Through Your Eyes

by Shannyn Schroeder

  “Sure.” His hand stroked her back. “This is your home now too.”

  “Is it?” It didn’t much feel that way. Right now, it felt like any other night she’d spent with Tommy. Except for the gold band encircling her finger, of course.

  “My family might not have been thrilled with the idea of us getting married, but they’re okay with it. My dad said we can stay here as long as we want.”

  “Well, then, I’ll go see if I can make us something to eat.”

  She eased off the bed and away from him. Nerves struck hard as she walked through the basement and toward the stairs that led to the kitchen. She’d never walked through without Tommy. It felt odd, even though she knew her way. She lacked the confidence to stroll like she would in Eileen’s house.

  In the kitchen, she heard voices from the other room and she froze. Tommy had said Jimmy and Sean were both gone. Maybe Norah was talking with their dad. Deirdre edged toward the door and waited, listening despite the fact that it was rude to eavesdrop.

  “What do you want from me, Eileen?”

  Eileen? What was her aunt doing here? Deirdre crept closer still to hear.

  “What are you going to do with your hoodlum of a son marrying my niece?”

  “My son is no hoodlum, and as far as I can tell, that girl is old enough to make her own choices.”

  “So you’re happy about this marriage?”

  “They’re old enough to make their own mistakes.”

  “You need to talk to him. Make him understand there’s nothing to gain from this.”

  Seamus grumbled. “Figures. You would think Tommy was after something. He likes the girl. She’s the one benefiting here. She gets a green card, after all.”

  Eileen practically sputtered. “Deirdre would never.”

  Deirdre couldn’t take any more. She walked into the living room. “Stop it.”

  Both of them turned to face her. Eileen stood stiffly in the middle of the living room, purse in hand. Seamus looked like he hadn’t left his usual perch on the couch.

  “Tommy hasn’t done anything wrong,” Deirdre said to Eileen. “He wants me to be happy.” She turned to Seamus. “And while the marriage allows me to stay here, it wasn’t my idea. It was Tommy’s. We did this. We knew what we were getting into.”

  Eileen scoffed again. “Marrying a boy you barely know. You have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into.” She eyed Seamus.

  Seamus crossed his arms. “How long exactly did you know Patrick before getting married?”

  She waved a hand. “That was different.”

  “It wasn’t. We had no idea what we were doing when we married any more than they do. They’ll figure it out, or they’ll divorce.”

  His last word weighed heavy in the air. Eileen’s eyes widened as if the thought hadn’t crossed her mind.

  Divorce. Deirdre believed marriage was supposed to be forever. Yet she’d jumped blindly into this with Tommy. It struck her that people would assume it was a foregone conclusion. What would she do if this was too hard and Tommy wanted out? Return home a divorcée?

  If Brendan thought Mom was beside herself now, how much worse would she be if Deirdre got divorced?

  It didn’t matter. Deirdre straightened her spine. “Tommy and I get to choose how to live our lives. We decided to get married. I wanted to stay in Chicago and he wants me here. That’s all there is to it. If you want us out of your lives because of this choice, then that’ll be it.”

  She knew she shouldn’t make such comments on Tommy’s behalf, but she knew that they needed to stay united or their families would ruin the tentative ground on which they stood.

  “Have you spoken to your mother?” Eileen asked.

  “Yes. She hung up on me.”

  “Sorely disappointed, is she?”

  “Yes. And I understand. Tommy and I plan to have a ceremony with our families later.”

  “Then why not wait instead of alienating your family?”

  “You know why.” She wished her aunt would understand. She’d thought she understood better than this. Eileen knew what Deirdre’s family was like. Eileen had often told her sister to back off her demands on Deirdre.

  Eileen nodded sadly. “I hope you do understand what you’ve gotten into.” She pointed at Seamus. “Don’t ruin her. She’s a sweet girl. She’s your responsibility now.”

  “Wrong.” Tommy’s voice startled Deirdre. His arm came around her hip. “She’s my responsibility now. Not my father’s.”

