Chapter 28
Declan
Casey doesn’t leave my sight.
I keep seeing her with that knife against her spine. My head’s a mess every time I let myself drift off. To hell with worrying about whether she’s safer at home without me. I can’t stand to be in a different room than her, let alone in different parts of the city.
At first, I can tell the Whelan associates find it strange. It’s not common for a crime boss to bring his wife along with him on important business. But I quickly make it clear that Casey is my assistant and if anyone has a problem with that, they can take it up with me personally.
Nobody actually complains.
She’s sharp, clever, and notices things I miss.
After one meeting with a man who helps run our poker tables, she mentions that he contradicted himself once—and sure enough, that little mistake revealed that he’d been skimming off the top of family profits for years.
Seamus laughed when I told him it was Casey who figured it out.
“Give that girl a promotion,” he says over the phone.
I glance at my wife. She’s sitting in the seat next to me trying not to look proud of herself. “I already did when I married her.”
She rolls her eyes at that.
There’s the sex too. Every spare minute we find throughout the day, my hands are all over her.
Sometimes it’s only to sneak a few desperate kisses in before the next meeting begins.
Sometimes it’s to fuck her deep and rough until she shatters all over my dick.
We throw ourselves into play, and if she’s still angry with me, she doesn’t hold it back.
If anything, she’s fucking me like she holds a grudge against my cock.
We get home late that night. I can tell she’s tired as she trudges upstairs and turns toward her room. I drift away, bracing myself for the inevitable, which comes about two seconds after she opens her door.
“Uh, Declan, what the hell is this?”
I turn casually in her direction, pretending innocence. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Cut the crap. My room looks like it’s been ransacked.”
“Oh, does it?” I touch my chin thoughtfully. “That might be because I told the staff to move your things with mine.”
I turn and walk away. I hear her follow right on my heels. “What the hell?”
Just as ordered, the house staff placed her clothing in drawers and hung her things in the closet in my master room. It’s not the room my father and mother shared for all those years, but it’s one of the largest and most well-appointed. Casey looks at it like there’s garbage all over the floor.
“I thought we had an agreement.” She doesn’t step foot across the threshold as I start to undress.
I crack my neck and sigh. “Agreements change.”
“Declan.”
“Casey.”
“This isn’t funny. I want my stuff back in my room. It’s been nice working together—”
I raise my eyebrow. “You mean, it’s been nice getting fucked into submission between meetings.”
Her cheeks turn red. “That’s fine too.”
“Here’s how things are going to be from now on.” I toss my jacket aside and begin unbuttoning my shirt. “You will not leave my side, not ever, not for a second longer than is absolutely necessary.”
“That sounds oppressive.”
“I don’t care.”
“You can’t just change our agreement without talking to me.”
“Senesi nearly killed you.” I leave my shirt open and stare at her, heart slamming in my chest. I try not to show how much that really bothers me, but it’s like a bomb went off in my life.
I’ve always been able to protect the people I care about, but Senesi nearly snuck past my defenses.
He’s so much more dangerous than I even gave him credit for.
“That was a total fluke.”
“Was it? I have a feeling he’s been seeding little traps for you all over the city. You just happened to stumble into one.”
“Come on, it was blind chance.”
“Nothing is blind chance with him. You are going to sleep in my bed tonight, Casey. You are going to press your tight little ass against my cock and let me wrap my arms around you until you fall asleep. That’s the only way I can be sure you’re safe.”
“Sounds like you’ve been having some daydreams lately,” she mutters, jaw working. Her eyes stray to my bare chest and quickly flip back up to my face. “I don’t want to.”
“Like I said.” I turn away, tossing my shirt aside, and head into the bathroom to take a shower. “I don’t care.”
She’s waiting on the bed when I get out. Fully clothed and pissed, but in the room at least. I can tell she’s struggling with this new situation, and it’s somewhat curious.
I walk across the room in only a towel and pick out a pair of boxer briefs and joggers to change into. I’m aware of her watching and let her enjoy the show. “Let me ask you something.”
