“No, she doesn’t,” Connor says coolly. “She hasn’t deserved any of the things that I’ve heard have happened to her. And I don’t wish for more ill to befall her. So I’ve agreed to give her time to stabilize before we take further action.” He pauses. “I would remember, Mrs. Romano, which side of this your husband is on and act accordingly.”
“If harm comes to a hair on my best friend’s head or her child, I won’t give a shit who Luca has allied himself with,” Sofia hisses. “You should remember that.” She glances at Liam. “I’ll stay and help. You can’t be expected to care for her around the clock. And I’ll be keeping an eye out to make sure these two don’t break their promise to ensure she’s safe.”
Connor bristles visibly at that. “I’m going to overlook this,” he says sharply, “because I know how much this must have unsettled you. But don’t think that I won’t have a word with Luca if this behavior continues. And as for you, brother—” he glares at Liam. “If we’re going to be sharing the estate, see to it that Niall stays away frommy wife.”
He grabs my elbow as he turns and walks away, keeping me next to his side as he strides purposefully down the hall. I have to walk quickly to keep up with him, but he doesn’t look at me, only holds my arm in a vice grip as we head for the hospital doors.
As they open, my heart nearly stops as I see Niall striding in. But he doesn’t look at Connor—and most painfully, he doesn’t so much as glance at me. He keeps going as if neither of us is even there, and I have to bite my lip hard as Connor hustles me out to the waiting town car.
I think, as we slip inside, that I see the glimmer of a victorious smile on Connor’s face.
14
CONNOR
Ican barely contain my anger on the way back to our condo. Saoirse sits stiffly next to me, having jerked her arm out of my grasp the instant we were in the car, and she refuses to look at me. I can feel the fight brewing between us, and after the tense interaction with my brother at the hospital, I’m ready for it.
I’m ready to have it out with her, if that’s what she wants. I’ve had enough. All I can think about are Liam’s claims that he heard her and Niall in a bedroom, that she must have been moaning the way she moans for me, that he must have been pleasing her in a way that rivals what I’ve done to her. My hands are tensed into fists at my sides, my teeth gritted until my jaw aches, all to keep my rage dammed until we’re inside and I can let the full force of it free.
“What thefuckwas Liam talking about?” I snarl the instant we’re inside, as soon as the door is shut. I back her up against it, blocking her from leaving the foyer as I look down at her with black rage in my eyes. “He heard you and Niall? What the fuck were you doing? What the fuck were youthinking, Saoirse? It’s bad enough that you’re carrying on with him after what I’ve said to you, after claiming there’s nothing going on, but at the fuckingestate? Where Liam or Anastasia could hear or see and use it against us? Fucking bloodyhell—” I clench my fists, nearly vibrating with anger. “So much for your commitment to duty and family. And don’t tell me he’s lying, either. I saw the tension between you and Niall as we were leaving. I know he didn’t lie.”
Saoirse is trembling, but she doesn’t flinch away from my gaze. “You have no idea,” she whispers. “You have no idea how hard it has been since we came back, since you went back to being cold and angry and resentful all of the time—”
“You asked for that weekend.Beggedfor it. I told you the terms. I told you things would go back to normal once we came home. Back to the arrangement thatyouagreed to. It’s not my bloody problem if you can’t figure your shit out, Saoirse, but it is if you endanger everything for some dick I’ve warned you away from.” I glare at her. “Was Liam right? Did you want to marry him just to get closer to Niall?”
She shakes her head furiously, looking up at me with something very much like horror in her eyes. “No!” she gasps. “I didn’t even think of Niall like that until I ran into him in the hotel in London, and he—” She swallows hard. “He let me know how he felt about me. Ihavebeen keeping him at arm’s length, Connor. I’ve told him that you and I have an arrangement, that my first responsibility is to you and our children and our family. That my duty comes first, always, no matter how I feel about him or might in the future—”
“Children?” I sneer down at her. “We don’t have any children yet, Saoirse, because you can’t seem to fucking get pregnant. But we’ll work on that. In fact, we can start right now.”
I grab her arm, spinning her around so that she’s facing the door, snatching both of her wrists into my large hand so that they’re pinned above her head. She turns, her cheek pressing into the door as she looks back at me, and the combination of fear and arousal in her face makes me so instantly rock hard that the rush of blood is almost dizzying.
“Connor!” She cries out my name, and it’s meant to be a protest, I think. But it comes out as a moan as I drag her skirt up with my other hand, yanking her panties down so that they fall around her ankles.
“What did he do to you?” I growl in her ear. “What was it that made you moan? Did he eat you out? Lick that sweet wet pussy? I know how much you love that, princess. You drench my face every time.”
“No,” Saoirse whimpers. “No, he didn’t, I swear—”
“What about this?” I shove two fingers roughly between her thighs and discover that her pussy is already wet for me, clenching around my fingers as I thrust them deeply. “Did his fingers feel good, Saoirse? As good as mine?”
She shakes her head mutely, and I curl my fingers, pumping them roughly inside of her. “Did he do this?”
“Connor—”
“Answer me!”
“Yes!” she cries out, even as her back arches, pushing back onto my hand. “He fingered me. I didn’t come because he got off on my thigh, and I freaked out. I told him it was too much, that we were going too far, and we needed to stop until you and I had finished our part of the arrangement. Happy?” She bites out the last word, all the rest coming in breathless gasps as I finger her hard and fast, purposefully ignoring her clit. “That’s all, Connor, I swear. Iswear!”
“You didn’t come?” I work a third finger into her, my own cock straining with the need to be inside of her. “Are you lying about that?”
“No!” Saoirse cries out, her thighs splaying apart. “I didn’t come. I didn’t—”
“Good,” I hiss with satisfaction. “Because you’re going to come now, on my cock. Forme, Saoirse. And you won’t come for any other man until I’m done with you. Do you fucking—” I yank down my fly, freeing my throbbing cock—“understand me, Saoirse McGregor? Mywife?”
I thrust into her on the last word, hard, filling her to the hilt with my almost too-big cock, and she lets out a scream of mingled pain and pleasure as my hips grind against her ass, my hand still pinning hers above her head.
“Yes,” she pants. “Yes, I—understand—oh god, Connor!”
I reach around as she says it, pinching her clit between my thumb and forefinger as I fuck her against the door, hard, driving my cock into her ruthlessly. The instant I touch her, rolling the hard bud between thumb and forefinger, she comes with a high-pitched scream of my name that I know anyone else living in the building absolutely heard.