Two Weeks Later
“You have plans tomorrow?” I had wrapped up some phone calls in my home office and came out to find Rowan at the dining table with her laptop. It didn’t seem like the most comfortable spot to work, but she swore the view was better there than anywhere in the apartment.
“I’m just trying to get as much done on this term paper today and tomorrow. I doubt I’ll get much done the rest of break, and after Thanksgiving, it’s only a couple of weeks until finals.” Her hair was piled on her head in a messy bun, and she was wearing sweats at least two sizes too big. She wasn’t even trying, yet she was so damn cute.
“If you think you can make some time, I have a designer coming by tomorrow morning.”
“Designer?”
I pulled out a chair and joined her at the table. “Yeah, she comes highly recommended. She’s agreed to help us turn one of the spare bedrooms into a dance studio.”
Rowan’s eyes rounded. “Really?” she breathed.
I couldn’t hold back my smile any longer. “Really, if that’s what you’d like.”
“I hadn’t said anything, but I’ve been thinking a lot about what to do after graduation. At this point, it would have been silly not to get my degree, but we both know politics doesn’t suit me.” She tugged nervously at her sleeves. “I’ve been thinking about getting back into dance. I know it’s been a while since I trained, but I love it so much. I was thinking maybe … I could even teach.”
“If there’s one thing in this world I have absolute confidence in, it’s your ability to accomplish whatever it is you set out to do.”
“So you don’t think it’s a silly idea?”
“When it comes to you dancing, silly is the last thing on my mind.” My dick throbbed as if seconding my opinion. “Why do you think I want a studio here in the house? You may think it’s thoughtful, but I assure you, it’s one hundred percent selfish.”
Her bottom lip scraped between her teeth as her smile spread wide. “I’m good with that.” She closed her laptop and looked back at me excitedly. “Which room were you thinking?”
“Doesn’t much matter to me.”
“The gray room,” she shot back. “If you don’t care, the windows in that room are perfect.”
I dipped my head once in acquiescence. “The gray room it is. Shall we have a look?”
She was up and out of her chair like a rocket. We walked back to the gray bedroom and talked about the changes that would be needed. The flooring would be the most impactful and intensive part of the remodel. The rest was relatively cosmetic once the furniture was gone.
“And this wall would be perfect for mirrors and a ballet bar.” Rowan surveyed the only wall in the room without a window or door.
“Regular or frosted?”
She no longer cringed when confronted with a mirror, but I wasn’t sure if she was ready to commit to a full wall of them.
“Regular.” She smiled, her eyes softening as they met mine. “I hadn’t realized how much I missed having a studio until now. I’m so excited, Keir. Thank you.”
I snagged her fingers and pulled her close, taking long seconds to admire the splashes of green and gold pigment battling for dominance in her eyes.
“Kiss me,” I ordered in a soft rasp.
She lifted onto her toes and brought her lips to mine. Reverently. Passionately. Perfection.
Her arms came over my shoulders before the kiss waned and her eyes drifted open to stare into mine. “I love you, Keir Byrne.”
It was the first time she’d said the words. The first time either of us had. I’d known for weeks that I was hopelessly in love with her, but I’d been reluctant to say it. The fact that I’d forced her into the relationship at the beginning made me want to hear her take that next step on her own, not out of some need to reciprocate.
Hearing her finally say those three little words made my ribs feel inadequate to contain the rapid expansion of my heart. It pressed on the confines of my chest and filled my throat, strangling my voice to a thick, garbled growl.
“Show me.”
Rowan swiveled us around, and in one sweeping motion, pushed me back onto the bed. Where I went, she followed, straddling my body and bringing her lips back to mine. I inched us farther onto the bed, wrenching the baggie sweatshirt over her head. She was bare underneath, and it made my cock impossibly hard.
One article of clothing at a time, we stripped away the barriers between us. I waited until the head of my cock teased at her entrance before my hands clasped tight on her hips to halt her movement. Her gaze locked with mine.
“My love for you, little lamb, is endless. I love you so goddamn much it hurts.” I thrust upward while holding her in place, sheathing my cock deep inside her.
Rowan threw her head back, her long two-toned hair reaching all the way down to her ass, giving me an eyeful of her perfect breasts. My hands drifted up her sides to cup the rounded mounds, then pinch her pebbled nipples. So rosy and pert, I could almost feel them on my tongue.
