“Tonight couldn’t have been easy for you.”
She stared at him. If she didn’t know better, she would think he was offering an olive branch and inviting her to talk with him. Maybe to share actual honest-to-God emotions.
But this was Aiden O’Malley, so she had to be misreading the situation.
Exhaustion rolled over her in a wave that had her eyeing the bed for purposes that had nothing to do with sex. She could jump through his hoops tomorrow. Tonight she was just done. “Aiden, we’ve been talking on and off all night. If you’re going to fuck me, fuck me. If not, I’m going to bed.” Charlie hadn’t anticipated how draining it would be to be constantly on guard and worrying about staying in character—or how twisted up she’d be about her fake fiancé in the process.Should have run faster that first night.
Something crossed his face, something she couldn’t put into words. Aiden exhaled harshly and stood. “I haven’t been doing a good job with you.”
“Uh, what?” He’d switched tracks so fast, her head spun as she tried to take the mental jump with him. “What are you talking about?”
He walked to the phone on the dresser. “Did you manage to eat anything during that shit show of a party?”
Now she wasreallyconfused. “No…” She’d been too nervous—and even if she’d wanted to, there were so many people drifting up to talk to her, she wouldn’t have had a chance.
“It’s late, so there won’t be any fancy options, but I know for a fact that Mark makes a mean turkey club.”
Her stomach chose that moment to grumble, and she pressed her hand there, as if the contact could tell it to shut the hell up. As attractive as sleep sounded, her mouth watered at the thought of a sandwich. “I could eat.”
“Thought so.” He motioned toward the bathroom without looking up from where he was dialing. “Take a shower, bright eyes. By the time you’re done, there will be food. Then we’ll talk.”
More talking.
She didn’t know if she was disappointed or relieved, but she padded into the bathroom all the same. A shower sounded like heaven, and so she wasn’t going to think too hard about the fact that they apparently weren’t going to have sex tonight. Stepping beneath the stinging spray made her gasp a little, but she welcomed the shock to her system. She gritted her teeth and scrubbed herself down, washing her hair until it was no longer stiff from the liberal amount of hair spray needed to tame it. And then she just stood there, her head ducked beneath the running water, letting it course over her until she felt a little more in control.
It took far longer than she would have liked.
She finally shut off the faucet when it became apparent that peace wasn’t in the cards for her. She was too aware of Aiden in the next room over, and the rest of the night hanging over their heads. Talking was all well and good, but she was all talked out. Sex was even better, but she was exhausted.
Right now, she was just one big mess.
Charlie hadn’t had the foresight to bring in a change of clothes, so she walked out of the bathroom as naked as she walked in.It’s not like Aiden hasn’t seen every inch of me.
He held up a shirt and then tossed it to her. “Wear this.I can’t focus with you sitting there looking so downright fuckable.”
“Sounds like a personal problem.” But she pulled on the shirt, belatedly realizing it was far too big to belong to her, so long it hit the tops of her thighs. She frowned down at it. “I’m wearing your shirt.” It didn’t look like anything she’d seen Aiden in to date. It was a normal T-shirt with faded writing across the chest. “Boston University?”
“Even mob families go to college, Charlie.” He gave a mirthless smile. “Business major.”
It made sense. If the O’Malleys were anything like the Romanovs, they had a carefully balanced array of businesses—a good portion of which were on the up-and-up. It was possible to delegate some of that, but the more the boss handed off, the higher the chance of someone sneaking in and undercutting him because he didn’t understand the business side of things. She looked at Aiden with new eyes, feeling a little like a layer had been peeled back. “Nice.”
“It was a huge pain in the ass, but necessary. Most of us have college degrees of one sort or another.” He sighed. “Not Keira, though. She dropped out of art school two years ago, and she doesn’t seem interested in going back.”
“You’re…really worried about her.” She moved to sit on the edge of the bed, taking in the tray with sandwiches sitting beside him. “She’s a good kid.”
“You were right before. She’s lost and hurting.” He pushed one of the sandwiches toward her. “And I’m partly to blame for that, for a number of reasons. It’s been a rough couple of years for our family, and I was so focused on getting us through it without more losses that I didn’t realize she was slipping away until it was almost too late. Now she won’t talk to me even when I try to reach out.”
“And your other sisters?” The ones who had left the family behind in pursuit of…Well, Charlie couldn’t say for sure what they were in pursuit of. She still didn’t know the full story behind Sloan, and Carrigan seemed to fit in just fine with the mob life, even if she’d chosen a rival family over her own.
Aiden stared at something she couldn’t see. “I’ve kept things under control, and kept our business prospects from suffering too much during this time of uncertainty.”
It sounded a whole lot like a rehearsed speech—or someone else’s words coming out of his mouth.
He seemed to realize the same thing. He shook his head. “But, yeah, I’ve mishandled all three of my sisters. Repeatedly. The problem with putting the family first is that the individuals sometimes get lost in the shuffle.”
“I’m new to the scene, so I might not be reading things right, but it sure looks like you have a powerhouse of alliances going on in Boston.” Carrigan linked them to the Hallorans, even if there was tension there. Teague had married Callista Sheridan, which finished off the trifecta. Charlie might not support the illegal aspects of their lives, but she didn’t see how any of that was a bad thing.
“Yes and no. If Romanov wasn’t a threat, it would be true that the family is as powerful as it’s ever been, and a good portion of that is because of the events of the last few years.” He didn’t look particularly happy about it.
