Bonus Epilogue
Cormac
I glance at Joey, grinning and shaking my head as I chase our three-year-old daughter across our backyard. The past six years haven’t all been bliss. The never-ending trials and tribulations of syndicate life challenge our families and us. But Joey is everything I need in a partner. She has the patience of a saint with me, but she knows when to push back and put me in my place—which is beside her for the rest of our lives.
We didn’t think we’d start a family four years ago, despite all our dirty talk. But I can’t imagine life without Joey and Aisling. We chose an Irish name for our daughter and agreed if we have another, that child’ll get a Spanish one.
When I capture our toddler, I toss her in the air. I should have been prepared for the sticky, wet hands that grasp my face as I catch her.
“Más, papí. Arís.” More, Daddy. Again.
Aisling speaks a jumble of Spanish, Irish, and English. Few people outside our family understand her, but we all do.
“Ceann amháin eile.” One more.
I swing her twice, then toss her. She cheers as Joey joins us, her disapproving stare failing to mask her amusement.
“Hora de la siesta.” Nap time.
Aisling looks at me and opens her mouth, but she snaps it shut when she glances at Joey. She knows if she and I were alone, I’d give in. One look from Joey, and she’s the most well-behaved child to walk this earth. She takes turns for that title with her cousins and cousins once removed when they’re with their mothers.
I carry her inside, and I haven’t closed her bedroom door before she’s fast asleep. I creep downstairs to Joey’s office. I know she senses I’m there, but she jumps when I pick her up, toss her in the air—spinning her—then hoist her over my shoulder.
“We have two hours, cailín.”
“However will we fill it, Daddy?”
That word still makes my heart flutter, and my cock harden. With a playful swat on her arse, I carry her to the basement. I use my handprint to open the biometric lock then step into a room we’ve enjoyed since the day we moved in. I added the lock as a future precaution when we found out Joey was pregnant.
I set her on her feet, and she puts her hands behind her back. I can’t see them, but I know she crossed her wrists.
“Strip.”
“Yes, Daddy.”
I move around the room and gather what I want. When I walk back to Joey, she’s already kneeling with eyes downturned. We’ve never wavered in our BDSM lifestyle, only going slower and lighter while she was pregnant. Our playroom was vital while she was expecting our daughter because neither of us wanted to go to our clubs once she was showing. Now, we enjoy both again.
“Do you remember what today is, cailín?”
“Of course, Daddy.”
“And?”
“And what, Daddy? You didn’t ask anything else.”
I stand behind her as I fist my hand in her hair and pull her head back until she has to look up at me.
“What happens when my little sub thinks she’s in control?”
“She gets edged.”
“Hmm. Is that what you want?”
“No.”
There are rare situations where no means yes. This is one of them. Sometimes I give her what she wants, and other times I don’t. I’m not sure which I’ll choose.
“What is today, little one?”
“The anniversary of the day we met.”
“Do you know what the five most special days in my life are?”
“Yes.”
“Name them.”
I slide my free hand down her chest from her left shoulder until I reach her nipple. I pinch, then twist, then tug. She struggles not to moan.
“The day we met.”
I twist her nipple again.
“The day I told you I love you for the first time.”
I release her hair and squeeze both tits.
“The day I said yes to your proposal.”
I squat to nibble on her right earlobe as my right hand glides up to her shoulder, down her back, around her ribs, across her belly to her pussy.
“The day we got married.”
I toy with her clit.
“The day we had Aisling.”
I rub her clit.
“I remember my shock as I tumbled backward that first day, ready to shoot whoever pushed me. You were not who I expected to fall into my life.”
“But you catch me any time I fall.”
“And you keep pushing me out of danger, little one.”
I know she grimaces even though I can’t see her face clearly.
“About that, Daddy.”
“Yes?”
“You had to know I wouldn’t ignore what he said today.”
“And you had to know I’d punish you for telling the head of the Rumorosa to ‘ete a tomar por culo’ before pointing a knife at him, then the door.” Go fuck yourself.
“And you had to know that’s how I’d react when he approached Aisling.”
“I was standing beside you, cailín.”
“So?”
I pinch her clit as hard as I dare. She screams but leans back into my chest.
“So, I’m proud of you, but I also had at least five years shaved off my life watching you.”
“He approached Aisling because he came over to threaten you.”
“I know. I was there. Remember?”
I pull the handcuffs from my pocket and draw her wrists together in front of her. I snap them on, then help her to her feet. I guide her to the Saint Andrew’s cross that takes up most of the wall beside the bathroom door. We have a bed down here, not just to fuck on but to nap, along with a—multipurpose—full bathroom. I steady her as she steps onto the ledges, facing away from me, then fasten the cuffs around her ankles. I draw her arms up and hook the handcuff chain on the peg between the X’s top beams.
