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27

CONOR

“Where are you taking me?”

When she laughed, relief filled me.

It was genuine this time. Happy. Free from the sorrow of grief that had plagued her since our return flight to the US.

Not even vetting Anton’s list of officers for the Interpol department or getting some tossed off the team had cheered her up.

I’d known I had to do something when hot chocolate hadn’t worked and neither had us cracking Munoz's phone with Maverick’s worm and shooting over the first few clusters of file drops to the new Interpol department.

'Doing something' had involved asking Dead To Me for advice. I'd made several mental notes not to do so in the future.

Still, I'd come up with the idea of another date night and had been happy when she'd grown excited by the notion and had offered to organize it.

“You know full well where we’re heading,” she teased.

“I mean, I can read the road signs like anyone but I’m not sure why we’re heading to the New York Saturns’ stadium.”

“Because there’s a game tonight.”

“Why didn’t we bring Katina?”

“It’s a school night.”

“So?”

“So, this is for us. Before I bring her…” She hesitated. Swallowed. “… home this weekend.”

I could forgive her anything when she called my apartment home.

Grinning at her, I said, “That looked painful to say.”

“It wasn’t,” she denied with a snort. “Just, I haven’t had a home for a long time and it’s only home because you’re in it.”

I whistled under my breath. “Jesus, are you trying to lead up to telling me you broke my rig or something?”

This time, she outright laughed as she shoved my knee with her hand. “No, dumbass. I’m being nice.”

“It’s weird. Stop it.”

Her lips were still curved wide though. “I’m going to drown you in mush tonight.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s date night with a purpose . Don’t ask what purpose because I won’t tell you until we get there.”

“Intriguing.”

“Don’t lie. I’m always intriguing.”

“I figured it was all that time as a spy.”

“Sure. Makes a person shifty and, apparently, you like shifty.”

“You know it. Did you get Kat enrolled at Shay’s school? Or is she having a vacation before the next semester starts?”

“Got her enrolled, yup. Straight into the frying pan for her. She’ll love it. They have a gymnastics team and everything.”

“Feel like making a bet?”

“On what?”

“The likelihood of her being a cheerleader.”

She groaned.

“You’re only groaning because you know I’m right.” I chuckled as she pulled up at a stop light and shot me a pleading glance.

“What are we placing as stakes? Cash?”

I scoffed. “Nothing so boring.”

“As disturbed as I am at the prospect of her being a cheerleader, I’m interested.”

“Thought you might be. I bet you an orange that it’ll happen this year.”

“An orange?!”

“You’d prefer an apple?” At her disgusted look, I laughed harder. “A banana?”

“I was hoping for six months of you writing code for me or me promising not to hack your code for a year.”

“Well, if you’d prefer those to be the stakes…”

“You jackass! You totally walked me into that.”

I grinned. “Guilty. Okay, so six months of writing code and my code’s safe for a year.”

“Yeah, but I bet that she gets the offer and turns it down.”

I held out my hand to accept the bet. As she shook it, cars honked their horns behind us as the red light flickered to green.

She took her sweet time about setting off, mostly because she was an ornery PITA, but that was probably why I loved her as much as I fucking did. Ornery was interesting, and Star had fascinated me for years.

As we pulled into the parking lot of the stadium, I let her take the lead because she knew where we were heading.

My brows lifted once or twice at the amount of security we had to bypass, and they were nearly touching my hairline by the time we were in the owner’s box.

This would have made sense if we were heading to a Knicks’ game, a sport I actually enjoyed, but we weren’t so I knew she was up to something.

A half-hour before kick-off, the owner himself showed up.

“Jordan Maloney,” he introduced, a wide snake oil salesman’s grin on his chops as he held out a hand for us to shake.

“Conor O’Donnelly,” I greeted, watching Star as he leaned in to air kiss her.

When she reacted like a normal person and air-kissed him in return, my curiosity was piqued even more.

Star was… behaving .

That was more fascinating than anything else that was going to happen in the stadium tonight.

“Your better half told me you’re interested in investing in the club,” Maloney announced after a couple minutes of small talk.

When I felt the nudge of her elbow in my side, I smiled at him. “Soccer’s always…” Bored the ever-loving shit out of me. “… intrigued me.”

