She shrugged. “Not to me. I’m not so naïve that I don’t know you’ve fucked your way across every inch of this place. Eoghan, it’s your home. Why wouldn’t you have?”
“I want a fresh start,” I declared, a little taken aback by her blasé attitude.
I mean, I’d just been thinking how a wife accustomed to this way of life was a boon, but still, it came as a shock.
“It’s your money,” she muttered, hitching her shoulder.
“Yeah, it is. So, I’ll get the list, and you can do whatever you want to the place. No painting though, or refurbing. I hated having that done the first time, and most of the shit is new anyway. I only redid the place a couple of years ago.”
“There’s no need—”
“Inessa,” I growled, the dumbbells clinking as I dropped them back on the bench. “There’s every need.”
She huffed, but showed no fear at my tone, and muttered, “I’m going for a shower.”
Considering I’d expected more gratitude than that, I watched in amazement as she swanned off, that tight ass of hers rolling as she moved down the hall and back to what was—incredibly enough to me, at any rate—ourroom.
“That was unexpected,” I mumbled to myself, shaking my head at her even as I watched every step she took until she disappeared.
The thought of her under the shower always gave me a boner, so I returned to my workout.
When my phone buzzed just before I grabbed the free weights, I peered at it, saw it was a video call from my brother, switched on the TV, and cast the call onto it.
I scowled at Aidan Jr. “What the fuck do you want?”
“Is that any way to greet your brother?”
I rolled my eyes. “I didn’t think you got up before nine.”
He pulled a face, and I instantly stopped giving him shit.
I knew what that meant.
On Finn and Aoife’s wedding day, there’d been a drive-by shooting. Aoife and Aidan Jr. had been caught in the crossfire. Aoife had lost her spleen, and Aidan had a fucked up leg for his pains.
All these years later, he still had issues with it. And that face meant it had kept him up half the night.
I’d seen his knee a few times since the accident, and it was messed up. In fact, that was being kind.
He’d had more pins put in that bastard than a pincushion.
“How’s married life treating you?”
I rolled my eyes. “You really give a fuck?”
Aidan scowled at me. “Of course I do. You’re my fucking brother, aren’t you?”
“Thought you’d disowned me.”
He snorted. “When you were six. I took you back into the fold when you were six and a half.”
Grinning at him, I shook my head a little at his bullshit. “The folks have been surprisingly quiet.”
“Finn and I had to delete your number from both their phones.” He grinned back at me, and even though he was in his early forties, the handsome fucker didn’t look it right then. Pain had aged him, but his smile took away some of that. “They’re not pleased, but they understand why we did it.”
“To give us space?” I snorted. “Yeah. I’m surprised it worked.”
“Ma tried to strong-arm Aoife, but other than that, they’ve behaved. I think Da wants it to work.”