My touch summoned her gaze back to mine. She placed her hands on my chest and began to rock herself, rolling her hips to glide along my cock.
“So goddamn much,” I breathed again.
I let my wife establish the pace as long as I could. When my insatiable hunger for her demanded more, I flipped her onto her back and took the lead. I’d told myself I wouldn’t, but where Rowan was concerned, my self-restraint had never measured up. I needed her just as much as air in my lungs and blood in my veins. And should I need to, I would defend all three with equal savagery.
My wife. My love. My life.
“You haven’t snuck out the back once tonight,” Nana pointed out quietly after signaling for me to join her.
“Well, it didn’t seem very fair to abandon Rowan at her first family dinner, and on Thanksgiving, no less.”
Nana grinned mischievously, peering at me from the side of her eye. “I know that’s right,” she agreed in an exaggerated tone that plainly stated she didn’t think that was the only reason. “Ye can’t be leavin’ the lass alone in all this chaos. It might be overwhelmin’ for the poor thing.”
We both glanced over to where Rowan sat on the floor playing a surprisingly rambunctious game of Candy Land with Pippa and Noemi, each with a squirming kid in their lap. She wasn’t remotely at risk of being overwhelmed.
I shot Nana a wry look.
She puffed out her chest and preened with delight. “I don’t blame ye in the least. In fact, I’m pleased as punch yer so happy together. I wish all my grans could be in such a good place as you.” Her lips thinned as she shot a quick look at where Oran stood at a window with a whiskey in hand. He’d come for dinner but hardly said a dozen words.
“He’ll get over it, Nana. It’ll just take some time.”
“Of course, it’s just a shame because he’s getting’ older, and that doesn’t make it any easier.”
I wasn’t crazy about discussing Oran’s mental health with my grandmother, so I was relieved when the Candy Land group burst into spontaneous cheers and boos. The game was over. Time to check on my wife.
I leaned down to kiss Nana on the cheek and moseyed to the group. The three women were breaking the difficult news to the kids that game time was over. They started to argue but took one look at me and scattered.
“You beat them when no one’s around?” Pippa teased, looking from me to the smoke trails left by the children.
“Use a belt one time, and they think you’re a monster.”
Her head swiveled back to me Exorcist style.
“Kidding, Pip.” I raised a brow.
Rowan and Noemi burst out laughing. I caved and freed a small smirk of my own as I pulled over a dining chair and sat next to them.
“Game time over?”
“Yeah,” Rowan replied. “Three rounds was enough.” She was collecting the cards printed with colorful squares when Pippa clasped her hand to study Rowan’s tattoo.
“You and Noemi both have badass tattoos with your husbands. Why is it I suddenly feel like I should have one?”
Noemi grinned. “We both got them when we got married. Maybe that’s at least one thing you could save until marriage.” Noemi was relatively quiet, at least compared to other women in the family, so when she hit a zinger like that, it was all the more entertaining.
I had to cough to hide my laughter.
Rowan clamped a hand over her mouth while Pippa’s eyes nearly fell out of their sockets. I expected a scathing yet playful reply, but she surprised me with a single-word response.
“Touché.”
All three laughed so hard they started crying, and Noemi had to run to the restroom wailing about peeing in her pants. That only made the other two laugh harder.
I didn’t anticipate my intense pride at seeing Rowan fit in so well with my family. Yeah, I wanted her to like them, and vice versa, but I hadn’t realized how important it was to me until I watched her blend in like a natural part of the group.
I caught my wife’s eye and leaned forward. “I was thinking of calling it a night. Did you want to stick around a while longer?” I loved seeing her so happy, but that didn’t make me any more of an extrovert. I’d peopled for hours and was ready to escape home.
“We can head out. I’m pretty wiped out myself.”
Thank God.
I was about to stand when my phone vibrated in my pocket. Everything in the city was shut down, and everyone who was important to me was in this room. Who the fuck was calling?
“Yeah?”
“Mr. Byrne? This is Aaron with Precision Security. We’re showing sensor activity at 126 W. 38th Street. Would you like me to send the police over to investigate?”
