People like to joke about girls with overprotective fathers, the muscular ones, the powerful ones, the ones that own gun collections. No man in his right mind would date a girl under the protection of a man who’d kill you if you took advantage.
Imagine having an army of them at your back.
Oh, it sounds good on paper alright, it does. And I suppose I’d rather have their protection than be all alone in this world. But it sure as hell hasn’t helped my dating game.
The girls take their leave one by one until only Sheena remains. She takes off her sash, folds it neatly on the counter, and glances at her phone. “Time for me to get going,” she says. “Nolan’s on his way.”
Cormac has already come for Aileen, and Caitlin went home with her bodyguard. Caitlin’s husband Keenan, my eldest cousin and Clan chief, is home for the night with the little ones.
I’m glad Nolan’s coming. He and I have always been close. We were born the same year, grew up in the same family, and have shared so much we’re practically brother and sister.
“Oh good,” I tell her. “I’d like to see him. And don’t be silly, you don’t have to apologize.”
We get up and clean the snacks and drinks up. Sheena grabs a broom and starts to sweep the floor. “Cormac had to carry her down the stairs, did you see that?”
I snort. “I did. He didn’t seem too pleased.”
She laughs. “Nope. But I’m sure he’ll put her to bed and she’ll sleep it off.”
Now that it’s just the two of us, I’m eager to ask her some questions that have been on my mind.
“So Sheena.”
“Mmm?”
“So I’m… I’m not exactly a virgin, you know.”
She grins. “I wasn’t either. No judgment from me.”
I nod. That isn’t what I’m worried about. “Right,” I say, “But listen. I’m… well, I may be experienced with sex, but it was always vanilla.”
She freezes with the broom still in her hands, her eyes widening, as a slow smile spreads across her face. “You’ve never indulged your inner kink.”
I don’t blush easily, but this time I might. “I… well, no.”
She grins. “No time like the present, then.”
“Well, it isn’t something you can do with just anyone, though.”
“No, that’s true,” she says thoughtfully, when someone knocks at my door. “Ah, that’ll be Nolan.”
“Aye,” I say with a sigh. “Please don’t tell him we were talking about this.”
I can’t talk about kinky sex with a man who’s like a brother to me no matter how plastered I get.
I open the door to find Nolan, grinning in the entrance. Unlike his older brothers Keenan and Cormac, Nolan is blond, with a shock of hair that hangs down his forehead, but he still has the McCarthy family green eyes.
“Where’s my bride?” he asks, nearly busting his damn buttons with pride.
“She ran away,” I tell him with an eye roll.
“Right,” he says, still grinning.
“Not sure why you two have to go and mess up everything that’s perfect with rings and vows and all that crap.” I stand aside to let him in.
“We waited long enough, Megan,” Sheena says sensibly. “We’ve been waiting on this for years.”
“Well, why’d you wait so long, then?” I tease them, shaking my head, as I step inside and Nolan joins me.
Nolan steps in, kisses my cheek on the way by, then sweeps Sheena into his arms when he reaches her.
“We weren’t going to wait at first, but we wanted the children to be a bit older,” Sheena says. “We thought it would ease things a bit, if we didn’t jump right into it.”
“Not to mention, Clan law states that because we’ve got the children in our care, Sheena’s protected.” The brotherhood is protected by Clan rules. If a man of the Clan marries a woman, she’s off limits to any rival or neutral Clan. Seems Sheena’s siblings have provided a similar talisman.
“Understood,” I say.
Her younger brother, now a resident of the McCarthy finishing school, Saint Albert’s, has just celebrated his eighteenth birthday.
“Tiernan’s eighteen now?”
“Aye,” she says with a sigh.
“And what does that mean for him as a man of the Clan?” I ask Nolan.
“He’ll be inducted when he graduates St. Albert’s.”
I wonder if Nolan notices Sheena’s wince. I imagine inducting someone you love into the Clan is a bit like sending your child off to war.
“And Fiona?”
“She’ll be sixteen next week.”
I nod. Everyone’s growing up, moving on, making life decisions.
Everyone but me.
“Sheena, you smell like a tavern,” Nolan tells her, rolling his eyes. “Can you walk to the car, or do I have to carry you?”
She grins at him, grabs him by the front of the t-shirt, then yanks him over to her. His eyes register surprise before she kisses him.
“Aye, I can walk,” she says, waggling her eyebrows at him. “But you’re welcome to carry me, if you’d like. Practice carrying me over the threshold and all.”