And he really is. I start to pant, the world teetering as I get wetter and slicker, and the need to come overtakes everything.
Then he stops and a small cry escapes me. “That feeling of power trapped, of things unfulfilled. You know later it will be. So use it when we go back out there.”
Seamus lets me go and I spin around, letting my skirt fall into place. I’m a thousand sparking nerve ends. I’m on that edge, rocking there, hovering over the brink. And as I glare at him, he just grins, sucks his fingers, and licks his palm.
The look of need on his face feeds my fire, and I can’t help it. I throw myself at him and kiss him. He staggers, arms coming around me as he kisses me back. Our tongues tangle for long, wild moments. When I pull back, he wipes his thumb along the sides of my bottom lip.
“Lipstick.”
“Seamus…” I falter. Things push to be said, things I can’t find words for. Things I barely understand.
“When we go out there, remember this… If you won’t let me intimidate you, no one else can even come close. Here’s the deal. We’ll make rounds, talk to the second, Yakob, I think his name is, then we’ll set up a time to go to the office. We’ll search when we can for that safe. And then we’ll go. After all, we’re newlyweds, and I want to finish what we just started.”
He opens the door and we return to the club.
The evening goes by quickly, the small talk is small, sometimes snide, and every time I’m hit with a mocking word, Seamus is there, in my head, telling me exactly how strong I am.
I know it’s kind of pathetic, being bolstered by my enemy in lust, but I’ll take it. Most don’t say a meanly veiled word to me, though, because I’m guessing the Murphy reputation is already known, and all it takes is one look from him and they pull back, preferring to talk money, women, and power.
I’m the untried. And it starts to work into my veins, that untapped power. The idea of me as something they don’t know yet, something they’re unsure of, is something I like.
“We’re leaving in a few,” Seamus says to me. “Get a drink, smile, and try not to kill anyone. This place charges for cleanup crews like you wouldn’t believe.”
He’s talking to me, but he has his eyes on someone talking to his brother Declan across the room.
“Give me a minute. Get that drink. Whiskey.”
“For me or you?” I ask, but he’s gone.
I shake my head and head to the bar to get the drink, and two men, one Italian and the other with a strong Southern accent stand in my way. I suppose I could go around them, but they’re aware of me.
“Excuse me,” I say.
One of them laughs and they spread out.
“I said excuse me.”
“Move to another part of the bar, darlin’,” the Southerner says. “Or better yet, get one of the old men you probably go down on to buy one for you.”
“What are you implying?” I ask.
“She’s slow. But pretty,” the Southerner says as his Italian friend laughs. “I bet she’ll fuck you for twenty.”
“You do know who I am,” I ask, trying not to seethe, “don’t you?”
“A nepo baby who fucked and sucked her way to the top?” the Italian asks as he leans back on the bar. “Yeah, I know. All this for you to feel good about taking Daddy’s tiny business.”
“Are you upset that no one wants to suck your tiny dick unless you pay for it?” I say sweetly.
The Southerner laughs. “Aw, she’s pretty, ain’t she? C’mon, if you ride me, I’ll give you money. You don’t need a bratva; you need a good dicking.”
I narrow my eyes. I don’t have a knife. But I have my combs. I start to reach for one when a hand reaches past me, grabs the American, and shoves him aside.
Seamus stands over him, then pulls him up by his hair. “She gets better dick than you’ve got. And she’s worth more than it could possibly cost you to even look at her. So shut the fuck up. Iknow who your daddy is, and you’re not even in line for number one in his little cowpoke mafia, are you? You just fuck your way from one bed to another, paying the girls to pretend you know what you’re doing. Asswipe.”
“Let me go,” the guy whines.
Seamus pulls him up higher. “Look at my wife, speak to her, or even think about her, and I’ll fucking turn you into taxidermy, pulling everything inside of you out your dick hole.”