by Maura Rose
“Sorry I’m late!” Sinead hurried over, wearing a pale blue summer dress that brought out the pale blonde of her hair and the green in her eyes.
Patrick stood up and she kissed him softly on the corner of his mouth, his hand automatically dropping to her waist to steady her. “Everything good?”
“Yeah, Siobhan had me quizzing her and it ran late.” Sinead smiled up at him. “So, you said you wanted to show me something?”
Patrick took her hand. “C’mere.”
He led her through the grounds to the Ferris wheel, where he got them two tickets. It wasn’t busy at the moment, so when he slipped the guy an extra hundred to keep them up at the top of the wheel a little longer, the guy nodded eagerly.
“I feel like you’re up to something,” Sinead noted as they got into the car and the wheel started up.
“Me? Up to something? Never.”
She gave him a stern look out of the corner of her eye. “I always know when you’ve got some scheme you’re cooking up, Trick.”
Patrick shrugged. “Maybe I just wanted to show you the view.”
They got up to the top and paused, and he put his arm around her as Sinead shivered from the colder air. Patrick gestured at the city stretched out in front of them. “Did you know—part of why my father picked this territory, why he fought for it when he first got here, was because of my mother?”
“No.” Sinead laid her head on his shoulder. “You didn’t tell me that.”
“Yeah. They loved this fairground and he wanted to make sure it was a part of his territory so that he could take my mother here whenever they wanted.”
That was a part of being in the mob—you couldn’t just go all over the city the way ordinary people could. You had to stay in your territory, or to neutral zones, and if you went into someone else’s territory—even an ally—you had to inform the people who owned it.
“I’m glad,” Sinead said quietly. “Now it’s become our special place too.”
Patrick slipped his hand into his pocket, grasping the ring. Sean and Bridget had used her mother’s wedding ring, and so he’d asked permission from Father to use Mother’s to give to Sinead.
To his amazement, Father had actually said yes.
He pulled the ring out, holding it between his fingers. “That’s why I thought this would be the perfect place for this.”
Sinead jerked upright, staring at the ring with wide eyes, then looking up at him. “You asshole!” she whispered. “I knew you were up to something!”
“You know me too well.”
She took his face in her hands and kissed him, then playfully whacked him on the shoulder. “You’re always up to something.”
“Good thing I’ve got you to keep me in line then, right?”
Some of his nervousness must have shown through, because Sinead held out her hand, smiling. He could see tears in her eyes. “Yes. You’ll always have me.”
He slid the ring on, and then she snuggled into his side, and they rode the wheel back down, just staring out onto the city—their city.
Yeah. She’d be keeping him in line for a long, long time. For the rest of his life.
The End
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Maura Rose is a long-time lover of the written word with a penchant for cooking (and eating) copious quantities of Eastern European food. When she isn’t busy wrangling her two adorable children or spending time with her patient and eternally supportive husband, she can be found cruising the back country roads of the California county she calls home with the music cranked up to full blast and singing along at the top of her lungs. It is during these moments of solitude that she dreams up most of the plots of her spicy romance novels.
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If you liked reading PATRICK, check out these other books by Maura Rose:
SEAN (IRISH MOB NOVELLAS BOOK 1)
BEHOLDEN TO THE BRATVA (SOKOLOV BRATVA BOOK 1)
BURNING FOR THE BRATVA (SOKOLOV BRATVA BOOK 2)
BLAZING FOR THE BRATVA (SOKOLOV BRATVA BOOK 3)
BALLERINA FOR THE BRATVA (SOKOLOV BRATVA BOOK 4)
SOKOLOV BRATVA: THE COMPLETE SERIES
CRAVING MY COSTAR
OFFSIDES LOVE
BILLIONAIRE'S BOND
Check out this sneak peek from another novel by Maura!
BILLIONAIRE'S BOND
By Maura Rose
Warning: This title contains graphic language, sex and steamy, star-crossed romance!
Excerpt from BILLIONAIRE'S BOND:
The moment the elevator doors closed behind them he was on her and she was the one up against the wall, one of Dan’s hands coming up behind her head to cushion it and keep her from banging it on the hard marble. He kept kissing her and kissing her, until Heather’s entire world spiraled down into the narrowness of just the two of them. The feel of his body against hers, the sheer weight of him, and the hot, slick feeling of his lips and tongue were driving her insane. She couldn’t even remember if they’d pressed the button for her floor. Was the elevator even moving? She didn’t know and she kind of didn’t care.
Dan’s hands slid underneath her shirt at her back and her stomach, his fingers gliding over the skin as if seeking to map her out. “god, you’re so beautiful,” he admitted in a rush, as if it was a secret. “You’re gorgeous like this, you’re gorgeous always.”
