32. Rory
I know that Lara’s family wants to see her desperately, but I can’t help asking Gray for a little time.
“She was taken?—”
“Not by me. I just need a couple of days, to make sure none of my father’s men revolt.”
It’s not necessarily a lie. There could be a few of my father’s men that would find out about his death and come after me. I don’t want Lara to be cannon fodder if that happens.
But I’m pretty sure most of them will turn tail and run.
My father protected them from retaliation and from prison, and now that he’s gone, I expect there won’t be a lot of blow-back.
Duncan saw it happen, and he’s been telling everyone exactly how it went down.
But even though I’m not technically lying to Gray, my intentions aren’t all pure.
I want more time with Lara. I need to get up the courage to ask her if she would want to stay.
“All right, Murphy. You have two days,” Gray growls, and hangs up the phone.
I sigh. I don’t think he likes me very much, and Declan probably isn’t too keen, either.
But I can win them over, as long as Lara wants me back.
She’s told me that she loves me, but is that enough? Did she just say that out of pity or even out of fear for her life?
I can’t imagine she thinks of me as anything like my father, but she was kidnapped by his men. I’m worried that when she sees her family, she’ll realize she wants to leave me.
I don’t know how I’ll handle that.
I don’t know if I can. It feels like Lara is the only good thing left here. Of course, there’s Bree, but she has her own life.
I want a life with Lara. I just can’t seem to make myself ask her about it, to tell her how I really feel.
So, I want a couple more days to show her.
“What do you keep staring at me for?” Lara asks, smiling. “Do I have something between my teeth?”
I chuckle and shake my head, trying to snap myself out of it. If I think about losing her too often, I’ll lose it myself.
“Nothing like that. You're just beautiful."
She turns around to look at me, her smile widening. “You think I’m beautiful?”
I scoff. “Of course, I do. I’ve told you before.”
“Sure, during sex,” she teases, getting closer and trailing her index finger across my chest through the fabric of my shirt. “Doesn't mean anything then."
“Why not?” I tilt my head back as she starts to drop kisses along my collarbone.
“Because guys always say stuff like that during sex, then they won’t compliment you outside the bedroom.”
I frown, jealousy rushing through me. “What kind of jerks are you dating?”
Lara laughs out loud, letting go of my hand and starting to speed up as she heads for the creek.
I chuckle at her exuberance, breaking into a light jog to catch up with her. I grab her around the waist, pulling her back toward me and lifting her off the ground.
Lara squeals and kicks, wriggling to get away, but my arms are tight around her trim waist.
“Oh, no,” she murmurs. “I’ve been caught by the big, bad wolf.”
I lean down to kiss her neck, and she moans softly.
“Wouldn’t call myself a wolf. I’m just an accountant, remember?”
Lara stiffens, and I’m not sure why.
I don’t want to rock the boat in our last days together, though, so I keep my mouth shut.
She pulls away from me gently, kicking off her shoes and wading in the water.
“You said you played here when you were a kid?”
I hum, watching her as she splashes around, trying to memorize the long lines of her thighs, her elegant neck.
“All the time. Bree, too.”
“What were you like as a kid?” She sits down on the grass, keeping her feet in the water.
I shrug. “I don't know. I was kind of a jerk.”
She laughs. “A jerk? How so?"
“I was just rebellious. And I wasn’t the world's best big brother, at least not at first. I can admit now that I was jealous of her. My father always favored her.”
She frowns, reaching up to take my hand and pulling me down to sit next to her. “I bet she’d say the same thing about you.”
I snort. “Maybe. It seems clear that he manipulated all of us. Everyone he knew, really.”
Lara puts my hand in her lap, squeezing it. “I'm sorry about your father. I'm sorry that you were put in that position.”
“It's not your fault.” My throat feels tight, and I have to fight to keep my voice from breaking. I’ve been trying not to think about it ever since it happened.
“Still, I’m sorry. I don’t know what it’s like to have a father like that, but I can see that it’s affected you and Bree.”
“We had our mother. At least one parent loved us.”
“Have you ever thought about having kids?”
I shake my head. “No, never.” I pause. "At least not until now.”
