Chapter 2
TWO
In the moody light of a grim day in New York, it was pure chance that it caught my eye.
It—a sharp gleam reflecting off glass.
In a city of skyscrapers, that kind of thing happened on the regular.
But this was different. Glass on a rooftop? Nope. On the edge, where there were no windows at all? Nah.
My husband had trained me too well to—
“Nessa?”
I jumped. “Yes?”
Camille shoved a bag at me. “Pick out a name.”
Grimacing, I stared at the empty chips bag. “This was the best we could do?”
“Don’t be a baby.”
Nose wrinkling, I plucked a small piece of paper out, trying to avoid the Cheeto dust that coated Jake, Niall, and Cameron’s lips—clearly the donors of the bag in question.
Another sharp glint of light reflected off the back wall before I could read the name and had me whipping around to look out the window again.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine, Camille.”
“Who’d you get?”
“Huh?”
She huffed. “Are you listening?”
“Not really.”
“Secret Santa,” she protested. “Who did you get?”
“Isn’t the secret part the whole point?”
That earned me a second huff and she flounced off, the Cheeto bag in her hand as she shoved it at our sisters-in-law and waited for them to make their selections.
As the others talked about their crafting plans for Secret Santa, I reached for my phone and typed:
Me: You’d better not be where I think you are
I didn’t have to wait long for a reply.
Eoghan: Where do you think I might be?
Me: Somewhere you shouldn’t be.
Eoghan: I doubt I’m where you think I am
Me: Oh, I think you’re exactly where you are
My lips pursed as I slipped out of the hotel suite’s main room and drifted into the bedroom, barely avoiding a convergence of the three greatest terrors in NYC—Star’s Niall, Savvie’s Third, and my other nephew twice over, Roman.
I steered clear of the windows because if my husband was watching me, I didn’t want to freak him out.
Eoghan said that his greatest enemy were windows.
I knew he had nightmares about them. To be specific, me standing in front of them. Getting shot by an enemy.
The minutiae of my passing hadn’t come up in regular conversation before my marriage. Now, it happened whenever he stirred in the middle of the night, his subconscious fears driving him to hold me close. To never let me go.
A love like Eoghan’s wasn’t something I ever thought I’d experience.
It probably spoke of my fucked-up upbringing that it didn’t suffocate me. At all. It was just… him. And I craved him as much as he needed me.
Eoghan: What are you doing?
When I perched on the bed, I knew he’d be able to see me. Undoubtedly, he’d followed me with his scope.
Rather than answer, I snagged the top button of my blouse and popped it open.
Then another.
And another.
My tits were sore so I hadn’t bothered with a bra—that meant he got the whole show.
I had no intention of following through, but he didn’t need to know that, did he?
Instead, I gently rubbed my nipple, trailed my fingers over the swell, keeping it slow and easy because they ached like a SOB today.
Eoghan: Well? What are you doing?
I licked a finger and circled my nipple.
Eoghan: Seriously, I have no idea where you are
I leaned forward, pushing them together and—
Eoghan: I know you’re reading my messages
I let my hand sweep over my abdomen, allowed my fingers to swirl around my navel before I approached the waistband of my pencil skirt.
Eoghan: FINE
I smirked.
Eoghan: I was just securing the area
Eoghan: That’s it
Eoghan: I’ll go home
Eoghan: I’ll see you later
Eoghan: I won’t watch anymore
Eoghan: I won’t
Eoghan: You can button your blouse up. Do you know those windows aren’t reflective?!
Eoghan: Where’s your bra anyway?
Eoghan: Inessa!
I arched a brow.
Eoghan: Fuck
Eoghan: I’m going
Eoghan: For real.
Eoghan: This time
I remained there, perching on the bedside for a good five minutes.
Eoghan: I’m gone
Eoghan: I can’t see your tits
Eoghan: Where did you hide your bra? Seriously? I didn’t see you get rid of it
Another glint sparked in the distance.
My cell buzzed.
“What are you trying to do me?!”
“Torture you, of course. What else?”
He groaned. “I’m not even there anymore.”
“Liar. I saw your scope.”
“Fuck. Winter sun drives me crazy. And I accounted for that too. Just not how goddamn long you’d be hanging out today.” He heaved a sigh. “You look gorgeous. But genuinely, where’s your bra?”
“I didn’t wear one today.”
His hiss had me smiling. “Shit. You’re on your period, aren’t you?”
No. “Yes.” I wasn’t ready to talk about this yet.
“That means you really were torturing me!”
