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“I like that. But why don’t I do the cooking? Been a while since I’ve been in the kitchen and I kind of miss it.”
“Works for me.”
He reached over and took my hand. The sensation of his skin against mine made me instantly think all kinds of dirty thoughts.
“Dinner tomorrow,” he said. “But right now… there’s something else I’m ready to devour.”
His words sent a shiver up my spine. Connor gently tugged on my hand, guiding me over toward him. When I was near, he put his hands on my hips and guided me over on top of him. He was hard, his cock pressing against my pussy through my pants.
“Then what are you waiting for?” I said, leaning in and kissing him hard, ready for him to take me all over again.
Chapter 26
Connor
Ispent the drive from the hospital to Ma’s thinking about Eddie.
He was in a bad, bad way. Most of the medical jargon from the doctor had gone over my head, but the phrase “quadruple bypass” had most certainly stuck. Moche had been a mess, tears running down her face nonstop as the doctor filled us in on Eddie’s status.
The boss had a hard surgery in front of him, and an even harder recovery. The doctors had said that the odds of him being as functional and mobile as he had been were quite slim.
“This is going to be a damn mess.” My ma, Bridgit O’Leary, shook her head as she poured a tall mug of tea for me, the liquid steaming up and curling in the air around her hands.
I was at Ma’s place over in Cambridge, a nice little townhome that Kellan and I had bought for her. Despite being so close, it was hard as hell to get over and visit Ma as often as I liked, a fact that she had no compunctions sharing her displeasure with as often as she could.
Ma was smart as hell, too. She’d married my father, who had long since passed, a man who was no stranger to organized crime. That meant she knew the ins and outs of my line of work. I liked to keep her out of the dirty details of my business, but now and then I’d come to her for advice. After all, other than Kellan, she was one of two people on this earth who had no problems telling me when I was out of line or had my head up my arse.
With a situation like the possible passing of the leader of our organization weighing on me, some straight-shooting advice like only Ma could give was exactly what I needed.
Not to mention she might be able to offer a little insight about the other situation on my mind.
“The wife’s a mess,” I said. “Feel like hell for her.”
Ma stepped over to the farmer’s table in the kitchen where we were seated. The room, like the rest of the house, was decorated in the same sort of rustic, cozy style that reminded one of an Irish cottage. A small fire crackled in the kitchen hearth nearby, the smell of a roast cooking thick in the air.
“Aye, hard to lose the one you love,” Ma said, glancing away thoughtfully. Ma was trim and spry, her quick movements and the bright sparkle in her eye making it easy to forget that she was well into her seventies. Kellan had inherited Ma’s eyes and slender face, and I received her dark red hair, which at her age was tinged with silver, and styled in a simple bob. Ma had on her usual outfit of a flannel shirt and rugged jeans, thick wool socks on her feet. Near the door I spotted the only pair of shoes she ever wore, work boots suitable for gardening or whatever other tasks around the house needed doing.
“But I’m sure you’ve got other matters on your mind than sentimental ones,” she said, her voice thick with her Dublin accent. “You’ve got a power vacuum on your hands to worry about. Not to mention that you’re the man in charge now. Quite a pickle, my boy.”
Her eyes lit up and she leaned in. “The question I have, however, is why the hell your scoundrel of a little brother didn’t come to visit.”
Ma’s words got a laugh out of me. “Because Kellan’s doing the diplomatic work he does so well. He’s meeting with the cartel leaders tonight, trying to calm their worries about how things are going to run with Eddie out of the picture for the foreseeable future.”
She sighed, shaking her head. “And let me guess—he wanted to do it all by himself, show that he was a big man who can handle affairs like these on his own.”
“Aye, but he’s doing it, isn’t he?”
“He is.”
Ma nodded, sitting back in her chair and thinking the matter over. “The boy’s always had a knack for these sorts of things. Don’t get me wrong, Conny. you’re good at the business too. You’ve got the cool head and killer instinct that one needs to run things.”
“Sounds like there’s abutcoming along.”
Ma let out a sharp bark of a laugh. “Don’t be a smartass, boy. I know you’ve had one foot out the door of the business for a long while now. Doesn’t take a damn psychologist to imagine what you’re thinking now that you’re on top and Eddie’s out of commission.”
She was right. Ma was sharp like that. It was a pretty regular thing that I’d come over to visit and within ten minutes she’d have my brain opened up in front of her, cutting right through the bullshit and getting to whatever had been weighing on me.
“Maybe,” she said, a slight twinkle in her eye. “You ought to think about what it might be like to have your little brother in charge of things instead.”
