When I arrived, I dropped the packages by the door, and rushed past the bedroom and to the stairs so I could go pick out what I was wearing tonight.
It wasn’t stupid to be nervous, not when meeting the heads of the Irish Mob, but I just wished that I had more time to make myself presentable. Less than an hour to shower, change, and get ready wasn’t much in the scheme of things—not when I was meeting the parents for the first time.
A skirt and blouse in hand, a bandeau, and a pair of stockings and some lacy underwear too, I draped them over my forearm and dashed out into the hall.
I almost didn’t hear it.
That was how faint it was.
A slight cry. A choked sound that had me twisting around, trying to find it.
“Brennan?” I called out, concern hitting me.
Had he fallen? Hurt himself?
I rushed down to his office and twisted the doorknob. Finding it locked, I started to tap on the door when I heard another soft whimper.
“Brennan!” I called out again, banging my fist on the office door before I pressed my ear to it, trying to figure out if the noisewas,in fact, coming from in there.
Hearing a louder mewl this time, something twisted in my head because it had sounded like someone was in pain at first, but what if—
No.
He wouldn’t have brought a mistress here, would he?
So soon?
Not after what we’d been talking about earlier.
Rage and hurt flushed through me as I made to bang on the door again, but this time, my fist never collided with it. Fingers coiled around my wrist, prompting me to shriek. I twisted around, my other hand forming a fist too as I punched out at my attacker. My clothes and underwear went flying, but I didn’t care. Just as my other hand was ensnared, I found myself staring up at a glowering Brennan.
The relief was instantaneous.
A sharp gasp escaped me, one loaded with panic and relief and... God,gratitude.
He wasn’t having sex in there.
I had no right to feel possessive over him, but I’d just... what we’d talked about made me hope for more.
And, for a woman like me,morewas as unattainable as love.
There was a storm cloud in his eyes as he stared down at me, but I ignored that to take him in in all his glory.
Jesus, Mary and Joseph.
I’d seen him naked, but somehow he was even more impressive looming over me the way he was. Dressed in nothing but a towel, one that was so white, so clean against his skin, it seemed to emphasize every single muscle he possessed. And trust me, there were muscles on top of muscles on top of muscles.
It was only now that I registered that even if he looked phenomenal in a suit, the suit certainly didn’t do the man justice.
Hell’s bells.
There were tiny droplets of water on his chest, between his pecs. I ached to feel one such drop against my tongue, because my mouth was suddenly parched.
From the tiny bubbles around his ears, I knew he’d been shaving when I’d come in, which was probably why I hadn’t heard him upstairs. But that didn’t explain what was happening in his office.
Orwhowas in there.
I blinked up at him. “I thought you were injured.”