Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 83994 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83994 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
It’s simple. I’d expect nothing less from Declan Whelan. But the rock is clearly wildly expensive. It’s an exquisitely made piece.
5. Put on the ring.
This is crazy. This is totally insane. What is happening? Did he propose to me in a note? One that also ordered me to get his dry cleaning? Does he feel guilty about having sex with me and is this his way of doing the right thing?
“Absolutely not,” I say, snapping the box shut and shoving it into my little clutch. “This can’t be happening. This makes no sense!”
I’m dizzy. I must be dreaming. But no, I’m awake, and I don’t know what to do.
I’m panicking, but I manage to remember his gym bag as I hurry away from his apartment, the engagement ring like a ticking bomb in my mind.
Chapter 5
Declan
My assistant never came to work today.
It’s the first time since I hired Casey that she didn’t show up.
She’s taken PTO, but this is different.
I can’t concentrate. All afternoon, I keep thinking about her. I’m such a wreck. My brain’s a mess. This is why I avoided crossing that line for so long.
When she was younger, it was easy to act like she didn’t exist.
There were the occasional status reports, but otherwise?
Casey was just a project humming away in the background.
But now she’s addictive and dangerous.
I never should have hired her. That was my first mistake. Life was fine when I kept everything compartmentalized. Work, family, Casey…
Then I never should have opened that box, never should have pictured what she’d look like in lingerie, never should have imagined her squirming with pleasure as I slide that vibrator deep into her pussy…
This has always been my problem.
I have to be disciplined. I learned that at a very young age. If I’m not, my broken brain will run in circles, obsessing and fixating, and I won’t be able to function.
Which is why everything must be in its proper place. My apartment, my work, my entire life.
Otherwise, chaos destroys me.
Taking Casey out to dinner last night broke all my rules.
I knew it while it was happening, and I still couldn’t stop myself.
It’s too soon. But when I heard her explain why she bought all those sex toys, I couldn’t stop myself.
I had to make her feel better.
Now I can’t concentrate on anything else. I give Casey her space and leave her alone. Internally, I process her absence as a sick day, and nobody questions it. I spend the afternoon at my desk, listlessly trying to answer emails while I keep coming back to the memory of last night with my assistant.
The way she moaned as I got down on my knees in front of her. The taste of her orgasm… the desperate way she whispered sir… the feeling of her licking me clean after finishing in her mouth.
Fuck, it kills me.
I force myself to stay for the full day before finally leaving at six. Instead of going back to my apartment where I’m sure to spend the night smelling what’s left of her scent on my sheets like a sick freak, I decide to skip all that and go to my parents’ house instead.
The Whelan family home is a sprawling building deep in our personal territory. I’m intensely aware that every street I drive down is owned by either my father or someone who works for my father. Skyscrapers, strip malls, corner stores, it all comes back to the Whelans.
And for the past few years, our power has only grown and consolidated as we’ve made strategic alliances among the other powerful criminal organizations.
My mother greets me in the kitchen. Siobhan Whelan looks good for her late sixties. Her hair’s lightening and going gray, but she’s still got a touch of her signature red. She kisses my cheek with a charming smile. “You’re the first one here tonight. Your brothers are still on their way.”
“I’m always the first one, Mother.”
“I know, but I like pointing it out sometimes. You deserve the credit.” She pats my arm lightly.
I look back toward the stairs. “How’s he doing today?”
“Not well, honestly.” Her smile disappears. Her fingers dig into my arm. I don’t think she even realizes she’s doing it. “He’s in some discomfort. I told him to stay in bed.”
“I bet he hated that.”
“He absolutely did, but you know your father. He can’t turn me down.”
“That’s always been his best feature.”
She tries to laugh, but it sounds hollow and exhausted.
I’ve never seen my mother so drained before.
Siobhan Whelan is the light at the heart of our family. She’s the glue that holds it all together. She’s the hand that sets the course and the mind that keeps us pointed true. Without her, I think we’d all be lost.
And now it feels like she’s finally beginning to dim.
I hate it.
“I’ll go check on him.” I gently disengage myself from my mother’s grip and leave her in the kitchen. She needs a break sometimes. I keep trying to hire more help, but she refuses.