Page 42 of Forbidden Need

“Did I hurt you?” he asked in a deep, quiet rumble.

She smiled. “Where am I always safe?” she asked without expecting an answer. “Never apologize for your desire. I want you to want me like that. You could never hurt me. I could never fear you.”

“You didn’t know.”

“Didn’t know what?” she asked, her fingers trailing their way down to his chest.

The man was divine in his definition. Cut like glass, without a single fragile quality, there wasn’t a flaw in sight. Conflict? That seemed to be written in his DNA.

“I could’ve turned my back on you. You got me out of there anyway.”

She could’ve exploded her life and her family’s livelihoods without the safety net of his support.

“You’ve killed for me, do rún. I’d step in front of any bullet for you.”

“Gratitude? You think you owed me?”

“I do owe you,” she said, writhing as much as his pressure allowed. “For how incredible you make me feel. I’ll never be able to thank you for that. Never be able to give you what you give me just by existing… I’ve lived lonely, do rún. I’ve lived missing you… Maybe it was selfish.” Though she hadn’t considered it at the time. “Maybe I needed that push. I’m not sorry, I’m…”

“Liberated.”

“Right.” And it was mirrored right back in his gaze. “Have I cornered you?”

“I don’t cower or apologize, Macushla. This was always a battle you were fighting with yourself.”

Was it? Her barriers. Her boundaries.

“To be with you,” she said, “I have to be owned by you.”

“Protected by me.”

“I have to stand proud behind the McDade shield.”

“When anyone tries to hurt you, you tell them…?”

“I’m Cushla Machree.”

“Beat of My Heart.”

That’s what it meant? All this time… but he’d been calling her that for…

“Conn…” she whispered, touching his lips. How long had he felt for her? Deeply felt for her…? “I’m sorry it took me so long to see it. That I…” She exhaled, giving every part of herself to him as he moved in her again. “I should’ve done this sooner. So much sooner.”

Because it felt so good to be safe, accepted, allowed to embrace every part of herself. Every part of him and what they felt for each other was free, no matter which path they went down.

EIGHTEEN

“WHEN HE’S RUNNING the show, he can call the shots.” Connel’s voice broke through the haze of sleep that held her warm and safe in his sheets. “No extension. A deadline’s a deadline… He delivers or he dies…” Despite the light brightening her eyelids, she kept them closed. Being enveloped in the scent of him was too good a heaven to surrender. “Aye. They don’t worry about that… I’ve got the superintendent’s daughter exactly where I want her.” She smiled, tilting her chin a little in the direction of that arousing voice. Something hit the bed. “I’ve got business, Macushla.”

“With my pussy?”

“Later,” he said. “Look at me…”

Rolling to her back, the sheet slipped from her breasts as she opened her eyes. And there he was, standing at the end of the bed, his dark, intense eyes scrutinizing her body.

“Come back to bed,” she whispered, using her feet to drag the sheet even lower. “I need my McDade.”

“Your McDade’s got people to see.”

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