“Because it’s not right. It’s Adam and Eve, kid. Not Adam and Steve,” Da remarked, but something had shifted.
He’d gone from being pissed to being amused.
Though I’d heard his bullshit more times than I could count, it didn’t stop me from gritting my teeth over the conversation.
For a helluva long time, he’d thought I was gay, so I’d heard it all as he attempted to scare me straight. Which wasn’t easy when I was already straight to begin with.
“That makes no sense. A lot of animals engage in homosexual activity. It’s perfectly natural. Anyway, you’re talking about ballet. Most ballets are about tragic romances, aren’t they, Mom? Remember that one we went to see in Paris? It was about that girl who fell in love with a guy—”
“You’ve been to Paris?” Aoife asked, her eyes lighting up. The abrupt question, however, told me she was trying to change the subject.
“Yeah. We lived there for a year,” Seamus confirmed. “It was brilliant. Lots of museums and lots of cultural things. Just because I enjoyed going to the opera and the ballet doesn’t mean I’m gay,” he pointed out, but his voice broke, and I didn’t have to look at him to know he was doing his level best to avoid drooling over Inessa. “And anyway, going there is a great way to socialize with the right people. It’s like golf. Does anyone even like it? But most businessmen play because you can talk business on the green.”
“Is this kid for real?” I heard Aidan Jr. mutter.
For the first time, my gaze snapped off my meal and onto him. “Yeah, he’s for real, and I think he’s fucking brilliant. Hasn’t Aela done a great job raising him?”
“Yeah, I agree,” Conor added, backing me up, and I’d give him a steak later on in the week as a thank you. “She has. He’s got world domination on his list of things to do. You only aimed for the city, Da, Seamus wants the country, at least.”
Da, being the nutcase he was, found that hilarious, and as he chuckled like a loon, slapping his leg like he hadn’t heard anything so funny in all his life, somehow, it shifted the conversation onto Seamus. He talked about his new school, about his classmates and how many bodyguards they had for some reason, and he talked about the places he’d been and had seen.
By the end of it, if his staunch defense of me hadn’t cleared it up, I knew my family was impressed.
Not only was Seamus mature, independent, and kind, he had brass balls.
And with the O’Donnellys? That was exactly what you needed to survive.
Twenty-Two
Aela
As I rubbed my hair dry, I watched Declan as he started to stride from one side of the bedroom to the other. I knew he was on the phone with Conor, and the reason I was listening in was because I’d heard him mention Caro’s name a few times. As well as a couple of curse words in reference to her.
My childhood was too deeply ingrained in me to think of her as anything other than a pig, but I was infinitely curious about why Declan was so pissed. Caro had been investigating me and my clients, a case that had disappeared thanks to the four-grand-an-hour attorney the family had procured for me, so I wasn’t sure why she should be causing the O’Donnellys much of an issue.
Trouble was, in my position, I didn’t expect to learn all that much. Women never did.
Heaving an impatient sigh at the outdated thought process, I alternated between wanting to know and sulking over the status of women in the Five Points. I mean, it wasn’t like I wanted to get involved, but being out of the loop sucked.
When Declan turned around and saw me, I could tell he hadn’t realized I was in the room.
Because that meant I was slipping under his defenses which, in my opinion, boded well for our future together, I watched him end the call with his brother before I asked, “What’s Caro doing now?”
“You heard that much, huh?” he questioned sheepishly, rubbing a hand over his chin as he eyed me up like I was his ma’s apple crumble.
I’d eaten that today, so I knew it was the bomb.
“I did.”
“We have to pay her a visit in the morning. Conor was just setting it up.”
“How come?” I arched a brow. “Didn’t realize FBI agents were on speed dial for mobsters nowadays.”
“Now, now,” he chided, lips twitching. “You know we prefer to be called businessmen.”
That had me snorting, even as I tossed the towel I’d been using to dry my hair behind me into the bathroom. All the while, he watched me, his gaze trickling over me like liquid silk that he poured over every inch of my body.
While the day had been long, hella long in fact, I was beyond grateful to be home and for the ordeal to be over, but the heat in his eyes made my fatigue vanish in an instant.
I’d never thought to experience the likes of it again, and I was enamored by the way he made me feel as if I was fifteen once more.
“I didn’t expect that today.”
Because my mind was on sex, and his wasn’t, it took a few seconds to register what he was talking about. “Seamus? You mean him defending you?”
“You mean him doing what no one in my family has ever done?” His scowl took me aback before he muttered, “No one has ever understood my love of the arts.” He strolled over to the wall safe, and started the process of opening it.
When the beauties within were revealed, I swallowed at the sight of them, and murmured, “I like the fact that you and these three come as part of a package.”
“She wants me for my art,” he grumbled under his breath, but his smile shone through his eyes, taking away the bleakness buried there after talking about his family. “Funny how they don’t get it, but you do. So perfectly. And Seamus too.”
“He’s my kid. How couldn’t he understand art? It’s fate that you like it as well.”
“Can I ask you a question?”
“Of course.” I didn’t bother to be wary over what he might ask. There was no point in lying.
