“You’ve got one shot. Don’t fuck it up,” Matt said, grasping my hand briefly. I looked towards Luca. He was the hardest one to read. He was only fractionally older than the twins, but he had a quieter, more calculating manner about him. If I had to worry about any of them shanking me in my sleep, it would be him.
“I’m not going to make hollow threats about the safety of your genitals if my sister gets hurt, because I’m pretty sure that’s implied. Marie’s old enough to make her own decisions about who she wants to date. Worrying about her heart has made her put her life on hold for far too long. I’ve been telling her for years that it’s bullshit, but it took you to make her listen. If she’s prepared to go balls to the wall with this relationship, then I’ll be right behind her. Maybe things between you will work out, maybe they won’t. Nobody goes into a relationship believing it will fail. I will ask one thing of you though. Come tomorrow, me and the boys will be back on the rig. If she needs me for any reason, because she gets sick, because you guys didn’t work out and she’s heartbroken, whatever it is, you call me. I’m not asking you to be responsible for her, that’s our job, but you leave her in a world of hurt without letting us know, and you and I are going to have a problem,” he said. His calm, even tone didn’t fool me. Luca was not a man to be crossed.
“It’s not something you ever have to worry about, but I appreciate you looking out for her. If she needs you, I’ll call. You have my word,” I reassured him, offering my hand. He shook it, grinning.
Behind us, the door opened and my girl stood at the top of the steps, hands planted firmly on her hips.
“If you boys have finished measuring your dicks, can I have my boyfriend back please?” she asked, making us all chuckle.
“I’m telling Mum you said dick,” Tristan told her, smirking.
“Go ahead, and I’ll tell her you got drunk and had your arse tattooed,” she replied, sounding bored.
“How can you possibly know that?” he asked, outraged.
“I came to the house for breakfast and you were sitting around in your white boxers eating cereal, despite the fact it grosses everyone out. When you took your bowl out to the kitchen it looked like you had skid marks in your underwear. When Lucas finished laughing his arse off, he told me what you’d done,” she explained, looking a little smug at her brother’s disgruntled expression.
“Sisters are a pain in the arse,” he grumbled.
“What’s the tattoo?” I asked.
“None of your business,” Tristan told me.
“Ignore grumpy guts,” Irish replied. “It’s Jessica Rabbit blowing him a kiss.”
“That’s not bad,” I reasoned. “Jessica Rabbit is sexy as fuck.”
“I know, right?” Tristan said, suddenly pleased that I was standing in his corner.
“Yeah, I’m sure it would be a lovely tattoo if he didn’t have a hairy arse,” Matt said.
“You ever imagined what Jessica Rabbit would look like with a beard?” Luca asked me, smiling. Simultaneously, we all looked towards Tristan’s jean clad behind and burst out laughing.
“Fuck you all,” he replied grumpily. “My arse is a work of fucking art.”
“Show Mum then. I’m sure she’d love to see your canvas,” Marie baited.
“Forget what I said, Kier. That little punk is a menace. She seems all sweet and innocent, but turn your back and she’ll own your arse,” Matt warned me.
“She already does,” I answered back as I walked up the stairs and slung my arm around my girl.
“Wow, whipped sure is a good look on you,” Tristan said, smirking.
“Says the boy hiding his ink from his ma,” I taunted back. “I bet you’ve all got tattoos that you’re keeping quiet about,” I guessed. All three of them avoided eye contact, looking around the room sheepishly.
“Why didn’t your ma have a problem with my ink?” I asked Em curiously.
“Because your tattoo is beautiful. Whereas, she worries that this lot lack the mental capacity to permanently brand their skin,” she replied.
“Yep, total fucking menace,” Tristan mumbled.
“Good luck, my friend,” Luca said. Patting my back consolingly as he and his brothers walked past us. “’Cause in this family, you’re going to need it.”
