Bronagh cackled with laughter.
“His missus?” she said with distaste. “In his fu-fuckin’ dreams—”
“Yeah,” I cut her off. “She’s mine.”
She was mine, and deep down, she fucking knew it.
I hardly noticed when Drake departed because I was too concentrated on the little spitfire who whirled around to face me. She looked like she was trying to glare at me and my brothers, but her drunkenness made it seem like she was just making eyes at me. She lifted her free hand that wasn’t wrapped around Branna and pointed it at my face. I folded my arms across my chest, fully aware that she was going to cuss me out.
“Ye’ little cock sucker, I am not yours,” she declared. “I am no-not anythin’ to ye’, and if ye’ so much as hint that I am again, I’ll—”
She cut herself off when Branna suddenly heaved. I watched as Bronagh struggled to hold her sister up.
“No, Branna, don’t do this,” she pleaded. “Don’t you pu-puke on me or die. I can’t carry ye’ home. I’m we-weak as shite!”
When my brothers and I chuckled, she looked up and glared daggers at us.
“Fuck all of ye’ ... except you, Damien. You’re ni-nice.”
Damien laughed, and I rolled my eyes.
“Give me her,” Ryder said to Bronagh. “I’ll carry her back to the house.”
Bronagh stared up at my brother and shook her head. “Eh, no, she thinks you’re a pr-prick—as do I—and will punch ye’ if she realises you’re wi-with ‘er.”
Ryder’s lips twitched as he looked down at Branna as he said, “I’ll take my chances.”
My brother took Branna in his arms, and it left Bronagh to sway at little, so I stepped forward and steadied her.
“I got you.”
She opened her pretty green eyes and stared up at me.
“Let. Me. Go.”
“Okay,” I did as demanded, only to grab her again when her knees buckled from under her. I chuckled and hoisted her against my body. “It looks like you need me, pretty girl.”
“I don’t even look pr-pretty.”
I smiled down at her as I lifted her bridal style and placed a kissed on her forehead as she snuggled against my chest. As I walked towards the parking lot with her in my arms, she was mumbling about my brothers and I cutting her and her sister up into tiny pieces, which made me shake my head. I laughed, however, when she said, “Except Damien. He won’t help them because he is nice.”
When I climbed into the back of our car, I cuddled Bronagh against me, and I was very aware that having her body snug against mine with her arms around me and her head on my chest made me feel the most content I had ever felt in my life. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that I was falling for this girl ... and she fucking hated me.
That summed up my life in a nutshell.
When we got back to our house, people were arriving for the party that Alec invited everyone to. Bronagh was in and out of consciousness. She kept telling me she wanted to sleep in my bed with me, and though I knew it would most likely kill me, I gave into her and brought her up to my room. She fell onto my bed, and I loved how perfect she looked even though her makeup was smeared, her hair was all over the place, and she was as drunk as a skunk.
I didn’t dare remove her dress, so instead, I took off her high heels, then settled her under the covers. I removed my clothes and left my boxer shorts on as I climbed into my bed next to her. She rolled over almost instantly and wrapped her body around mine. My cock hardened, but I didn’t focus on it. I focused on Bronagh and just how much I loved having her in my bed.
When she suddenly opened her eyes and looked at me, I swallowed. There was no anger or frustration in her luminous eyes, just a vulnerability I had never seen before. At this moment in time, her guard was down, and she looked so damn tired from fighting with me.
“Ye’ scare me, Dominic.”
I frowned. “I would never hurt you, Bronagh.”
“Yeah, ye’ would.” She yawned. “If I loved ye’ and ye’ left me, it’d break me heart.”
I realised she was talking about emotional hurt and not physical pain.
“Is that the only reason you don’t want me?”
She nodded and said, “I want ye’ so bad it hurts, but it’d hurt way worse if I lost ye’.”
“Bronagh, I want you too.”
She hummed.
“I dream about ye’,” she said just as her eyes drifted shut. “Ye’ do baaadd things to me.”
“Sweet Jesus,” I said as she hooked her leg over my thighs, slung her arm over my torso, and rested her face against my neck. “You’re killing me, baby.”