“What's changed?” She looks over at me, and then back down at her feet.
“Well, now that he’s gone, I won’t be in danger like I was before. Before, anyone I loved was subject to my father’s enemies. Things are different, now.”
“I always wanted two.” Lara smiles softly.
My heart aches just looking at her. She’s so beautiful.
“Yeah?”
She nods. “A boy and a girl."
“You can't be sure that's how it'd shake out, though.”
She looks up at me, her smile widening. “I just have a feeling.”
I can’t help but lean down and kiss her gently.
She deepens the kiss, grabbing the back of my head to pull me closer.
I explore her mouth with my tongue and eventually, she breaks away, breathing hard.
“Maybe we should get back to the house.”
I chuckle, putting an arm around her and drawing her close to my side. “Not yet. Just want to sit here for a while. Watch the sun set.”
She leans her head against my shoulder and looks up at the sky. Soon enough, pinks and purples start to spread across the sky.
“It’s beautiful here.”
“It's one of the things my father got right. He built our first house with his bare hands, or at least that’s the story he told. When he started making real money, he upgraded it into what it is now. My mother always said she missed the old house, having us all closer.”
“My father inherited our estate,” Lara muses, eyes wide as she looks up at the sunset. “It's lovely there, of course, but I have to admit the view here is better. It’s weird that I’m going to miss this place.”
I stiffen at her words, but my throat works, the words not coming out.
Stay. I want to say. Stay forever. Be mine.
But if she says no right now, I won’t get any more time with her. And there’s so much more I want to do.
“Your brothers are worried about retaliation,” I lie.
She hums, snuggling closer to me. “I'm in no rush. No matter how it started, I’m glad I met you, Rory.”
“I’m glad I met you, too, Lara.”
There’s so much more I want to say, but instead, I just watch the sunset with her until the moon comes up.
We hold hands all the way back to the mansion.
Duncan and Raquel, as well as a few of my father’s staff, are still living on the grounds, but other than that, there’s no one else here.
When the door closes behind us, I look around to make sure none of the remaining occupants of the house are downstairs.
The downstairs area is empty, so I grab Lara’s hand, taking her out onto the terrace. More of my mother’s flowers are planted around it, leading to a gazebo in the middle of the backyard area.
I drag her along the trail.
“Where are we going?”
“Just to the gazebo,” I murmur. “Always wanted to hook up there.”
She giggles. “You haven’t? Not even as a teenager?”
I chuckle. “I didn’t get around much.”
I hadn’t exactly been celibate in high school, but I’d been more focused on my grades. I’ve been wanting to get from under my father’s thumb most of my life.
“Lies,” she sings in a teasing tone. “You’re so handsome, you had to have had girls all over you.”
“Not as much as you’d think.”
We arrive at the gazebo and walk inside.
It’s dark in there, only the moonlight illuminating Lara’s pretty face as she looks up at me. Her eyes look almost like they are glowing in the darkness.
I cup her face when I kiss her, a part of me hoping she can feel how I feel about her just by the kiss.
I bring her closer to me, putting my arms around her waist, and Lara moans against my lips.
She’s wearing a simple shift dress, and she pulls away only enough to turn and lift it up around her hips.
Lara looks back at me over her shoulder with a smirk that makes my heart race.
My eyes keep darting from her face down to her ass, exposed because she isn’t wearing underwear.
“Little minx.” I run my hands across her ass. “You were hoping we’d hook up in public.”
“Maybe.” Her cheeks flush, and she places her hands on the bench of the gazebo, arching her back.
“Maybe, my ass.”
Lara giggles, but then it turns into a long groan as I spread her legs apart with my thigh.
I slide two fingers into her, arching them up as she clamps one hand over her mouth, trying not to be too loud.
“You wanted this. No reason to be quiet now. Let everyone hear you.”
Lara drops her hand, a wrecked moan leaving her throat, and the sound makes me impatient, my cock rock hard in my pants.
I manage to free myself, and I quickly remove my fingers from her slick entrance, taking myself in hand and sliding into her.
“Rory,” she breathes. “Oh, fuck.”
