“You’ve been too easy on me, Mr. McCarthy,” I say coyly. And I’m not just play acting. The mention of a sex club, and the thought of my sexy, devoted husband doing wicked, wonderful things to me, has me all kinds of aroused.
“Have I?” he asks in a low rumble I feel straight between my legs.
I swallow hard. “You have. Now what’s the harm in taking me there if you’re with me? I’m assuming the other men of the clan go as well?”
“Aye. Some.”
If he finds out I’m manipulating him into going, I might regret goading him into not being so easy on me. I haven’t forgotten the way we met.
“Who?”
Now I’m back to digging for information. “Nolan. Boner. Carson sometimes, and Lachlan. Most of them.”
“Will they be there tonight?”
“If I ask them? Aye. But there’s something you need to know, lass.”
“What’s that?”
“Your brother frequents the club as well.”
It’s as if he poured ice water straight over my head.
“Fucking Blaine.” I hate him. The thought of being anywhere near him again makes my skin crawl.
“But,” Cormac says with a grim smile. “Your brother damn near shite his trousers last time he saw me, and I s’pose he’ll keep well enough away.”
I love you, I think.
The words bubble to my lips like sea foam, and just as quickly, pull back with the tide. I don’t speak them. But I’m not immune to the pull of seduction over the simplest of things. And knowing he’s punished my tormentor and won’t let the man ever touch me again does all sorts of irrevocable things to my heart.
“Christ, woman,” Cormac mutters, tugging me a little closer. Once more it’s not lost on me that I’m on the inside of the street, and he stands between me and any threat on instinct.
“What?” I ask, unsure of why he’s suddenly gotten strange on me.
“You’ve been apart from me, Aileen.” He stands still, and pulls me closer to him, pinching my chin between his thumb and forefinger to prevent me from looking away. My heart beats faster.
“Oh?” I swallow hard.
“You have,” he whispers. Stars twinkle above us, embedded in the sky like crystal-studded velvet. A cricket chirrups nearby, and in the distance, the sound of waves lapping on the shore brings a strange sort of comfort. And for the first time since he made me his bride, a deep, abiding sense of belonging pervades me.
“You’ve been up here,” he says, releasing my chin long enough to gently tap his index finger to my temple. “With your worries and fears and your anger. And I wondered how I could get you back.”
Tears prick my eyes. “For a big bear of a man, you’re surprisingly perceptive,” I whisper.
He grins at me, and his eyes crinkle around the edges. How have I never noticed that before? My heart does a somersault.
“Careful, Mr. McCarthy,” I whisper.
“Why?” he whispers back.
“Because a girl could lose her knickers over a grin like that.”
He snorts. Damn, he’s cute. “Doesn’t matter,” he replies. “Already knocked you up.”
I close my eyes the second before his lips meet mine. I want to remember this. I want to feel this again, to lose myself in his touch, his scent, his taste. He slides one hand to my lower back and draws me near, so the heat of his body suffuses me. Deepening the kiss, he swallows my moan and slides his tongue into mine. Plundering. Owning.
My heart races, my pulse accelerating. When he pulls back, his forehead meets mine. Maeve and Caitlin are long gone, and the two of us are alone.
“Tonight,” he says. “I’ll take you to the club. But you have to do exactly as I say. Understand?” The commanding tone of his voice excites me. I swallow hard.
I almost forgot about the damn club there for a minute.
I nod.
“You’re mine, and as such, you’ll not go near another man.”
“Of course not.”
He snorts mirthlessly. “You say that, but you don’t know how these clubs operate.”
“I’ll wear a burka if it pleases you.”
“You’ll wear no knickers and a dress of my choosing,” he says. “That pleases me.”
Oh my.
I give him my most fetching grin, caught up in the moment of scoring what I want and sincere eagerness for what we’ll do tonight.Chapter 19CormacI’d do anything to see that beautiful smile of hers. It seems she’s been mired in misery for days on end, but something’s shaken her out of it. I wish I knew what, so that I could keep her here.
How did she hear of the club?
A part of me hates the idea of bringing her to that place, but I have to admit, I’m not totally opposed to the idea. She’s confessed fantasies of being dominated before. What else lingers in that mind of hers?
I tell Nolan I want to take Aileen to the Craic. He’s eager to go, and we quickly round up a crew to meet us there.