Dangerous (20 page)

He couldn’t find Solomon or James but he knew they were around here somewhere. His family. T-shirts. Seamus beaming like he had a secret… “Ken? Did anyone tell you what we’re celebrating?”

Ken shook his head just as the band stopped playing and the sound of silverware tapping glass started to spread. Old Shawn kissed his wife and joined Seamus in front of the bar. “Welcome to Finn’s!”

The crowd cheered.

“I’m old and retired, so I don’t get a chance to join you that often. My son, the new owner, was kind enough to let me steal some of the spotlight.” Seamus patted him on the back and Ellen blew him a kiss. The familiar sight made Brady smile.

“Ancient as I am,” Shawn continued, “I’ve learned a little about life. The most wonderful thing about it is that every day we get a chance to make new memories, discover new reasons to come together, find new people to love, and maybe even fix a few mistakes along the way.”

He paused and looked over at Solomon, who shook his head. Shawn’s shoulders drooped for an instant—not long enough for most people to catch, but Brady noticed. Had he expected Sol to come?

Someday Brady was going to find out what had happened between them to cause this decades-long rift. But it obviously wasn’t going to happen tonight. The Elder Sol was one stubborn son of a mule.

“Anyway, it’s a beautiful night and I hear we have a lot to celebrate. So drink, eat and make sure you tip the band.”

Everyone gave Shawn another round of applause, and then Seamus lifted a mug of beer. “Thank you to my father, the man who started this grand old pub, Shawn Finn. May I someday be that wise and that lucky to have such a beautiful woman on my arm.”

Shawn crossed his fingers and Seamus laughed. “It’s been one hell of a year,” he told the crowd. “I’ve never been prouder of my family, or more inspired by the wonderful people they’ve found to share their lives. People who, for some unknown reason, love them enough to put up with all of us.”

He pointed his glass toward Ken, and Brady laughed until Ken leaned over the table to kiss him.

“If all of you can hang in there just a little while longer, we have something really special in the works. But first, let’s raise a glass to the Senator’s wife, Mrs. Natasha Rivera Finn. I think she has something to say.”

“Something is definitely going on,” Brady said in Ken’s ear.

“Clearly,” Ken agreed with a smile. “It’s called fun. Pay attention.”

“Smartass.”

Tasha was making the audience laugh with some racy humor about her pregnancy, but once Brady started, he couldn’t stop looking at Ken.

How had he gotten so lucky? Nothing in his life had prepared him for this kind of happiness. He still wasn’t sure he deserved it. But that didn’t mean he’d let it go without one hell of a fight.

Just like Ken, he was ready for whatever came next. And yes, he had a feeling they weren’t done with that shadowy group of untouchables with blood on their hands. But Terry and Patricia were together and safe. Ken was safe and they were in love. For now, in this moment, life was good. Brady felt blessed. Happy. With this man by his side, he could do anything.

Ken must have felt him staring. “You’re missing Tasha’s comedy stylings,” he said. “What is it?”

“Have you ever been to Paris? I told you about the place Mom had there. I was thinking we should take a vacation. We’ve earned it.”

Ken leaned over and kissed him again with those perfect, wicked lips, making his heart skip. “I’d do Paris with you. Or you in Paris. Anytime, Finn. Anything you want.”

“I love you.”

“And I love you. I wasn’t expecting this.” He made a motion to include the bar filled with Finns. “I thought I had it all together. Thought I was doing great on my own.”

It was hard to argue with that. “You were Batman.”

“Exactly.” Ken’s grin softened. “I was fine until I met you.”

Brady smirked. “Jake says whenever people say they’re fine, it means that they’re too worn out from crying to go over why life sucks so bad.”

“Jake? The tween? Well, it must be true then.”

Brady nodded. “For the record, I was fine too.
Just
fine. All black shirts, control and careful passion. I didn’t think there was anything more for me. Until you.”

“Stop or I’ll drag you out of here before we find out what’s going on. You are trouble, Finn. A giant, gorgeous mountain of trouble. I should have known from the minute I saw you but I—
Oh,
wait, I think she’s getting to the good part.” Ken kissed him quick with a laugh, then turned his head back toward the bar.