Chapter Fourteen
Marie
“You look tired,” Nat said. Having spent more of my teenage years in a hospital bed than I did in school, I didn’t leave with many close friends, but Natalie was one of them. Although quiet, she wasn’t at all shy. Most of the time, I thought she just preferred books to people. At least that was until the library assistant tried charging her damages for dog-earring a book. After ranting at the imbecile for ten minutes about how she would never defile books that way, she realised he was teasing her. They were getting married next month.
“You’d be tired too if you realised how crazy wedding season is,” I mumbled from the floor. Taking pins from the cushion wrapped around my wrist, I worked my way slowly around the bottom of the dress until I had it pinned at the perfect length.
“Now I feel guilty for asking you to make my dress on top of everything else you’ve got to do,” she said.
“Nat, you’re my best friend. I would be devastated if you hadn’t asked. I want you to feel like a princess on your special day, and no one else is going to put as much love into your dress as I will,” I reassured her. Standing up, I made some adjustments and moved her to look into the mirror. “Now, what do you think?” I whispered.
“It’s so beautiful. I can’t believe that’s really me.” She covered her mouth with her hands. “Thank you so much.”
Twisting from left to right, she stared at her reflection in awe. This was by far and away the best part of my job. That magical look in her eyes. The knowledge that, on her special day, she would be mesmerising. That she would put on that dress and feel like the most beautiful woman in the world. To know that I was responsible for that, made all the late nights and calloused fingers worthwhile. I met her eyes in the mirror as I hugged her from behind.
“You’re welcome, lovely. Now, I distinctly remember you promising to feed me.”
***
Forty minutes later, I’d shut up shop and was stuffing my face full of maple syrup covered pancakes with strawberries. I adored pancakes. Only a healthy fear of having an arse the size of an elephant’s kept me from eating them morning, noon, and night.
“Jeez, for someone so tiny, you sure can pack them away,” Nat said, staring at my rapidly depleting stack in awe.
“You can talk,” I mumbled between mouthfuls. “That double cheeseburger you’re holding probably weighs more than you do.”
“Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve had a burger?”
“I have no interest in knowing how regularly you get your meat.” I grinned childishly.
“Very mature.” Nat poked her tongue out at me.
“Why the fast then? You love anything you can barbeque,” I asked, shovelling another fork full of gooey deliciousness into my mouth and resisting the urge to groan in public.
“My dream wedding dress is out of this world amazing, but it’s also fitted, and burgers go straight to my hips.”
I leant around the table to take a look at her physique. As I suspected, she was as slight and elfin-like as the last time I saw her.
“Nat, you’ve been exactly the same size the entire time I’ve known you. And I’ve seen you put away more food than men twice your size. I really can’t see your metabolism changing radically between now and the wedding,” I rationalised.
She rolled her eyes at my observation and ploughed into her burger, as though someone was going to snatch it away from her any second.
“So speaking of meat, how’s that man mountain of yours?” she asked. The twinkle in her eye told me she was looking for juicy details.
“Mmm, edible. Totally edible,” I replied, dreamily. I had a clear picture in my head of him shirtless, throwing punches at a b
ag in the gym. Despite my surroundings, and the fact that he wasn’t even with me, just thoughts of him were getting me a little hot and bothered. Nat giggled at my reply.
“I’ve never seen you all starry-eyed like this. He must be some guy.”
“I’ve always dated guys who I thought I had things in common with, you know? I’ve gone for friendship hoping that things progressed into something more. But Kieran…. He’s just a force of nature. When I’m with him, I don’t think about whether things will work out between us long term, or whether we have enough shared interests for a lasting relationship. It’s nothing that calculated. Being with him is like getting caught in a riptide. It’s pointless fighting against the current. The only way to survive is to let it carry you along. Only I don’t want to escape. I want to drown. I want to bury myself against his six pack and never come up for air. I want his arms around me, keeping me afloat. And I want his deep, delicious, sexy-as-fuck voice whispering in my ear all the reasons why I’ll only ever be the girl for him and he’ll only ever be the man for me.”
“Holy shit! That’s fucking intense.”
