She leans forward, her breasts pressed against my chest as she kisses me, long and slow and deep, her pussy clenching around me as she arches her back, rolling her hips down onto my cock until I’m nearly unable to think past the blinding pleasure. I can feel myself about to erupt, my cock swollen and impossibly hard, the need to release blocking out everything else. Then I start to feel her shudder around me, and I know I can’t hold back any longer even if I wanted to.
I hold her down on my cock as I buck my hips upwards, filling her with my cum, her mouth sucking at the side of my throat, her teeth grazing my skin as she cries out, her own pleasure tangling with mine until we’re nothing but grasping, clutching, straining bodies. It feels as if the orgasm lasts forever, my hips jerking and cock coming until I fill her so full that I can feel it sliding out around my cock where I’m joined with her.
We stay like that, wrapped together, until Saoirse finally lets out a sigh, rolling away from me bonelessly. It takes a moment before either of us can find the energy to make it to the shower, but we eventually do, lingering there together under the hot water.
Saoirse helps me with washing the side of my chest and shoulder where I was shot, her touch gentle, the action almost more intimate than sex. She helps me bandage it again too once we’re out, staying next to me until we’re both settled on the bed, and when I reach for her again, she teasingly slaps my hand away.
“You need to ease back into it,” she tells me, and I narrow my eyes at her.
“The only thing I want to be ‘easing into’ is your perfect, incredible pussy,” I tell her as I lean forward to capture a kiss, but I don’t push it further, knowing she’s right. No matter how much I want to, I can’t afford to strain myself.
“Tell me what happened today,” she says softly.
There was a time when I would have rebuffed her, unable to trust her. There’s still a small part of me that fears that, but she’s done everything she can to prove otherwise. And so I push forward, telling her everything, from when I entered the warehouse to when I left.
Saoirse doesn’t flinch even once, and when I’m done telling her all of it, I lean forward to kiss her again. “This is part of why I love you,” I tell her, running my fingers through her hair. “Through all of this, you’ve been true to yourself. You’ve held your own, you’ve chosen your path, and you’ve stuck to it. You’re not afraid of anything in this life, and you’ll never hate me for the things I might have to do. You understand it—and me. I couldn’t have asked for a better wife than you. I’m sorry that I didn’t see it at first.”
She leans forward, softly kissing me back. “You see it now, and that’s all that matters. I love you too, Connor.”
Saoirse pauses then, leaning back. “I want to come with you to the meeting. I want to be present when you and Liam make these changes and tell them how things will be from here on out.”
My first instinct is to tell her no, but I stifle it. There’s no reason for hernotto come, other than the fact that women aren’t typically allowed at the meetings unless the business being addressed involves them directly. But we’re here to do things differently, to make changes, and there’s no reason why that can’t be changed as well.
I want Saoirse at my side in all things. That can start here, as well.
“Alright,” I tell her simply, and she smiles, happiness and relief spreading over her face.
“This really is a new beginning,” she whispers, and then she leans in to kiss me again.
—
In accordance with our plan, I’m the one who shows up first for the meeting of the Kings. I stride in with Luca and Viktor, Levin and Alessio behind them, and stop at the head of the table, standing behind the empty seat.
“Where’s Finn?” Denis Mahoney asks, his wrinkled brow creasing. I look at him evenly, careful not to let my tone betray anything.
“We’ll get to that,” I tell him and then come around to stand in front of the chair, hands flat on the table. “Jacob?”
Jacob steps into the room, most of my other men behind him. There’s instant tension at the table, the men around it glowering at my band of misfits. “The fuck are they doing here?” Colin asks, his eyes narrowing. “Bunch of rowdy Englishmen, not fit to grace the room with this table—”
“Silence!” I glare at Colin, Denis, and the others in turn. “Things have changed.”
I take the sack from Jacob and extract Charlie’s bloody, severed head. The looks on the faces of the men around the table change to horror, revulsion, and nausea as I set it down with athuddirectly on the glossy wood, the congealed blood smearing there. “This is a man who betrayed me and the men who follow me. He was seduced into it, led to a horrible fate, by one of the men who sits here at this table.”
I turn towards the door, and Quint strides in, Finn O’Leary bound and in his grasp with a bag over his head. He yanks it off, revealing the bloodied and exhausted face of the traitor, and there’s a rumbling around the table as I look at them again.
“You’re not fit to lead us either, no more so than your brother!” Denis exclaims, standing to his feet. “Handling a King in such a way—”
“Sit down!” I roar, and the authority in my voice makes him sink back into his chair without a word, his aged face paling.
“I was betrayed,” I repeat. “By one of the men at this table, who sought to bring me back in the first place. I was betrayed by one of myownmen, a man I trusted, and this is the price he paid.” I gesture at the head on the table and then at the bound prisoner. “Finn O’Leary betrayed you as well, as my father did. He betrayed your efforts, your future, and your values for his own selfish desires. He had the fire set that nearly killed all of us. And for that, I think we all know what his punishment must be.”
I lean forward, gripping the edge of the table. “I stand here today to tell you that I will do neither. I will not betray myself or you. I will lead you fairly and with strength and integrity—and that begins here, today, with the changes that I am telling youwillbe made. I will be the leader I was in London, where I learned how to be a man worthy of leading other men. I will rule fairly—and that starts with my men becoming a part of this table.”
There’s a rumbling around the table at that, and Denis starts to get to his feet again along with Colin; both of them are stopped by my glare.
“It will no longer only be men with a family name, buying their spot at this table with wealth and influence. The Kings will be made up of men who prove their worth through deeds and actions, not through riches and manipulation. My menwillsit at this table next to you, as one of you, and my brother will sit next to me.”
Every man at the table goes still with utter shock as Liam walks into the room, Niall at his side. Liam comes to stand next to me, and this time, the table erupts.