Page 104 of Their Fairy Princess (Office Intrigue Duet 7)
“Your secret’s safe with me,” I whispered, sliding my hand over his chest, wanting to hear his stories.
“As was expected, we got caught up with the wrong crowd. Some ne’er-do-wells we had no business being around. As we got older, I got bolder. I could hold my own, started to build a reputation, one that garnered respect in our circles. Da knew it would only go downhill from there, so he uprooted us, brought us here to keep us away from the…”
I lifted my head. “The what?”
“The bad guys,” he said on a slow exhale.
“The Irish mob?”
He chuckled. “Can’t get anything past you, huh? Anyway. We got here, settled in. Not much changed. I was still wild, looking for something to get into. Ended up meeting a couple of bouncer types. Started doing a few odd jobs protecting some folks. They weren’t the decent type, either.
“One day, while I was running an errand for these guys, Isaac got jumped. Bad stuff. They fucked him up, put him in the hospital. I knew at that point, the direction I was headed was only going to get him hurt if not killed. Luckily, I’d only skirted the circles. Wasn’t too difficult to separate myself.”
“You don’t associate with them anymore?”
“I try to keep my distance.”
“How’d you get interested in BDSM?”
I could feel his smile against my head. “You know Talon.”
“Yes.”
“We go way back. Met him shortly after we moved to the States. He was into the scene, introduced us. The rest, as they say, is history.”
“And Liam?” I asked, referring to the guy who’d come over the other night after the vandalism.
“Same. Met him years ago. He’s been here less time than we have, hit it off.”
“Do you sit around and talk about home?”
“We have, sure.”
I pressed my ear to his chest. “Thank you.”
“For?”
“For clearing my head.”
Ian kissed my forehead. “What Dante went through was pure hell. No one should’ve been subjected to that, much less survived. But he did. And he’s strong. Stronger than most people even realize.”
“Do you love him?”
“I do. It’s sometimes difficult to explain.”
“I feel the same way.”
“Do you?”
I lifted my head again, met his gaze. “I do. Because that’s how I feel, too. It’s powerful, overwhelming even. Confusing at times. But it feels right. Like this was how things were supposed to play out.”
“And how do you feel about me?”
His eyes were intense as they locked with mine. Neither of us had ventured down this path yet, but I felt it important that he know how I felt.
I kissed his chin. “I love you, Ian.”
“That’s what I needed to hear.”
When he kissed me, it was sweet, warm. As though it was the only thing that was necessary in that moment. It didn’t escalate, but it didn’t end. Minutes rolled on with his mouth covering mine.
It was what I needed, what I hoped he needed as well.
ISAAC
While everyone was off doing their own thing, I pitched in for dinner.
I wasn’t a cook by any means, didn’t even pretend to be. Before Everly—and Heaven, when she’d been there—had taken over the nightly meals, Ian and I usually splurged on delivery, sometimes going out to grab a bite. I fell back on old habits, placed an order through one of the food apps, then sat back and waited while I flipped through channels on the television.
Dante appeared, his face sallow, his eyes red-rimmed and tired.
“You okay?”
His gaze cut to mine, surprise replacing the exhaustion. “I… Yeah.”
“Did you sleep?”
Dante’s hands dipped into his pockets. “For a bit.” His eyes moved to the stairs. “After Everly slipped out.”
I’d seen some progress in recent days, ever since we punished him the other night for hiding. It would take some time, perhaps even a few sessions with a shrink, before he was on his way to being healthy. But that was the end goal.
“How’d she take it?”
“Hard.” A small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. “She got mad. Said I wasn’t allowed to keep shit from her ever again.”
“I can hear her saying that.”
“It makes me laugh to hear her curse.”
The thought made me smile. Hell, anytime I thought about Everly, I smiled.
“Dinner’ll be here shortly. Figured we’d relax tonight.”
“Are we still on for tomorrow?”
He was referring to the birthday party we had planned for Everly. “Yes. I filled Heaven in, asked her to come over. She’s on her way now. Said she wanted to spend the night. For safety reasons, it’ll only be the five of us tomorrow. Once this is … resolved … we’ll have an official party at the club.”
“I think she’ll like that.”
She would. My fairy princess was a dirty girl underneath the sweet, innocent outer coating. She would definitely enjoy tomorrow, but the club party would be what she looked most forward to.
“Oh, I talked to Master Chaos,” I told him. “He’s the head Master of Dichotomy. Talked to him about you. He said you’re more than welcome to join without undergoing the training class. I informed him you were spoken for by me and Ian and we weren’t willing to share you with anyone else. Not now. Not ever.”