“Huh? What?” She quickly looks away like she wasn’t ogling my dick.
“Why do you act like sharing a bed with me is a burden? When today you spent half the day on your knees with my shaft in your mouth.”
I love the way her cheeks turn pink when I talk dirty. “Can you be normal for a second, please?”
“Tell me I’m wrong.” I stand in front of her shirtless and wait.
She lets out a breath. “You’re not wrong, okay? Sex is one thing. But sharing a bed feels more intimate.”
“Explain to me how.”
“I don’t know. I mean, I’ve never slept over with a guy before.”
I pause, frowning, as I process. “Seriously?”
“You should know, asshole. You’re the reason I never have.”
Well, shit. She’s got a point. I let that settle for a moment and tilt my head to the side. I’ve been scaring off her boyfriends since she went to college, and back in high school, she clearly never had the chance to do a sleepover.
Which means I really am the first man to bring her into my bed.
And not just for one night.
“There’s nothing to be afraid of.”
“I’m not scared. I’m just not sure I want to take that step with you.”
“We’re married.”
“Reluctantly.”
“Do you have to make everything hard?”
She glares at me and gets to her feet. “Actually, yes, since you ruined my life.”
“I made your life as comfortable as possible.”
“And in your twisted little head, I bet that’s true.” She gathers up some clothes, storms into the bathroom, and slams the door behind her.
This fucking girl is going to be the end of me. I get into bed and try to calm myself down. I have to be up early tomorrow again and I need my rest if I’m going to be sharp, but now I’m pissed off.
When she was young, she wanted for nothing.
If Sheila sent me an email requesting money for supplies, sports fees, anything at all, I immediately made the transfer, no questions asked.
I know for a fact she got the best of everything.
Casey was almost borderline spoiled. That’s on top of all the strings I pulled to get her into her top school and to ease her path to graduation.
So what if she hasn’t had a serious boyfriend?
If anything, I saved her from years of awkward fumbling from inexperienced, selfish college assholes.
I did her a damn favor.
Casey comes out a few minutes later wearing her little shorts and crop top ensemble.
That’s her preferred nighttime outfit and it drives me fucking wild the way her nipples press against the light cotton fabric.
She’s still glaring at me as she gets under the blankets, pulls them up over her shoulders, and turns her back to me.
I flip off the lights.
“This doesn’t have to be a fight,” I say into the darkness.
“Are you trying to convince yourself of that?”
“I’m hoping you’ll see reason.”
“Reason?!” She turns over and I can see the outrage as my eyes adjust. “Tell me how this situation is even remotely reasonable! I only married you to save me and Sheila from Senesi, and now you’re acting like you’ve always owned me.
I don’t care if I was promised to you. That arrangement is dead and gone.
I never said anything about really being your wife. ”
I don’t move. She’s breathing hard. I’m betting she just said more than she planned to, but she doesn’t try to walk it back. The silence stretches and I let her stew before I sink down beside her and stare at the ceiling.
“I know I don’t own you,” I say very quietly.
“You aren’t a thing to be owned. You’re a woman.
You’re a person. I’ve watched you for a very long time now, Casey, and I know better than anyone else in this world how exceptional you are.
I know you’re only with me because circumstances demanded it.
I used them to make you mine. But every day I’m with you, I’m going to make you understand how much better your life is when I’m by your side. ”
It’s the most honest and vulnerable I’ve ever been with another person. It hurts, saying those words out loud, but they’re the truth. And Casey deserves that much at least.
She lets out a long sigh. “You’re such a bastard.”
“Boss Bastard, if I’m not mistaken.” I move toward her. She shifts until her back’s to me, but this time she lets me wrap my arms around her and pull her close. “I loved that nickname.”
“Why would you love it?”
“Meant you were thinking about me.”
She groans. “You’re such a total psychopath.”
“Only for you.”
We drift into silence again. I hold her against my body as her breathing steadies and her legs twitch into sleep.
I follow her down into dreams. But as my mind spirals and starts to unravel, right before I cross the line between awake and asleep, a thought occurs to me.
Only for her.
I’m only for her now.