16. Rory
16
RORY
When I wake up with a warm body snuggled up next to me, I’m surprised and disoriented just for a moment. Then it all comes flooding back to me–the wedding, the reception, the wedding night.
I roll over onto my back with a groan, the champagne I’d had yesterday making my head pound. What had I been thinking, sleeping with Lara Burke?
Lara Murphy, by law , my brain reminds me, and I sit up, swallowing hard. I have to remind myself that this is just a temporary thing. I have to remind myself that this isn’t some fling, but a plan to keep her and Bree safe.
I never considered how hard it would be to keep that in mind while Lara and I are in such close proximity.
Lara stretches next to me, and I can’t help but smile as she sits up, her hair all over because she’s slept with it in an up-do.
She rubs a hand over her face. “God, my mouth is dry.”
“I’ll get some water for us.” I reach over into the mini fridge in my room, grabbing us each a bottle.
She downs it quickly, and I follow suit, the hydration helping with my headache.
Lara yawns so loudly that her jaw cracks. “We never discussed a honeymoon.”
I snort. “We can’t exactly have a honeymoon, honey. We can’t be seen out and about just yet.”
She sighs. “So, I’m stuck in this house for the rest of forever?”
“Not forever.” I smile, leaning over to kiss her cheek. “How about today I give you a tour of the grounds? I know you’ve seen the terrace and the garden and pool house, but there’s a lot more you haven’t seen.”
“Oh, yeah? The Murphy estate is bigger than my father’s, even though our mansion is bigger. You have more acres.”
“Do we?” I stand up, nude, walking to the closet.
I pull on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, turning to see Lara standing next to me, already having put on a pair of shorts that I’d bought her.
She’s still topless, and a big part of me wants to cup her small breasts in my hands, push her back down to the bed.
Instead, I look away. I can’t get attached to Lara, even physically.
She’ll be out of my life as soon as this is all over, and that’s what I want, right? I want to go back to my old life.
Things are just getting a little blurry.
We walk out into the hallway and nearly run into my father, who’s leaving his office, presumably going down for breakfast.
“Well, hello, lovebirds. Didn’t expect you to be up so early.”
Lara stiffens beside me, and I put an arm around her waist.
“I’m taking her on a tour of the grounds. In lieu of a honeymoon.”
My father nods slowly. “I’d rather vacation here than anywhere else.”
I want to roll my eyes.
My father has always been proud of his home, proud of all the blood he’d spilled to afford it.
“See you later, Pa.”
He doesn’t respond, and I tug Lara’s hand, leading her down the stairs and out the back terrace, where we had our wedding. Our staff has already cleaned everything up.
“He gives me the creeps,” she mumbles, shuddering.
“I know you might not believe it, but he gives me the creeps, too.”
“I can’t imagine what it’s like. Having a father like that.”
“You’re lucky.”
She glances at me.
“I wouldn’t exactly call myself lucky . My mother died, and I was born into the Burke family, which means I’m constantly looking over my shoulder.”
“But your father loves you and protects you. He doesn’t use you as a pawn in his war.”
“I guess I am lucky," she says softly, and squeezes my hand as we walk past the pool house.
A golf cart with the keys in it sits on the other side of the pool house.
Her eyes fly to mine. “You don’t expect me to ride in that thing, do you?”
I laugh. “It’s a golf cart, Lara, not a dirt bike.”
“Still,” she says, getting in gingerly. “Drive carefully.”
I grin as she settles inside, and I crank it up, taking off as she squeals and holds on to the side of the golf cart.
“Rory!"
“This thing only goes about twenty-five miles an hour, honey. Relax.”
She huffs out a breath, and I smile, thinking about how cute she is. She’s let her hair down, and it flows down her back.
I take a sharp turn, and Lara clutches at me as if she’s going to go flying out. She grabs onto my bicep tightly as we head up toward the gun range, and her eyes widen.
“Are you taking me to shoot?" she asks excitedly, and I snort.
“Can’t trust you with a gun, Lara. In any other circumstance, I would want you to know how to defend yourself. But you have to understand?—”
“I understand,” she says gloomily as we drive by the gun range.
I hum, happy because we’re getting close to my favorite part of the estate–the edge of our property.
As we approach the waterfall and the creek running from it, Lara’s mouth drops open.
“You have a waterfall on your property.”
I grin. “It’s right at the edge, between our estate and the next. No one owns it. That’s what’s great about it.” I stop the golf cart and turn it off, getting out before reaching my hand out to Lara.
She keeps ahold of my hand as we walk closer to the water.
The sound of the water rushing over the rocks drowns out my negative thoughts, and I sit down on the shore of the creek, not caring that my jeans are going to get dirty.
“I never would have thought you were an outdoorsy type of guy.” Lara sits next to me and takes off her shoes, sticking her feet in the creek and giggling as the water rushes across her toes.
I frown. “What do you mean?”
“Accountants aren’t really known for their love of the outdoors.”
“I’m not just an accountant, you know,” I say haughtily, and Lara laughs, leaning against me.
“You’re also a Murphy.”
I look at her, deciding that’s definitely an insult. “It’s not like your family participates in legal activities.”
She kicks her feet in the water, splashing the bottoms of my jeans. “You’re right. I’m sure my father has spilled plenty of blood. I just like to think he’s different.”
“He is different than my father. Niall doesn’t care what happens to me, except for how it looks. He wants to be in control.”
“Has he always been like this?”
I shrug. “Kind of. Got worse after Ma....” I don’t want to go into it.
