It sounds like a boom of thunder explodes over my head, a cresting wave of suffocation plunging me into the darkest expanses of the ocean. There’s no way. Nofuckingway Roman would do such a thing.
It’s madness. Absolutely, fucking,madness.
Roman Bruno is going to ask for Collins O’Brien’s hand in marriage.
My Collins. The woman I’ve loved for years.Marriage. To Roman.
Tomy brother.
5
COLLINS
Irritation swarms under my skin, warring with the need to do something, saysomething. To figure this out and fix it. I cannot let Roman have me. There’s no way I’ll let that snake take me. And Icannotlet Maeve sign off on thisproposal.
I am not Sloane. I am not someone who needs to be held, pushed or made to do something in order to behave. I’ve spent my whole lifebehaving.
My stomach knots as we turn down the hall to my room, my trusty shadow following right behind me. Stopping halfway there, Hayes knocks into my back. “I’ve got it. I don’t need an escort.”
“Wouldn’t be doing my bodyguard duty if I just left you, would I, viper?”
God, I hate that fucking name. Vipers are gross, and ugly. He’s basically been calling me something horrible since we were children. Clearly, he’s never thought highly of me.
“Good thing I don’t need a bodyguard.”
“Everyone needs one. Maeve’s orders.”
“Awesome,” I snap, earning a bemused expression. “Don’t tell her about tonight. I don’t need her freaking out.”Or signing my life away.
“Don’t go down there first thing in the morning, flipping shit,” he says, smirk firmly in place. “She hates being told what to do. Come to think of it,” he muses, rubbing his beard. “You all have that in common. Must be an O’Brien trait.”
It’d be the only thing my older sister and I have in common. We all couldn’t be more different.
“Fuck you,” I growl, narrowing my eyes. That grin just grows.
“You know, you say that a lot. Maybe it’s a subconscious thing?” He steps close, smelling fresh like the woods behind our house after a rainstorm. “Do you want to fuck me, Collins? Even just a little bit?”
Swallowing, I try like hell not to punch him. Not like I know how. Pops never taught me to fight like he taught Maeve.
“Unfortunately for you, I have standards. You’rebeneaththem.”
Chuckling, he pinches my chin. “I could be beneath you.” He shrugs and I glare, cheeks darkening. “See? You even like it. Just tell me this, ever think about me when you’re…” he trails off, looking to my door, dropping my chin.
“When I’m,what?” I cross my arms, already done with this conversation. “Thinking about killing you? Pushing you off a cliff? Bespecific.”
Stepping closer, his lips brush my ear and I freeze, body locked in place. Not from fear, but something just as dangerous. Because Hayes is hot—royally, exquisitely hot, in a way men shouldn’t be. With strong hands, a chiseled body and vicious blue eyes, he is a walking thunderstorm ready to unleash torrents of chaos all over my life.
And he is chaotic. Came into my life randomly, pushed into my boundaries and demanded to be a part of it.
“When you’re touching yourself, viper. Is it my name you call out just as you cum? Is it my cock you think about when that toy enters you?” He tsks when my mouth opens, thoughts scattering. Because…holy. “Maybe even my tongue when you flick that pretty clit of yours?”
Shoving him away, I inhale, chest heaving at the images. And they’rereallygood images. “You’re such a pig. Trust me, you’re not the one I think about.”
He looks at me, leaning against the hall. His gaze sinks deep, hidden under the skin like an anchor to my soul. “No? Then who do you think about, viper? Another one of those boys you like to sneak around with in the library?”
I still, murderous thoughts overrunning my head. Forget hot—now he’s just an ass. “Whatdid you say?”
“You can’t honestly think no one knows.” He mock-gasps, holding his chest. “You do? Poor thing. We all know what you do in those rooms. Hell, I think you must know we suspect and give into the exhibitionist in you. Plenty of glass windows to peer through for a front row viewing.”