The alarm had gone off at Moxy? What the hell was that all about?
“No. I’ll head over and check it out. I’m sure it’s nothing.” I wasn’t so sure, but the last thing I wanted was the cops snooping in my club. If there was a problem, we’d handle it on our own.
“Thank you. Have a nice night,” said the monotone voice before the line went dead.
“What was that all about?” Rowan asked as Torin joined us. He’d noticed me take a call.
“Alarm went off at the club.”
“I’ll go check it out,” Tor quickly offered.
“We were about to head out anyway,” I told him. “I’ll run in with you on our way home, just to be safe.”
He gave a curt nod, and Rowan jumped to her feet. We said a quick goodbye to everyone and were on the road in a matter of minutes. Torin was on his bike behind us. I liked a good bike as much as the next guy, but I’d never understood his refusal to drive anything else. Stubborn asshole had to be freezing. Between the fights and his bike, sometimes I wondered if his mother hadn’t dropped him as a baby.
Thirty minutes later, we parked out front of the Moxy. Everything looked as it should. I preferred to prepare for the worst, but the alarm might have been a fluke.
“I’m going to check things out with Tor. I want you to stay here, doors locked. Understood?”
“Yes, Sir, Colonel Sir.” She saluted, hand at her forehead.
“Smart-ass.” I smirked. “Spare gun’s under the seat, just in case.”
“In case of what?” She balked.
I shrugged. “Hell if I know.” I stepped out of the car, turning and waiting for the doors to lock behind me before joining Torin at the Moxy entrance.
“It’s locked. If someone got in, they went in through the back.”
“I seriously doubt anyone’s in there,” I told him, inserting my key into the lock. “It’s Thanksgiving. Even the Albanians aren’t out tonight. If I had a guess, I’d say it’s those damn rats that keep multiplying in the back alley.” I opened the door and stepped inside, flipping on the light switch, which only turned on a set of fluorescents at the front. The main switchboard was in the back.
Gun in hand, Torin started making his way through the club. I kept mine holstered and followed him. Everything looked fine until we got to the lady’s locker room. A light shone from under the door.
Tor and I exchanged a look. We moved to either side of the door, and I finally took out my gun, clicking the safety off. After listening for a minute and not hearing anything, he flung open the door to reveal the very last thing I expected to see.
Stormy sat against the lockers, her knees curled protectively to her chest, shaking like a leaf. And that wasn’t all. Her left eye was swelling shut, and her lip was bleeding. When we burst inside, she flinched, then brought her arm around her middle and winced.
“Storm, what the fuck!” Torin roared.
“Easy,” I barked at him.
“I’m so sorry, guys,” Storm pleaded. Her voice was brittle—unlike the sassy Southern belle we were used to hearing. “I wondered if coming here might trip the alarm, but I didn’t have anywhere else to go.”
My cousin and I walked over to her and squatted down to take a closer look.
“What’s goin’ on, Stormy?” I asked. If she had a guy at home who had done this, he was about to get seriously fucked up.
“It was my own damn fault. I had a feeling someone was following me on my way home, and I should have listened to my instincts.” Her eyes stayed focused on her knees as she spoke, refusing to look at either of us. I wasn’t sure if she was embarrassed or hiding the truth.
“You need a place to stay?” I asked.
She slowly nodded, lifting her gaze to mine. “I can’t go back there right now.”
Torin shot to his feet. “Here’s the key to the bike. She’s coming with me.” He held out his hand, presumably for the key to my car.
I slowly stood, surprised at his vehemence. “Keys are still in the car, and I’m not taking Rowan on the damn bike. We’ll call an Uber.”
Torin started to drop back to the ground, but I put an arm out to stop him.
“You sure you’re okay to handle this? She’s not up for an interrogation.” I wasn’t sure what had gotten into him. He wasn’t the caretaker sort, but I felt like I’d be coming between a dog and its bone if I stopped him.
“I’m not a total asshole, Keir,” he shot back at me.
That was debatable.
My lips curved with a frown. “I want an update tomorrow.”
He gave a curt nod, then lowered to gingerly lift Storm into his arms.
This was not how I’d expected my night to end, but that seemed to be my world, anymore. A month of peace followed by all hell breaking loose. We’d had our month. It was time for the chaos.