“I know, but it’s how he makes me feel. I don’t think around him. I don’t worry or overanalyse, I just… feel. I’ve been concerned about my health my whole life, but it’s like Kieran takes that weight off my shoulders—and it’s not because he’s detached or indifferent. It’s because he’s so calm. He makes me safe and protected, as though nothing will ever hurt me. With him, it’s like I’m the only girl in the room. It’s as though every woman disappears and there’s just me, sitting there in his spotlight. When I talk, he listens to every word, like he’s hungry to know everything about me.” When I’d finished daydreaming, I looked at the ridiculously big grin on her face.
“And his kisses?” she asked, wiping up the ketchup on her plate with the last of her burger.
I thought of the way his firm, plump lips teased mine gently, making me groan before hungrily pushing me for more.
“Time standing still, fireworks, explosions, just… everything. Okay, so you know how some guys kiss like a fish out of water, floundering for air?” I asked. She covered her mouth to hold in her food as she laughed.
“Yeah, I’ve kissed a few boys like that,” she finally replied, still smiling.
“Kieran kisses so hot and so deep that you feel it in every part of your body. He gets inside your head, and for at least half an hour afterwards, I struggle to formulate sentences, let alone remember my own name. He’s a bad boy with really, really good lips.”
“You know the sex is going to be over in, like, five minutes, don’t you?”
“Really? After everything I’ve just told you?” I said sarcastically.
“Apart from the abstinence thing and the fact that he’d probably be ready to pop a load if you so much as sighed near his cock at this point, you’ve built it up too much in your head. I’m telling you, a few fumbles in the dark and it’ll be over in five minutes.”
“Maybe. But man, what a five minutes they’ll be,” I said with a wistful sigh, and we both burst out laughing.
***
The oak door creaked as I closed it behind me as stealthily as I could.
“Are you sure it’s okay, my being here?” I asked Em for about the millionth time.
“Don’t worry, it’s totally fine. It’s probably best to try and stay out of Danny’s way though,” she warned, making me even more nervous.
“Is that fresh paint I smell?”
“Yeah. Liam just repainted the hallway for Danny. It’s been a pretty successful year for the gym, not just with O’Connell, but for other fighters as well,” she told me proudly. “Since Heath joined us and started promoting professionally, the place has become more successful than it’s ever been. I spend more of my time fielding phone calls every day from suits looking for the London version of ‘fight club’ than I do running the books lately,” she said with a chuckle.
“How does Danny feel about that?”
“Well, I let him answer the phone for a couple of hours the other day. He told the first two callers to ‘fuck off,’ and after that, he would just pick up the phone when it rang and put it straight back down again.”
“He scares me,” I admitted.
“Danny scares everyone,” she replied, smiling.
“It’s great news for the gym though, right? I mean, all the success you’ve had.”
“As a business, it’s fantastic. Bit by bit, we’re replacing all of the outdated equipment and doing repairs that the building really needed. Danny will always be old school, so there’s nothing here that you’d find in any of the modern, fancy gyms, but we’re not short of anything anymore, and there’s a heathy balance in the company account for unforeseen contingencies. It also means that we can help out the younger ones coming through. Some of them are really talented young fighters, but their parents can’t afford the expense of travelling to fights. This gives Danny the means to help them out,” she explained. She talked a lot about Danny, but the pride and passion in her voice told me how much a part of this place she was, and how important these guys were to her..
“Do you think he’ll move to bigger premises as the business grows?”
“Never,” she replied adamantly. “This is Danny’s home. Years of blood, sweat, and tears line the walls of this place. Moving somewhere else just wouldn’t be the same.” She looked around reverently, and I could see that this wasn’t just a building to her or any of them. It was something infinitely more important. We reached the top of the main stairs, and as she opened another door, I could hear the smack of gloves hitting bags and the grunt of guys hard at work.
My plan was to follow Em to the office and keep her company while I waited for Kieran to finish training. I scanned around, my eyes searching for my man in a sea of lean, cut torsos, until I found him standing, feet apart, on the canvas of the raised ring at the back of the room.
Staring at me.
Willing me to see him.