The distinct difference between being the aforementioned fifteen-year-old and the sensible woman standing here today was that I didn’t have it in me to play coy.
I was all in at this point, and I wasn’t going to hide it.
“Did you ever expect us to start up again? You said you knew the day would come where I’d find you… did you expect us to get together?”
I blinked, but replied honestly, “No. I didn’t. I thought you’d be married by now.”
“So you just thought I’d set you up in an apartment?”
Warily, I fingered the hem of the towel that covered me, keeping my head bowed.
“Shit.”
His curse had my shoulders hunching, because I knew he got where I was coming from. “You couldn’t seriously think I’d top you?”
“It was one of the major reasons I worked so hard to be successful. I needed to keep myself safe.”
“You seriously thought so badly of me?”
“You were like a different man after Deirdre died, Declan,” I rasped. “Nothing like the boy I loved, and all I could think was that I was a side piece and she was supposed to be your bride. I thought you’d be wishing I was dead and not her.”
He scrubbed a hand over his jaw, contemplating my words even as he was shaking his head. “I wish I’d known how badly I’d treated you. Maybe I’d have expected for you to run off. I just thought you’d stop calling, stop trying to see me. I never imagined you’d go all the way to fucking Ireland to avoid me.”
“Did you look for me?”
Pursing his lips, he grumbled, “Of course I did. But it was too late when you were out of the country, and I had to keep it on the down low.”
“You could have followed me,” I said softly.
“I could have.” He sighed. “I should have.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“If I tell you that I have no idea why, would you believe me?”
My lips twisted. “You have no reason to lie to me.”
“I don’t,” he agreed. “Did you keep
tabs on me?”
“Some. Enough to know you were alive.”
He shot me a rueful smile. “These past couple of years, I kept tabs on you. Nothing too heavy or I’d have found out about Shay sooner, but about your art.”
“I know you did—you said you liked my work today.”
“I can’t stop thinking about how different shit would be if I’d come after you.” He blew out a breath. “It makes me feel so fucking guilty.”
My life and his would have been a hell of a lot different if that was what had happened.
Was it crazy that I was glad we’d been separated? I wished Declan and Seamus were closer, and that was my sole regret, but I was a stronger woman for all my experiences. The kind of strong woman that a man like Declan needed.
It was crazy, wasn’t it? How I could contemplate marrying a man who gunned down attackers one day, then could be sitting around the family dinner table, his shoulders hunched as his father insulted him the next?
“Don’t, maybe we’re the people we need to be now because of what we’ve gone through separately.”
His smile was rueful. “Don’t think you’d have been as ballsy today with Da if we’d married when we were young.”
“No,” I agreed, and because that was the segue I needed, I stated, “My turn. For a question, I mean.”
“Shoot.”
“Finn’s related to you, isn’t he?”
He reared back at that. “Huh?”
I shrugged. “Your bone structure is the same. The coloring too. It’s uncanny. And I swear, when Seamus was a boy, he looked like Jacob. Sure, his baby features are still developing, but it’s like looking at a mini Aidan.”
He was shaking his head in disagreement. “No.” His voice was the sternest I’d ever heard it. “No. Finn’s like a brother to us, but he’s a friend of the family.”
“I know he is,” I replied softly. “I’ve been away a long time, but not that long.” Because he didn’t want to hear it, because he didn’t even want to register it, I decided the only thing to do was to move closer to him and to take his mind off things with a kiss that would lead to action and not more thoughts.
The past was bleak, loaded with what-ifs and what might have beens, and it was murky enough to make me want to avoid thinking of it. The present was bright, and the future loaded with hope that I longed to come true.
Dec and I were rattling along well together, merging into a cohesive unit that I knew Seamus was the direct reason for, but there were signs that he needed me as much as I needed him.
The way, today, he’d placed his hand on my thigh. How he’d let me have my voice. How he’d tried to protect me, shield me from his family.
I’d expected to be killed, to be mistreated, to be yelled at. Instead, I was being treated like an equal. Like someone who’d made as many mistakes as Declan had. It hit me then that the reason he was cutting me so much slack was that he wanted a second chance too.
That, maybe, for as long as I’d been pining for him, he’d been pining for me.
I hoped that was the case.
Really, truly, I did.
And then, I didn’t think because as I moved over to him, he tugged me into his arms, and after placing his hands on my hips, jerked me upward so that I could hook my legs around his thighs.
His touch was harder than usual, a little rougher, but I didn’t, wouldn’t complain, because I knew why.
I’d stirred up something in his mind, something to do with Finn and his father. He was denying it, trying not to think about whatever had cropped up, but that was the trouble with Pandora’s box. Once it was opened, it could never be closed.
So I let him take solace in me. I let him enjoy my body and use me as a respite because I wanted to be that for him.
I wanted to be his everything.
DECLAN
My mind buzzed with thoughts I didn’t need to hear, didn’t want to hear. I wasn’t sure where she’d gotten that crap about Finn, but it drove me crazy, to the point where I was a little rougher with her than I intended.
I never treated her with kid gloves, something I knew she enjoyed. I treated her like a woman I needed, craved, and that seemed to get her as hot as she did me.
