Page 8 of Honorable Sins

The only light is the muted glow of the lights on the tree and the fire in our gas fireplace.

"Cozy." I join him on the sofa, straddling his hips and settling my butt on his hard thighs.

He grips my hips and pulls me forward so my ladybits are pressing down on an already impressive bulge. "I'm sorry I was late."

"Being a mob underboss isn't a nine-to-five job. I get that." Is it hard sometimes?

Yes.

But Mick is who he is, and I wouldn't have him any other way.

"Brogan wants to step down."

Shock freezes the air in my lungs and I stare at Mick's stoic features. "What? Why? Is he sick?"

"No. His health is fine, but Enoch got accepted into Sagewind."

"That's wonderful! Hope must be so pleased, but why would that prompt my father to step down from his position?" I ask. "It's a boarding school, isn't it?"

Considered one of the top ten schools of the arts in the U.S., Sagewind Academy of Fine Arts is often compared to Interlochen or Juilliard’s pre-college program. Only, its environment is a lot more intimate and holistic.

And unlike most high schools, it's only a two year program available to students who get the majority of their core curriculum classes out of the way their Freshman and Sophomore years at other schools.

It's important to Hope that Enoch is allowed to express his artistic talents, something he would have been denied while they were still living with the AOG. She's supported him fully in his efforts to fulfill the requirements of acceptance for the prestigious art school.

My father has been surprisingly supportive as well. Probably because Enoch has no intention of joining the mob. As Brogan's stepson, rather than his biological child, Enoch has that choice.

Mick stares down at my breasts, lust and appreciation sparking in his intent gaze. "Students are allowed to live at home if their home is within a thirty-minute drive to the school."

"And Hope wants to move to New Mexico so Enoch can continue to live at home." I cannot imagine sending Fitz away to boarding school

Not that he would have the option of attending a fine arts academy, even if he was a brilliant visual artist like Enoch is.

The mob is nothing like the misogynistic cult Hope and her children escaped, but Fitz's future was set before his birth because of the family he was born into and the fact he was born first.

His brother and sisters will have more options open to them, but Fitz will be expected to get a degree in business because he will be boss one day. Thankfully, he's always shown a natural aptitude for leadership and logistics.

"She offered to go on her own and come back to Long Island for frequent visits." Mick's tone doesn't give away how he feels about that.

He probably doesn't care one way, or the other, but if it were me saying that? I'd end up tied to our bed until I promised to never, ever leave him.

Mmm. That could be fun.

"I bet that went over with my father as well as the time I told you I would move to Boston to be near Fitz if you sent him there to school."

"Pretty much, yeah." Mick's frown is way too ferocious for a memory from when our now middle schooler was just starting elementary school.

Especially when I never actually made the move. But even the idea of us separating temporarily is enough to trigger my husband's possessive, obsessive tendencies.

Yum.

"So, my father wants to retire?" Am I ready to be the boss's wife? For my husband to be the boss for one of the most powerful Irish mobs in the country, if not the world?

My father stepped back from a lot of the day-to-day mob business six years ago. But Brogan Shaughnessy is still the recognized boss and that means that certain things don't fall on Mick and the target on his back isn't as big.

That will change once he takes over.

"Aye. He'll keep his hand in the legitimate businesses working remotely from Santa Fe, but he's ready to hand over the reins."