Operation Midday Extraction
Chapter thirty-four
WRAITH
Istand outside the glass-walled back office for a second longer than necessary, watching áine work without her noticing me yet.
Her hair is up in a bun to accommodate the warm days of late spring and her brows are pinched in concentration while she types something into the new accounting software McLaren installed last week.
It's going to take my wife weeks, if not months to get all of these business accounts up to date and online. How are there still companies tracking their financials through paper ledgers?
Getting áine out of the apartment was McLaren's idea. She said my wife's constant hovering was going to make the girls realize something was wrong. And none of us wants them to know about the Hollow Point Kings' plans for Sadie.
Ever.
Those plans have no hope of coming to fruition, not with me and my team methodically disposing of its members.
When áine mentioned getting a job, I didn't argue and tell her I would provide for both her and the girls. I suggested she come to work for me. I needed her skills.
More excited than I thought a human could be at the idea of being immersed in accounts all day, she jumped at the idea. I left it to McLaren to convince her to start now and trust the girls' safety to me. And my new sister-in-law didn't let me down.
Torch bumps my shoulder as he walks past carrying two banker boxes full of files. "You gonna stand there all day lookin' creepy, boss?"
I don't bother looking away from áine. "Fuck off."
Torch snorts and keeps walking.
He's part of the four-man team on áine right now.
Inside the office, áine mutters something under her breath and aggressively taps a key on the number pad.
Then she huffs.
My dick stirs.
Nothing new about that. Everything my wife does turns me on. Every. Damn. Thing.
She glances up then freezes when she spots me through the glass. Her entire face changes. Softens. And something weird happens in my chest.
My aching dick makes sense. This tightness in my chest doesn't.
Whatever heart I had died a long time ago.
At least I thought it did. Is this pain in my chest it waking up?
áine pushes her chair back and stands, smoothing down the flirty skirt of her sundress.
I met her wearing the boring boxy black uniform of a maid and she stole my breath from my chest.
But my wife likes soft tops that cling to her curves, full skirts that don't cover her knees and wrap dresses that taunt me with how easy it would be to touch her gorgeous tits if I just slid my hand into her bodice.
She's wearing one of them today, in a blue two shades darker than her eyes. The dress with its neckline that shows a tempting amount of cleavage is the straw that broke the camel's back.
Or the final bit of provocation that has her mobster husband ready to kidnap her from work.
I've spent the entire morning thinking about untying the bow that holds that damn dress together. And wondering whether she'd make those breathy little noises that heat my blood if I did it and put my mouth on her nipples right here against the filing cabinets.
I push the door open to the glass enclosed office, wishing the walls were opaque so we didn't have to go anywhere for even a preliminary taste of my plans. What is the point of glass walls anyway?
"Hey." Her smile spreads across her beautiful face, slow and warm. "I thought you were at the warehouse in Queens."
"I was." Now I'm here.
Because that's where she is.
Her expression morphs into one of concern. "Is everything okay? The girls—"
"Are safe," I interrupt before she can start spiraling. "Everything is fine."
I just miss the hell out of touching my wife the way I want to.
Her eyes warm. "Will you be working here today?"
Shaking my head, I step inside the office.
Instantly her scent wraps around me. Vanilla and something floral I can't name, but would recognize anywhere now, mixes with the aroma of the coffee she's clearly been living on all morning.
áine.
Home.
Something I haven't had in so long I stopped noticing the lack.
My rack in the Bunker's dormitory was a safe place to sleep, but not a home. My mob brothers are family, but not like áine and the girls. And Maureen. And even McLaren, damn it.
áine crosses the distance between us and curls her small hand around my bicep. "You’re sure everything's okay? You've got a weird look on your face."
"I like the way you smell," I blurt out.
She steps closer, her soft breasts pressing against my torso. "I like the way you smell too."
"Yeah?"
"Yes."
"What do I smell like?" I cup her bare nape.
She leans forward, closes her eyes and inhales deeply. "Safety. Pleasure. Mmm. Strength. My husband." Her forehead presses against my pecs. "Home."
I was expecting gun oil. Maybe body wash. But she's not thinking about physical scents. She's focused on what I am to her.
Safety.
Pleasure.
Strength.
Her husband.
Home.
Fucking home.
She had a home before we got married, but now I am home to her.
I'd thump my chest to dislodge the lump there if it didn't mean moving her away from me. "I will always be those things for you."
"What do I smell like to you?" she asks.
"Home. Tenderness. Peace." I don't mention the vanilla, the flowers or the coffee. None of those matter because even if she stopped using that perfume and never drank another cup of what she calls the elixir of life, she would still smell like the things that matter. "Mine."
She tilts her head back, her pretty eyes with their unique irises staring up at me. "That's pretty deep. For what we are."
"What we are is home to each other." She said it and I won't let her take it back.
She nods, solemn. "We are."
My gaze drops to the valley of her breasts. "We're something else too."
"Yes." Her breath hitches, a blush spreading over those delicious swells.
Horny. We are both in a constant state of arousal.
"Two weeks," I growl.
Her forehead thumps against my chest again. "I know."
Two weeks of sleeping beside her while her mom snored across the hall and the girls slept in the next room.
Two weeks of sporadically getting each other off in near silence.
Two weeks of hearing her laugh in the kitchen while I drank coffee and tried not to think about spreading her across the table.
Two weeks of her curling against me in bed, sleepy and warm, while my dick ached so bad I thought I might lose my mind.
I should've arranged a place for us to have privacy sooner.
Crowding her backward, I brace one hand beside her hip on the desk and lean down until my mouth is close to her ear. "Baby girl, if I don't get you alone soon, I'm gonna lose what little fuckin' self-control I've got left."
"You're not the only one." She groans. "But there are people literally ten feet away."
"I know." That’s the problem.
Her knees spread and she rubs herself against my hard thigh, hidden from view by my much bigger body.
Fucking hell.
More blood surges into my cock.
"You came all the way down here to sexually harass me at work?" she teases breathlessly.
"I came down here to kidnap my wife."
That gets me the reaction I wanted. Those gorgeous eyes widen before desire flashes through them, hot and needy.
"You can't just abduct me in the middle of the workday," she pretends to protest as she rides my thigh.
"Sure I can." I straighten and grab her cardigan off the back of her chair. "I'm your boss."
"I might work for you, but you are not my boss," she sasses.
"You sure about that, baby girl?"
She shivers but nods.
"Let's test it." I lift her into my arms.
She squeals. "Kieran! I have work to do."
"You've been here since eight."
"It's only eleven-thirty."
"And?"
"And normal people work until at least five." But her arms are looping around my neck, aren't they?
I lean down so only she can hear me. "Normal people aren't spending every night hard as fuck because their wife keeps making needy little sounds in her sleep."
Her mouth falls open.
I nuzzle her ear. "You rub your thighs together when you dream, baby girl."
"Kieran!" she hisses.
My grin comes fast and vicious. "What? It's the truth. You wouldn't want me to lie, would you?"
Instead of answering, she asks, "Where are we going?"
"Wait and see." I head out of the office.
She tenses. "Grab my backpack and phone."
It takes an extra couple seconds I'm not sure my balls have got.
I've never come in my skivvies while driving, but there's a first time for everything.