So because she didn’t complain, I pushed her against the wall. I knew she loved that the paintings were ‘watching’ us, and that drove things up to another level for me too. Fuck, we gelled so well that it blew my mind how we could be so different yet so perfect for each other.
So perfect now for each other.
She wouldn’t be this Aela if I’d wifed her when I was a kid myself.
She wouldn’t be this strong, this fiery, this ballsy if she hadn’t led the life she had.
With my dick grinding into her, I held her up with force alone so I could reach up and cup her face. She stared at me with eyes that were hazed with lust, and it stirred me like no other woman could. Just to see that she was aroused was enough to make me want to pinch myself.
Framing her cheeks, I murmured, “You know what blows my mind?”
She blinked. “What?”
“That we had to go through all the shit to be here right now. To be the people we are.”
“We did,” she confirmed softly.
“It fucks with me to think that I like this you better than the old you.”
Her brows rose, but her lips twitched. “I think there’s a compliment in there.”
“There is. A massive one. The old you got my dick hard.” I ground my cock into her. “This you makes me feel like I’d kill to get inside you. I never thought I could feel this way for a woman. Never thought I’d love someone so fucking much just for how they go through life, butting heads here and shouting people down there.”
Her eyes flared wide. “You love me?”
I dipped my chin. “Think it’s time you knew that. I loved you before, but I’d have married Deirdre, I’d have been her husband in name only, but you’d have been on the side, and if there’s one thing I’m glad about, it’s that you never had to be there.
“You deserved so much fucking more than to be a mistress, but I’d have done that to you because I’m a selfish fuck. I’m a jackass who loved you but would have put you in that position anyway.
“I didn’t deserve you then and I don’t now, but I love you. For what it’s worth, Aela, I do.” I sighed. “I just… I dunno. I had to get that out. Had to tell you.”
She licked her lips. “I loved you even if you were a prick. But I like you now. I didn’t realize how important that was when I was a kid. I was in awe of you. Overwhelmed that Declan O’Donnelly wanted me, and that he trusted me, and I loved you, but I didn’t know you.
“Even though we’ve been together barely any time at all, I feel like I know you so much better now. I love that you let me have a voice, I love that you’ll have my back, and I love that you love Seamus.” She reached up and cupped my chin, those sapphire blue orbs piercing mine as she rasped, “What I’m trying to say, Declan, is that I love you, but I like you too.”
As always, she cut straight to the heart of the matter. Making sense out of the shit I’d spewed. “Yeah,” I breathed. “I like you too.”
“I love that you’re a fanatic for art, and that half the stuff in this place is stolen. I love that you have layers. You’re like an onion. Before, I guess I just thought you were one-dimensional. An O’Donnelly. That defined you and described you. But now? You’re so much more than that, and I see it and want it all for myself.”
Bowing my head, I licked her lips, tasting her and whispering, “You can have all of me, Aela. All I have to give.” When she surged forward, I was surprised when her hands gripped my hair tightly, with a force that stung. She held me to her, clung to me, her knees pinning me in a hard grip around the waist as she rocked against me like the words were all she needed to let loose.
And if I’d learned anything about her, it was that she didn’t need much of anything to let loose.
Thank fuck.
> I levered a hand between us so I could unfasten the knot of her towel. It didn’t go anywhere, not squished between us the way it was, but as she thrust her tongue into my mouth, my other hand went to my fly. Her pussy was there, bared by the split in the towel, and I groaned at the hot silk that rubbed my knuckles as I tried to work down my fly.
When I managed to get my dick loose, I held it before I traced it through the juices that slipped from her slit. Al-fucking-ready. Goddammit, what she did to me.
I kissed her like I was dying, kissed her like today was the last day of my life. Fucking her there as I teased her slit with the tip of my dick, her nails dug into my scalp. She scraped down, dragging nerve endings to life, and I grunted into her mouth, the grunt morphing into a groan as she dipped her teeth into my bottom lip.
The prick of her teeth, the drag of her nails, it felt phenomenal. Made me feel fucking alive.
She whimpered as I angled her, no longer teasing her, and urged her down onto my dick.
She took me like she always did—like her pussy was mine. Forged for me. Made to hold my cock.
As I filled her, she groaned, her mouth tearing free from mine as she panted out a breath, her head flopping into the wall as I let my lips drift across to her ear where those earrings of hers as well as the jade ones I’d gifted her glinted between strands of bright blue hair. I sucked on the earlobe, then dropped down so I could give her a hickey.
Biting down, I felt her pussy quake around me, cosseting me and drawing every ounce of cum from my dick.
Gravity impaled her on me, and the feeling was beyond anything I could have dreamed. Unable to stop myself, I grabbed her arms and pinned them overhead. The movement had her towel flopping to the ground, and I groaned as, dropping my head, I managed to grasp one of her nipples. Fluttering my tongue around it, I sucked hard, nibbling the tip before I started to rock even harder into her.
Filthy Dark: A SECOND CHANCE/SECRET BABY, MAFIA ROMANCE (THE FIVE POINTS' MOB COLLECTION Book 3) Page 31