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“I know,mo rós beag,” I assure her. “Tomorrow night there’s a fight downtown in the basement of one of my other businesses. Emerald? Do you know it?”
She nods slowly, her voice reminding me of standing in the countryside on the few occasions I visited family in Ireland, “I know it. I’m quite sure everyone in Boston does, Mr. McCarthy.”
“Declan.”
She blinks up at me, a pretty pout forming on her pink lips. “I’m sorry?”
“You will call me Declan. I only want to hear my name come from your lips, Roisin,” my voice is firm, stern even, and she shivers as I realize I still have her wrapped up in my arms.
“Okay, Declan,” she tries my name on her tongue like she’s eating the most decadent desert imaginable for the first time. My cock fucking throbs in response.
“You’re coming to the fight with me,” I state, and she blinks those fucking eyes again. Is she trying to kill me?
I’m only a man. I can only take so much. She’s already got me on the ropes, and she doesn’t have the slightest clue.
“You want me to go with you to the fight? Tomorrow night?” When I nod, she bites her lip and gives me an apologetic smile. “I’m supposed to work.”
“I’ll deal with Sean.” I pull my phone out of my pocket, unlock it and hand it to her without thinking twice. “Put in your number so I can contact you. You’ll give me your address and I’ll pick you up.”
“Okay, Declan,” she whispers.
When she looks up at me, something like regret flashes in her eyes and it has my gut tightening. Her pretty pink lips are calling to me again and I barely stop myself from taking what’s mine. Only the zing of her touch as she hands my phone back reminds me Roisin isn’t like the women in my past.
She’s special. I’m going to cherish her. I’ll show her I’m more than the man I’ve had to be.
I kiss her forehead and murmur, “Tomorrow,mo rós beag.”
Turning away from her is difficult when everything in me is screaming to not let her out of my sight. But I know it’ll be for the best.
Just as the door closes behind me, her voice finds the center of my chest, “Tomorrow, Declan.”
CHAPTER 3
ROISIN
Last night I wasn’t even out of the storage room before I had a text from Declan asking for my address. If this were any other situation, I wouldn’t have given a strange man my phone number. I’m not sure how I feel about my first encounter with Declan McCarthy.
On one hand, he seemed instantly enamored with me. I was not prepared to meet the man. There’s something magnetic about him. It knocked me for a loop.
But I can’t help but wonder if he’s interested in me the same way he would be with any new woman. Remembering the way my father implied how Declan could be influenced by a pretty face and a nice body continues to replay in my mind.
Maybe that’s all I am.
Would I even be surprised?
I sigh as I look up at my parent’s house, happy I moved out to a tiny apartment as soon as I could. My life would be a million times worse if I still lived at home and was constantly bombarded with their rhetoric.
Doing freelance design work allows me to work from home and set my own hours and schedule. I’ve started to build a nice clientele, but it’s slow going. Much to the disappointment of my parents, it has nothing to do with the cause and they can’t exploit my work.
Being used makes me feel slimy, but that doesn’t stop me from walking up to my parents’ door and knocking. The expectant look on my mom’s face when she opens the door has my insides curling in an uncomfortable way.
She allows me inside and I have to slip by close to her even though all I want to do is give her a wide berth. It’s a special kind of torture to not feel like your parents have your back. I’m resigned to knowing they never will.
When I walk into the living room, my father is sitting on the couch like the king of his castle. I suppose, for him, it’s not too far off. I’ve never seen my mom push back against him. Finn fell in line behind him.
To him, he is the king.
“I assume you’re here because you learned something,” there’s a note of condescension and superiority in his voice. It makes me want to flinch and run away. “I suppose Declan is nothing more than a man,” he practically sneers the words.
