Page 12 of Feel Me

I try to focus on the good that’s happened these past few years. Our little brother Killian marrying his childhood sweetheart Sofia. Curran and Tess already married a year now with their second child on the way. Finn, yeah, he found his perfect woman in Sol. Then there’s Wren who landed Evan, someone who not only puts up with her mouth, but finds that mouth and the woman behind it endearing. They’re planning a small ceremony on the beach in Cape May. Yeah, with over a hundred O’Briens within an eight mile radius, good luck keeping it small. But even a jaded bastard like me can see how happy they are. Shit, how happy they all are.

I try not to react at the way Curran takes in Tess, tender and adoring, the way Ma used to watch Papa. God, I hope they make it, all of them. But as much as I recognize what they have is genuine, I can’t help wondering if Papa’s feelings were once genuine too,beforehe broke my mother’s heart.

“What are you thinking about?” Tess asks.

“Just thinking about the day,” I answer. Hell, I may not believe in love, but I want to believe it for them.

I try not to shake my head as I watch Curran stroke her hand, his touch evoking a warm smile she reserves just for him. How did these two end up together? Curran is the frat boy who never quite grew up and Tess probably spent her grade school years as class monitor, writing kids up for not having their Number Two pencils sharpened to code and studying sexism during Russia’s Industrial Era for giggles. But they’re good for each other, and to each other. If nothing else, I can admit as much.

“If you’re staying in SACU, my guess is you’ll be working closely with Melissa,” Tess tells me, bringing me back to the moment.

“You guessed right.”

She shoots Curran a sideways glance. “Do you . . . anticipate any problems?”

With Melissa she means. Tess knows she hates me.

I shrug, trying not to give too much away. “Who knows?”

Curran chuckles. “I do. You’re either going to be at each other’s throats or in each other’s beds.”

“Curran,” Tess warns, yet again.

“What?” He winks at her. “Just speaking the truth, angel face.”

“What makes you think we’ll end up in bed? We work together for hell’s sake,” I snap, pretending like I didn’t have the dream that I did, or fantasized about waking up next to her.

His grin widens as his attention latches onto his wife. “Been there, bro. Remember?”

Tess flips through the file closest to her, trying to ignore him as he continues. “You see, when two hot bodies spend that much time together, it doesn’t take long before the sexy broad throws herself at you, so taken by your wit and ruggedly handsome face she can’t see straight, and begging you to please her with your super-sized masculine regions and whoop-whoop-whooping when you finally do.” He holds out his hands. “What can I say? Professional or not, I am a man?A generous man who couldn’t leave that sexy broad hanging, especially when she’s clawing off my clothes and leaping onto my lap like a seasoned gymnast. Isn’t that right, babe?”

Tess flips the page, not bothering to glance up when she answers. “I may have to beat you to death.”

“Christ,” I mutter.

“How long do you think it’ll take you to bang her?” Curran asks, apparently ignoring everything that shot from my mouth.

“He’snotgoing to sleep with her,” Tess answers for me. “She’s the boss’s daughter.”

Curran just blinks at her, appearing confused.

“Whoworkshere,” she reminds him.

“And?” Curran asks, still fucking confused.

“There’s no ‘and’,” Tess insists. “There can’t be. I know logic and reason often fail to make an appearance in your world—”

“Don’t know what you mean, hot stuff,” he tells her, grinning.

She smirks in an attempt to tame her smile, because Curran draws her smile as easily as I piss off Melissa. She clears her throat. “Think, for just a moment, how this could play out if they start having sex.”

“Played out fine for us,” Curran points out.

She scribbles something on her pad. “That was different. We had a history. I wasn’t an employee and technically neither were you.”

“So if we were both employed by the D.A.’s office, you wouldn’t have thrown yourself at me like you did?” he asks, innocently.

“I didn’t throw myself at you, Curran,” she responds standing. “I was a consummate professional at all times who kept a respectable distance.” She inches closer to where Curran is sitting, reaching for the legal binder on the shelf behind him. “And yes, if we were both employed here, I wouldn’t have allowed your overt flirtation to affect me, nor would I have spent time with you outside the confines of this building.”

---