I suddenly felt the makings of a headache dancing its way behind my eyeballs. My hand shook as I delicately placed the bag down next to me on the bed so as not to wrinkle it. I took a deep breath. This was it. Once O’Brien was forced back into his hole following tonight’s fights, I could go on about my life as usual. Threat neutralized. Mac would be back on top and running his crime syndicate as if he’d never met me.
I tried to shake off those morose feelings, but it wasn’t happening. I felt the need to scream at the top of my lungs for Mac to choose me, keep me, fall in love with me. The reality was he’d made up his mind long before I entered the picture. Everything he’d achieved, every deal he’d made, every life he’d taken, he’d done it for her. Tonight would be his final screw you to the man who’d stolen his reason for being while I stood by and watched it happen.
And…life goes on.
“Thank you, Darragh, it’s beautiful.” I couldn’t meet his eyes.
“I have something else to go along with the dress, Otelia. Call it…an accessory, if you will. I think you might enjoy this gift ten times better,” he alluded.
Mac reached into his pants pocket and produced a black square box, larger than the average size made to hold a ring. I looked upon it curiously before taking it from his outstretched hand. It wasn’t very heavy, which was odd, and the look on his face gave nothing away. I flipped the top slowly, as if its contents would somehow jump out and scare the shit out of me. The tiny springs creaked, which was the only noise that could be heard aside from my beating heart. The first thing I noticed was a sparkle as it gleamed from the top of an oval diamond-encrusted jewel. I thought it was a brooch of some sort until I pulled it out completely. A wave of pleasure burst from between my legs while I stared at the lovely trinket.
“Holy fuck.” His brows shot together at my use of profanity. “Is this what I think it is?”
“A little something… I deserve, for all your hard work,” he explained huskily.
I was taken aback by his outlandish offering, but not entirely surprised. Mac had been hinting for some time now in precise detail his intention to claim every part of me. He couldn’t have chosen a worse moment to make his play if he’d tried.
“Um…thanks, Mac, for the bedazzled anal plug…” I remarked softly. “Perhaps in another life, when things aren’t so up in the air with O’Brien.” And with us, I wanted to add.
He pushed himself off the doorframe faster than I thought humanly possible and stood a hairsbreadth away. I didn’t dare look at him for fear he would see the trepidation in my eyes, the battle within myself to keep my feelings of distrust at arm’s length. I should’ve known he wouldn’t allow me to hide in the open; it was his play, after all.
“Stand up, Otelia,” he growled impatiently.
With a heavy sigh, I obeyed. Mac reached for my shoulders and roughly whirled me around to face the bed, knees against the mattress. His warm breath blew along my neck in a harsh pant that matched my own ragged wheezing. I felt his body heat along my posterior. I shivered despite the lack of chill in the air.
“I need you on your A-game tonight and not worrying about incidental bullshit, Otelia.”
“It’s not that easy, Mac. I’m—”
“It’s just that easy,” he cut me off. “Let me help you with that.”
He peppered soft kisses below my ear as his thumbs probed along the elastic of my sweats, sliding the pants from my hips. I stood stock-still as Mac reached around me for the plug I was holding and removed it from the box. The anticipation of what he was about to do became too much. I felt the wetness as it pooled between my legs. Warmth flooded my neck and ass cheeks.
With a splayed hand between my shoulder blades, he wordlessly guided me forward towards the mattress. Ass lifted high in the air, bent at the waist, I prepared for the rough invasion of my forbidden hole that never came.
“I commissioned this piece with you in mind, Otelia. Hand crafted with forty-eight precious jewels to commemorate those first hours we spent together.”
Warm, soft, tender lips tickled the curve along my spine so unexpectedly, my knees nearly gave out. My nipples hardened painfully against the fabric of the bed. I wanted nothing more than to feel his large hands pinch and squeeze the pebbled flesh until the ache eased. This unhurried and deliberate torture was so unlike the beast who normally took me roughly each night. His delicate care bought tears to my eyes, it was that beautiful.
“Please, Darragh. I can’t take much more. You’re fucking killing me.” I mewled shamelessly and wiggled my ass against his muscled thighs, hoping to entice him enough to put me out of my misery.
It didn’t.
The bastard.
“The only thing you need to worry about tonight is what’s going to happen to this ass once I stick my dick in it after the fights. Earning stacks of cash and the prospect of fucking this luscious asshole will have me walking around with a semi all night.”
“Mmm…I think we should…you know…take the edge off a little.”
“Sorry, no time.”
I moaned when I felt his tongue lapping at one of my cheeks before he bent at the knee and spread me open. I sprung up to my full height with his sudden invasion to the sound of his deep seductive chuckle.
“Relax,” he coaxed, the hand on my back guiding me back down. “I deserve this, remember? Fortune favors the bold, kitty cat. Don’t be afraid. I would kill before I let anything or anyone hurt you again. That includes myself.”
Shouldn’t he have said, “die” and not “kill?”
I resumed the position on shaky legs, fearful of what was about to happen, hopeful it would happen quickly, and eager to feel that sense of fullness his actions were sure to bring.
Mac peppered more kisses on my ass cheeks until the squirming started again. That’s when I felt the stream of wetness that started from my tailbone and trickled down over my forbidden hole. I should have been grossed out at the realization that Mac’s saliva was making its way down my ass crack, but once I felt the cool tip of the plug as it entered unhurriedly, a guttural moan exploded from nowhere.
Holy shitballs.
That felt amazing.
“Now,” Mac announced abruptly, ending my torment, “get that ass moving. We have a show to put on.”
Smack.
This was going to be a long-ass night.
Pun intended.
CHAPTER 37
MacCabe
“YOU KNOW DAMN well Mac doesn’t play that shit, Tommy. Do what that fuck I told you and stop whining like a bitch.”
“Yes? No, no, no. It’s the blue one on the left, the larger one.”
“I already told you no, muscle head. Mac wants style, not substance.”
“If he doesn’t know how to put on the gloves, you need to show him. He’s a construction worker, for Christ sakes, not Muhamad Ali.”
“I’m on my way over there. Mac is going to shit a brick when he finds out how bad you fucked this up, Jones. Count on it!”
I listened to Otelia through the wireless headset in my ear as she barked out orders to my men. What surprised me more was that they actually listened without giving pushback to the mouthy woman. They called her by that ridiculous nickname and jumped to attention quicker than shit, as if it were me giving the command and not her. She was made for the business, tough as nails, driven to a fault, and loyal to one man only. There wasn’t a single directive that didn’t have mine or my business’s best interests at heart. Atop the mezzanine, looking over the empire I built, I felt an overwhelming sense of pride for the beautifully resilient woman.