Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 98000 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 490(@200wpm)___ 392(@250wpm)___ 327(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98000 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 490(@200wpm)___ 392(@250wpm)___ 327(@300wpm)
“Why are you dressed like you’re leaving?” Cillian asks.
“Because I’m going to school.”
Tiernan pushes my head away. “No. You’re not. And I have an exam today I can’t miss, plus a fucking business to run.”
“Fuck off, T. I don’t have any classes with Jensen. Do you think he’s going to break into my lecture and attack me? Plus, Rory isn’t letting him out of his sight. Cillian watched him last night. Did they tell you he’s fucking a professor?”
“That’s enough,” Tiernan cuts her off, I’m sure because of me. His voice softens when he adds, “I’m not ready for you to leave this house yet.”
She sighs. “I’ll be fine. You can’t keep me locked away. I’m not Mom, and I can take care of myself.”
He tenses beneath me. Tiernan is a lot of things, but I’ll never doubt how much he loves his sister. I can feel his concern for her, see it in his eyes. He wants her to have her freedom, but he wants to take care of her too.
“I’ll be fine,” she reiterates. “I trusted the wrong person once. I won’t do it again. I promise.” The love in her soft but determined voice doesn’t escape my attention either.
“I’ll skip and be her tagalong,” I offer.
“Hey, fuck off, Dean. I don’t need a babysitter,” Aislin argues.
“Fine,” Tiernan cuts off my reply. “As long as you take Dean with you.”
There’s an unexplainable shift in my chest…that he trusts me with her.
“Ugh. Fine,” Aislin says. “Go get dressed, Dean.”
I move to get off him, but Tiernan grabs my hips, holding me down. “You leave her, I’ll kill you. Something happens to her, I’ll kill you.”
“Yes, I know. You’ll kill me if I breathe wrong.” And he will, but I’m not afraid of him. I’m not afraid of dying. I climb off his lap, and he yells after me, “Don’t take a shower.”
“Fuck you!” I call back, but I’m smiling…and I plan to do exactly as he says.
I hear his footsteps behind me on the stairs, then Aislin’s, “Seriously. No fucking. If you’re not down here in five minutes, I’m leaving without you.”
“Calm down. I’m getting him clothes,” Tiernan calls just before I hit the landing and his arms wrap around me from behind. “I could fuck you…and she’d wait.” I let him push me so my stomach is against the wall, him against me. “It’s fun having a toy.”
“You call me that again, and I’ll show you how much of a fighter I am.” Still, I push my ass back against him.
“Well, now you’re just threatening me with a good time. The fight in you is my favorite part.” He bites my lip, then he’s gone, and I swear, I almost whimper at the loss of contact. “Seriously, though…she’s stubborn, and Cil will have to hold her back from leaving if you don’t hurry. I pretend not to know how much of a bad bitch she is, but it’s true.”
He walks into his room, and I follow.
“She’s…” Tiernan trails off.
“Nothing will happen to her. She’s right, she’s in class, but if something does happen, I’ll be there.”
He gives me a quick nod, which feels like his way of saying thank you without using the words.
Tiernan is already dressed for the day. He must have grabbed his shirt off the floor before coming up.
“Wear what you want. After class, take Aislin with you to your dorm and get what you need to stay here for a few days.”
My skin prickles, and not with disgust as it should. Still, I can’t give him anything too easily. “I’m not them. You don’t get to tell me what to do.”
“We also both know you want to be in my bed, and you will be.”
He throws a pair of boxer briefs at me, and I jerk his shorts and my dirty ones down and pull the clean ones on. “Just because I like having sex with you.”
He shrugs. “I don’t give a fuck about the reason, just the result.” Tiernan gets one of his fancy shirts and walks over to me. “You know what it means, being in this house, right?”
I frown, noticing the shift in the air in the room. “Yes.”
“And if you do anything I wouldn’t want you to do, or say anything I wouldn’t want you to say…”
“You can trust me.”
“I don’t trust anyone. Not completely.”
“That makes two of us.” Thinking of Cillian and Rory, I add, “You put more trust in those around you than I do.”
He grabs my chin, holds it so I can’t turn away and have to look at him—though it’s not like I want my eyes anywhere else. “Don’t make me regret it. I always do what needs to be done.”
It’s my warning, one I don’t need him to give me. One that makes a delicious swirl of adrenaline twist inside me. “I would be disappointed if you didn’t.” It’s another layer of my facade falling away.