Heather kissed him again to shut him up. Her heart was soaring at his words, wanting to drink them in, but her stomach was clenching in shame and she wanted to swallow his words down, muffle them until they were silenced and she didn’t have to think about it anymore. Instead she focused on the way his tongue felt stroking hers, his fingers digging roughly into her skin, and the feelsgoodalmosttoomuch sensation as she hooked a leg around his and ground up against him.
Dan pulled back to nose at the skin behind her ear, and that was when Heather saw that the elevator doors were open. They’d reached her floor.
“Dan,” she warned. Dan just made a humming sound and Heather pushed at him so that she’d have room, then grabbed two handfuls of his shirt and started dragging him out of the elevator. “The elevator stopped.”
“I mean, we don’t have to go to your place,” he pointed out. “I’m okay with the elevator, really. We can just hit the emergency stop button.”
“And then we get interrupted when the fire department arrives,” Heather replied dryly, yanking on his hand. “I don’t think so. C’mon.”
Dan grinned at her, letting her pull him down the hallway to her apartment. Heather tried to get the key into the lock, which was a little difficult when Dan kept crowding her up against the door, kissing the back of her neck and sliding his hands back underneath her shirt to slide up just shy of her breasts.
“Not helping,” Heather said, her hands shaking as she finally managed to shove the key into the lock.
“I’d say that I feel terrible, but I’d be lying.”
Heather turned around and let him pin her up against the door, kissing him slowly, then hooking her leg around his at an angle to neatly turn him so that he was the one against the door. Dan made a groan of appreciation, his hands sliding over her ass and squeezing gently, and then Heather found the door handle and promptly opened it, sending Dan reeling backwards and almost tumbling to the ground.
“Okay that,” he panted, pointing an accusing finger at her but smiling all the same, “Was a dirty trick.”
“Oh no, he’ll never sleep with me now,” Heather said in a completely flat, deadpan voice.
Dan laughed and grabbed her hands, reeling her back into him, and Heather kicked the door closed behind them. “What the hell am I going to do with you, you little spitfire?”
“Fuck me?” Heather said brightly, smiling.
The humor went out of Dan’s face and he growled, his hands coming up under her thighs to lift her up. He
ather gave an involuntary shriek, completely startled, her arms and legs wrapping around him out of pure instinct because holy shit Dan could pick her up and carry her like she was made of nothing. Something. Something lightweight. She couldn’t really be expected to think up good metaphors at a time like this.
Heather had to give him directions to the bedroom, laughing as Dan tried to kiss her and carry her and stumble to the bedroom all at the same time. She peppered kisses all over his face, raking her fingers through his hair, laughing into his mouth until he finally dropped her onto her bed, so hard that she bounced a little.
“You’re an awful person,” Dan informed her, pulling his shirt up and off, “Laughing at me like that.”
“I’m an awful person in many ways,” Heather said, ignoring the pang in her chest at that. “That’s really the thing that tipped you off?”
“You’re lucky I like you,” Dan replied, crawling up the bed between her spread legs. He put his hands on her thighs and spread them wider, making fresh heat run through Heather’s body. She was so turned on from this, his hands on her legs, his dark eyes gleaming, a teasing smile on his face. “Let’s get this stuff off of you, hmm?”
Heather nodded, eager to comply, shucking off her shirt and letting Dan help her get her pants and the rest off. She ran her hands over his chest, feeling the skin jump and twitch underneath her, and then grabbed at his belt loops. “Off,” she chanted. “Off, off, off.”
“Bossy,” Dan teased, getting his pants off himself when Heather’s hands started shaking too much, and oh, god, Heather needed her mouth on his dick this very instant.
She considered the merits of grabbing Dan and flipping him over—growing up with a boy for her best friends and numerous cousins had meant she turned out to be a bit of a pro at wrestling—but then thought that might lead to accidental flailing and injury, so she licked her lips pointedly, then looked up at him through her lashes.
“Can I blow you?” she asked.
Heather had never seen someone have a heart attack, but she was pretty sure that Dan’s expression right now was the same expression that they’d have on their face if she did. “I, uh.” He flushed red. “Yeah, yes, I mean, please.”
Heather laughed, helping him flip so that she was straddling him. She liked that she could throw him off balance like this, reduce him to stuttering and pure want. She gave him a wink, and then slid her mouth over the head of his dick. He wasn’t the biggest she’d had but honestly, thank god for that, and he was nice and thick which was what she preferred. She hummed around him, dragging her tongue up the underside, then tonguing his slit. Dan swore, and she encouragingly put one of his hands in her hair so he could hold on. He tugged a little and she moaned around him, taking him in as deep as she could, encouraging him to tug at her hair again. Someday she’d take her time and figure out all the little ticks and quirks of him, the things that made him thrust up into her mouth and the things that made him shudder, but right now she was feeling a bit too impatient for that. So she just set a slow but deep pace, taking him in as far as possible and then pulling off until only the tip was inside her mouth and she could suck on it, swirl her tongue around, and then go back all the way down again. Dan kept swearing above her, tugging at her hair every time she did that thing with her tongue. Once she could feel his hips starting to twitch with more force, she pulled off completely, smiling up at him as she licked her lips to catch the last of the salty tang of his precum.
