by V. Theia
Cue the waterworks.
It was a known fact she was not a pretty crier, so when she buried her sobbing face in Danny’s chest, he fingered through her hair, stroking her scalp as he chuckled and soothed her with soft endearment words by her ear.
“These hands will take every inch of pain you suffer, my sweetheart. Because we were always meant to be Danny and Aoife. This life and the next and the trillion after that. I will always find you.” The last part he whispered against her ear and Aoife’s sobs increased.
Love was present when he used the hem of his T-shirt to blot the wetness from her face and kissed the tip of her very red nose.
“It’s scary we’re here again, Danny. What if I get it wrong again? You know more than most how prone to trouble I am.”
“We’re exactly where we’re supposed to be, my sweetheart. Two old souls reunited and we’re going nowhere ever again. I fell in love with you when I was just six years old.”
“I was five. I win, Danny.” She grinned really big and watched how his beautiful face was transformed into something so sexy, it stole her breath when he smiled back. “I always let you win.”
She guffawed and batted his shoulder before squeezing in with him again.
She had a plan. Of sorts.
He wouldn’t be pleased with her. At all.
And she’d only just got herself back in his good books.
But now she had something to fight for.
Danny and Misha.
She refused to lose either of them.
* * *
He had a plan.
And Danny was about to ask God to walk with him, just so he’d keep his head, because there was a zero percent chance the Murphy’s knew how to do anything calmly.
Especially his da and brothers who were known to be reckless at best and irresponsible at worst, but his clan would do anything for family.
Smiling to himself, he squeezed the fingers she stole into his palm.
Despite the seriousness of them harboring a baby that belonged to neither of them and how much trouble they could be in with both the authorities and much worse… the mob. He’d never felt happier or settled.
Funny that.
God had known he was unsettled for a while and brought his ginger rascal girl to him.
Of that he had no doubt.
No one shook Danny’s foundations more or made him feel whole like she did.
Now it was all about letting his faith take the wheel and testing his mettle to know they could come through the other side of this.
He lifted her hand to kiss across Aoife’s knuckles.
With so much left to talk about, he was good just sitting silently with her.
Tomorrow would take care of itself, especially if he was going to press the Murphy signal.
For right now he had his greatest dream on his lap, and they were finally back on the same page with their hearts beating in sync.
TWENTY-ONE
“The Murphy boys are known as those Murphy’s for a reason.” - Aoife
Five days was all it took to amass a horde of Murphy’s of which Colorado hadn’t seen the like before.
They swarmed his house one and two at a time, day after day.
Danny’s father, Redd Murphy, came through the door first and dragged Danny into a back-slapping hug. He was a full-bodied man, with thick hair the color of wheat with barely any white, though he’d lived a hard life in his fifty-eight years so far.
He’d grafted for every penny to give his wife and three boys a better life, but his morals made that life a questionable one, and though Danny needed to walk his own path and not join the family business, he loved his father.
“There’s my middle boy,” Redd grinned, cupping both sides of Danny’s head in his big meat cleaver sized hands, just like he had when he was a small boy. “Ah, I missed you, my boy.”
“Thanks for coming, da.”
“You should have called much sooner, laddie. But we’re here now, and your uncles will be here tomorrow, so they will, they had a bit of business to see to in Denver while we’re here.”
Danny laughed, showing his father through to the kitchen where tea was already brewing. “Two birds with one stone, eh, da?”
“We’re never one to let the grass grow. Now where is she?”
On cue, Aoife peeked around the doorway. She’d been upstairs settling Misha who’d been fussy all night, as if the bairn sensed the unease in the house that week.
He and Aoife talked and talked for days.
He wanted to know everything he’d missed.
Her new favorite movies, foods, music.
What made her laugh and cry, which stupid movie star she was crushing on now and her ambitions.
With the most basic knowledge now in that they just wanted to be together.
“No point in hiding,” Danny winked, motioning her in. She rushed across the floor in her fluffy socks and slid into his side. He could practically feel the heat rising from her cheeks.
She’d been worried that his family would hold a grudge against her.
He told her different.
Aoife had always been a part of his household like family.
“Hi, Redd,” she squeaked, red in the face.
“Hi Redd? You get over here and give your old da a hug.” He didn’t wait, he pulled Aoife out of Danny’s arms and into his.
Danny watched with a smile in his eyes.
“Ah, you’re a sight for sore eyes, me darling girl. You’ve grown, so you have. I’m glad to see you and my boy happy again.”
They talked for a few minutes before his two brothers pushed through the back door and yet another round of greetings took place with Cian and Cormac.
Next to arrive a few hours later were the twin cousins, Bradán and Banan, and then more cousins showed up. This time Donal and Nolan with Phelan in tow. Just as his da said, his three uncles, Brogan, Case and Finneon, piled into his house the following day, bringing more cousins, Reilly, Ardan and Oscar with them.
He slapped hands and accepted hugs from them all. “How’s New York treating you, cousin?” He asked Ardan.
“Aye, it’s grand.” The other man grinned.
