head for the exit. Time for me to show her what it means to be mine.

  Chapter 16

  Bridget

  The moment we’re home, I don’t know why but I all but launch myself at Dean. Though I’m thoughtful of where he’d been hurt. Unlike this morning when he’d taken me in the shower.

  I wrap my arms around Dean’s neck and pull his mouth to mine. I guess you can blame it on the way he stood up for me and made me feel safe yet didn’t coddle me in front of those other women. He also didn’t go against what I said to that bimbo for calling me British. It really ticks me off when people automatically assume I’m from the United Kingdom, rather than simply asking where I’m from.

  Kissing my husband for the first time, I mean yes, I’ve kissed him, but this is the first time I’ve initiated one.

  My tongue peeks out and swipes across Dean’s lips. He opens allowing me access. It feels empowering to have this moment, though I know it’s him letting me have it. I kiss him with everything I have. I moan into his mouth while pressing myself even closer to him.

  Dean slides one of his hands up my back and into my hair where he twines his fingers through the strands. He makes some sort of grunting noise as he takes over and deepens the kiss. His other hand slips down to my ass where he cups me all while moving us further into the house.

  At the foot of the stairs, Dean lifts his head breaking our kiss. A whimper of protest leaves my lips causing Dean to grin.

  “Love you, want my mouth on you, mo chuisle,” he rasps and lifts me into his arms. I gasp and wrap my arms around his neck.

  “What about your stitches?” I ask, not wanting to hurt him by accident.

  “Sweetness, if they were bothering me, I wouldn’t have taken you in the shower this morning the way I did. I’m good,” he chuckles and starts up the stairs. His lips pressing kisses against my skin which sends tingles all along my body.

  My nipples harden, and my core weeps for his attention. He turns into our room and sets me on my feet. Releasing me, Dean takes a step back, reaches his hands up, and starts to unbutton his shirt. I lick my lips at the sight of him doing this.

  “Take your clothes off, Bridget,” he commands.

  Slowly I remove my own shirt leaving my bra on while bending at the waist and slide the zipper of my boots down. I step out of them and look at Dean. His eyes were locked on me and I thought he’d be nearly undressed as well but he still had his pants and belt in place. His arms are now crossed over his chest.

  “Aren’t you going to finish getting undressed?” I ask him.

  “Eventually,” he smirks and nods his head. “Finish taking your clothes off, sweetness.”

  A shiver of anticipation fills me at the command.

  I do as he says and remove my bra first and then slide out of my jeans to stand before Dean naked. It takes a lot for me not to try and cover myself under his gaze. I still have a hard time excepting him liking the way I look, especially after seeing the beautiful women who work for him.

  Such as Kit-Kat.

  She is more than beautiful, the woman is exquisite.

  “You trust me, mo chuisle?” he asks, his arms falling to his side and he steps forward.

  “Yes.” I nod without hesitation. I know he’d never hurt me. He’s proved this already.

  “Good, I want you to climb up onto the middle of the bed and lie on your back with your arms above your head,” he states. Oh my, doe
s the baritone in his voice have to sound so amazingly sexy.

  I lick my suddenly dry lips and do as he demands. With slow movements, I crawl up on the bed and lay as he says, placing my arms right over my head. In this position I feel even more vulnerable. Yet as I meet his gaze, I also feel beautiful. The way his eyes seem heated.

  “Fuckin’ gorgeous, Bridget,” he rasps, prowling toward me. I’m more than ready to have him and want him to take me here and now.

  Dean doesn’t say another word. I don’t ask him what he’s doing when he places a knee on the side of the bed and reaches up over my head. The cool silk wraps around my wrists and a thrill of excitement rushes over me. Leaning back, my husband meets my gaze as his fingers trail along my arms down to my collar bone and between my breasts.

  “Seeing you like this is magnificent,” he murmurs, never taking his eyes away from mine. “I’ve never wanted anyone like I do you. Until you, mo chuisle, I refused to allow anyone in this house or in my bed. I knew when I got the chance to tie you to our bed, I’d do it.”

  Um.

  There has got to be something wrong with me to think it’s hot how he’s speaking to me right now.

  Dean leans in and presses his mouth to mine, capturing my heart within his tender touch. I don’t know how or if it were even possible but in this very moment as this man continues to not only kiss me but consume me do I feel my heart fusing with his. Strange as it may be, and I want more of him. I need more of him. When he breaks the kiss, he makes his way down my body and then lies on his stomach between my legs and places his nose against my apex.

  “I love the way you taste, sweetness. I could get drunk on how intoxicating you are to me,” he murmurs and swipes his tongue through my slit.

  “Dean,” I moan already ready for more.