Mac blinked.
Backed up.
Two long strides, and he was on me.
“I…”
He grabbed the back of my neck in a tight hold. “Shut the fuck up, woman.”
His upper lip lifted in a sneer. My breaths expelled in short pants. He was so close, I could see the whites of his eyes. His arm wrapped around my waist to keep me still. I shivered at the feel of his chest pressed against mine.
“You better be damn sure about what you’re asking. There are no take-backs, timeouts, or fucking oopsies, you get me? There’s no half-steppin’, Otelia. I bring you in, and it’s death do us part, you get what I’m saying?”
Did I?
Did I really want to know this stuff?
Through gritted teeth, I went for broke. “Yes, Mac. I get you.”
He mumbled something that sounded like brave little kitty cat before he kissed the tip of my nose and joined me on the couch. He spoke with deadly calm and without holding back.
“O’Brien will be dealt with, Otelia, of that I am certain. The two men he hired to kill you were spotted earlier this morning. That’s why I had to leave. We were able to secure just one, who begged for his mother before I made him choke on his severed cock. He chose to eat a bullet instead of admitting that it was O’Brien who’d sent him. The other, unfortunately, got away before I could get to him, but he’s living on borrowed time. Consider yourself well informed now.”
I was floored by his confession, but not for the obvious reason. Mac had blood on his hands, but I questioned his justifications. Did he really do all this to protect me? Was it somehow a way to secure his business reputation as a badass mobster? Or did he do it for Bella O’Brien, to shield her from her husband’s treachery in order to spare her feelings?
If only I knew the answers.
I stared into his eyes, a desperate challenge for him to purge me from my self-doubt, misgivings I was too chicken to say out loud.
“What now, Mac?”
“Now”—he pulled me closer—“you have some explaining to do.”
CHAPTER 35
MacCabe
MY MORNING HAD started before the ass crack of dawn while Otelia slept soundly by my side. Her tranquil, untroubled beauty rendered me speechless. The last thing I’d wanted to do was leave her. Regretfully, it couldn’t be helped. I had lookouts posted at every possible exit point out of Remington; it wasn’t long before I’d gotten the call. The two hired assassins had spit up in their attempt to flee—one took to the air while the other seemingly disappeared without a trace. The captured man was ushered to one of my undisclosed locations and strapped in for the long haul. Ferdi bitched a fit when I told him I was going in alone. I didn’t need his help with this job; it was private and very personal. One look at Otelia, and I was determined as fuck.
As expected, the professional mercenary refused to give up his partner, nor would he confirm who took out the original contract. He paid the ultimate cost for that decision. I took his fingers for accepting the job, his eyes for following through with it, and his cock for an innocent woman who’d nearly died by his hands. Spilling that cunt’s blood hadn’t quelled my thirst for revenge. Until they were both neutralized, my hunger would never be satisfied.
I stopped by my office at the warehouse to shower and change out of my soiled clothes. Between the snot and all the blood, it was not a good look. The ride back to the penthouse was arduous; I felt as if I’d somehow failed. If I were a boss, I’d have O’Brien’s ass in front of the council demanding he back off my territory. I’d make him confess to setting up that hit on Otelia knowing that if he lied, the heads of families would sentence him to death on grounds of dishonesty. If I were a boss, I would walk right up to him and blow his fucking brains out on my own authority. But I wasn’t a boss and never would be, so thinking about all the what ifs of the world pissed me off further.
Old thoughts of inadequacy filled my head as I stepped through the lobby and up the elevator. I walked inside to find Otelia sitting behind my desk, sipping coffee, damn near naked without a care in the world. What the hell was she thinking casually hanging out with Ferdi so close he could smell the scent of her tempting pussy? Then she started spouting bullshit about dealing with O’Brien, using profanity when she knows how much I hated that shit, especially coming from her lovely lips. I’d barely kept it together long enough to hear her out.
Otelia’s little tantrum about overstepping couldn’t have been further from the truth. Had Ferdi not been there, I would’ve shown her just how much. I’d been fighting a raging hard-on for hours, made worse by her killer instincts and desire to help me succeed. Her ideas were brilliant, balls to the motherfucking wall, savage-as-fuck brilliant. But that wasn’t what had my nose wide open or my heart beating out of my chest. It was her unyielding allegiance. Otelia revived what Bella had suffocated inside my heart by abandoning me years ago. I felt stronger than ever because of her belief in me. Reigning king of the motherfucking world who could no longer hold back his desire for this sassy woman.
“Explain what?” she gasped.
“Explain to me why you were traipsing around the penthouse in nothing but a silk robe before I walked in? Why this cunt”—I reached down and grabbed a handful—“was on full display to anyone with an imagination and a functioning cock. Lastly, explain why you felt the need to tease me for hours, with said pussy, knowing there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it?”
The questions were rhetorical.
“Oh, so now it’s my fault you’re a horndog? You really are an asshole.”
“Last night, I was a fucking god when my dick was buried deep inside your puss. Now I’m an asshole? Make up your mind, baby, ‘cause I’m starting to get whiplash.”
“A god?” she spat. “I believe my exact words were, Oh God, when is this going to be over? I’ve been humped harder by my neighbor’s dog than what you gave me last night. Wasn’t worth staying up late for, I can tell you that.”
See, that right there?
That’s that bullshit.
I attacked her mouth in a bruising kiss to shut her the hell up, something I’d been wanting to do since I’d caught a glimpse of her long-sculptured legs. Her shoulders bunched in shock before she finally gave in. She sagged in my arms as our tongues dueled, savored, fought for ownership like a pair bewitched. I wanted the feel of her soft lips wrapped around my cock, slowly taking me deeper and deeper until I exploded down her throat. I didn’t hesitate. The tie holding her robe closed released easily, exposing her heavy breasts and pebbled nipples. I stepped back, holding her at arm’s length to get a better look.
“Fucking beautiful,” I groaned.
Then I remembered her impudence.
The ill manners.
Her disregard for my rules.
My jaw clenched, aggression mixed with hunger, so potent and raw I could bottle it and place it on a shelf. She had me. If I wasn’t so pissed off, I might’ve smiled at that realization. We fit. Strangely and unexpectedly, I wanted this invited guest to remain at my side, to be here when I returned from spilling blood, to soften the blows of self-loathing when business called for death. To belong to only one man, that man being me. Like my mother had been for my father, I wanted Otelia to be that soothing buffer, a partner in keeping despite being actively involved. Everything, from her sassy attitude to her run-down tennis shoes, I wanted it all. I wanted her.