Page 10 of On The Rocks

The room fell silent, apart from the snort coming from Donovan.

I glared in his direction. “Don’t fucking say it.”

“What?” he blustered innocently.

“I’m not marrying Maeve,” I insisted. “I don’t fancy her.”

Donny shrugged. “You don’t have to fuck her.”

Tadhg busted out a laugh.

“She’s a lovely girl,” Donovan added. “Nice to talk to. Sweet. Da loved her; Mam still does, and she’d help out in the bar, too. Free labor is exactly what you need right now if you’re gonna raise a fuck load of cake in twelve months.”

“I’m not marrying Maeve,” I reiterated.

Tadhg smirked. “Of course you’re not.”

It was Donovan’s turn to laugh.

“Bastards,” I muttered. “Look, we’ve all seen Maeve, so we know she’s not my type. Can’t imagine even kissing her, so putting a damned ring on her finger is out of the question.” My fingers drummed impatiently on the desk. “There’s got to be a way to save the bar without getting married to a girl I hardly know. And you better believe me when I say I’ll find it.”

CHAPTER 3

CALLUM

THREE DAYS LATER

Cursing, I threw the pen on my desk and slumped back in my chair.

By begging, borrowing, and stealing, I could raise fifty grand, which meant I was still way short. Selling the bar was an option, but as a going business, it was worth just under two hundred grand, which would still leave me with a huge debt and no way of paying it back. Plus, I was well aware that if I defaulted, Paddy would dispatch his boys to break my kneecaps, and then I’d be crippled as well as poverty-stricken.

Basically, I was fucked up the ass with a spiky cactus with no goddamned pain relief to speak of. All of a sudden, the prospect of marriage didn’t seem so bad. Granted, it would have been easier to bear if Shannon was the intended bride, but it would be a marriage of convenience, so it wasn’t like I had to fuck Maeve. She’d be free to live her life the same way I would.

Over the days, the idea had grown on me, albeit like an unwanted fungal infection.

It would be an arrangement. I’d sit Maeve down and tell her she was free to carry on with her life. On the surface, we could act like a loving, married couple, but behind closed doors, we’d just be friends. She didn’t love me, and I certainly didn’tlove her; I mean, we hardly knew each other, so what would it matter?

As I mulled everything over, my door opened, and a beautiful brunette popped her head around it. “Hey,” Saskia murmured. “You okay?”

My eyes met her heavily lined brown ones, and I smiled. “Come in, shut the door behind you.”

Her lush red mouth curved into a smirk, and she sashayed into my office, swinging her hips from side to side.

My eyes dropped to them, and my mouth began to water.

I hadn’t fucked Saskia—or anybody—since before my da passed. It had felt disrespectful somehow. At first, I’d been mourning and seeing to Dad’s burial, then after, I’d had to arrange valuations on the bar and attempt to raise the cake to pay off Da’s debt. It had taken up all my time and tied me to my office.

Saskia traipsed around my desk, plonked her ass in my lap, and threaded her hands around my neck. “I miss you,” she breathed. “You’ve been neglecting me.”

Her words shouldn’t have irritated me, but they did regardless. “You know I’ve been busy, Sass. And that’s not what this is. We enjoy each other when we want to, no strings.”

She tipped her face up and gently kissed my lips before pulling her head back slightly and whispering, “Well, maybe I want to enjoy you now.”

My cock gave an involuntary kick, but I ignored it. “Not here.”

“What’s wrong with here?” she demanded.

“Have I ever fucked you in my office?” I asked impatiently.

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