She flushes. “Keenan!”
“Nor when I clamped your nipples and ripped three orgasms from your pretty little body.”
“Mmmm.”
I’m tearing her clothes off, eager to have her naked beneath me. She’s so responsive, so eager, and all mine.
“Take off your knickers,” I order. The silly, lacy things are tricky to maneuver.
“Impatient, are we?”
I give her a teasing slap to the ass.
“Tonight, sweet girl, I’m taking you from behind,” I tell her. “Now.”
Like the good lass she is, she strips what remains of her clothing and kneels, facing away from me. Tossing her hair over her shoulder, she shoots me a fetching grin.
“I love you, even if you’re one of the Neanderthals.”
“You love me because I’m a Neanderthal,” I quip, raking off my own clothes and positioning myself behind her. I’ve waited for this. She’s used to me now, so I don’t have to ease myself in her. I can take her the way I want to, and tonight, I’m impatient.
I finger between her legs, pleased to see she’s ready for me. “That’s my girl. Good girl, so ready already, are you?”
She moans in response, already gripping the headrail for support like I’ve taught her. My cock’s already hard, and I’m so eager for her I’m shaking a little. Every time she yields to me, every time she takes me, she soothes a little of the beast that rages inside me. I love this woman.
I line myself up behind her, and anchor myself on her hips. “Good girl,” I approve. “Just like that, lass.” Without preamble, I impale her with my cock. She groans and shifts, taking all of me, welcoming my firm, unhurried thrusts.
“That’s it, sweetheart,” I encourage. “Just like that, sweetness.”
I rock my hips and she rocks hers, moaning and panting as she chases her own pleasure.
“I love how easily you respond,” I tell her.
“Hard”—pant—“not”—gasp—"to.”
I slap her ass in approval, pull out, then thrust back in to the hilt. She keens with pleasure and rocks her hips with me.
I unleash myself on her, thrusting in and out without pausing, no words needed. I know she’s on the verge of coming when she throws her head back and pants my name. “Keenan oooohhhh.”
“Come, sweet girl,” I order, my own release ripping through me. We ride the spasms of pleasure until we’re spent, panting and sated. Her head falls to the headboard and I drop my forehead to her shoulder.
“I love you, sweet fae,” I whisper. “And I love that you’re mine.”
“And I love you, Keenan.”
We clean up in silence and I lead her to bed. It’s my favorite part of the night, when she snuggles up onto my chest and rests on me, her body folded up to mine as if she’s meant to be right here, just like that.
I brush my fingers through her hair and hold her, rocking her tonight, though I think it’s more for me than her.
“Do you really think we’ll have a baby soon?” I ask her.
“I do,” she says. “And I hope we do. It’ll please your mother so.”
It pleases me that she cares about this at all.
“We should take a honeymoon first,” I say to her. “Don’t you think?”
“Paris!”
I pause. “Have you rehearsed this?” I ask warningly.
She giggles and hides her head beneath my chin. “Mayyybe.”
“With whom?”
“Megan may have suggested it.”
I love how easily she’s become one of them. One of us.
“Paris is doable,” I say. “In fact, I’d love that. I’ve got business to tend to there. We need to see Nolan home as well, and there’s other Clan business, but once we’re settled we can do it.
“And to think…” her voice trails off.
“Aye? Go on.”
“A few months ago, I sat alone in the tower. Overlooking the sea, but I didn’t even know who you are. And now… and now I’m part of the family.”
I kiss her forehead and hold her to me. “One of the family,” I tell her. “And a gift of my heart.”
She reaches for my hand and entwines her fingers with mine.
“Tá mo chroí istigh ionat, Keenan,” she says. “My heart is in you. My everything is in you.”
I hold her to my heart and squeeze. “And I in you, sweet lass. Thank you. I love you, Caitlin McCarthy.”
She closes her eyes and smiles. How a woman like her can be pleased with a man like me, I may never know. But as the sun sets on today and rises on another, I give thanks for this woman. My beautiful, sweet wife.
My heart.EpilogueCaitlinSix months laterA brisk wind stirs my hair as I walk to the top of the cliff, the very edge that overlooks the Irish Sea. Keenan’s had the lighthouse taken down, and in its place, there’s now a garden.
“New life will bloom here,” he said. It made me smile, how my stern, fearless leader of criminals has a romantic edge. The earth where the lighthouse once stood is surrounded by dark, rich soil, the seeds of the future garden planted only last week. But new life will bloom. Of that I’m certain.