Danny’s house was fit to bursting at the seams with so many Murphy’s under one roof. Luckily they got a few rooms at the local motel.
Cora was in her element cooking up a storm for the loud, Irish clan, and being charmed into blushing by every flirting Murphy. Even the baby Cian—all of nineteen, who was a damn rogue with the girls of all ages, how he didn’t have a fleet of kids already was a miracle.
To look at Redd, as big as he was and to know his reputation around Ireland, no one would guess he’s soft as shite for his family.
All it took was one call, Danny telling him he and Aoife needed the family and Redd was yelling to Cormac to book flights and to call the uncles.
That simple.
The Murphy’s, no matter how far spread they were through the world, came together at a moment’s notice.
They might not be as well-known as the Russian bratva. Or as big as them with the kind of wealth that could bury a ship. But the Murphy’s were down and dirty crooks when they needed to be.
It’s why Danny trusted the Renegade Souls MC. They displayed the same loyalty.
They talked and planned long into the night. Long after Aoife had fallen asleep in his bed.
She joined him the following morning just as he was finishing up in the shower. Two skinny arms came around him from behind and his whole body awoke with a hard rush of blood through his ears and lower still.
“Mmm, you smell good,” she nuzzled his back until he had to pull her around to see her face. The spray pelted her hair making it hang in two long curtains on her shoulders.
She was incredibly beautiful.
Every time he laid his eyes on her, it was like having his heart restarted with jumper cables.
The early morning shower went a long way to calming his thoughts while he talked to
God. His girl and all her gorgeous freckles, highlighted with her slight blush, took him the rest of the way to relax.
He’d loved her all night long, or so it felt when he’d climbed tiredly into the shower stall to wake himself up. Slow and deep, swallowing her cries while he rolled his hips into the apex of her clasping legs. Drugging kisses, intense touches. He couldn’t get enough of her.
Needing her closer, he wound both arms around her lower back and pulled her in until her head was beneath his chin. Today was going to be a big day, but right there underneath the warm waterfall up above, there was nowhere else Danny wanted to be.
Aoife did her own touching and everywhere her fingers roamed made him shiver.
It was both a curse and a blessing to be with someone who knew him so long and so intimate that she knew instinctively where to touch him to have him aroused and panting in seconds.
She was his very own angelic she-devil and he adored the girl she’d been and worshipped the woman she’d grown into.
With his mouth pressed to her ear and her hands steadily working his cock pressed hard up against his stomach he rasped. “Does my treasure need another lick?”
“Danny…” she purred, her eyes growing soft.
He loved that look on her face, it meant he’d done his job right all night long, though it meant he was exhausted this morning.
It didn’t stop him dropping to his knees or prying her legs open with unsteady hands and using his mouth to good use for the next twenty minutes.
“I never asked you, Danny,” her voice sweet as honey, as he scrubbed a towel in his hair sometime later. Aoife was already dressed in a floaty dress with skinny straps that danced around her knees. It had him thinking not good things every time he watched it swish around her gorgeous legs, because he’d already watched her slide into a pair of tiny underwear.
It would take next to no effort to get them off her again.
“Asked me what?”
“If you even wanted Misha. To take care of her for the rest of our lives. It’s a big responsibility. All I’ve focused on is keeping her safe and winning you back and never thought to ask what you want.”
Before he could respond she went on, chewing on her bottom lip. “I wouldn’t hate you for saying you didn’t want to do this. I could … I could make sure she was safe and have her adopted or…”
The pain on her face as color dropped out of her apple shaped cheeks told Danny enough that it was the opposite of what she wanted.
He sat on the side of the bed and patted his lap. Knowing his da and brothers and Cora were taking care of Misha downstairs, so they had a few minutes yet. She hurried over and sat on his knee, arms around his shoulders and their noses almost touching.
“I love you. You love me. This isn’t ideal by any means. I’d rather we restarted our lives together without gangsters after my woman.”
Her eyes turned soft again, and she nuzzled his nose. “Your woman. I know people say it’s sexist, but I love that, Danny-boy. Yours forever.”
“Mine and I’m yours and if by some miracle we get to keep her, Misha is ours. God, don’t cry, sweetheart. Your tears kill me,” he kissed the three that escaped down her cheek tasting the saltiness on his tongue.
“I’m scared, yet so happy, Danny.”
“Me too.” He could have stayed there all day just holding her, but there were important things to do. He patted her bottom to lift up. She gave him one last nuzzle of her cheek on his and he was tempted to kiss the life out of her just so he could have his Aoife’s taste in his mouth again. “You need a shave, mister, your face is scratchy.”
He dropped a kiss to her ready lips and strolled back into the bathroom to do as his woman asked.
Danny was greeted by a room full of his family when he eventually trudged down the stairs, dressed casually in track pants and a gray T-shirt. They’d all rocked up to the house an hour ago, but he’d left Cora to deal with them. They were around the table stuffing their faces. So nothing has changed there, he thought with a grin.