“That’s great to hear. It’s such an underrated sport in the US, and I’ve never understood why. But, because it is so underrated, I think that’s why we have a brilliant fan culture. The Saturns, in particular, have the Saturns’ Explorers, as well as countless other supporter groups?—”

I shot Star a wide-eyed look.

Did he think dedicated fan groups would make me buy a damn soccer club?

As much as I loathed the sport, even I knew the Saturns were the city's dirty secret.

“It’s why our games sell out, too,” he enthused, seeming to disregard the half-empty stands. “And that, in turn, leads to the highest-grossing concession stands in the MLS.”

Star coughed, but I thought that was more about hiding her smirk than anything else.

Not that Maloney seemed to care. He was into his spiel and going a hundred miles an hour without a care in the world.

“Our boxes are very popular as well?—”

Maloney continued discussing his boring-ass team for the remaining time until the game kicked off.

Because I had zero interest in the match, I flicked a glance around the owner’s box. The glass was reflective—I knew that because it cut out some of the sun from outside—but rays still shone through the panes, lighting Star, rather fancifully I thought, in a ring of light that made the reds in her hair dance like they were a living flame.

The comfortable leather easy chairs were staggered a few feet apart, and in between, there were small tables that had been pre-stocked with a couple different types of beers. The snacks held more of my attention than the game, but I did notice the Arizona Panteras scored three goals in the first twenty minutes.

For all that Maloney had tried to tell me they were sold out, I had to admit the meager crowd was active, cheering and booing in the right places.

Unfortunately, the team never actually gave them the gift of a goal. They tried to push them over the boulder, but cheers didn’t make up for a piece-of-shit team.

As the Panteras continued whooping the crap out of the Saturns throughout the first half, Maloney disappeared five minutes before half-time with the excuse of using the bathroom, and when he didn’t return for the second half and we were left alone, I had to figure he’d escaped from sheer embarrassment.

Thank fuck.

“You bring me to this torture,” I complained, holding out a hand for her, “then the least you can do is make it worth my while.”

She snorted but levered herself out of her seat and plunked her ass on my lap.

“We’ve rarely discussed sports, but I’m pretty sure you know I loathe soccer,” I whispered as I hooked my arm around her waist and drew her deeper into my hold. “Ya know, seeing as I never, ever, ever talk about it.”

“I do, but you mentioned match-fixing at the mall the other day and it inspired me.”

I thought back to the mall but had no memories of a conversation about match-fixing. “I did?”

“Yup. You were tired though. That’s probably why you don’t remember.”

I clicked my fingers. “I was talking about how it was more difficult than it should have been to get into the Canadian gun registry. Okay, so what about match-fixing?”

“You haven’t thought about it since we got back from the UK?”

“In all honesty, cleaning up the evidence we have on the Sparrows so it doesn’t reflect badly on either of us has taken precedence over Five Points’ business. I thought that was what you were working on too.”

She tweaked my chin. “It takes a woman—I multitasked. Helps that I know the shit Bear sent us through and through. I knew what to remove and where to go for it in my half. In between, I did some scouring.”

“For?”

“The Saturns.”

“Your research brought you to a middle-of-the-road soccer team?” I sputtered. “One where the proudest thing the owner had to say about his team was that the stadium has the same groundskeeper as the Yankees…”

She snickered. “That was a particular low point, for sure.

"So, I admit that I let my imagination run away with me. But you also said that your ma made you think about match-fixing and I reasoned that you’re searching for ways to legitimize the O’Donnelly fortune.” She looked at me from the corner of her devious eye. “You should speak with Anton about your plans too. Davidson told me he was practically a shoo-in for the Oval Office because of him.”

My brow furrowed. “It probably helped that his father was a senator.”

She shrugged. “The United Brotherhood has their fingers in many pies. Maybe it’s not enough to be a legacy politician in the upcoming years. The Sparrows have changed the political landscape. Trust in the household names is at an all-time low?—”

“That was mostly facilitated by you and spreading the news of their foot fetishes to the masses.”

“They should practice what they preach. Still blows my mind that some states teach ‘abstinence only’ as sex-ed.” Her grin was unapologetic. “Anyway, MLS is easier pickings in my opinion. Not as popular as the other sports in the US, but still impressive enough that if the O’Donnellys tied themselves to a winning brand and brought home the CONCACAF Champions League title, the association would be priceless.”