“I won’t reward stalking like it’s good behavior.” Then, I conceded, “Even if it’s ‘protective’ stalking. I’m hanging out with my sisters-in-law, Eoghan. We talk about things that have nothing to do with the boys.”
“I can’t read lips.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“I’m wounded.”
I hooted. “You sound like it.”
“I am! We used to have so much trust between us.”
“Then you started following me around the city.” I stood up, moved closer to the window, but remained half-tucked behind the drapes. I didn’t like that the fabric touched my naked breasts and the scratchy silk sent a shiver down my spine.
“I can’t decide if this is encouragement or not.” He paused. “It’d be wrong to jack off, wouldn’t it?”
“Isn’t it too cold for that?”
“I’ve jacked off in colder places. The boner after… never mind.”
“Good to know,” I drawled as I toyed with one of my nipples.
We’d be bringing that topic up again.
“Fuck. Your tits are so gorgeous. I had no way of knowing that I’d marry a woman who put a Sports Illustrated model’s to shame. Kid Eoghan is so cheering me on right now.”
“You’re not getting in my panties.”
“I don’t mind a bit of blood.”
“No, but I do.”
“I’ll clean up the bed.”
“Last time looked like a scene from a horror movie!”
“How about the shower?”
Even though I wasn’t menstruating, I still pondered the suggestion. “Maybe. If the cramps come back.”
“Want me to pick up some gingerbread popcorn?”
“Don’t lie. You’ll wait until I leave and then follow me home.”
“I could join you in the car.”
“That’d be the eco-friendly option,” I agreed. “But I’m going with Camille, Star, and Savvie to Aoife’s bakery on Fifth with the kids.”
It wasn’t a lie. But my doctor’s office was around the block…
“Who did you pick for Secret Santa?”
“I knew you could lip-read!”
“Who?”
“That’d be telling.”
“What are you making them?”
My gaze tripped over one of the stores in the building he used as a prop. It’d have been so much damn easier to head in there and buy a gift. But noooo, crafting. Ugh.
“I don’t know.” Wistfully, I looked at the ice-skating rink where kids and adults alike were whirling around an oversized Christmas tree that glittered in the darkening sky. “I’m not the best at making shit.”
“I can sew.”
Well, that put my attention purely back on him. “You can sew?!”
“Don’t be sexist.”
“I’m not! My gast is fully flabbered! What can you sew?”
“Mostly open wounds.” He ignored my groan. “But Ma had a dress shop when we were young. I had to go there after school. Used to play with the needles. And scissors, actually.”
“Better than knives.”
“For the eyes, they are.”
“I don’t want to know.”
“Probably not.”
“What would you make?”
“Hey, I’m just offering to put together whatever you decide.”
“In exchange for phone sex?” I hummed. “You got your dick in your hand?”
“Maybe.”
“Is it a Popsicle yet?”
He chuckled. “This double-talk always gets me in the mood.”
Just to hear him moan, I cupped my breast. “You like that I don’t let you get away with shit.”
It’d taken me a couple of years to get into the swing of things, but no O’Donnelly appreciated a pushover.
“I fucking love it.”
“As much as sliding your cock into my pussy?”
“No. Nothing beats that. Nothing.”
And I fucking loved that he was croaking already.
Nothing empowered me more than knowing that I could bring a man like Eoghan O’Donnelly to this state with a jiggle of my tits and a few dirty words.
“Nothing? How about when I suck you off? Get your cock all wet and stare into your eyes when I take you to the back of my throat.”
“God, that’s high up there.”
Cursing my exhibitionist nature, I bit my lip.
Of course, he spotted it. “You wet, sweetheart?”
“You know I am.”
“You’re always horny when you get your period. I could meet you in a hotel suite. You wouldn’t have to clean up—”
“Eoghan! I’m not having some poor housekeeper deal with that mess!”
“But you know you’d feel so much fucking better. I’d get you off, babe. Make you all relaxed, then I’d slide into you and take such care of you. I only want you to feel good.”
My jaw worked.
Damn if I didn’t want that too. Especially with how nauseated I’d felt recently.
Still, I teased, “Maybe I’d want you to be rough with me. Pin me to the bed and fuck me so hard the bed shook.”
“Face down or eyes on me?” he rumbled.
“Eyes on you,” I breathed. “Arms over my head. Your legs locking me in place, hands holding me down.”
“Ohh, you’d want to be restrained, would you? Want me to not let you go until I’d finished.”
“Fuck, yeah. Until you’d pumped me full of your cum.”
“I’d watch it slide out of you just so that I could stuff it back inside.”
“You want to breed me, baby?”
I heard his guttural curse even if he muttered it under his breath.
