Keegan comes in first, Ronin right behind him, with Rafferty busy talking to Tynan. They walk in looking like sin and smelling like trouble.
“Why do you smell like smoke?”
Keegan answers with a wicked smirk that makes me glad I wore full brief panties and not a g-banger like I had first put on. He’s in front of me the next moment, and that smile twists into something more heated and intimate. His eyes fall to my mouth, and before I can even take another breath, his lips are on mine.
His kiss is hard and fast—freaking amazing. Then he’s pulling away to study my reaction, and since I’m not yelling or hissing like a cat, he comes in again. And this kiss is toe-curling.
“You sleep alright?”
“Didn’t even have to use the gun,” I say before shoving him off me.
Looking around, I find that Rafferty and Tynan are in the kitchen. Ronin is behind me, but I don’t realize until too late. He traps me by my hips, holding me close as he bites my neck, growling against my skin.
“What the hell is up with you?”
He laughs. Of course. I swear it’s all this man does. Until I remember he also kisses like the devil and fucks like a god.
“Are you coming back home, Tally girl?”
I look at him like he’s lost his marbles, then I use my words because, with Ronin, I need to be clear. “Err, no.”
He chuckles. “You should. You’d be safer with us.”
“I’m perfectly safe here.”
“Are you?”
“And what does that mean?”
“It’s a dangerous place, is all I’m saying.”
I turn around, searching his face for answers, or at least a clue at the mystery he’s alluding to. Before he literally sweeps me off my feet, picking up the remote to sit on the sofa with me on his lap. The sigh of relief he makes as he leans back, holding me close, is the precursor. When the news starts, the lead story is about a fire that completely destroyed what suspiciously looks like The Shamrock.
Ronin’s mouth is against my ear again, and he talks over the journalist standing near the scene. “Trouble’s coming, my girl, and it’ll keep happening as more and more people start playing the game. My da’s not dead, but some of his men are acting it, wanting his place at the head of the Irish. By rights, though, that place at the top of the triangle is mine, but in any situation, there’s always some tool who thinks they deserve it more. Throw you in the mix, my own wife, and I’ll do worse than burn a pub down to remind those people who they’re playing with.”
I twist on his lap to peer at him. His eyes aren’t on the TV; they’re waiting for mine. “You did that?”
“Aye. Well, not me, but it was done on my say so. Then the four of us stood round to watch it burn.”
“Jesus.”
“Don’t take the Lord’s name in vain. My ma will clobber you over the back of the head if she hears you talking like that. I want to look at my ma with nothing but love in my eyes.”
Ronin is deadly serious. On all accounts too. He’s nonchalant about the fire but clearly passionate about the reason. He’s also extremely talkative this morning. Snuggly warm and smelling like heaven too.
“So, while we’re working things out in our pack, let’s get a few things straight, shall we? No fucking man or woman gets to touch you. None, Tally girl. I’ll break every bone in their bodybefore ripping their hands off and using them to choke them to death.”
My mouth falls open. And not even his wry smile helps with the shock.
“Don’t look at me like that. I’m in the fucking mafia. And yes, I’m generally a very happy-go-lucky Alpha, but come for my family and I’ll be a right fucking psychopath not needing any further provocation asides talking shit about my family. You’re my wife and part of my pack, so I’ll be as fucking postal as I need so others understand you’re mine.”
“Ronin…”
“I’m not overreacting.”
I laugh. “I was going to say, can I please have a coffee before you start dumping all this in my lap?”
His eyebrows jump up high as I shock him. But I think that’s the key to Ronin, being as random as he is. It’s his style of communication, and I can respect it and hopefully keep up with it.
