Page 119 of Where We Bloom

I nod at Miller as I stand with Billie in my arms. She wraps her legs around my waist, and I carry her to the bedroom, and we get comfortable on the bed. I pull her against me, and she tucks her face against my chest.

“I know I’m needy,” she says, hugging me close. “And I’m not sorry.”

“Nor should you be.” I tip her chin up and kiss her softly. “I enjoy cuddling you,a ghrá.”

“Something occurred to me while I was lying here, and I want to talk to you about it.” She’s still looking up at me and raises her arm to brush her fingers through my hair. “If you don’t want to talk about it, it’s okay.”

I ghost my fingertips down her smooth cheek. “What is it? I’ll tell you whatever you want to know.”

“I was just thinking about the other day, when you were so upset, just sort of replaying it in my head?—”

“I’m sorry I was an arse.”

“No, that’s not what I was thinking about. I was just contemplating the events, and then I realized why you might be extra overprotective. Because of Skyla and everything she went through at the hands of that piece of shit who stalked her and tormented her. I know that had to have impacted you because the two of you are so close.”

I frown and kiss her forehead, breathing her in, so fucking grateful that she’s so perceptive.

A psychopath stalked my baby sister for three bloody years, and every day of those was a torment I don’t wish on anyone.

“I felt incompetent,” I finally say. Our voices are quiet, and lying here with her intimately, I’d confess anything she wanted to hear. Her compassionate eyes hold mine as she gently brushes her hand up and down my arm. “No matter what I threatened or bribed him with, nothing mattered. He wouldn’t stop. Every day, I watched Skyla’s security cameras, checked in with her, and kept an eye on his comings and goings. It was always easier when he was out of the country.”

“Who was he?” she asks with a scowl. “I mean, I know his name, and that he was wealthy, but as you said, most people do exactly what you say, especially if you threaten them. So, why didn’t he fear you?”

“He was a senator’s son,” I reply. “He had people in his pocket, and he wasn’t afraid of anything. I had Millerthreaten him. I called the IRS, but nothing came of it. Anything I did, aside from kill the motherfucker, bounced right off him. It was incredibly frustrating, and it terrified me. Because he would have killed my sister.”

Her arms tighten around me. “No, he wouldn’t. Because she has you.”

“I didn’t do her any good in that situation, angel.”

“Yes, you did. You made her feel safer. She loves you. You’re her big brother. With four big brothers of my own, I know how that feels, and the fact that you took care of the security, that you helped her move to Montana and settled her in, and came to visit so often, helped her.”

“Nothing like that will ever happen to you.” I’m squeezing her so tightly, I’m surprised she can breathe. “You’re the blood in my veins, and I willnotallow you to be hurt. Aye, I likely have anxiety from the experience with Skyla, and that could trigger some of my reactions, but at the end of the day, you’re the most important thing in my life, and there are no lengths I won’t go to keep you unharmed. I want you to keep Simon with you when I can’t be there when we’re not at home.”

“Which home?” she asks, her lips tipping up in a sassy grin.

“Any of them.” I nip at her lips. “There’s a new property that Gallagher Hotels is working on in Sweden that has garnered some attention from extremist groups who don’t want to see any building on the site we’ve chosen. We’re getting some threats, and I want to make sure you stay safe.”

“Thank you for telling me.” Her voice is soft, her hand still roaming over me. “I’ll stick with Simon and won’t do anything stupid.”

“Thank you.”

“And you have to promise me that you’ll stick with Miller.”

I smile down at her. “Worried about me, angel?”

“Of course, I am. I’m in love with you.”

Rolling over her, I kiss her with everything in me, my entire world knocked off its axis at her words. I’ll never get tired of hearing them. I’ll never lose this feeling of possession, of obsession, whenever I merely think of her.

“I’m so fucking in love with you,mo chroi,” I growl as I reach between us and rip her leggings away, making her gasp, her eyes widen. “I never get enough of you. It’s like a fever I can’t shake, and I don’t want to. You need to be quiet now.”

Her hands fumble with my pants, and finally, my cock springs free, and I push inside her, both of us gasping at how wet, how hot, how goddamnperfectshe is.

“I need you,” she whispers against my lips. “And it scares me. Because I don’t need anybody.”

“You don’t have to be scared,mo rúnsearc. Because I’m right here, and I’m not going anywhere.”

Linking my fingers with hers, I pin her arms over her head and move in and out, almost coming undone by the way her inner walls squeeze my cock.

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