Intrigued by her thought process, I asked, “So why the Saturns? That guy is an asswipe.”

She patted my chest. “Maloney’s got money problems. I’ll show you the file I made on him yesterday. He’s ripe for the picking. Plus, I’ve got something to blackmail him with if you’re interested.”

For a couple moments, all I could do was study her. Entranced, I slipped my hand around her nape and tipped her chin so that I was in a better position to press my lips to hers. Her pleased hum made my lips tingle, and once I savored her, I pulled back to ask, “Blackmail and business is your idea of a date night?”

She smiled and I had to taste it. I kissed her again, hunger and need starting to entwine with the appreciation I felt for her uniqueness.

Slipping my tongue between her lips, I dove into her, sliding my hands through her hair to keep her there, right there , where I could better hold her.

When she moaned, I nipped at her bottom lip, pulling back before things got too out of hand.

She surprised me by cupping my wrist, sliding her fingers around it, and adjusting my hold on her so that she could angle it where and how she wanted.

When she rested it against her lower abdomen, I groaned and let my fingers trickle downwards, moving slowly in case her intent changed.

It didn’t.

I rubbed the tips along the inseam of her pants, grunting when her head angled back onto my shoulder and she tore her mouth from mine to swallow down air.

“Touch me, Conor. Please.”

“Will Maloney return?—”

“No. I arranged for him to go. He was supposed to stay until half-time though. The Saturns did us a favor and had him leaving earlier with how badly they’re doing.”

Arching a brow at her, I asked, “You prepared for this?”

Her hold on my wrist tightened and she rocked her hips against my fingers. “Yes.”

I gave her the pressure she needed, just as I trailed my tongue along the line of her throat.

As she quivered, I rasped, “Tell me what you want, Star.”

“Y-You,” she breathed, releasing a keening sound that shot straight to my dick.

“Here? In public?”

“I-I want to do something crazy, Conor.”

“Something crazy?” Her eyes were wild as she dropped her hands to the fly of her pants. As she opened them, fingers fumbling, I repeated, “Something crazy?”

“Spontaneous. Me and you.”

Spontaneous when she’d planned it?

I knew she was going somewhere with this and as it seemed important to her, I didn’t push the issue because I thought she was buzzing on her nerves.

When she wriggled her pants down over her upper thighs, she slipped her legs forward so her bare ass was on my lap.

My fingers dug into the gently muscled flesh. “There could be cameras.”

“Brought that toy of yours along. It’s in my purse.”

Relief sank into me, though I should have known she’d have brought a purse for a reason—she wasn’t exactly the type to worry about shit like that.

“The one that fucks with cameras and radio signals?”

The second she nodded, I slipped my fingers around her upper thigh to touch her pussy.

She was wet.

That alone had my brows lifting.

When I slipped a single digit along her cleft, she released that keening sound again and I growled in her ear. “I didn’t know you were into exhibitionism.”

“I’m not,” she rasped, parting her legs slightly so I had better access to her.

As I rubbed her clit, I demanded, “Then why are you so into this?”

“Because I’m taking me back.”

With all her wriggling, my dick was hard. Hell, it usually was when she was close by. But something in her words niggled at me.

“Talk to me, Star,” I rumbled, trailing my nose over hers. “Where’s your mind at?”

“Maybe I am into public sex,” she whispered.

I arched a brow at her. “Doubtful.” Then I moved my hand back to rest on her thigh. “Please, Star. Talk to me.”

She clenched her teeth, swiped her head to the side, then muttered, “He brought me to a soccer match in Düsseldorf. When I found out about it, I was excited. I’ve always enjoyed soccer. I should have known he’d find a way to ruin that for me too.”

Hans .

“What happened?” I demanded.

“It was a box like this.” She trailed her hand over the mahogany armrest. “When we walked in, I knew that we weren’t here to watch the game. Most of the women were naked; a couple guys were too. The owners were the only ones dressed. The second we were through the door, he had me strip.” Her jaw worked. “It was the first time he put a collar on me and fucking used it.”

Angry for her, I rasped, “I’m sorry.”

“Not your fault.” She blinked up at me. “I want to replace those bad memories with good ones, Conor.” Her tongue peeped out as she swiped it along her lips. “In Dubrovnik, I owned what happened between us. I had so many bad oral experiences but I took back ownership and I enjoyed it. It was me and you. No one else. Does that make sense?”