  “And how will you care for her?”

  “I have a job.”

  “A tattoo artist? How will that ever provide for a family?”

  His hand flinched on her skin. “It’s a legitimate job. We’re capable of building a life together.”

  All the warm feelings she’d had for Tommy over the last month bubbled up in her chest. When he made statements like that, so strong and confident, she fell for him a little harder. She placed her hand over his on her hip but said nothing.

  He lowered his mouth to her ear. “Let’s go out to eat. Get away for a bit.”

  Deirdre nodded. Getting away sounded lovely. She tapped his hand and walked toward her aunt. “I’m sorry if I’ve hurt you. This was a selfish move and I know that, but it was right for us. I hope you’ll be able to see that.” She reached out and squeezed Eileen’s hand.

  Then she walked back to Tommy, who led her to the basement to get their things and go out to dinner. Once again, Deirdre told herself that if they got through today, things would be smoother tomorrow.

  In the basement, Tommy stared at her while he stepped into his shoes. “Are you okay?”

  She nodded. “Why did you follow me?”

  “When you didn’t come back to tell me there was no food, I figured you found something to cook. Then I heard you in the living room.” He shook his head. “And you wondered why your aunt scares me.”

  Deirdre smiled. “You held your own with her. Thank you for that. But I’m not your responsibility either. I’m responsible for myself.”

  He stood at her side and took her hand. “Not anymore.” He fingered her wedding band. “This means we’re responsible for each other.”

  “That sounds . . .” She searched for how to explain what it meant to her.

  “Right? Sexy? Amazing?” he offered.

  “Perfect.” And she meant it because she’d never had someone be at her side the way Tommy wanted to be. She believed he wanted to be there every bit as much as she wanted to be there for him. It was a heady feeling.

  “I can live with that.” He tugged her toward the door. “Let’s eat.”

  “We need to talk about a plan. Where we’ll live, what I’ll do for work, everything.”

  “It’ll keep for a day. Today is our wedding night. Tonight, we can just be us without worrying about later.”

  Her wedding night. Those words carried weight. While she was no longer a virgin, she’d always thought her wedding night would be something special. Instead, she’d faced nothing but grief and strife for most of the day. She’d unfortunately missed out on the wedded-bliss part of the day.

  “You’re right. We deserve to have a special night.” She thought of the lingerie she’d purchased for their first night as a married couple. No more distractions. Their families had taken up enough of their day. “Let me change before we go out.”

  Tommy plopped on the bed and lay back with his hands under his head.

  “You need to go.”

  “Why? I like to watch you get naked.”

  “Because I have a wedding night surprise for you, and you’ll ruin it if you stay there.”

  “That’s okay. I’m the kid who always shook his Christmas presents and tried to peek under the wrapping.”

  “Well, tonight, you’ll have to wait to see under the wrapping.”

  He groaned.

  “Think of it as incentive to show me a good time and make me forget our families for a few hours. Then you get your present.”

&
nbsp; He rose off the bed and stopped to plant a wet, hot kiss on her before he walked out of the bedroom.

  Deirdre’s entire body heated with his kiss and she almost stripped there instead of going out. Every time the man kissed her, she lost her senses. At least nothing was dull with Tommy O’Malley.

  * * *

  The following morning, Tommy rolled out of bed and tried not to disturb Deirdre. While she was normally up early, she didn’t have a reason to get up since leaving the bakery, and Tommy had no doubt he’d worn her out last night. He’d made love to her until he was sure she couldn’t think about her family and doubt was washed from her mind.

  He loved her. He knew it, but hadn’t said it out loud yet. Deirdre was still a little gun-shy since being dumped by her asshole boyfriend—a guy she’d loved unconditionally. Tommy could only hope he would be on the receiving end of that kind of love someday. She was worth the wait.

  After his shower, he went back to his bedroom to get dressed.

  Lying on his bed, sheet pulled up to her chin, Deirdre looked at him with sleepy eyes. “Work today?”