I land my palm across her plush arse before spreading her cheeks. I twirl the plug she’s worn since this morning. I toy with her, sliding it out partway before pushing it back in. I pull a vaginal spreader from my pocket and slip that in, opening her pussy to me. Finally, I pull a ball gag from my other pocket.
“I swear Mary Poppins made your pants, Daddy.”
She mutters, but I hear her. I lean forward and kiss her right arse cheek before biting. She squeals, and her hips jerk forward, rubbing her clit against the smooth wood. She moans, and I chuckle. It’s the one that gives her goosebumps.
I brush her hair back and gather it. Using the hair tie I grabbed before joining her and Aisling in the garden, I pull her hair into a messy bun. I slide the gag in place.
“Snap.”
She follows the command immediately, snapping with both hands. I step away to get the cat o’ nine tails I left on the floor beside where she kneeled. I grab the vibrator, too. When I return to her, I nip at the crook of her neck on the left side, then step back.
“This is a warm-up, cailín.”
I bring the flogger down in a figure eight over and over, covering her lower back, arse, and upper thighs. She tries to stomp her feet, but she can’t. She mumbles, but nothing intelligible comes out around the ball between her teeth. When her arse is bright pink, I take the flogger back to its spot on the wall rack. I grab a paddle and amble back to her. She’s turned her head as far as she can to watch me. I didn’t blindfold her, so she could see me take my time as I exchange my—tools.
“Could you have forgotten how much I love you?”
She shakes her head.
“Could you have forgotten how special today is to me?”
She shakes her head again.
“Then I don’t know what made you think you could risk your life on one of the most important days of the year. How you could risk it at all.”
I bring the paddle down on her arse, and she screams. I reach between her and the cross to slide the vibrator into her. I immediately turn it onto the highest pulsing setting. The spreader makes it easy. I hold it in place while I spank her again.
“You’re getting ten swats on each side. You will use your fingers to count. Do you understand, little girl?”
“Ymm, dddee.”
I kiss her temple before I start. I keep the pattern unpredictable, sometimes doubling on one side before moving to the other. I cover her arse, her horizontal crack, and the top of her thighs. She’s sweating and panting by the time I finish. I drop the paddle and unfasten the gag, but I keep the vibrator in place.
“Daddy, I’m sorry for how my actions scared you. But you know I won’t apologize for doing it.”
“I know, cailín. I’ll punish you for risking your life, but I won’t try to change you. I don’t want you any different from who you are.”
“So, you have reasons to punish me?” Her eyes twinkle while she grins.
I shift the vibrator, and her arse clenches as she moans.
“No. That’s just an inevitability. I won’t change you because I love you and Aisling more than I understood I could.”
“And that’s why I can’t change. I feel the same about you and Aisling. You know I wouldn’t have said that if you weren’t beside me.”
It’s my turn to grin. “Yeah, you would have said something way worse, but probably in Irish.”
She insisted upon learning Irish as soon as I proposed. I taught her the naughtiest phrases first. I didn’t tell her what one meant, and she didn’t know better than to ask my mom. For the first time in my life, my mom made me unwrap a bar of Irish Spring soap and go stand at the bathroom sink. I was thirty-four, and I thought I was about to have my mouth washed out with soap for teaching my fiancée to say, “I will lick your clit like an ice cream.”
Mom didn’t go through with it, but I made sure I gave Joey the translation to everything after that. If Joey overheard anything she thought sounded risqué, she went to Mair instead since she grew up speaking Irish, too.
Joey shrugs at my observation, completely unrepentant. It makes my cock twitch. I twist the plug and vibrator at the same time.
“Daddy!”
“Yes?”
“I need to come, Daddy. Please.”
“Naughty subs don’t get to come.”
“But we’re celebrating.”
“Oh, I’m having a grand time.”
“Daddy, you’re going to want to come soon, too. I can tell.”
“That doesn’t mean I’ll let you come.”
“But you always say my pleasure is your pleasure.”
I moved the clit stimulator to exactly where I know she needs it to come right before she spoke. Each word came out a pant. Now I pull it out, and she wails. I drop to my knees and yank her hips back.
“Lífidh mé do brillín mar uachtar reoite.” I will lick your clit like an ice cream.
I have my feast until she’s whimpering with need. I can barely keep going without coming. It’ll be over way too fast once I’m inside her if I continue to torment us both. I release her from the Saint Andrew’s cross and scoop her into my arms. I carry her to the bed and climb on, hovering over her. She pushes on my back, wanting me to lower my weight to her. My cock knows its way home and slides into her. Fucking hell. That sensation. It’s nearly my undoing.
“Daddy, I didn’t say what I did because you were there to fix things if I caused a scene.”
“I know that, little one. You’re a mom. He should have known better.”
“Still doesn’t hurt to know I have my mobster knight in shining armor to defend me.”
“You were the one ready to slay the dragon.”
“Because there’s nothing I won’t do to defend our family and our life together. I love you, Cormac.”
“You’re my past, my present, and my entire future. I love you, Joey.”