“I don’t think it has to make sense so long as it makes you feel better.” I pressed a kiss to the end of her nose. “We’ll do whatever you need to do, Star, understood? Just… warn me?”

“I’ll try to. Thank you, Conor.”

“Oh, baby, you don’t have to thank me for that.”

“I-I want you, Conor. That’s so new for me. Wanting . But I do. I want you. I want your cock. Inside me. Filling me full. Please,” she whispered, and I closed my eyes, enjoying those words spilling from her lips.

“God, you’ve no idea how fucking long I’ve waited to hear you say that.”

She moaned then whimpered when I stopped touching her clit so that I could release my dick from the cage of my jeans.

I grabbed her hips and toppled her forward. Her legs were trapped by her pants, and her hands gripped the sides of the chair as she hovered in place as I helped seat her on my dick.

It took a few tries to get it right, but her already tight pussy, tighter than ever thanks to how her pants locked her legs together, clutched at me as she sank, inch by torturous inch, until I was acting as her chair.

She sat there, prim and proper from the waist up as the Saturns finally scored a goal that had the meager audience cheering while, from below the waist, she was sin incarnate.

With my hands on her ass and hers still on the armrests, we did a better workout than at the gym as we got her working her way down my dick.

“So fucking wet for me, Star. Is that who this is for? All for me?”

“Always,” she moaned. “I’m yours, Conor. I’m yours.”

“My favorite words in the whole of the English language,” I growled, moving one hand around us and drifting my fingers along her core from her drenched slit up to her clit. A sharp, startled cry escaped her as I demanded, “Tell me again who this pussy belongs to.”

“You! You, Conor. Always you,” she breathed, the words frantic as her cunt clutched at me, pulsing in time to the strumming of my fingertips.

After she released a soft sob, I knew she was close. It was the quickest and easiest route to orgasm we’d ever experienced together when, with the shadows of her past haunting us here, I figured it’d take a lot longer.

Because I needed to reclaim this moment, to brand it with us , I made sure to give her clit extra attention.

Even as she raced toward her orgasm, I didn’t let up. Just carried on teasing the nub with one hand, and with the other, I tilted her chin so that our mouths were connected.

I didn’t fuck her there, just forged a link that went deeper than sex. That went deeper than healing scars.

It was us.

Pure.

Simple.

Us.

She groaned into my mouth, small whimpers drifting from her as she ground into me, her hips rocking from side to side as she worked herself on me.

Cock aching like a fucker, I kept the focus on her, dipping my fingers down to the beautiful mess we made together and coating the tips with the juices I found there.

“Feel how fucking wet for me you are, Star,” I rumbled against her mouth.

A mewl escaped her.

“So fucking wet, and so fucking tight, and so fucking perfect. This cunt was made for me, do you know that? No place else I want to be than right here. Even if it means being in the goddamn Saturns’ stadium.”

Her groan combined with a chuckle as her breath hitched when my slick fingers found her clit once more.

Now slippery, it let me move faster and with little friction. Her thrusting slowed and her frame tensed.

“I-I’m going to?—”

“Good. Give it to me, baby. Give it to me. I want it. I want you. All of you. Don’t stop,” I rasped, scissoring my fingers down so that I was touching more of her sex.

She cried out, head arching back as her orgasm hit. This time, she locked up, her pussy clamping down around me so that I had no alternative but to be tugged along with her.

She sagged into me, her pussy milking me even as her body thrummed with her satisfaction. Heart pounding as she pulled every ounce of cum from me, I wrapped my arms around her and held her, uncaring that gravity would be shortly working against us, just needing to maintain this close contact.

As I nuzzled my face in her throat, I heard the gentle soughs of air puffing from her lips and whispered, “I’ll be whatever you need, Star. You know that, don’t you?”

She rubbed her forehead against my chin, showering me with a tenderness I didn’t think she’d have been capable of before. “I need to be that for you too.”

I turned her face to the side so that I could anoint her lips with a kiss, then, against her mouth, I whispered, “Baby, you do that by breathing,” and she melted into me.

We spent the rest of the game like that.

The Saturns lost 5-1, and somehow, the O’Donnellys had found their next project, and Star and I had uncovered the next phase in our relationship.

Not bad for our second date.