  “Yep. I got a client coming in in a couple of hours. You can go back to sleep.”

  She sat up, bringing the sheet with her. “I need to look for a job.”

  “What about Blackstone’s? Can’t you go back there?”

  She lifted a shoulder. “David wasn’t too happy that I quit earlier than expected.”

  With one arm wrapped over her chest to keep the sheet in place, she brushed her hair off her face. He laughed.

  “What’s so funny? It’s not nice to laugh at a woman when she first wakes. You might hurt my feelings.”

  He crawled on the bed, over her legs, until they were nose to nose. “I wasn’t laughing at how you look. You’re adorable.” He kissed her cheek. “I was laughing at the death grip you have on the sheet. As if I haven’t seen and touched and tasted every inch of you.”

  Her pupils dilated at the same time her cheeks grew pink. He wished he could spend another hour playing with her body. Instead, he leaned forward and kissed her mouth, slowly and insistently. She melted against him, releasing her grip on the sheet.

  As he pulled away, he snatched the sheet with him. She squealed and covered her breasts with her hands and crossed her legs.

  Tossing the sheet aside, he leaned over her. He took her hands as he kissed her again. Staring into her eyes as he spoke, he said, “You don’t ever have to hide from me.”

  She shifted beneath him and her body relaxed. He stepped away and raked his gaze over her naked body. He knew it made her uncomfortable, but she didn’t move to cover herself again.

  “I like the way you look at me,” she said quietly.

  And even though his dick really wanted him to crawl back into bed, he backed away. “How about lunch today?”

  “What about it?”

  “Do you want to meet?” He looked pointedly at her pussy. “Or maybe I could come home for lunch.”

  Shifting her legs apart in a move that had his mouth watering, she said, “I’d be more than happy to meet you. Text me a time and place.”

  He nodded but stood staring at her for another minute. Finally, she threw a shirt at him. “You’ve stared enough. Get yourself to work.”

  He shook his mind clear and kissed her cheek. “I’ll text. See you in a few hours.”

  Tommy sped to work so he’d have time to go over the artwork one more time. When he walked through the door of Ink Envy, Puck practically pounced on him.

  “Is it true? I think Karla’s been fucking with me since yesterday.”

  “What?”

  “You got married?”

  “Yep.” He moved to his station with Puck following at his heels.

  “What the hell, man? I thought we were tight. Why didn’t I get an invite?”

  Tommy turned to him. He liked Puck well enough, but he knew what Puck was after. “I’m sure Karla mentioned that she was our witness at the courthouse. We didn’t do a whole big wedding thing. No booze, no drunk bridesmaids.”

  “No bachelor party. Dude, you were robbed.”

  Tommy thought back to last night. “Not even close, man.”

  Kai walked in from the back. He looked at Tommy. “Norah’s pissed at you.”

  He shrugged. “What’d I do now?”

  “You got married without telling her, dumbass.”

  Tommy waved it off. “She’s over it.”

  Kai huffed. “Keep telling yourself that.”

  They stood staring at each other for a minute. He and Kai were friendly, but not really friends. Kai was his boss and teammate, but their interactions were never like those of buddies. And now that he was with Norah, it created another layer of weird to their relationship.

  Kai lifted a shoulder. “Congrats.” Then he turned and went back to his office.

  For all his faults, Kai was a simple guy and Tommy liked that about him.

  “So is she really hot?” Puck asked. “I mean, she must be, right? Why else get married? Give me some wedding-night deets.”

  Tommy thumped Puck on the head. “I’m not discussing Deirdre with you.” He gathered his things and his artwork to get ready for the client. Puck returned to the battered leather couch and continued to pepper him with questions. Tommy answered none of them, but the constant talk of Deirdre was distracting because he kept picturing her naked in his bed this morning.

  His client was late and the tattoo took a little longer than he’d anticipated, so by the time he was finished and texted Deirdre, it was a late lunch. He offered to pick her up, but she insisted that she could easily take the bus to meet him.