Lara doesn’t push me. She’s good about things like that.
“I used to think that he favored Bree. That he somehow loved her more. But after all of this, I realize that he was using her, too. I’m sure at some point, he would have married her off to an ally if Declan hadn’t taken her.”
“She got Stockholm syndrome fast ,” Lara muses.
I look over at her with a half-grin. “Are you getting Stockholm syndrome? I mean, last night...”
She barks out a laugh and pushes my shoulder playfully with one small hand.
I don’t even budge.
“I haven’t been touched in a year. It was about time I let loose.”
I stare at her. “A year ? You haven’t had sex in a year?”
“Don’t rub it in,” she mutters, but I can’t stop gaping at her.
“A woman that looks like you? That’s crazy.”
She looks up at me from under her long lashes. “Are you suggesting that I’m pretty, Rory Murphy?”
“I’m not suggesting it. I’m outright saying it, Lara Murphy.”
She winces slightly as I use her new last name, but she’s going to have to get used to hearing it. Yeah, we’re married, but there’s still a long way to go.
We have to keep my father convinced that I’m in on his plan, and we have to make him believe that Lara has turned against her father and brothers. That’s going to take time.
“You’re all right looking yourself.”
“All right looking? That’s not what you said when you were?—”
Lara kisses me, probably to shut me up, but I don’t mind.
I moan against her lips, sliding my tongue between them.
She meets it with her own, breathing out through her nose as she straddles my lap, rubbing herself against my jeans.
I start to harden beneath the fabric almost immediately, and she wraps her arms around my neck, kissing me even harder.
She grinds down against my erection, and my hands go up her thighs, under her shorts to feel her skin, squeezing the flesh there. She has the longest, most shapely legs.
She kisses me harder, and I growl into her mouth, grabbing her hair in a ponytail to pull her off me. She looks at me with half-lidded eyes, her mouth parted.
“Better be careful, honey, unless you want to get fucked out by the waterfall.”
“And what if I do?” she murmurs, reaching down to grope me through my jeans.
“What if someone catches us?”
“So what if they do?” She sticks her chin out defiantly. “We're married, aren't we? And this is the closest thing I get to a honeymoon.”
I chuckle, releasing her hair and shifting to lie her down on the ground, wishing that I’d brought a blanket. We’re both going to have grass stains and mud on us, but I don’t think either of us cares.
I just want her, so deeply that it makes my stomach almost ache with need. I can’t think about anything but being inside her.
“This is going to be quick,” I warn, and Lara licks her lips.
“Better make it good, then.”
Chuckling at her sass, I lean down to kiss her, biting her bottom lip as I pull away.
Lara whines and unbuttons her shorts, tugging them down just far enough to spread her thighs.
“Wrap those pretty legs around my waist, honey.”
Despite her attitude, she listens like a good girl.
She pants as I finally free myself from my jeans, and she fills her hands with me as she guides me into her, impatient.
“Just can’t wait to have it, can you?”
She flushes but doesn’t disagree, letting out a long moan when I start to stretch her out.
I can’t believe a woman this beautiful, this sexy, this much of a hellcat in bed, hasn’t been touched in a year. But some part of me also loves that. Some part of me revels in being the only man to touch her in so long.
I feel protective over Lara and if I’m honest, a little possessive. Seeing Terry dance with her had made my head feel full of bees.
“Oh, Rory, I’m going to come,” Lara whimpers after just a few strokes, and sure enough, she’s clenching around me before I even get a steady rhythm.
I want to fuck her through it, make her come again and again, but despite Lara’s dismissal, I’d rather not get caught by one of my father’s men.
I let out a string of curses, some of them in Gaelic, when I reach my peak, and I lean down to press my lips against her neck, leaving a small mark there when I pull away.
Lara sighs, and I smile down at her, letting myself enjoy this moment before pulling out of her.
I pull her shorts back up, adjusting myself back into my jeans.
She crawls into my lap, and I chuckle, wrapping my arms around her waist.
She rests her back against my chest, breathing slowly through her nostrils.
I brush sweaty tendrils of hair back from her face, kissing along her jawline and the upturned corner of her mouth.
“I’ve never done anything like this is public.”
I laugh. “Not sure if this counts as public, honey.”
She huffs. “It totally does. Anyone could have seen us.”
“Maybe my father’s men. But hardly anyone comes down here. It’s kind of my spot.” I pause. “Well, me and Bree. We used to come down here and play. Once, she got leeches all over her legs playing in the creek, and she screamed so loud.”
I can’t help but laugh, remembering, and Lara laughs, too, the sound musical over the babbling of the creek.
I look down at her, glad that she’s turned away from me so she can’t see my expression. Something’s happening to me when it comes to Lara Burke, and I don’t know how to handle it.
Not only is she beautiful, she’s witty and sassy and smart, all qualities I look for in women. Intelligence is an important attribute, and Lara has it in spades.
I tighten my arms around her waist, and Lara wiggles back against me.
“Careful,” I murmur. “You’ll make me want to go again.”
“Big talker,” she teases, looking up at me with sparkling green eyes.
I chuckle and then avert my gaze.
I don’t want her to see anything in my expression. If things were different, maybe I’d let myself fall in love.
But they aren’t.
This marriage is a means to an end, to get my father behind bars and protect the Burkes and my sister. I can’t allow myself to actually feel something for Lara.
Nonetheless, I kiss the top of her head, allowing myself to enjoy the moment, to enjoy how close she is to me, the warmth of her skin.
This is nice. It’s not love, but it’s nice.
Chapter Seventeen