Page 58 of Dublin Beast

He may be Sean’s Sergeant at Arms for the Devils MC, and a loyal mate, but when you come down to it, I’m a Quinn and he works for me.

I leave him to his navigating and keep my eyes locked on the farmhouse on the screen.

Everything seems the same as earlier today: the foot patrols walking the perimeter, the armed guards on the front and back porches, and the single person upstairs with a guard stationed at the top of the stairs.

If thatisSiobhan up there, what’s their plan?

It can take ages between the time a task force makes a case and brings things to trial. So, is she supposed to hide up there for the next year or two?

“How long can your toy stay in the air?”

Kieran points to his set up in the back hatch. “It can stay in the air twenty to thirty minutes, then I’ll bring it back to switch the battery. I’ve got five extended life batteries, and the charger, so we should be good for the night.”

“Other than the travel time you’re flying it back and forth. Then we’re running blind.”

“Aye, other than that.” Kieran keeps his focus on the controls for the drone, the wee machine a country lane over, feeding us clean, precise images.

I’m impressed. I didn’t expect this level of clarity—the thermal vision, the bird’s-eye view mapping every movement on the ground and inside the house.

“We need to get a look at that lone heat signature upstairs. If Siobhan is in there, that will be her.”

Kieran nods. “All right. I’ll do a pass by the window. Maybe I can angle the camera in.”

Kieran maneuvers the drone, sending it drifting toward the farmhouse. A second later, he curses under his breath. “The curtains are all closed.”

I clench my jaw. It’s a good thing Kieran’s munitions guy hasn’t gotten back to us yet about the rocket launchers, or I might be tempted to blow the place to hell and use dental records to sort things out later.

But I didn’t expect this to be easy. This ain’t my first stake out and I know it can take days, even weeks.

And so, I open the door to the back seat to check on what snacks we brought, ready to settle in for the night.

* * *

Harper

Morning light sifts into the room, sneaking through the split between the closed curtains. There’s a moment of panic when I don’t remember where I am—or why the room smells like leather and the remnants of an expensive man’s cologne. But then my eyes adjust to the low light, and I see him.

Bryan is asleep on top of the duvet beside me. He’s on his side, facing me, one tattooed arm folded under his head, the other curled in front of his broad chest.

He looks exhausted—delish, but exhausted.

I study the way his worn U2 concert T-shirt stretches across the sculpted perfection of his chest and how the gray track pants he’s wearing have pulled down his hip a bit when he rolled over, exposing the muscled ‘V of glory’. Oh, baby, this man…

How crazy is it that he’s been sleeping here, and I didn’t even realize it? Normally, I’m hyper aware of my surroundings,especiallywhen I’m asleep.

Vaguely, I wonder when he came in during the night. Is he here because Kieran won’t share a king bed or because after this afternoon, he’s more interested in sharing a bed with me?

The funny thing is, he didn’t get into the bed—he’s on it. He’s mere inches from the spot where I’m curled under the covers, and yet he didn’t presume to slide in with me—not even after yesterday.

The honor of the Dublin Beast.

After the third or maybe the fourth time he shattered me with pleasure, I curled up naked in his arms and relaxed—truly relaxed—for the first time since I got the news about Macie and Chantal.

We’ll figure out what happened to them, I have no doubt. Eddie Mason kidnapping me locked Bryan in on bringing down the sex trafficking ring that claimed my friends. I’m not alone in this.

I’m not alone at all.

And I can’t stop staring at him.

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