Page 10 of A Temptation Too Great (Knights of Purgatory Syndicate #3)

Chapter Six

Moira

I come awake and hear his steady breathing. I look over at Brody, asleep. His face is relaxed, without that ever-present scowl he always wears. I run my hands along his scruff.

“Keep it up, and I’ll feck you again, spitfire,” he says before his eyes flutter open.

“I thought you were asleep.”

“I was until you shifted. I know where you are every time I’m in the room with you.”

“It’s the same for me. I can sense when you come into a room. You’re like a magnet calling to me.”

I can’t believe I confessed that to him. I’ve always felt like we’re two magnets, sometimes repelled, sometimes pulled irresistibly together. But I always know when he’s near. There’s a shift in the air.

He rolls onto his side and pulls me close. I shift into him, our bodies fitting perfectly together. I don’t know why I finally gave in to what he wanted from me and what I was willing to give. I want so much with him, but I’m not sure if we can ever survive our families.

“Do you ever feel like it’s too much?” I ask him, and he rubs his hand against my cheek. I can’t stop myself from leaning into him.

“What’s too much?”

“Our families. Our career choices and life.”

“Baby, I’m mostly legal. I’ll do illegal things to protect and provide for you if I have to, but most of my life is on the right side of the law. It’s that one percent of the time that I do things your family would consider illegal. I don’t sell drugs. I don’t sell flesh.”

“That’s the key, though. You wouldn’t think twice about providing for me with illegal activities. I don’t know if I’ll ever get over that.” I roll away from him and start to get out of bed.

“Where are you going, baby?” He reaches for me, but I dance away from him.

“I think I need to go check on Giselle and the other girls. Arianna will be off shift soon, and she won’t understand what’s going on. She craves consistency and doesn’t handle change well, especially with working in the ER and her past.”

I don’t want to say more about her. It’s her story to tell, not mine. It’s kind of crazy how all of us girls have our little eccentricities.

Fiona was craving a family and connection, and she’s found both with Aidan. Arianna wants family and stability. I’m not sure any man can give her the kind of unwavering steadiness she needs. She’s so particular. She struggles with some OCD tendencies and needs consistency to feel safe.

Giselle, I think, just wants to hide and belong to a group. Maybe Shane is giving her things she doesn’t want us to know about, like protection. I never knew about her past. None of us did. Those pictures still make me cringe. She looked practically dead in them.

Brigid craves acceptance for who she is. Her family has never been able to accept that she doesn’t want to just stay in school or that she’s not traditionally book smart. She’s smart in her own way, but they don’t like that she’s not a prodigal child.

Then there’s Deandra and Ronan. They’re newer to our group and don’t live with us, but they’re part of our chosen family.

Ronan, like her sister Brigid, wants to be loved for who she is, not just what she looks like.

Where Bridgid was expected to be the smart one, Ronan was always labeled the pretty one.

She’s studying fashion design, and she’s stunning.

Her parents think she gets away with things because of her looks.

Deandra craves a family too, I think. Someone who will stand up for her.

And then there’s me.

I don’t even know what I want anymore. I used to think I wanted to be a police officer, to find justice for my mam, to get closure.

But now, I just want someone to see me. To understand that I’m strong and not a bitch.

That I’m strong and beautiful. I’m me. A girl who wants to be loved. I want a family. I want peace.

And I don’t know if I’ll never find that with Brody.

He’s got a loud club, and he doesn’t believe in the kind of justice I used to fight for. His form of justice is personal. An eye for an eye. Can I see past all that?

I don’t know.

I’m grabbed around the waist and thrown onto the bed.

Brody looms over my body. He just looks at me.

I can’t hide when the tears start to fall.

I expect Brody to push away from me, but instead, he cages in my body and holds me.

When he rolls us, I wrap around him and just lie there with him holding me.

“I know what you’re doing, Moira. I’m not going to let you run from me again. I’ll always find you. I’ll always be there for you.” He moves slightly, and his erect cock slides between my folds.

I can’t hold in the moan, and before I know it, he’s inside me, and we are making love this time. Slow, steady, and just us.

Brody

The next day, we’re dressed up. I’m in a black suit similar to what Aidan always wears, and Moira is in a long-sleeve green satin wrap dress.

It hugs her curves, hinting at her cleavage, and every time she moves, her leg slips through the slit.

It’s driving me crazy. I’m tempted to pull her into my brother’s guest bathroom and fuck her, but I know Fiona and Aidan wouldn’t appreciate that.

I had her so many times last night, she’s probably sore, so I’m doing my best to hold back.

I think about the fact that I took her bare every time.

I wish she wasn’t on birth control. She even jumped out of bed last night when her alarm went off, reminding her to take the pill.

I want her round with my child, like Fiona is with Aidan’s.

I want to know that Moira will always be mine.

I have this unwavering fear she’s going to run and push me away again.

Shane and Giselle got married in front of all of us.

He believed this was the best way to protect her from the man in her past who’s still after her.

All the girls are here, and for the first time, I notice that several of my brothers can’t take their eyes off them.

Arianna is fawning over Lex, making sure he’s not doing too much.

She’s wearing a slim-fitting dress that Lex clearly can’t look away from.

When she leans over, he doesn’t even try to hide the way he stares at her cleavage.

But it’s not just those two. Seamus, who’s usually unfazed by everything, keeps a close eye on the very flamboyant Brigid.

They’re complete opposites. She attracts attention, while he does everything he can to avoid it.

