Page 127 of Where We Bloom

Without a word, I wrap my arms around her, capturing her arms between us, and hold on tight.

“I wasn’t prepared for that,” she whispers against my chest.

“Of course, you weren’t, and it’s sorry I am that you had to deal with it. She’s so out of line,a ghrá.”

“I know.”

“I’m sorry that you’re upset.”

“I’m not.” She looks up at me, and I see a fire raging in her eyes.

She stood up for me to Fiona.Like a goddamn warrior.

“She doesn’teverget to say those things about you,” she says, her voice hard, not shaking in the least. “I had to leave before I decked her.”

“God, you’re bloody incredible, Billie Blackwell.”

“I’m questioning your judgment in friends right now,” she says, still scowling at me. “I haven’t even met Ronan yet, but if he’s anything like her?—”

“Listen to me.” I frame her face in my hands, and she wraps her arms around my waist, leaning into me. Her body is tight with anger, and the fact that it’s on my behalf is humbling. “I spoke with her and made it clear that if she has a problem with you and me, she needs to go.”

Billie blinks fast. “Go … where?”

“Find another job. I don’t fecking care. Becauseyou’remy heart, and if she can’t be happy for me and accept you, then she’s no bloody friend of mine.”

Surprise flashes through her amazing eyes. “You’d give her up because I had a fight with her?”

I can’t help the chuckle that escapes me as I brush my lips over hers. “I’d doanythingfor you. You are priority number one, and if they don’t approve, they can go. Because you’re here for the long haul. I heard you in there, your magnificent spine in every bleeding word you handed her. It was the sexiest thing I’d ever heard.”

“She pissed me off,” she admits. “I know she was trying to be a mean girl, maybe bully me a bit, certainly let me know that I’m far beneath her shiny Louboutins, but she messed with the wrong fucking girl. I’m not a shy wallflower who will cower to her or anyone else. You’re mine, and I stick up for what’s mine.”

“Mo chroi.” I pull her in and kiss the top of her head, then I pick her up in my arms. She wraps her legs aroundmy waist, her skirt bunching up around her hips, as I carry her to the door and flip the deadbolt, locking us in.

“I’m not having sex on that sink. Public restrooms aregross.”

I grin against the curve of her neck and hitch her up higher, then pin her against the opposite wall so no one can hear us.

“This works,” I growl against her ear. “God, you’re so goddamn strong and sexy and perfect for me in every way.”

I get my pants undone and my cock freed. Sliding her panties aside, I run my finger through her slit, groaning when I find her wet.

“Inside me,” she breathes. “Please, Connor, I need you inside me.”

“Such a good girl,” I whisper against her ear as I push inside her, pausing when I’m balls deep to nibble on her neck.

She squeezes around me. She loves being praised, and I love doing it.

With my hands planted on her arse, I start to move, long and slow strokes at first, but then I pick up the pace until I’m driving her into the wall, her back hitting it with every thrust, and she starts to unravel against me.

“Yes,” she breathes, her hands clenched in my hair. “Yes, baby. Oh God, it’s so good.”

“So bloody good,” I echo. “I need you to come for me, bumble. Come apart for me, good girl.”

She gasps, lets her forehead fall to mine, and then she’s quaking around me, her pussy clenching me sotightly, there’s no way to hold back my own climax. Eyes pinned to hers, I empty myself inside her.

“Thank you,” she whispers against my lips as she continues to cling to me, and I brace her against the wall.

“You never have to thank me for this.”

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