“You look like…” Dan’s voice seemed to catch in his throat, his pupils blown wide and his face flushed. “You look like sin, get up here.”
Heather obliged him, crawling up his body so that he could kiss her and lick the taste of him from her mouth, his hands sliding down her back to her ass so that he could guide her into grinding against him. She wanted him inside of her, rocking into her… she reached up, blind, trying to find the lube she kept in her bedside drawer. “Condoms?” Dan asked. “I brought a couple in my wallet, if you don’t have any.”
Heather helpfully held up the condom she also kept in her bedside drawer, one of several she’d bought that morning. Dan grinned at her wickedly, and then she was definitely flailing and almost hitting Dan with her elbow as she suppressed her instinct to fight back when he flipped her, ending up between her legs again. Dan nosed at the inside of her thigh, scraping her teeth along the sensitive skin there, and Heather moaned.
“I’m going to have fun with this,” Dan promised her, his voice low and making her shiver. He kissed his way up her thighs, then started to lick around and through her folds. Heather arched up, her body responding to the teasing touch of his tongue. He was purposefully avoiding her clit, swirling his tongue around and lapping into her but not putting it where she wanted it, needed it, most, driving her crazy until she was grabbing at his hair and shoulders, arching her hips to try and get him to go where she wanted.
“Something you need?” Dan asked, chuckling darkly.
Heather resisted the urge to kick him in the head. “You know what I need.”
Dan cocked his head, as if thinking. “Hmmm, do I?”
Heather tossed her head back. “Please,” she begged. “Okay, fine, please, please, just—”
Dan gave her a proud look, like he was congratulating her for asking so nicely. Then he finally, finally, lapped at her clit, sucking on it, and Heather was keening, grabbing onto the sheets so that she wouldn’t dig her nails into Dan’s skin too much. Then he slid a finger into her, crooking it upwards, getting her clit from the inside and the outside, and Heather was panting, every nerve ending on fire and then Dan was adding one, then two more fingers, in rapid succession, speeding up a little as if he knew, he knew that she liked the feeling of that burn, that stretch, the blurred line between pleasure and pain, and Heather was going to honestly kill him if he didn’t—
Dan raked his teeth over her clit, ever so lightly, just a hint, but it was enough. Heather arched up, her hips giving a spasm, her mouth falling open in a silent, chocked-off oh of pleasure and surprise.
She was still panting when Dan crawled up her body, looking probably about as smug as she had a few minutes ago. “I’m going to get you back for that,” she said weakly.
“I look forward to it,” Dan assured her, rolling the condom on. “Are you still up for…?”
Heather hooked her leg around his ankle and executed the same move that had gotten him into her apartment, flipping him over and landing on top. “I wrestled a lot as a kid,” she explained, grinning at Dan’s shocked expression, and then she was lowering herself down onto his cock and forgetting that wrestling or anything else existed outside of this present moment between them.
There was still a voice at the back of her head telling her that she didn’t deserve this, that this was incredibly wrong of her, that she was setting herself up for disaster and going to break Dan’s heart. It was far too hard to care about much of anything when she was feeling stretched full, all of that building tension now being wound tight inside of her, growing with a pulse of heat and pleasure each time she sank down onto him. Dan watched her with wide eyes, his hands sliding up and down her body, light pinching her nipples and trailing down her stomach, like he just couldn’t stop touching her, like was starving for it.
She could tell that Dan wanted to set a faster pace, but she was on top, so she was drawing this out and keeping it slow. She could see that it was killing him, the way she was raising herself up, then sinking all the way down, rolling her hips a little with it, and then repeating the process again slowly. She loved the thick stretch of him, the slowly rising pleasure in the base of her spine, but after a while she was starting to get impatient too, wanted to ride that wave until it crested and consumed her, so she leaned down and kissed him.
“Go for it,” she whispered, brushing her lips against his.
Dan threaded his fingers in her hair and kept her close to him, surging up to kiss the life out of her, his hips moving fast and hard and yes, perfect, and Heath
er promised to never forget this feeling, never, not even when this inevitably fell apart, she was never going to forget it, and she screamed into Dan’s mouth as she came, shuddering, feeing oddly complete and thinking oh, oh, oh, this is what it feels like when you’re in love with them.
Afterward, she got a warm washcloth from her bathroom and they took turns cleaning each other up, kissing along each other’s bodies, memorizing the feel of one another. Dan kissed the spot beneath her ear and down her neck, grinning when he felt her melt against him for it. Heather added a hint of teeth along the line of his shoulder and nipped at his mouth, loving the way it made him hold her more tightly. It felt like she could spend hours mapping out the expanse of his skin and just kissing him, lazily entangling their legs, arousal a low satisfied hum underneath her skin.