“Oh, fuck is right,” I groan low in my chest, taking her hips in my hands and pulling her back against me.
Her thighs are trembling already.
I love how sensitive she is, how it only ever takes a few strokes to make her flutter around me.
“Oh, I’m coming, don’t stop.” She rolls her hips back to meet my thrusts.
I grit my teeth as she pulses around me hard, mewling out a moan that sends a shock of pleasure down my spine.
“Want you to come again,” I say in a rough voice, keeping up the same rhythm.
It only takes a few more moments before she’s coming again, and I gasp out her name.
I pull her upright, her back against my chest as I thrust up into her, finishing inside her.
Lara whimpers, still rocking her hips in the aftershocks.
I groan and laugh at the same time and slowly pull out of her, adjusting myself back into my pants and brushing down her dress.
Lara kisses along the side of my face, nuzzling against my neck when she’s done.
“Was it everything you fantasized about?”
I grin down at her. “And more.”
“I still can’t believe you weren’t a teenage Casanova,” she says as we sit down to catch our breath.
“Never really had the time.” I wince. “I was kind of a nerd in high school.”
“Like a teacher’s pet?”
“Something like that.”
She throws her head back and laughs. “Pretty sure I’ve only ever dated class clowns.”
I frown. “Wouldn’t have pegged you as one of those women who likes bad boys.”
She snorts, kicking at a rock on the gazebo. “What makes you say that? I fell in love with you, didn’t I?”
My heart skips a beat at her words, but I don’t let on.
I point to myself. “Nerd. Remember?”
“You’re certainly not a nerd now ,” she argues.
“I guess I’ll go back to being one, now.”
Lara swallows visibly, quickly standing up. “It’s getting a little chilly. Let’s go back inside, maybe take a bath?”
She’s uncharacteristically quiet in the bathtub, just resting against me, her head hanging down, the ends of her hair darkened by the water.
“Everything okay?” I kiss her shoulder.
She mumbles something I can’t hear, and I wrap a hand loosely around her throat, tipping her chin up so she has to look at me.
“I’m fine.”
I just raise an eyebrow at her, and she sighs, shifting around in the bath water to face me.
“This is just... a lot to process.”
“What is?”
“Everything.” She lets a long breath out through her nostrils. “Being kidnapped, nearly being killed twice . You.”
“Me?”
She nods. “The way I feel about you. It’s different than anything I’ve ever felt.”
“Have you been in love before?”
“I thought I had. Now I’m not so sure.”
I nod. “I don’t think I ever have. I never allowed myself to get close to anyone.”
“My da wouldn’t let me get too close,” she says with a fond smile. “But I know he was just trying to protect me.”
“I can’t blame him. I always wanted to protect Bree in the same way.” I laugh. “Once, when she was fifteen, some kid followed her home from school. She wanted to take him to her room, so I went in there with him. He was gone in fifteen minutes.”
Lara snickers. “Sounds like something Gray would have done to me.”
“Yeah, he seems to be the overprotective one.”
“You noticed?”
“Kind of hard not to.”
Lara nods, pinning her hair up so she won’t get it any wetter.
“Between Da, Gray, and Declan, I never got out much. Well, I did. But I always got caught.”
“So, you didn’t date much in high school, either?”
“I didn't date at all.” She grins. “Not officially, anyway. Of course, there were always ways to get around it. Making out behind the bleachers at a football game, skipping fifth period to sneak out to some guy’s car...”
I frown. “I don’t know if I want to hear these stories.”
She giggles. “You can’t be jealous of things I did before I met you.”
“Like hell I can’t.” I tug her up and take the towel from the rack to dry her off.
She smiles, letting me dry her skin with the fluffy towel.
“I can’t really judge. I’m glad you were a nerd in high school.”
I chuckle, putting on my robe as she puts on hers.
She pads into the bedroom first and climbs onto the bed, ditching her robe immediately.
I slide mine off, too, letting it fall to the floor before I get in beside her.
“Goodnight, Mrs. Murphy,” I murmur in her ear as she snuggles against me.
“Goodnight, Mr. Murphy.” Her words end in a long yawn, and she’s asleep before I can say anymore.
It’s probably for the best.