  He needed to take the time to help her practice driving so she could get her license. He’d feel better about her working at five in the morning if she wasn’t riding a bus at that time. It would be even better if she found a job with normal hours.

  He got to the burger place before Deirdre and realized that he didn’t know what she’d eat. It was a simple thing, but it bothered him that he was married to her but didn’t know if she wanted cheese on her burger.

  As he pulled out his phone to text her, she walked through the door, wearing a cute little dress that fluttered in the breeze. She was completely covered, but still managed to stir his cock like she had this morning while naked.

  “Hey. I was just about to text you. I don’t know what you like to eat.”

  She looked up at the limited menu. “Uh, a burger?”

  “I mean, do you like cheese on it? Everything? I realized I don’t know what you like to eat.”

  She smiled at him. “We have a lot to learn. Yes to cheese.” Her gaze returned to the board. “No mayonnaise. It’s too messy. I hate pickles. And no onion because I plan on kissing you and I don’t want to chase you off.”

  “You have no chance of chasing me off,” he said, as he kissed her neck.

  She shoved his chest. “Let’s get food. I don’t want you to get in trouble for being late to work. One of us being unemployed is bad enough.”

  While she said it with a smile, a teasing joke, he saw that she was bothered by it, so he tried to lighten the conversation. “Kai’s not going to fire me. Well, maybe if I blew off work, leaving him in a lurch, he might think about it. But I can take a long lunch and it won’t be a problem. Besides, I have a secret weapon on my side—Norah.”

  They went to the counter and ordered. When they took a table to wait for their food, Tommy asked, “Did you talk to Blackstone’s?”

  She shook her head. “I called, but David wasn’t in. Not surprising. He’s usually there early in the morning, and I didn’t roll out of bed until almost eleven.”

  Tommy grabbed his chest. “Slacker! I was already at work with a client in the chair.”

  She swallowed hard and didn’t laugh at his teasing. He reached for her hand again. “You know we’re okay, right? I make decent money. My dad isn’t charging us rent. I can cover us until you find something.”

  She pulled her ha
nd back. “I’m no sponge.”

  He scooted his chair next to hers. “You’re not. It’s not being a sponge to rely on me. We take care of each other. We’re in this together.” He stroked her cheek. “Don’t forget that.”

  “I don’t like not having a job.”

  “What do you want to do?”

  The question should’ve been simple. The look on her face contradicted that idea.

  “You said when you fought with your mom you thought about enrolling in school. Is that something you’re interested in?”

  She shook her head. “I told you. I don’t think culinary school is where I belong.”

  “But you want to bake, right?” He took her hand again and wouldn’t let her pull away this time. He wanted her to feel their connection.

  She didn’t respond, almost as if she was afraid to voice it.

  “Cupcake?”

  “I think so.”

  “But?”

  “But what if I take something I love and when I do it as a career, I no longer love it?”

  He understood the fear. But everyone was entitled to do something they loved. “Did you ever dread going to work at Blackstone’s? Even on days when you knew you would do nothing more than wait on customers?”

  She smiled. “Admittedly, those days were harder because, in general, I don’t like the customer part as much as baking, but no, I never dreaded going.”

  He’d known as much. No one would willingly get up in the middle of the night to go to a job they hated.

  “Take your time finding a job you want to do, one you’ll enjoy. I got this.”

  Their food arrived, and although Deirdre nodded, she still looked uneasy. For a girl who was supposedly using him for his citizenship, she was doing everything she could not to take advantage. Even when he wanted her to.

  * * *

  Over the next two weeks, Deirdre and Tommy found a rhythm for their lives that Deirdre enjoyed. She’d had no luck finding a job yet, but Tommy honestly didn’t seem to mind. She cooked dinner for them most nights, and she did the grocery shopping and housecleaning. Norah seemed to appreciate it since she had finals coming up and was nervous about graduation.

  Seamus rarely acknowledged her presence other than to mumble a thanks when she made him dinner.