“Have you relayed the information?” I ask as the music swells and the first dancer, a stunning, slender girl with shining black hair almost down to her waist and white lingerie, takes the stage.
Viktor hands me a glass of whiskey with a round cube of ice in it. “I relayed it to Denis Mahoney,” he says. “And a few others who are most inclined to not see Liam keep his seat. They’ll be bringing it to Liam in a few days, they said, when they meet again. They’ll offer him a choice, to set Ana aside and marry Saoirse, keeping his seat and preserving his family line, or to accept that his marriage makes him unfit to lead, and step down.”
“And if he simply has the marriage blessed, and refuses to step down?”
“I told them that your wish was to not have him further harmed, let alone killed. I also relayed that the man who kills him, if he’s killed, will answer to you with his life. They seemed—inclined to acquiesce. But they’re angry, Connor,” Viktor cautions. “I would prepare for the worst, in Liam’s case. If he truly refuses to see sense, things may escalate before they can be stopped. Or someone will take things into their own hands, on their own time. Liamneedsto get out of Boston, sooner rather than later.”
“You’d think he’d understand that.” I glance over to where Luca is sitting, watching him wave off two separate girls trying to entice him for a dance. “Jesus, Mary and Joseph, Sofia really has him pussy-whipped, doesn’t she?”
Viktor smirks, shrugging. “I don’t intend to partake either, tonight—though I certainly don’t blame you if you do,” he adds quickly. “After all, you’re not even married yet.”
“You can’t be serious.” I finish my glass of whiskey, motioning to a busty cocktail waitress for a refill. “You’re married, not dead.”
“I don’t want any woman other than Caterina,” Viktor says simply. “Not any longer. And Luca feels the same about Sofia. I was always fairly immune to the charms of women, considering the business I once ran. It’s not wise to let oneself be tempted by the merchandise, you know, and a fair few tried to tempt me, bargaining. I won’t say I was always faithful to my first wife, either—and Luca, well, all of Manhattan has stories about his exploits in his bachelor days.” He laughs, grinning. “But things change. You have enough women, and suddenly you want more than just that. Not just beauty and skill in bed, not just technically good sex, but real passion and connection. A woman who seduces every part of you—mind, body, and soul. Sometimes you don’t even know you want it, and then a woman comes along who surprises you, who challenges you in ways you never thought possible, and all others fall short compared to her.”
“I don’t think that’s in the cards for me.” I tilt my glass towards him, tapping the edge against his. “I’ve never met a woman yet who could make me want to forsake all others, as it were. She’d have to be one hell of a woman, and if I’m being honest—I don’t think she exists.”
Viktor raises an eyebrow. “You might be surprised,” he says with a shrug. “But anyway, enjoy your bachelor party, Connor. Your men certainly are,” he adds with a laugh. “I’m going to go save Luca.”
I glance around, and I can see he’s right. Jacob has a curvy blonde in black lingerie in his lap, and Quint and Charlie are both watching the stage in near-rapture, where two girls are sharing it now, one dark and one fair, dancing around the pole with a grace and skill that far surpasses the strip clubs I’m sure they’re used to.
I settle back on one of the black velvet couches, sipping my second whiskey and enjoying the show. The dancers all come out in layers of lingerie, stripping out of them sensually until they’re bare-breasted and down to their silky G-strings. One strips completely bare, sinking into a full split at the front of the stage, and I hear Quint groan.
“Don’t blow your load in your pants, now,” one of the other men ribs, and Quint glares daggers at him.
“I could see every inch of her tight little—”
I tune his protests out, watching as the girl doing the splits gracefully closes her legs, swaying back to her feet as she struts back down the stage, her perfectly shaped ass moving in time with the music.
“Enjoying the show?” A lilting, musical voice comes from my right, and I turn to see a gorgeous redhead in black lingerie sidling her way around to the front of my couch. I saw her earlier, though she hasn’t danced yet, and she’s in her full getup for the night. Her full, pale breasts are pushed up in a black satin bra, a matching thong covering the space between her legs that I’m guessing is smooth and bare, considering how small the front of the thong is, with not a hint of hair showing. There’s a black lace garter belt over that, holding up opaque black stockings that go all the way down her long slender legs to high platform heels, and over it all she has a black silk robe edged in lace, left to fall open so that I can see the hints of everything she has to offer.
She pushes her long, loosely curled red hair over one shoulder as she perches on the edge of my sofa. “See anything that catches your eye?”
“I might have now.” The moment the words come out of my mouth, I regret them. I’d come here tonight planning to spend time with any woman except one who looks like this girl—pale, softly curled red hair, wide green eyes fringed in black lashes. The sight of that black thong between her legs reminds me all too well of the one I pulled aside so I could finger Saoirse’s clit in the London sex club, drenched with her arousal as she begged me to let her come.
I’d wanted tonotthink about Saoirse tonight. I’d wanted to think about anythingbuther, to drown the part of me that thinks I’m a fool to give Liam even a chance to take her back, even if it means returning to London. I’d planned on sampling as many women as I could tonight, to remind myself that Saoirse is just one of a million women, not oneina million. That I’m not as foolish as Luca or Viktor, to let myself become so enamored of one woman that it could affect my decisions, my choices, my very future.
And yet, as if by some cosmic joke, the woman sitting in front of me could be Saoirse’s sister—as if any O’Sullivan daughter would ever be caught dead in a place like this.
Saoirse might,my traitorous mind whispers.She went to the sex club easily enough, once you egged her on. And once she was there—
I don’t want to think about what Saoirse and I did in that private room, but once the thought enters my mind, it’s impossible to force out. The memory of cuffing her to the bench, spanking her ass red, her tight little hole squeezing around my finger as she came, flushing with embarrassment and pleasure the entire time—
“Oh, you certainly do.” The redhead smiles seductively, her hand sliding up my thigh to where my cock has started to swell, the ridge of it more defined in my dark suit trousers. “Mm, I’m glad I came to sit by you. Your fiancée is a lucky woman.”
“Let’s not talk about her,” I say sharply. It’s on the tip of my tongue to tell her to leave, and send someone else over, but somehow I can’t quite bring myself to do it. It’s as if some perverted part of mewantsto suffer, to watch this girl perform for me in private and imagine it’s Saoirse, like some kind of imaginary self-flagellation.
She’s fucked you up good and proper.
I see Jacob getting up, being led back into one of the private rooms by the curvaceous blonde, a grin on his face.Glad someone is having a good time,I think grimly as the redhead’s hand stops just shy of my cock, which is stiffer by the second at the combined sensory experience of the women dancing, the thick smell of perfume and arousal in the air, and her hand against my leg.
“Want to come to the back with me?” she asks flirtatiously, her fingers rubbing against the inner seam of my trousers, and Ialmosttell her no. Not just because of her resemblance to Saoirse, but because for the first time in my life, I don’t feel the hungry desire that I normally experience in a place like this, where there are nothing but beautiful women waiting for me to make those desires known.
Lately, when I think of pleasure, I think of my upcoming wedding night with Saoirse, and how badly I want to finally plunge my cock into her, no barriers or expectations of stopping left between us.
A wedding night that I’ve now put in danger by offering Liam a chance to make things right.
In the end, that’s what makes me glance over at the redhead, letting my gaze darken with lust as I stand to my feet. “Let’s go,” I tell her, and she flashes me a wide smile before taking my hand in her softer one and leading me back towards the champagne rooms.