“Time to get serious.” Tasha brought her hand up to quiet the crowd. “I’ve known these delectable Finns for years now, and they have many wonderful qualities. Too many to be fair to the rest of us. Those eyes. Those bodies.” She pointed at Ellen and Shawn. “Those parents.” Everyone laughed. “But they aren’t perfect. One of their
less
than wonderful traits is their need to be in your life. Not just involved.
In.
Your.
Life.
Little Finn knows what I’m talking about.”

Jen raised her glass and smiled, nodding. Brady noticed Trick laughing with another man behind her. A cop he recognized. James’ friend?

“So because everyone was
so upset
not to be present for what
I
thought was a very personal moment, we’re going to put on a show for them right now, aren’t we honey? Stephen? Baby, will you help me out?”

“He looks nervous,” Ken murmured.

“She’s Tasha and she’s got the entire room’s attention.
I’m
nervous.”

Seamus set out a chair and Tasha guided Stephen into it. “Senator? Do you remember that time you found out I was pregnant?”

He grinned. “I do.”

“Do you remember tearing up and kissing my stomach and singing Irish lullabies to it for over an hour?”

Stephen adjusted his collar, shaking his head at the crowd. “She’s exaggerating.” He sent her a warning look. “She’s also a brat.”

Brady watched Tasha share a look with Stephen’s twin Seamus, who held a camera phone up to his brother’s face.

“Uh-oh,” Brady muttered. “I need to talk to him about that. All recording devices should be banned in this place.”

Ken patted his thigh. “After tonight.”

Tasha took Stephen’s hand and placed it on her stomach. “I didn’t get the chance to tell you with everything that’s been happening, but the doctor asked me to come in for another ultrasound this week.”

Senator Finn paled visibly, sitting up straighter in his chair. “Tasha?”

Her smile was incandescent. “It’s okay, honey. I’m healthy. Everything’s perfect.” She paused. “We’re just having twins.”

The roar in the pub was deafening, but Brady didn’t need to hear to read the expression of joy on Stephen’s face. His blue eyes filled with tears as he stood, pulling his wife into his arms and kissing her senseless in front of God and everyone.

“We did that.” Ken sounded proud of himself.

“We did
not
do
that
,” Brady corrected him. “But we helped. I wonder if that gives us first dibs on baby names.”

“Maybe we could make that the fifth rule of Finn Club.”

“We’ll see.”

Ken’s golden eyes were filled with laughter. He looked like he belonged here, in Brady’s crowded and messy life. And Brady finally understood what Solomon meant when he said his brother was back.

Brady was home.

Keep Reading for the Bonus Quickie,

A Curious Proposal
.

An Owen and Jeremy Quickie

Owen

“Why won’t you let me?” Jeremy moaned, his gorgeous tattooed ass in the air, taking every inch of Owen’s aching cock.

“You don’t like it, baby?” Owen gripped the handcuff chain and tugged teasingly, reminding Jeremy just who was in control, even here in the woods in the middle of nowhere. “Not knowing where I’ve brought you? If anyone is watching? If they know how easy it was to get you on your knees in the dirt with your pants around your ankles?”

“
Owen
.”

“The blindfold stays on…unless you want me to stop.”

Jeremy pressed his forehead into the carry-on bag Owen had put there and relaxed in submission. “Don’t stop,” he whispered.

“What’s that?” Owen closed his eyes, torturing himself as he slowed down, pulling back until only the head of his cock was inside Jeremy’s snug ass. “I can’t hear you.”

“Don’t stop,” he said, louder, with an edge of anxiety and need.

“Don’t stop what?”

“You are a goddamn sadist,” Jeremy muttered.

Owen laughed, need making him light-headed. “It’s taken this long for you to figure that out? Don’t stop what?”

“
Don’t stop fucking me, Master Finn
.” Jeremy’s voice was so loud it startled a few birds in a nearby tree and made Owen smile. He only used “Master” when he was really desperate.

“You know I won’t. I can’t resist this tight, fuckable ass.”

Owen looked down, spreading Jeremy’s cheeks wide with his thumbs so he could watch his own lubed-up cock stretching that sexy ring of muscles gripping him like a hungry fist.

“Damn, I’ve needed this
all day
.” He went in slow, one inch at a time, wanting to hold back as long as he could. Wanting this to last. “I’ve been planning it for hours, taking you like this.”

