“Would I care if you were hurt?” Her scowl scorched me. “Finn, of course, I’d care. What would make you think otherwise?”
My tongue felt thick in my mouth as I shook my head. I slipped my hand back up to cup her chin and gently tilted it forward so that she wasn’t looking at me like I was some kind of freak. I couldn’t speak, didn’t have words.
I wanted to believe her. Wanted to think she’d care if I was hurt, but only time would tell.
How long we stood there like that, I wasn’t sure, but she made no move to step away. I was the one who whispered, “Come on, let’s get ready for bed.”
She nodded, and together we walked to the bedroom, where she changed as I got cleaned up.
It was the first night I didn’t send us both into a frenzy as I fucked us both to another kind of ecstasy. Instead, she lay curled in my arms as we drifted off to sleep, and again, Conor could call me whipped as many times as he wanted, but it felt good. Not as good as an eye-crossing orgasm, but good in a different way.
Like I’d finally found my way home.
Even as the thought crossed my mind, for the first time in my life I prayed without Aidan Sr. forcing me to. As I silently whispered the words to a God I wasn’t sure I believed in, I prayed she felt the same way.
***
Aoife
Two weeks later
“In two hours’ time, you’re going to be Mrs. Finn O’Grady.”
A laugh escaped me as Finn slid his tongue down my throat. My nerve endings sizzled in response, and I arched my neck, rocking my hips up in delight as he slowly thrust into me until he was all the way home.
“You’re going to be Mr. Aoife Keegan more like.”
His snicker was a delight for my ears, but I loved, even more, the feel of his mouth curving into a smile against my skin.
“Touché,” he said, and then he peered at me. “You’re going to change your name, aren’t you?”
“How antiquated of you to ask,” I teased, lifting up to press my mouth to his. “I’ll carry your name with pride,” I told him, loving how his shoulders straightened at my words, his own pride so evident that it was like it glowed from his pores.
Almost as though he was rewarding me for the statement, he began to move faster. Not too fast. This wasn’t fucking. He was making love to me. It wasn’t the first time he’d moved slow and gentle, but it felt like it mattered more considering what was going to happen soon.
Aidan and Lena had tried to insist that I spend the night before the service with them, but Finn had told them to butt out of our business and even when Aidan’s eyes had flashed with fury, I’d tried to settle the storm by saying I only felt safe with Finn.
Aidan had flushed guiltily at my words, and that was that.
There were ways and means of getting around these men, and I was slowly learning them—with Lena’s aid.
She told me that if I wanted anything in this life, to think smart. Not to whine or complain, but to do. And, whenever possible, remind them that the restrictions on my life were their fault.
For some crazy reason, the O'Donnelly men weren’t as antiquated as I’d just accused Finn of being. They were as modern as any guy was nowadays. They knew women had hopes and dreams and aspirations, and they didn’t shoot that down—it was why Lena had a dress shop over by Regis Park. The men understood that their women’s lives couldn’t revolve around them.
Even if they wished that were the case.
Plus, I’d started to see that Aidan thought of Lena’s work as a means of keeping her out of mischief, and Finn seemed to share that train of thought.
I wasn’t about to complain.
Releasing a moan when Finn hit that special spot inside me, I gripped his ass and dug my fingers into him, my nails clutching at his firm butt so hard, I knew I’d leave bruises there. I loved that, though. I wanted my marks on him.
When my release powered through me, I screamed. It was so intense, so goddamn wonderful, that I’d thought I was about to lose my mind. Finn’s hoarse yell was enough to make my nerve endings spark and sizzle, as though they were embers that were ready to combust again.
As we both climbed down from the highest of peaks, Finn’s panting breath in my ear, he managed to mumble, “Don’t take the pill today.”
I stiffened. “Huh?”