"It isn’t that much."
"Right now it isn’t," she grumbled. "What about court fees and stuff?" She heaved a sigh. "Sorry, I shouldn’t be talking about this tonight. You should go and party with Aidan. Girl, you look gorgeous together. Him all broody and—"
I snorted. "You mean brooding."
"Do I?" Jen cackled. "You’re about to get pumped sooo full of O’Donnelly jizz you’re going to be pregnant until you’re fifty."
My nose crinkled. "Ew."
"Shut up, bish. You know you want it."
Laughing, I grumbled, "Maybe one."
"Ha. We’ll see."
Turning my head on her shoulder, I muttered, "Jen?"
"Yes, babe."
"I need to tell you something."
She arched a brow. "So, tell me?"
"It’s hard."
"You told me about that time you nearly orgasmed when you had a Pap smear."
"Shut up," I hissed, peering around to make sure no one had overheard that.
She grinned. "See? You can share that with me but not this?"
"Well, it’s different."
"How?"
"It’s bad."
"Bad, how?"
"It’s about how we met."
Her brows rose. "Through work?"
"Yeah, but..." I sucked in a breath then admitted on a rush, "I knew you worked there. That’s why I went to that particular accountant. I’d always stuck to my dad’s before, but I wanted to find a way to meet you."
Jen tensed. "What? Me? Why? I’m nobody."
I bit my lip, sensing the confusion was going to turn to hurt soon. "It started off a certain way, but like, we have so much in common, Jen. We’re both loudmouth bitches who don’t like being told what to do and have really expensive shoe habits. You’re my BFF for real."
Jen shook her head. "I don’t understand. Why would you switch accountants to meet with me?"
I gulped. "I was researching a story on Padraig O’Donnelly."
"Aidan Sr.’s brother?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"I wanted to get close to Aidan Sr. I wanted to write his biography."
Her eyes bugged. "You wanted to do, what? Jesus, girl, do you want to die young?"
"Well, I wouldn’t put it like that," I grouched.
"I don’t believe you. You’re crazy!"
"I know. That’s how I met Aidan."
"Shit! You’re just telling me now?"
"It didn’t turn out well, did it? He ghosted me and I sulked for a while. Then, I happened upon this coffee shop. All these women get together and they talk about stuff.
“Gossiping, basically, about the Five Points. About five months before we met, I heard one of them talk about Paddy and how he was a ladies’ man..."
"They all are. They’re O’Donnellys," Jen said wryly. "I’m just not sure what I have to do with this."
I reached for her hand. "Can’t you figure it out, sweetheart?" I bit my lip again. "You don’t have to worry about money. Not anymore."
"What are you talking about? Why don’t I?"
"You’re Padraig O’Donnelly’s illegitimate daughter, Jen, and I have the DNA test results to prove it."
Aidan
Seven months later
The second the elevator doors closed behind me, I grabbed Savannah around the waist, hauled her over my shoulder, then strode down the hallway to my bed.
Her squeal made me laugh, as did the way she bit my ass through my pants.
"You’re going to have to work harder than that to get me to put you down," I teased, laughing even more when she tried to shove my pants down. "Gravity is on my side."
"Don’t be a jerk!" she groused, but she was chuckling too.
I heard her happiness, knew she felt it as much as I did.
I was free.
Four months ago, I’d had knee replacement surgery to fix the clusterfuck of the botched job the previous surgeon had done.
Sixteen weeks of physio later, the pain was manageable, like the brush of a butterfly’s wings to my skin rather than the tsunami to my senses of before, and I could walk properly again.
The doctor said if I overdid it, I might need a cane from time to time, but as long as I stayed away from marathons and long hikes, that I should be okay.
Without the physiological need for Oxy, it made my addiction more bearable, though there were days I knew I was a bastard because it clawed at me tooth and nail, but it was a struggle Savannah understood.
One that had her barking at me to come and do yoga with her, or that had us angry fucking our way through the drowning sensation that was the need for chemical substances.
Today had been my final physio session and I was celebrating in more ways than one.
"I can’t believe you’re holding me to this."
I grinned. "You can’t believe it? Seriously?"
She huffed. "I didn’t realize you wanted to pop my ass cherry so bad."
"Bullshit. That’s why you leveraged it with knee surgery."
She blew a raspberry I didn’t see.
Cackling, I walked straight down the hallway through our new penthouse.
We drifted between the city and upstate now Da was pulling back and leaving some tasks to me. He’d gone from being hands on to being hands off in a ridiculously short space of time, and right now, Brennan and I as well as the rest of my bros, had so much on our plates that I simply didn’t have the hours in the day to commute upstate. Not if I ever wanted to see my wife.
Which I did.
A lot.
"This is quite painful," she told me, her tone pleasant.
"Well, I’m almost there," I said dryly.
"Your shoulder’s bony."
"Forgive me."
"I will when you give me an orgasm."
"Oh, baby, you’re going to get more than one," I purred, which made her squirm. I slapped her ass. "Don’t do that, or I’ll drop you."
"Then don’t get me horny."
"I breathe and I make you horny, little one."
She squirmed again, so I spanked her ass again.
When we made it to the bedroom, a space that was navy on black, pretty masculine apart from the softer touches she’d added to the room with blankets and cushions and shit, I tossed her onto the bed and immediately grabbed her belt buckle.
For all her talk, she was as eager for this as me. We’d promised each other this months ago, and both of us were ready.
As we stripped down, taking this logically, we didn’t stop until we were both naked. I made her keep her stilettos on, of course, and then I did what I hadn’t been able to do in years.
The missionary position.
Goddammit, it felt good.
So fucking good just to lie on top of her, all those curves melting into my hardness, her legs spread, my cock against her pussy, as I put pressure on my knee without wanting to howl.
I was tentative at first, but when I didn’t experience any pain, I breathed out and finally pressed my lips to hers. Slowly, I seduced her, which was in direct contrast to the way I’d hauled her over my shoulder out in the hall, but God, her patience with me deserved nothing less.