Page 13 of The Irish Rogue

She sighed as well. “Yes. So this probably isn’t the best idea.”

He gazed down at her, keeping her within the circle of his arms. “My body thinks it’s a damn good idea.”

“I haven’t had that much to drink,” she offered, those eyes hidden by the darkness. But he could feel her trembling with hope and desire.

For a long moment, he considered ignoring his conscience and making love to her anyway. But he’d regret it in the morning. He suspected she would too.

“We’ll go inside, but we’re not having sex,” he warned her, stepping back and taking her hand. “Do you need to tell your friends where you are?”

They both turned to look back at the other house. Everyone was settling down, falling asleep or watching a movie.

“No, they won’t even notice I’m gone,” she assured him.

“Good. Come with me.”

He led her into his house and then pulled her to the sofa. He didn’t dare take her upstairs to his bedroom. He only had a morsel of control left.

Pulling her down onto the sofa, he wrapped his arms around her, feeling a sense of rightness when she snuggled up against him. Her cheek rested against his chest and he could feel every movement of her body.

“Goodness, it’s been a long day.” She smothered another yawn. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize how much the alcohol and the sugar in the cocktail was affecting me.”

Gritting his teeth while she settled down, he combed his fingers through her hair, reveling in the soft strands. “What game were you ladies playing over there?”

“Bunco,” she admitted with a heavy yawn. He felt her melt into his side, her cheek nuzzling his chest like a kitten.

He felt her relax even further and wasn’t sure if he was insulted that she could so easily fall asleep in his presence, or wanting to roar with triumph that she felt secure enough to fall asleep on him.

He liked both options, actually.

His body disagreed. His body was seriously pissed off the woman he’d been lusting after for…had it really only been twenty four hours? He glanced at his watch. Just over twenty-four hours. The woman was seriously twisting his entire pattern of “dating”. He never snuggled. And he never, ever, just slept with a woman. Once the sex was over, he vacated the area as soon as possible, not wanting to give the woman false hope that something more than a casual sexual relationship was possible.

Yes, Sean knew that his desire to avoid any sort of commitment stemmed from his father’s rejection. Unconsciously, Sean had avoided any kind of situation where he might be rejected.

He thought about his father. Staring up at the ceiling, he thought back to all of those nights he’d lain in bed, wondering what it would be like to be acknowledged by his father. Even after all these years, he still couldn’t push aside the desire to be acknowledged. With a grunt, he tried to banish the thoughts, to force them away, but they kept returning, fantasies of playing ball with his dad, understanding the responsibilities of being the Earl of Winton, of knowing that he would eventually take over where his father left off.

But none of that was possible. His fatherhadan heir. The Earl of Winton was hale and hearty, if one ignored the whispers of financial problems that sporadically bubbled up in the business world.

Maybe Sean should look into the old man’s financial issues. Liam, his half-brother, had scorned him repeatedly during their years at boarding school. Yes, the earl had demanded that Sean attend the same boarding school, threatening Sean’s mother with dire consequences if she didn’t enroll Sean at the school. She never knew how the heir to the earldom had laughed at Sean’s obviously used uniform, scorned the lack of money that kept Sean from joining the sports teams. The earl had only paid Sean’s tuition and boarding. He’d forced Sean’s mother to pay for everything else.

Those days were over, he reminded himself. Sean’s personal net worth was ten times what his father had been at the best of times. There was no more shaming him for his poor clothes or his worn out shoes.

His arms tightened around Kennedi. He wondered what his mother would think of Kennedi. Would his mother approve of the woman in his arms? His mother always approved of everything Sean did. Hell, Sean could have been in prison and his mother would have patted him on the back and told him that she was proud of him for not getting a longer prison sentence. She supported him in every damn thing he tried.

Whereas his father and half-brother had scorned him at every turn. They wrote opinion pieces for the news outlets, criticizing his business practices. They used the gossip columns to suggest that he did one thing or another, sometimes illegal or unethical activities. None were true. Sean’s father and half-brother never bothered to be honest. Thankfully, the press had stopped printing their lies since there was never any evidence to support the stupid stories.

Oh, they didn’t come right out and use his name, which was how the press protected themselves from libel lawsuits. The nobility never were that blatant with their criticism. No, his father merely discussed Sean’s business efforts in only the vaguest of terms. But anyone who knew anything about the Earl of Winton knew that Sean was his bastard.

And they knew that Sean had now accumulated wealth that completely overshadowed their family’s financial endeavors.

Kennedi sighed in her sleep, her hand unconsciously smoothing over his chest. For some reason, that sleepy gesture pushed all thoughts of his father and half-brother out of his head, bringing him back to the present. Back to Kennedi and her soft curves that were pressing against his side, her thigh lifting to drape over his leg.

He wanted to roll her over and make love to her, but she was fast asleep, her sweet, soft breath tickling his neck. No, he wouldn’t want to disturb her rest. He remembered that yesterday, she’d worked until late in the evening. Apparently, she’d gotten in early that morning and had stayed late to help out. He didn’t know anyone with that kind of loyalty.

Okay, that wasn’t true. Matteo and Levi, his best friends and business partners were loyal. Sean was confident that both would drop everything if he needed help.

And Emily, the club’s business manager. She was amazingly loyal. Correction, she was loyal to him, Matteo and Levi. And to the other staff members. But he doubted that she had any loyalty to the club members. In fact, she probably disdained most of the club members.

He really needed to give her a raise. And with that, he fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

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