“Hours?” Jeremy panted. “Deeper, Owen.
Please
.”

“Be patient.” Owen slapped Jeremy’s hip with the palm of his hand. “I decided to cuff you when you rejected my mile high club suggestion.”

But he’d been planning to wait until they got into the cabin he’d rented for their two-week vacation to put his plan in motion. His timetable had changed the minute he got that blindfold on Jeremy in the car. He’d been so turned on during the thirty-minute drive he’d barely been able to wait to put the damn rental in park.

Jeremy did this to him. Sex with him was always hot, hard and ecstatic, and it had been from the first time he got that big, beautiful cock in his hands. Owen could never get enough of his mouth or how good it felt to be taken by him. He craved making his lover crazy enough to go primal. Craved submitting to Jeremy’s wild, rough claiming. Sometimes he needed it so badly he wondered how he’d live without it.

Still, Owen liked getting the chance to turn the tables and take the lead. When he had control, he made sure he took his time. He’d tie or chain his lover up, paddle him or whip him with the small leather flogger Jeremy had gotten him as a present, and work on him until he was begging to be fucked. It was a challenge to resist the race to the goal line, but Owen loved a challenge.

He loved Jeremy.

He stopped, his erection still only partially in, and waited. His whole body was vibrating with restraint when Jeremy finally tried to push back.
There.
Owen spanked him again.

“I told you to be patient,” he warned. “
I
was patient. I sat next to you for four hours in that deathtrap, rock-hard and needing you, and you were too busy reading to join me in the bathroom and suck my cock.”

“They would have noticed,” Jeremy panted. “We wouldn’t have fit.”

Owen slid his hand around Jeremy’s hip and gripped that thick, delicious erection. “It’s not easy, lover, not with that monster cock of yours, but you always fit.”

“Owen, damn it.”

“Not even a hand job under the blanket, Jeremy,” he continued wickedly. “No one was looking. It would have been so fucking easy for you to slip your hand into my pants and give me some release. You know what your touch does to me. And you know I could have returned the favor.” His fingers tightened around Jeremy’s cock for a heartbeat, and then he let it go.

Jeremy swore again under his breath. “Stewardess,” he gasped. “She would have done it.”

“She
did
keep asking if I wanted anything else,” Owen mused, pulling his dick back just enough to make his lover shake. “I wonder what she would have done if I told her. Or better, just fucking showed her. Unzipped you right there and given her a peek at what I was hungry for.”

Jeremy bit his lip, his hands flexing in the cuffs. “You liked it. All that attention.”

“I didn’t want her,” Owen growled. “I wanted this.”

So much for winning this challenge, he thought as he drove his hips forward, filling Jeremy and starting a fast, deep rhythm that would end their session too damn soon.

“This was all that was on my mind,” he muttered. “Burying myself in this tight ass over and over again. Getting you alone, finally alone and on your knees for me.”

Trembling now, Jeremy rattled his cuffs. “Please.”

Owen couldn’t refuse him, undoing the handcuffs and letting them fall to the ground.

“Don’t take off your blindfold,” he ordered.

Jeremy was obviously too aroused to disobey as one free hand went instantly to his erection. “Harder, Owen. I deserve it. I should have bent you over the drink cart and given you what you wanted. I need to learn my lesson.”

Owen wanted to laugh at his tactics but he was too turned on. He slid his hand up Jeremy’s spine, loving the slapping sound of flesh as he gave him what they both needed.

“That?” His knees sank into the dirt as he punished Jeremy with his cock. “You want to learn
that
lesson, baby? Is that the kind of fucking you deserve?”

“
Yes
.” Jeremy’s arm was working as he stroked his own erection in time to Owen’s thrusts. “Oh God, Owen, don’t stop.”

“You don’t want to know where we are?”

“I don’t care. I need it as much as you do. I wanted to bend over the seat and suck your cock so all the women eyeing you knew I could. Can I come, Owen? I need to come.”

“Almost,” Owen allowed, his voice guttural. “I’m almost there. I just need... Fuck, that’s good. I just need a few more—
Now
.”

He heard Jeremy’s voice break on his name, and his head fell back with the power of his climax, his hips pumping in time with the waves of his release.
Yes. Love this. Love you.