All the girls are giggling and talking while I sit at the table, trying to figure out how to keep my girl beside me.

I know I can’t marry her like Shane and Aidan did with theirs.

My eyes drop to the table where Moira’s mobile lies.

A sick, twisted thought enters my mind, and before I can stop myself, I palm it.

I slip into the house and try to unlock her phone.

When I can’t figure out her password, I decide it’s time to call in the expert. I pull out my mobile and text Lex.

He steps inside and walks over to me.

“What’s up, bruv?”

“I need you to mirror this phone and unlock it.” I hand it to him.

He looks down at it before turning to look out at where the girls are all huddled up.

“This is backhanded and not how you’re going to win her over.” He holds the phone out to me, but I arch an eyebrow.

“Kind of like how you always have eyes on Arianna?” I know my guess is correct when he huffs and sits down.

“It’s not what you think. She’s not safe. There is something going on at that hospital.”

“Really?” I lean back and smirk at him.

“Fine, fuck it.” His strange accent comes out as he does some things on the phone.

He hands it back to me, and I change the alarm for her birth control to morning, hoping it will cause her medication to not be as reliable. He then gets his laptop and mirrors her phone to mine. Now I’ll know when she changes it, and I can change it back.

While I’m in her phone, I dig around and find some files.

I duplicate them and send them to Lex to go through.

Next, I check her texts. There are several threatening messages from her brother, and plenty from her father that aren’t much better.

But it’s her response to her father that makes my blood run cold.

He begs her to come home, and she replies that as long as her brother is living there, she’ll never step foot in that house again.

I can’t help but wonder what I’m missing.

Before I can dig deeper, I glance up and see Shane making his way to his bride. My time is up.

I walk out and place her mobile back on the table, then move across the lawn to get my girl and take her home.

“I’m going to stay with the girls tonight,” she says when I reach her.

“Come on.” I wrap an arm around her waist and pull her into me.

I lean down and nibble her neck, and she moans before directing me back to the table to get her mobile.

I know she’s going to try to run. I have to keep a close eye on her so she doesn’t.

I’ll do whatever it takes to not lose her again.

Once we’re home, I reach for her waist and unhook her dress.

It falls open, and my breath catches at the sight of her perfect little knockers pressed against her brassiere.

Gripping the edge of the cups, I pull them down, placing her breasts on a pedestal of lace.

I lift her up and press her back into the wall.

My lips wrap around the perfect little berry and suck it into my mouth.

I moan as her scent surrounds me, making me dizzy with desire.

She arches her back to press more of her breast into my mouth.

“Brody,” she begs.

I throw her over my shoulder and make my way up to our room.

As soon as her back hits the bed, I shuck off my suit, and she removes her dress the rest of the way.

When I slide home into her tight little cunt, everything narrows down to just her and me.

I’m not thinking about the repercussions of changing her birth control alarm.

I’m not thinking about her family or mine. It’s just us.

She looks up at me with those light hazel eyes rimmed by a darker ring.

They mesmerize me, and for a moment, we just stare at each other, moving in perfect rhythm.

She’s the first to break the gaze, her lids drifting shut as she throws her head back.

She moans long and loud as I continue the long, tortuous, slow thrusts.

Over and over, I take her to the edge. When I can’t hold back any longer, I change the pace.

I move harder, deeper, faster until she screams and I follow with a groan.

I hold her, my head resting on her pillow, her breath panting in my ear.

I’m reminded of something my mam said before she died.

There was one perfect moment when she fell for my father.

It was when he held her as if she was the most precious thing in the world to him.

More important than the Knights. More important than business.

This is that moment for me. I’d walk away from it all.

I lift my head, and her eyes flutter open.

“I’ll give it all up for you. I’ll walk away. No questions asked, no promises made. You are all I want forevermore,” I say, my voice low.

Her eyes instantly glisten, but then my phone rings. I ignore it, needing to hear what she’ll say. She blinks slowly, and I watch the openness fade. She’s closing me off.

“Get your phone, Brody.”

“No.” I slide my palms against her cheeks and hold her steady as I meet her gaze. “Tell me.”

She closes her eyes again. “I can’t.”

My mobile stops ringing, then starts up again. I roll over and snatch it from the pocket of my pants on the floor.

“Yeah,” I answer, knowing this call is going to change everything.

“The serial killer came after one of the girls. She’s been slashed up in her apartment.”

It’s worse than I imagined. “Who, Carson?”

“Caddy,” he says, his voice rough. She’s one of the younger girls who hangs around the club.

“Has anyone told Mick his girl is gone?”

“He found her.”

“I’m on my way.”

I stand and head to the bathroom. When I return a few minutes later, Moira is lying on the bed in my dress shirt, the one I just took off to shag her.

“We’ll discuss this when I get back. There’s a situation at the clubhouse. I’ll be back as soon as I can. Don’t leave this bed.” I lean down and pull her up to me, crushing my lips to hers, trying to convey everything I can’t say.

“Okay.” She won’t meet my eyes, and I know she’s going to run the moment I’m out the door.

“I’m serious, spitfire. A woman associated with the club was just killed. I don’t want you out there. This guy is bad.”

“Oh, feck. Want me to come with you?” She tries to shift away from me.

“No, stay here.”

She nods, and I head to the closet to pull on a pair of jeans, a pullover, and my cut. When I return to the bed, her eyes are closed. I lean down and press a kiss to the top of her head.

“I’ll make you safe,” I vow, then turn and walk out of the room.