Page 46 of Dublin Brute

“Anyone else?”

“Nope. That’s my life in a nutshell.”

“Excellent. Now, you’re all mine and we can talk. Do you want anything? Coffee or tea?”

I wriggle myself deeper into the couch. “At this time of night, tea. Do you have any herbal?”

Brendan snorts. “Tag Quinn isn’t really an herbal tea kind of man, but I’ll look.”

Right.I’m in the loft of the Northside mafia boss. How could I forget?

Brendan

I pad into Tag’s kitchen to fill the kettle, my mind spinning with how to convince Nora that my last name doesn’t define me. The water hasn’t even bubbled when I hear her soft snoring.

Peering around the corner of the couch, I find her curled up, fast asleep.

Poor angel. Between the big shock of who I am and the stalker incident, she’s had one hell of a night.

I sit in the wide club chair and watch her sleep until I’m sure she’s out cold. Then I carefully slide my arms under her and lift her to my chest. She mumbles something about the talents of Rodin and nuzzles into my neck. That thing that shifted in my chest the first night I held her warms.

I swear this woman has a direct line to my soul.

Tag’s bed is only steps away, but I take my time, savoring how perfect she feels in my arms. The inviting softness of her curves. The weight of her is enough to feel solid and strong enough to accept my affections without me worrying I might break her like a twig.

A man my size appreciates a woman with curves when getting horizontal.

Or getting her horizontal, anyway.

I flip back the duvet and lay her on the mattress. It takes a bit to gently work the strappy heels off her feet. The buckles are incredibly tiny for my fat fingers. I set them on the floor and pull the covers out from under her feet. Her toenails are painted a sparkly burgundy that makes me smile. I pull the duvet over her and make sure she’s all tucked in.

After flicking on the bathroom light and dimming it, I set a glass of water and a bottle of headache tablets on the bedside table in case she needs them. I don’t know if she took advantage of the open bar at the fundraiser, but if she did, I don’t want her to suffer in the morning.

“Good night, angel.” I kiss her forehead and leave her to rest. Easing the bedroom door closed, I pull out my phone and call Sean.

“Hey, little brother. What can I do for you?”

“What do we know about the guy who was following Nora?”

“You mean in the forty minutes since you called last? While I’m running security for a major family event that you bailed out on?”

“Aye, that’s what I mean.”

He grunts. “Abso-fucking-nothing. Mickey and Snake went to gather him from where you said you left him and found nothing but a blood-smeared sidewalk.”

“What?”My voice booms in the empty loft and I wince and move further from the bedroom door. “He has to be there. I put him down hard.”

“Don’t know what to tell you, B. He wasn’t there.”

Fucking hell. I should’ve stayed and made sure the asshole couldn’t get up and slither away. “Ask Finn to access the CCTV cameras and dig deeper. This guy was bad news and whether he was a mugger or a rapist or a fucking predator who targets blondes, he doesn’t get away with chasing my girl through the street and terrorizing her.”

“I feel you there, brother. Been there, done that, cut off the fucker’s fingers.”

“Aye, you did.”

Someone speaks to Sean in the background of our call and then he excuses himself to check something on the cameras.

“Good. Keep me posted.” I end the call and dial Bryan.

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