“You want the whole world to know I’m yours? That you claimed me?”
“The world knows you’re mine,” he snarled. “Only mine.”
“Always,” I whispered.
“I’m so fucking close, Inessa. How do you do this to me every time—” He grunted. “God. Damn. It. Wish I were fucking you. Holding you down and making you take every inch of this cock that’s so close to exploding because of you. Nobody gets me like this. Nobody, Inessa.”
Cheeks flushing, I swallowed. “No one gets me wet like you, Eoghan. I’m crazy about you. Don’t you know? I want you all the time. I want you to come so bad. I wish I could see. I’d let you come all over my tits and I’d let you rub it in. Then I’d walk around the whole day with you on me—”
“Fuck!” he roared in my ear. Low breaths sounded next, heavy and deep as he panted through his orgasm.
I squirmed, turned on but determined not to do anything about it. Still, his reaction was a great anxiety killer.
“You’re such a good fucking girl for me. Later, I’m going to fill the bath for you. Gonna throw in all that stinky shit you adore and then I’ll climb into it too and sit you on my cock until you get off. You can’t complain about cleanup if we’re in the bathroom. You like the idea of that, baby?”
“You know I do.” I closed my eyes, easily able to imagine the scene he set. “But I’m out of my favorite stinky shit.”
He grunted.
“And you ate the last of my Dairy Milk stash and gingerbread popcorn.”
“Fine.”
I twirled a strand of hair around my finger. “I’ll see you at home?”
“How long are you guys going to be?”
“I don’t know, Eoghan. What happens during afternoon tea, stays at afternoon tea. That’s the deal.”
“That isn’t as threatening as you think it is.”
“I don’t think it’s threatening at all.”
He snorted. “Do you need anything else from the store? You good for tampons?”
“Eoghan!”
His goddamn obsession with my body—I’d had to throw away so many tampons recently!
“What? For someone who goes through this every month, you run out of this shit all the time. I don’t know why you don’t use one of those cups. I’ll put it in for you—”
“Eoghan O’Donnelly! You shut your mouth! I’m not letting you do that!”
“Why not? I’ve seen you puke.”
“Because I was ill. That was an aberration.”
He barked out a laugh. “I should pee in front of you just to get you used to it. Aela’s right—”
“Aela is wrong, Mr. Lip-reader. My father never saw my mom without makeup. Even if she was sick, she used to wear it.”
“Oh, babe, that’s so fucking sad. Don’t you see that? I don’t need you to look perfect. That isn’t you. That’s not my Inessa.”
I propped my phone between my shoulder and ear as I buttoned up my blouse. “I like to look nice for you.”
“And I just need you to look like you. When you’re in the gym, hot and sweaty, you’re so fucking sexy—”
“Shut up!”
“You blushing? Daaamn. I definitely need to get you in the bath ASAP. Let you burn it off.”
“Eoghan,” I whined, but of course, the hunter in him knew he had me right where he wanted me.
“I just know that pretty little pussy is so hungry for me.” When I huffed, he drawled, “You go and play with your friends, and I’ll get provisions. Shall I bring home takeout?”
I really wanted sushi, but not until the doctor confirmed my suspicions. “Pizza from that place on 4th?”
“Sounds good to me. We can watch that damn show you’ve been talking about too. Braxton Hall?”
I hid a smile. “Maxton Hall. You’re too good to me, Eoghan.”
“Baby, you’re the one who just talked me off while I watched you through a sniper-rifle scope on a rooftop. You are too good to me.”
“You wouldn’t be you if you weren’t weird.”
Eoghan laughed. “Thank fuck you think so. Okay, I’m heading off. Text me if you think of something you want.”
Touched, as always, by his thoughtfulness, I breathed, “I just want you.”
Then I cut the call.
Turning away from the window, I began the walk of shame to the living room.
I knew he’d come with me if I asked him to, but I also knew he’d freak out. I wanted to delay that until I had time to process the situation.
I’d been an aunt for a long time now.
Just never a mother.
My cell buzzed.
Eoghan: I always want you.
Eoghan: I love you, Inessa.
Eoghan: YOU.
Because I knew he meant it, I opened up my camera, said, “I love you too,” as I filmed it, then I blew him a kiss.
When I returned to the living room after I’d sent it over, Camille caught my eye. I flared mine at her, silently pleading with her to leave my extended absence alone, and she just smiled.
Aoife, however, grinned at me.
I bit my lip then headed over to the club sandwiches that Savannah and Star were hoarding.
Suddenly, with my nerves abated, I had quite the appetite…