Misha was perched on his da’s lap, happy as could be, gumming on one of those baby crackers Cora bought. “Thought we’d have to cannonball you out of bed, laddie.”
“We all know what Danny was doing, dirty dog.” Cackled his younger brother who earned a clip around his head from their da. “You be respectful in your brother’s house.”
“Yes, da.” Grumbled Cian, “but we know that’s what he was doing,”
“I know, son, but we don’t point it out.”
Danny ignored them and picked up Misha who held her arms out to him.
He’d meant every word he’d told Aoife.
This little girl felt like she was meant to be theirs.
He’d never wish anything gruesome on a person, especially a mother, but something bad had happened to Misha’s mum and now it was up to him and Aoife to make sure she was safe, happy and loved.
He kissed her little curls and set his gaze around the room. He didn’t see ginger anywhere. “Is Aoife in the other room?”
“Said she had an errand to run when she came down.”
Sonuva… Danny’s blood ran cold. “What? She knows she can’t leave the house, da!”
Where the hell was she and what was so important that she’d go against everything they’d talked about?
* * *
As bad ideas went… this was colossal.
Nerves twitched under Aoife’s hoodie jacket and her fingers flexed more than once on the shoulder bag she carried. She knew she’d only have so many minutes to do this before the whole lot of Murphy’s were on her tail.
This was her mess. Her trouble.
Danny was a good man, and a man many people relied on. She couldn’t get him into trouble with what the family were planning. She’d done enough already to hurt him without causing a city-wide scandal and getting him fired from a job…a vocation he loved.
The man with the black eyes dark enough to scare the crows looked upon her with shrewdness as she stood before the huge, shiny oak desk.
She’d taken an Uber the short distance to the building Grigori uses for his home base. Yelena told her enough for her to understand the magnitude of her risky move, knowing she might not walk out of that office alive again.
In that case she knew Danny would look after Misha.
“I must say, you have surprised me.”
“I surprised me too.”
Off to the side, two of Grigori’s men stood silently in their expensive suits and slicked back hair.
“You have come to return my item?”
Item? Misha was not a fucking item; she was a beautiful baby who deserved more than being described as a thing. Keeping herself calm, because blowing up would only see herself killed all the sooner, Aoife stood in one place, scared to even move for fear of what might happen.
“I’ve come to make a deal.”
The powerful mobster smirked through every inch of his evil face and lounged back in his chair.
She didn’t find him handsome at all.
She never understood women flocking to danger as they did.
Yelena had told Aoife of the attraction to this dangerous man and all he promised, knowing he was married, Yelena still had put her own neck in that evocative noose for years, going where Grigori told her to, and keeping her mouth shut about their affair.
“This I have to hear.”
“I’ll keep quiet about… what you did. As long as I am allowed to keep Misha.”
The risk she’d just laid down in just a few short words were about the most dangerous thing Aoife ever risked in her life or would ever do for the rest, if she was lucky enough to keep on breathing.
Who threatened a mob boss like that? Aoife Flanagan apparently.
Yeah, she didn’t have the brains she was born with, according to her da.
“You want me take care of problem, boss?” One of his men offered in a jovial tone.
“Nyet,” A devious smirk on Grigori’s thin lips
, pulled tighter the longer he stared across at her. He was a tall man, and not so bulky he looked odd in his deep gray suit. But it was the aura of badness that radiated out of him that made Aoife shiver and wish she was back home, cuddled up on Danny’s lap listening to his out of tune singing.
Only the force of her willpower was stopping her from bawling and pleading to just let her have her life back. She’d waited so long. Every day, every second without her heart and soul was an agony she couldn’t take any more.
She wanted to take care of and protect Misha so much, but if she was forced to give her back and never see her again, so she could live and have Danny… God… it hurt her heart to make that choice.
She was greedy enough to want it all.
Hadn’t she sacrificed enough of their life already? Hadn’t she lost thousands of days with her Galway boy because of selfish parents? She wanted her happily ever after, dammit.
And the irony that her happiness rested solely on the decision of one very bad man didn’t go unnoticed.
She was in way over her head, even as she set her chin up and forced it not to wobble and show too much fear. Though she suspected the man in front of her already knew how scared of him she was.
“You have bravery, Miss Flanagan. I admire such a quality. My traitorous Yelena never was so courageous. Sit and have food with me. What would you like?”
Aoife blinked unsure of what she was hearing at first.
What…?
Did he mean?
Her belly rolled and sloshed with dread.
“I don’t want to date you!” She blurted and instantly became repentant of her mocking tone when it was met with a vicious growl from behind her. “I’m so sorry. I don’t mean any disrespect, Mr. Kuznetsov. I’m in a very committed relationship already.”
“With a man of the church,” he said with a half-smile. The smile put the fear of Lucifer in her.
“Yes .. how did you…?”
“I know everything, Miss Flanagan. I know where you’ve been all along and who you’ve had guarding you. Such nonsense, but the Renegade Souls do love their theatrics.”
She was so screwed if he’d been playing with them all this time, like a wild animal would its food.