It was though he had radar, like he could feel my presence in the room. My skin tingled with the need to be near him, to touch him. I could see from the rapid rise and fall of his chest that he was as breathless as I was. It had only been days since we’d seen each other, but it felt like weeks. Months even. Outwardly I was calm, but inside my heart was beating erratically. His sculpted torso was tanned from training outside, and the sheen of sweat made him seem more ethereal. His low-slung shorts sat lazily at the base of the most perfect external obliques I had ever seen. And I wanted to touch him there.
So very badly.
My mouth was dry, and I wet my bottom lip with my tongue before biting it. His eyes narrowed, and I knew exactly what he was thinking. He wanted to bite it too. We might as well be alone for all the fighters there, because right then, there was just the two of us. He looked at me so intently that I shivered, suddenly a little afraid, not of him, but of how it would feel when he finally took me, when he peeled away my underwear and moved inside me. I wondered if he would be slow and gentle, or hard and powerful. Either way, I knew he would consume me, that the experience would consume us both.
“Wow, you two give off some serious sparks,” Em said, her eyes darting back and forth between us both. “I wonder if O’Connell and I were like that when we first met.”
“What do you mean? We’re still like that,” Con replied gruffly. He stood behind Em. Holding her hips, he pulled her into his huge body and, dipping his face into her neck, inhaled deeply before gently kissing her jaw. He didn’t look away from her once, and I knew he didn’t see anyone else in the room either. Nobody but her.
“Jesus, baby, you frightened the life out of me. You were in the ring when I walked in. How did you move so fast?” she asked, her hand over her heart in shock. He shrugged lazily in reply, then went back to kissing her neck. I turned towards the ring, but Kieran was gone. Before I could even look for him, my arm was nearly wrenched from the socket as I was pulled into the locker room.
; Backing me into the lockers, he ran his hand along my thigh before lifting it to wrap around his waist. Fitting snugly between my legs, his cock brushed gently against my core. And then he devoured me. It was the only way to describe how it felt. It was all too much to process at once. The feel of his tongue penetrating my mouth, demanding more of my kisses until my lips were raw. The rough, scratchy wraps on his hands as they rubbed along the sensitive skin of my thigh, sending darts of pleasure straight to my core. I was lightheaded and breathless, but still we didn’t stop. I didn’t want him to ever stop. I was so in love with the way that he kissed. He rocked his hips against me, and I pressed back harder. Looking for some relief from his delicious torment. He moaned into my mouth, and it only made me wetter. I was on fire. We both were, but neither of us cared.
“Spend the night with me,” he whispered, his forehead pressed against mine. His eyes closed with the strain of his arousal. “Just to sleep, nothing else. But I need you in my arms tonight. I need to wake up tomorrow and know that this is real.”
“Will there be kisses?” I whispered back, giving him a shy smile.
“Hell yeah there’ll be kisses. More than your pretty little body can handle.”
I nodded in reply, seeing his happy smile, before I threaded my hands in his hair and pulled his lips back to mine.
The bang of a locker door slamming shut had us jumping apart. In front of us stood a cranky-looking Irish man with a cigarette hanging precariously from his lips.
“Didn’t I say no bloody shenanigans in my club? Well, didn’t I?” he barked. We hung our heads like chastised school children, though I could sense Kieran was fighting a smile.
“Now then, girlie, I like you, but you’ve got my fighter all riled up, so what are you going to do about it?” he said. I didn’t know whether he expecting me to apologise for kissing my boyfriend, or finish what we’d started. My horror must have been mirrored all over my face, because Kieran burst out laughing.
“Think it’s feckin’ funny do ya, ya little shite? Well, just for that, I’m gonna run you ragged this afternoon. I’m gonna make you hurt so bad, you won’t even care that you’ve got a dick, let alone whether it works. By the time I’m finished with you, the only thing you’ll be worrying about is whether you’ll live long enough to make it to your bed,” Danny said. With his hands on his hips, he stared gleefully at Kieran, and Kieran’s smile started to slip as he realised what he was in for.
The Storm Page 12
