The Aftermath (The Hurricane, #2)(40)

“Jesus, O’Connell. Don’t stop please.” she begged me. My answer was to slide a second digit in to her tight little hole. She moaned as my momentum increased. Thrusting her pelvis toward me, I could feel from the slight tightening and tremor around my fingers just how close she was to coming. When she was almost there, I scissored my fingers gently inside her, took her clit between my lips and sucked. Arching her spine she threw her head back in overwhelming pleasure. The sight of her coming, clenching and tightening around my fingers as she tried to milk a cock that wasn’t there, blew me away. This wasn’t just sex, it was making love. Both of us knew the difference.

“I think I broke my spine,” she told me with a slight giggle. I lifted her off the sink onto wobbly legs.

“How d’you feel?” I asked, before nibbling gently on her ear.

“Loved up. Very, very, very loved up,” she told me, kissing her way across my jaw until finally pressing a kiss to my lips. Grabbing her head, I kissed her harder, pulling her warm, naked body hard against my clothed one. My dick pressed painfully against her but I ignored it. She needed that to get rid of the stress and relieve some pressure, and I made sure my girl got what she needed. I always would.

“I’m desperate to return the favor, you know that, right?” she asked.

“I know, Sunshine. But with blue balls is my favorite way to train,” I assured her with a wink. Yanking my T-shirt over the top of my head, I pulled the warm fabric down over her. It swamped her as always but I took comfort seeing her wrapped in something of mine and covered in my scent. As I carried her to bed, I thought about all the dark shit behind us and everything we had yet to face but then I focused on the fact that Em would spend the whole of the next day with me. When you find yourself fighting a battle that might consume you, you have to take the small victories where you find them.

Pounding the London streets at 6 a.m. on a dark winter’s morning would seem like most people’s idea of hell. I loved it. There was an energy about this city, kind of like an electric pulse that made everything feel alive and connected. But I f*cking loved Ireland too. Killarney was maybe the most beautiful place I’d ever seen, but this city had been my home for most of my life. As I thumped one heavy foot in front of the other, I realized that I loved it because London at this hour of the day was so very different to the one people thought they knew. Shopkeepers, bakers, and tradesmen that I passed on my daily route waved and called out words of encouragement. There was a camaraderie among the morning crowd that made me feel like I belonged.

I pulled open the door of the gym just as a light rain started to fall. No matter how early I arrived, Danny was always there first. He was just putting on his coat when I arrived. Sometimes I wondered if he slept here.

“You off for breakfast?” I asked him.

“Same as I do every morning.” He huffed at the stupid question it was. Danny was a man of routine.

“Take an umbrella,” I warned him. “It’s just starting to rain.”

“Do I look like I own a feckin’ umbrella?” he barked, tucking his scarf into his long coat and donning his flat cap.

“What’s got into you today?” I asked him. Danny was the crankiest f*cker I ever met but he was in a special mood today.

“Did you see that sky this morning? Red sky at night, shepherd’s delight. Red sky in the morning, shepherd’s warning.” That sky was redder than I’ve ever seen it until those black clouds rolled it. It’s gonna be a bad feckin’ day. I feel it in my bones,” he informed me, lighting up his cigarette and shivering a little.

“Don’t be so superstitious. It’s gonna be a great day,” I answered him with a grin. My girl was going to be by my side all day today. When we were together, everything was good.

“Pisses me off when you’re feckin’ cheerful at this hour of the mornin’. At least before you got married, you were too hungover to get on my nerves.” I laughed at that.

“Yeah, ’cause me showing up half-baked for training cheered you up no end.”

After a pause he looked at me. “You’re right. You’ve always pissed me off in the mornings. Maybe by this afternoon, I’ll warm up to you. Now you know the routine. All circuits, no bag work until I get back. Most of the guys are working today so Earnshaw’s on point. Don’t give him shit ’cause I ain’t in the mood.”

“Don’t stress it,” I reassured him. “Didn’t you hear? We’re friends now.”

“That mean you’re not going to knock him out again?”

“Maybe,” I answered with a grin, which at least got a chuckle out of him.

“Get to work you, cheeky fecker,” he told me, still smiling.

He let the heavy door close behind him, and I looked around the empty room. Like London first thing in the morning, this place had its own special energy at this time of day. Since I met Em and quit drinking, it became the best time to work things through.

It was crazy how excited I was having Sunshine with me for the whole day. Some arsehole told me once that the bloom would fade from the rose soon enough, and after a couple of years of marriage, we wouldn’t be able to stand each other. Kieran convinced me not to smack him, because the man was in seventies and Em wouldn’t like it. Also he’d be dead soon anyway.

I think the fundamental problem was that people didn’t understand Em and me. They saw two horny, impetuous kids with no money who’d rushed into marriage and who’d regret it later. Fuck most people. We’d been through more shit than most people went through in their whole life. There was a billion-to-one chance of us finding each other, and now that we had, there was no f*cker on this earth who was separating us. Let them try.