Page 61 of Sins of Arrogance (Syndicate Sins #1)

KARA

Snuggling with Mick postcoital orgasm is one of my favorite things. It’s the only time his body is completely free of tension and the dark aura that surrounds my husband dissipates.

I never named that dark aura before, or even consciously recognized it as being there, because I told myself that Mick was the man I saw on the surface.

Now I know the truth, and that dark aura doesn’t bother me. Because it's real.

It's Mick.

And I love every atom of Michael Fitzgerald and his tarnished soul.

Mo diabhal

I trace the words on the tattoo over his heart. "What’s wrong?"

He jolts. "You know something has me fashed?"

"I know you better than anyone else, just like you know the very depths of me." I press my hand over his slow-beating heart. "Now, tell me."

"I have to decide whether or not to tell the Northies about Dierdre and her brother’s plans for my father, or simply kill him quietly and eliminate the threat."

"Why not tell them?" I ask.

"If his father refuses to kill him, I will anyway and that could cause a schism between our two mobs."

"Because even though you don’t feel love for your family like you do for me and Fitz, you’re loyal to them." Mick’s loyalty is better than a lot of people’s love if you want my opinion.

I’m just lucky enough to have both.

"I cannot allow a threat to my father’s life to continue to exist."

Trying to understand why there's a quandary then, I ask, "What are the downsides of not telling your father about Dierdre and his plans?"

"He may have things in motion that Dierdre doesn’t know about."

"So, interrogate him before you kill him." Unless I'm missing something, that seems like the obvious solution.

"Interrogation will lengthen the amount of time I have to be away from you and Fitz."

Warmth suffuses my heart. This man.

My sociopath.

"We'll go with you." I nestle closer to my husband's warm body. "A trip for Fitz to meet the rest of your family and us to offer condolences on the Kelly's loss of Dierdre will be a good cover for you being in Dublin."

Mick sits up and pulls me with him, right into his lap.

His green gaze bores into mine. "You're okay with that?"

"I don't like being away from you anymore than you like being away from me. From now on, Fitz and I travel with you."

"When it's safe," Mick temporizes.

I smile at him with all the confidence I feel in mo diabhal's strength. "You'll keep us safe wherever we are."

"I will." He agrees. "But I won't knowingly take you into situations that carry unacceptable levels of risk."

"Okay." We'll discuss what an unacceptable level is later.

"I'll have to employ drugs for the interrogation like I did with Dierdre. He can't die while we're in Dublin."

"You sound disappointed you can't torture him," I tease.

Mick shrugs. "If he wasn't the instigator of Dierdre's plan to get rid of you, he approved of it."

And that puts an even bigger bullseye on the man than his plans to kill Mick's father.

"Someone had to feed Dierdre's delusional beliefs," I say in agreement. "My guess is it’s her brother, and he has his own reasons for doing so."

Maybe to destabilize the Shaughnessy mob. To what end I don't know and really don't care. Despite being part of an ally mob, he's our enemy and that's all that matters.

"Anyone who is a threat to you or Fitz has to die," Mick says implacably, echoing the tone of my thoughts.

"Agreed, but the same goes for you." I grab his face and stare right into the fathomless depths of his eyes. "No one is taking my sociopath away from me. If there is a monster inside you, it's a gargoyle. Stony and silent until it comes to life to protect the people who matter to you."

Mick slams his mouth against mine with a renewed passion that at first startles and then consumes me. Our hands are everywhere on each other, and I shift so I'm straddling his lap.

I pleasure us both rubbing my sensitized and swollen clit against his steel hard erection. And he lets me, making no move to take over.

My ovaries are exploding at the power this predator allows me to have over him.

It stuns me how natural this feels now. How powerful. The first time I did this, I was tentative. Shy.

I feel anything but shy right now. I feel like the mob queen I am.

Breaking the kiss, I meet emerald eyes glittering with lust, I take his hardon in my hand, anticipation thrumming in my core.

His grips my hips, fingers digging in. "Look at you. Feckin' hell, you're breathtaking."

I glory in his words and how tight his grip is on me. Like he's afraid to ever let me go.

Shifting upward, I let the head of his penis press against my opening and then sink down onto him. My body is ready for him, already slick and stretched for his girth from earlier.

Not that I don't feel the stretch now.

I do. And it's delicious.

The apex of my thighs presses against his groin as he is fully seated in my body.

We both groan at the same time.

His eyes shut, but not for long. He opens them again, needing to see me. Needing to watch.

"You’re so fucking tight," he grits out, his voice gravel. "So perfect around me."

I start to move, slowly at first. Rolling my hips as I brace my hands on his shoulders.

Mick lets me set the pace. "You ride me like you were made for it."

"I was," I promise him.

"You’re the strongest woman I’ve ever known. Smart. Loyal. Vicious when you need to be." His words fall out between clenched teeth. "And so bleedin' beautiful, you bring me to my knees without even trying."

The stretch, the fullness, the way his voice wraps around me like silk and sin is almost too much. And I lean forward, grabbing the headboard behind him, my aching nipples rubbing against his chest as I move faster.

Dipping his head, he grazes first one, and then the other with his teeth before taking it into his mouth and sucking.

Ecstasy arrows to my core. "Mick…"

"That’s it," he growls against my breast. "Ride me, Kara. Take what you need. Show me who you are."

"You know who I am." And he's the only one who really does.

Not even moma , my sister or my cousin know me like Mick does. And it's taken me seven years to realize it.

He suckles me with harsh pulls until I'm riding him with no finesse and utter abandon.

Lifting his head, he cups both of my breasts, playing with both turgid buds now. "You look so good like this. Hair wild. Skin flushed. Tits bouncing as you fuck yourself on me."

This constant vocalized praise is something new and it started after Mick showed me his true self. I love it. Almost as much as I love him.

But I have no breath to reply, so I kiss him with carnal ferocity.

The pleasure inside my body coils tighter and tighter. I know what's coming and still the intensity of the pleasure takes me by surprise as I scream his name and come.

His hands slide back to my hips, his grip tight and he holds me against him as my orgasm implodes through me.

"You make me lose my mind, a chiste is a stór ." His voice is almost reverent now. "You make me better."

"You don't need to be better," I gasp out. "Just you."

"You were born to rule beside me." His voice cracks as his hands grip harder. "No one has ever matched me until you. No one has ever touched my soul until you."

He flips us, so he's on top and he pistons his hips without mercy, driving me to another pinnacle of pleasure with no respite from the one I just had.

"You’re mine, Kara," he grinds out, eyes wild and feral. "All of you. Every feckin’ inch."

"Yours." And then I break apart.

Pleasure rockets through me, explosive and total. I cry out into his neck as I come, my walls pulsing around him in wave after wave of ecstasy.

He surges up into me, groaning as he follows, his climax hitting with the force of everything he is: dominant, devoted, and entirely mine.

We collapse together, still joined, still gasping.

His body blanketing mine, he whispers the only words that matter. "I love you. I’ll love you through my last breath and into eternity."